This morning as I was waking the Hymn was churning over and over in my spirit; Have Thine Own Way, Lord. 

This hymn has an interesting origin. Like many songs of praise and worship that we sing, it is based in scripture and was written by someone as an expression of what God was doing in their life. 

Such was what was happening in the life of Adelaide A. Pollard. She was a sincere Christian lady who, from all indications, was fully dedicated to the work of the ministry. She spent most of her life serving her Lord. She was convinced that God was calling her to be a missionary, specifically to Africa.

It was 1902,  and she is now 45 and Adelaide was discouraged that she has not been able to raise enough support to go to Africa as a missionary. 

The following text is from: Hymn Notes: Have Thine Own Way, Lord

By Jeff Bobo, Editor Jeff.Bobo@therogersvillereview.com Dec 5, 2021

At the age of 45, while attending a prayer meeting one night, an elderly woman was praying. As she began her prayer, the woman omitted the usual kinds of requests for God to give them health and shower them with physical blessings. Instead, she simply uttered the words, “It really doesn’t matter what you do with us, Lord — just have your way with our lives . . ..”

On her way home, that night, the old woman’s prayer reminded Adelaide of a passage in Jer. 18:3-6, “So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. Then the word of the LORD came to me: ‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done?’ declares the LORD. ‘Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.’”

Adelaide began to form the lyrics in her mind, and before going to bed, she had written them on paper. That night in 1902, was a turning point in her life as she realized that God is in control; He directs us and uses us in His service for His good pleasure. 

Lyrics

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
      Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will;
     While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
     Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
     As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
     Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
     Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
     Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit ’till all shall see
     Christ only, always, living in me.

It was five years later in 1907 when George Stebbins wrote a tune titled "Adelaide" to accompany the text that became the Hymn “Have Thine own way, Lord!”

Nevertheless, she continued to hold out hope that God would lead her to Africa.

At the age of 60, she finally made a trip to a mission work in Africa but, shortly after her arrival, World War I interrupted her plans and she spent the war years in Scotland. After the war, she returned to the United States in poor health but continued to work in Christian ministries until she died at the age of 72 in 1934.

This morning I believe the Lord wants to speak to us the same way he spoke to Adelaide. The theme being the same simple example from Jeremiah Chapter 18 Lord you are the potter, I am the clay. 

Yesterday I also found myself singing the bridge to the song “Center” by Bethel Worship: 

Turn with me to Jeremiah 18

Jeremiah 18:1-11

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.

***I want to pause here for just a second and say that throughout God’s word we see him calling people to change their location, their routine so he can teach them something and speak to them. Hold your position here in Jeremiah and turn to Romans chapter 1

Romans 1:19-21

19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

***First point of the Message today: God is speaking to you through his very creation, the question is are you listening…..

If you have trouble seeing the power of God today you need only to walk over to Micah and Bethany and look in the face of Ezekiel Victor Waldron. If you can look at his face, his finger, his toes, so small but so perfect……If you can look at him and not see God’s creative power then you are blinded as Paul described here in Romans 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Back to jeremiah 18:3J

3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

**What causes the clay to be marred in the hand of the potter?

The clay becomes marred in the hand of the potter due to imperfections within the clay itself—such as air bubbles, small stones, or hidden impurities—or because the clay resists the forming process and goes off-center.

Resistance or Stubbornness: Symbolically, the clay's resistance to the potter's hands or its attempt to dictate the speed and process can lead to a ruined or flawed state.

Not the Potter's Fault: Jeremiah 18:4 emphasizes that the marring happens in the hands of the potter rather than by the fault of the potter, showing that the limitation lies in the clay. Rather than discarding it, the potter skillfully reworks and reshapes the clay into a new vessel.

Psalm 103:10-14

10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

Psalm 139:1-4

1 O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.

2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.

**Can I ask you a question this morning? What is God trying to do in your life? What is God trying to mold you into that you are resisting today? Some of you may say, I do not have any idea what God is trying to do in my life….My life is a spinning, hot mess……

August 16, 1501, Michelangelo was given the official contract to carve a statue of David. On the 13th of September 1501 he began this work. Michelangelo regarded a single block of stone as containing all the possible conceptions for a work of art, and believed that the artist's task is sculpting the marble block to reveal the ideal form within. He did this for nearly three years when on the 8th of June , 1504, he put down his tools and stood back to see the work was completed. 

***First point of the Message today: God is speaking to you through his very creation, the question is are you listening…..

***2nd point of the Message today: God has his hands on your life for good and not for evil.

Later in Jeremiah 29 God is speaking through the prophet concerning the captivity that God has allowed his people to go through. The way God was molding them into what he wanted them to be was to allow hardship and suffering to enter there lives. But know this the hardship and the suffering was not forever. It was for an established time that God knew was necessary to complete the work so his people would return their hearts to him….. 

Jeremiah 29:10-14

10 For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

14 And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

***Go with me for a few minutes to the book of Philippians chapter 1:

Philippians 1

1 Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

2 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,

4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,

5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;

6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

7 Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.

8 For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.

9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;

10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.

***First point of the Message today: God is speaking to you through his very creation, the question is are you listening…..

***2nd point of the Message today: God has his hands on your life for good and not for evil.

***The 3rd point of the Message today: God is in control of the time it takes to bring your life to perfection. 

Galatians 6:9

9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Philippians 2:13

13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Ephesians 2:8-10

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

***Back to Jeremiah 18:5

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;

8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;

10 If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.

11 Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.

Hebrews 12

New Living Translation

God’s Discipline Proves His Love

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.[a] Because of the joy[b] awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people;[c] then you won’t become weary and give up. 4 After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.

5 And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children?[d] He said,

“My child,[e] don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline,
    and don’t give up when he corrects you.
6 For the Lord disciplines those he loves,
    and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”[f]

7 As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? 8 If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. 9 Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?[g]

10 For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. 11 No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

12 So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. 13 Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.

***First point of the Message today: God is speaking to you through his very creation, the question is are you listening…..

***2nd point of the Message today: God has his hands on your life for good and not for evil.

***The 3rd point of the Message today: God is in control of the time it takes to bring your life to perfection. 

***The 4th point of the Message today: God loves us and corrects us as a father who wants the best for his children.

*** In closing I want to answer the question many of you may have this morning. That question is Pastor Jon, When will God be done working in my life?

Let’s hear what the Apostle Paul had to say about this:

Ephesians 4:1-16

1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?

10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

 

1 Corinthians 15:35-58

King James Version

35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?

36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:

37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:

38 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.

39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.

40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:

43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:

44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

47 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.

48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

***First point of the Message today: God is speaking to you through his very creation, the question is are you listening…..

***2nd point of the Message today: God has his hands on your life for good and not for evil.

***The 3rd point of the Message today: God is in control of the time it takes to bring your life to perfection. 

***The 4th point of the Message today: God loves us and corrects us as a father who wants the best for his children.