All about need

The great old American hymn "I Need Thee Every Hour," written in 1872 by Annie Hawks, has the third stanza, "I need Thee every hour, In joy or pain; Come quickly and abide, Or life is vain."

Annie Hawks (born in Hoosick, N.Y., 1835) never graduated from any school but always had a passion for books and read widely.

Hymnology Archive website shares this testimonial given while she was still alive: "At 14 her genius began to find expression in verse. The first poem she published appeared in a Troy, N.Y., newspaper. That poem at once attracted attention and was followed by others which were printed in various local papers.

"Miss Sherwood became the wife, in 1859, of Charles Hial Hawks, a resident of Hoosick. Mr. Hawks was a man of culture and intelligence, and he understood and appreciated his wife. In January, 1865, Mr. and Mrs. Hawks removed to Brooklyn, N.Y., in which city Mrs. Hawks still makes her home. Her husband died there in 1888. They had three children, one of whom, a daughter, is now living.

"Mrs. Hawks has always been identified with the Baptist denomination. In 1868, her pastor and friend, Rev. Dr. Robert Lowry, requested her to turn her attention to hymn writing. She did so, and wrote, among many others, 'In the Valley,' 'Good Night,” and 'Why Weepest Thou?'

Another testimony during her life came from Frances Willard & Mary Livermore:

"Few of the millions of people, old or young, who have heard, sung, or read the beautiful hymn ['I need Thee every hour,'] know that its writer, Mrs. Annie Sherwood Hawks, is still living, and 'carries on an extensive correspondence with friends all over the country, and receives many visitors.' She is the last of three women hymn writers whose fame is world-wide — the other two, both of whom were blind, being Fanny Crosby, who died recently, and Alice Holmes, who went to her reward over a year ago.

"Mrs. Hawks is the author of over four hundred hymns, but the one by which she is best known is 'I Need Thee Every Hour,' written in [1872]. It is said that this hymn has been translated into more foreign languages than any other of modern times. …

"Women have ever held an exalted position among the writers of hymns that have been and are a strong factor in turning the hearts of men and women to God, moulding religious life and keeping the spiritual fires burning. That their words have been carried to the remotest ends of the earth is but small recognition of their help, comfort, and uplift to the entire world of mankind."

*****

To appropriate anything into your Christian walk, there are two things you have to have.

"The first thing is you've got to know about it; you have to see what you already have in Christ," explains Jordan. "Get a grip on the riches that are yours in Christ Jesus with a literal reality of your current identity at this moment in Him.

"The key to the Christian life is knowing your identity and you can never know it if you don't study the Bible rightly-divided.

"The other component is you not only have to know who you are, you have to be aware of your NEED of it. Because you'll never reach out and appropriate into your experience something unless you know that you really need it.

"That's what happened to Paul in Romans 7. He wasn't identifying himself as God did. He slipped back into identifying himself as HE identified himself.

"Paul says in one little phrase in Galatians 20, 'Yet not I, but Christ.' You got to have those 'It's not I' moments where you become aware of your bankruptcy so that the riches of Christ become the thing that's the need of your heart.

"Appropriating into your experience is closed to all but the needy heart. It's available only to those who'll say, 'It's not I, but Christ.' And with those two things--a conscious awareness of faith-trust in who you are and then a realization of your absolute need in every moment for it--you then need a lifetime of spiritual growth.

"Friend, it takes time for the Holy Spirit to work that process into the details of your life. That's why Romans 7 is not in Romans 2 or 5.

"We've all experienced this where you get on the mountaintop and it's, 'I've got the joy, joy, joy down in my heart,' and then a little while later you're down in the doldrums and you say, 'I don't think I'll ever see the mountaintop again for the clouds.'

"When you're in those moments of need, rather than being mad or depressed, that's a moment to say, 'You know, here's a Not-I experience. I'm down here because I've been trusting me. Here's an opportunity to grow because that's exactly what God's grace is trying to get me to . . .'

*****

“When we’re talking about the 'blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,’ we’re talking about the love, the joy, the peace, the longsuffering.

“God has taken your sin and set you free. He’s taken the guilt and sent it to Calvary. He said, ‘I’ll remember it no more. I’ll not connect it back with your identity again. I’ll do it permanently and forever. You never have to come and ask me to accept you. I already have. You never have to ask to please forgive me my sins. I already have. I’ve made you complete. I’ve blessed you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Now all I want you to do is take what I’ve already given you and bring it into the experience of your life on a daily basis.’

“Colossians 2:10 says, ‘And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.’  But then look at chapter 4:12: ‘Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.’

“Wait a minute—I thought they were complete?! Why is Epaphras praying and laboring that they would BE complete?

“Paul says in Ephesians 1, ‘You’re accepted in the beloved.’ In II Corinthians 5:9, he says, ‘Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.’

“You say, ‘Wait a minute—I thought I was accepted!’ That’s the difference between your standing and your state; your position in Christ and your practice in time; your identity in Him and then that identity living in your experience now.

“If you’re complete in Him, there’s nothing to make your more complete. All you need to do is appropriate the completeness you already have—bring it in to your experience. Have the practical, experiential possession of what already belongs to you.

“That is to experience the joy of, ‘I am forgiven.’ Whew! That’s a wonderful thing. Let that inform your mind so that your emotions know how to relate to reality.

*****

“I was at a Bible conference in Tennessee where a woman driving to the event was in a bad car wreck. She was injured quite severely and had a limb amputated and people asked, ‘Why?!’ But there was something in this lady’s inner man that gave her joy in spite of it all.

“You see, it’s ‘according to the riches of His grace.’ (Eph. 1:7) You can feel forgiven even when the circumstances don’t make out like you ought to. But you got to remember, no Believer ever fell into maturity overnight. This is a lifelong process of spiritual growth, of learning over and over, ‘It’s not I; it’s Christ.’

"You take little baby steps at first and then you become a person who can walk. But it’s always, ‘Not I but Christ.’ It’s always seeing the riches that are mine in Him and becoming aware of my need of that. Seeing and needing brings us from a child that’s meandering around to a responsible, specific walk of faith. It’s called maturity; it’s called being an adult.

“Paul says, ‘Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.’

“God desires adults for children and He brings us to that maturity day by day as we see, ‘It’s not I; it’s Christ.’ And our redemption and forgiveness is according to the riches of His grace that produces that.”