Lord Jesus, I long in Thy presence to live

THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND THE NATURE OF GOD

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Which do you prefer to have—the nature of God or the presence of God, which represents His person? Every Christian regards the presence of God as dear and precious. In Christianity there is much talk about the presence of God. We are told that the presence of God should mean everything to us and that we must do all things in God’s presence. In Christianity the believers are taught to live and walk in God’s presence, and a number of books have been written about living in the presence of God. But where can you find a book telling you to live according to the nature of God? If we have the revelation, we will prefer the nature of God to the presence of God. I may live in a certain brother’s presence, loving him and walking with him. Nevertheless, he remains a Caucasian, and I remain a Chinese who lives in the presence of a Caucasian. What does this mean? Nothing. Simply to live and walk in the presence of God without having His nature in you means very little. For thousands of years, the angels have been walking in the presence of God, but they have never satisfied Him. Only one thing can touch God’s heart—to have a people who live and walk according to His nature. For a flea to walk in your presence means nothing, but for a flea to live according to your human nature means a great deal. Thus, walking in the presence of God means little, but living in and by His nature has great significance. However, most Christians know only the presence of God; they do not know His nature.

Life-study of Hebrews
Message 68 Living according to the Nature of God
(LSM)

Prayer: O Lord, we thank You from our depths that we have been freed from all personal affairs and have been gathered into Your name, sitting here before You and listening to Your speaking. Speak, O Lord, for we are listening. We really long for You from within, and we know that Your word is Your very Self, Your word is Your expression, and Your word is Your reaching us. We truly regard this. We pray that You would again give us utterance, fresh utterance, instant utterance, utterance that can meet Your need today. We pray that You would cause those of us who speak to be able to speak and those of us who listen to be able to listen. O Lord, may none of us consider ourself to have already known and understood. O Lord, cause us to know that we are all like children, for we still know so little of what we ought to know. O Lord, have mercy on us and visit us. May Your Spirit of grace anoint us today, anoint this meeting, anoint every attendant, and anoint every move and action. Furthermore, O Lord, we cannot forget Your enemy. Even though You tolerate him, we still say, Lord, You must restrict him, and You must bind him. Lord, draw the boundary around us by Your prevailing blood and do not allow Your enemy to cross over one step to distract or disturb us. Do preserve us in these two to three days. Moreover, rebuke him and command him to leave us. O Lord, we desire to be free before You to enjoy Your presence. Amen.

The Organic Aspect of God's Salvation
Chapter 2 Regeneration and Shepherding
(LSM)

When I was a little girl, we used to sing this hymn at the meeting of the Lord's table, for years I forgot it, its lyrics and even its melody. A few weeks ago, in my teenage years, I rediscovered this beautiful hymn, I saw myself in it, I rarely feel so identified with something, but this hymn describes me perfectly. I'm so glad that even with our failures, sins and impurity, even when we just want to cry in the Lord's presence and even when we feel ashamed of our condition, the Lord is so sweet and merciful that we can just come to Him as we are, with boldness to the throne of grace, to enter into the sanctuary, and be able to see, touch, enjoy and even taste the Lord.

I really like that for me, the Lord Jesus is my best friend, I can tell Him everything, even when I'm disappointed with Him, or I don't understand His will, He always lets me come back to Him. I feel empty, discouraged and unsuccessful often, but I always come to Him, sometimes I just cry and don't say anything, I know He knows it. He's the friend I run to when everything is falling down. I love Him so much, but I want to love Him way more, everyday, every moment, like He loved me. Brothers and sisters, I hope you all could experience the Lord as your everything, enjoying Him always, sometimes all you need is stop doing things for Him, and start spending more time with Him, I could promise you, that you'll see Him as the living star, and will be sad anymore. May God bless you, I love you all in the Lord ♡

This hymn is based on a poem written by Lady Powerscourt (Theodosia Anne Howard) titled “Lord, All My Desire is Before Thee”

Here are the original words:

“Lord, let my heart still turn to Thee, In all my hours of waking thought;

Nor let this heart e'er wish to flee, To think, or feel, where Thou art not.

In every hour of pain or woe,

When nought on earth this heart can cheer, When sighs will burst, and tears will flow, Lord, hush the sigh, and chase the tear.

In every dream of earthly bliss
Do Thou, dear Saviour, present be;
Nor let me dream of happiness
On earth, without the thought of Thee.
To my last lingering thought at night
Do Thou, Lord Jesus, still be near;

And ere the dawn of opening light, In still small accents wake mine ear.

Whene'er I read Thy sacred word, Bright on the page in glory shine;

And let me say, "This precious Lord In all His full salvation's mine."

And when before the throne I kneel,
Grant from that throne of grace my prayer;
And let each hope of heaven I feel
Burn with the thought to meet Thee there.

Thus teach me, Lord, to look to Thee, In ev'ry hour of waking thought;

Nor let me ever wish to be,

To think, or feel where Thou are not. “

This poem can be found in the book, “The Letters and Papers of Lady Powerscourt. ” You can definitely see the inspiration of the hymn in this poem, but overall it is quite different. I agree with Robin’s thought that Watchman Nee translated this poem to Chinese and provided changes to match a tune. It was probably further changed when retranslated back to English - Regardless, the message of the poem/hymn match and clearly reflect the lives these dear saints lived. I highly recommend reading Lady Powerscourt’s letters, as they have deeply impacted me and, I presume, Watchman Nee as well.

Today, I was enjoying that hymn while studying the book of galatians, but I have realized that whenever I sing that hymn, it comes true, all my morning times I wish to sing it always because it's experience it's real.

But it makes me always to pray to the Lord, for wonderful brothers who are able to live us with such experiences from the Lord like that, like the prayer of the writer of that hymn, in his book the spiritual man, he also prayed for the Lord to rise up brothers who know how to walk by the spirit.

As to the question of authorship in this hymn.

My brief research shows Watchman Nee as an Adaptor ( in copyright law an adaptor can be referred to as an author)

An adaptor modifies a pre-existing musical work or its musical notation. It can take different forms depending on how it's written, who it's for, and the musical genre.

The adaptation(s) done by Watchman Nee , I have not determined, but I think likely translation to Chinese, and or minor wording changes to fit the tune chosen. If anyone has knowledge of history of this hymn it would be good to post.

It is a wonderful hymn/ prayer that I enjoy often.

My late dad favorite song Hymn 389. We sang at his funeral service

Is 50:4 The Lord Jehovah has given me / The tongue of the instructed, / That I should know how to sustain the weary with a word. / He awakens me morning by morning; / He awakens my ear / To hear as an instructed one.

Is 50:5The Lord Jehovah has opened my ear; / And I was not rebellious, / Nor did I turn back.

@David Wilson, this was written by Lady Powercourt. Israel in Diamond Bar cites a biography of JN Darby in an older comment. Watchman Nee may have adapted it and set it to the tune of Flow Gently Sweet Afton, I am not sure.

Just curious - there is a comment below that says rather convincingly that this hymn was written by Lady Theodosia Powerscourt in approximately 1835, but the credit is given to Watchman Nee. Can anyone clarify? Regardless of who wrote it, it is a wonderful hymn and we should focus on the content and be brought into the sweet longing for fellowship with the Lord in His presence.