Devotional

Have faith in God –
Through times doubt-ridden;
Have faith in God –
For so we're bidden;
Have faith in God –
When He is hidden.
Have faith, dear friend, in God.

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good. Psalm 14:1.

    This song is the testimonial hymn of an avowed atheist who led others in a vain search for the true meaning of life before finding his answer in Jesus. James Procter grew up in a Christian home and attended church and Sunday school regularly in Manchester, England. In his teens however, he began to read extensively the writing of infidels and a group calling themselves "The Free Thinkers". Gradually, his faith in God began to be shaken. Eventually James renounced all interest in Christianity. He joined the "Free Thinkers' Society" and soon became its president.
    Some time later, James Procter became seriously ill and feared that he would not live. Finally in desperation, he called for a minister of the gospel, who came to Proctor's bedside and led him to a definite conversion. Soon after this, as Procter's sister sat beside his bed, he asked her to locate in his dresser two verses he had written earlier. Then he dictated to her with great excitement the closing two verses of "In Jesus". James wanted these lines to be particularly meaningful to his many friends in the "Free Thinkers' Society" as they would read his personal testimony.
    Proctor's faithful sister took her brother's poem to the well-known musician and composer, Robert Harkness, while he was assisting R. A. Torrey in an evangelistic campaign at the time in Manchester. Mr. Harkness soon completed the music while traveling to another meeting in London.
    Every man has a god--even the atheist has a "no god". The tragedy is that man become like his god--he grows into the image of what he worships and serves. That is why we must be "In Jesus".

I’ve tried in vain a thousand ways
My fears to quell, my hopes to raise;
But what I need, the Bible says,
Is ever, only Jesus.

My soul is night, my heart is steel—
I cannot see, I cannot feel;
For light, for life, I must appeal
In simple faith to Jesus.

He died, He lives, He reigns, He pleads;
There’s love in all His words and deeds;
There’s all a guilty sinner needs
Forevermore in Jesus.

Tho’ some should sneer, and some should blame,
I’ll go with all my guilt and shame;
I’ll go to Him because His Name,
Above all names, is Jesus.