{"id":20718,"date":"2025-05-11T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=20718"},"modified":"2025-05-10T21:23:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T01:23:39","slug":"sunday-singing-exhortations-to-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=20718","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Singing: Exhortations to Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"From Every Stormy Wind That Blows (Retreat)\" width=\"474\" height=\"356\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/K6dDLcBKmrI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today&#8217;s hymn comes from the great English poet William Cowper (1731-1800; his name is pronounced &#8220;Cooper&#8221;) who struggled with depression for most of his life and found godly comfort in the pastoral care of John Newton (1725-1807). Read the text Cowper&#8217;s hymn, understanding the author felt darkened clouds were drawn to him and fought to take strength in the joy of the Lord. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This one won&#8217;t be in your hymnal. It was written in 1779 and paired with tunes I can&#8217;t readily find recordings for. The one above is a familiar one that works, which is the way hymns have been sung for many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. . . . praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication&#8221; (Eph 6:13, 18 ESV).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">What various hindrances we meet<br>in coming to the mercy seat!<br>Yet who that knows the worth of pray&#8217;r<br>but wishes to be often there!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Pray&#8217;r makes the darkened clouds withdraw;<br>pray&#8217;r climbs the ladder Jacob saw;<br>gives exercise to faith and love;<br>brings ev&#8217;ry blessing from above.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Restraining pray&#8217;r, we cease to fight;<br>pray&#8217;r makes the Christian\u2019s armor bright;<br>and Satan trembles when he sees<br>the weakest saint upon his knees.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Have you no words? Ah, think again:<br>words flow apace when you complain,<br>and fill a fellow-creature\u2019s ear<br>with the sad tale of all your care.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Were half the breath thus vainly spent<br>to heav\u2019n in supplication sent,<br>our cheerful song would oft\u2019ner be,<br>&#8220;Hear what the Lord hath done for me!&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today&#8217;s hymn comes from the great English poet William Cowper (1731-1800; his name is pronounced &#8220;Cooper&#8221;) who struggled with depression for most of his life and found godly comfort in the pastoral care of John Newton (1725-1807). Read the text Cowper&#8217;s hymn, understanding the author felt darkened clouds were drawn to him and fought to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=20718\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Sunday Singing: Exhortations to Prayer<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[1254,3966,4801],"class_list":["post-20718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","tag-hymns","tag-sunday-singing","tag-william-cowper"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20719,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20718\/revisions\/20719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}