{"id":4552,"date":"2015-03-26T17:14:03","date_gmt":"2015-03-26T21:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?p=4552"},"modified":"2015-03-26T17:14:03","modified_gmt":"2015-03-26T21:14:03","slug":"a-sovereign-protector-i-have","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?p=4552","title":{"rendered":"\u201cA Sovereign Protector I Have\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A lesser known contribution from<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cyberhymnal.org\/bio\/t\/o\/p\/toplady_am.htm\"> Augustus Toplady<\/a> is my poem of the week this week. It is a wonderful reflection on the comfort and assurance of the fact that in Christ the Almighty is our Protector.<\/p>\n<p>The bedrock truth of God\u2019s sovereign care over his people rooted in his covenant love is ever the foundation of true perseverance. Any sensible person is too aware of his own frailty and faults to bear up long if all he has to depend on is himself. The awareness of God\u2019s presence, throughout the Scriptures, motivates believers to stand fast. If God is for us who can be against us.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>A Sov\u2019reign Protector I have,<br \/>\nUnseen, yet forever at hand,<br \/>\nUnchangeably faithful to save,<br \/>\nAlmighty to rule and command.<br \/>\nHe smiles, and my comforts abound;<br \/>\nHis grace as the dew shall descend;<br \/>\nAnd walls of salvation surround<br \/>\nThe soul He delights to defend.<\/p>\n<p>Inspirer and Hearer of prayer,<br \/>\nThou Shepherd and Guardian of Thine,<br \/>\nMy all to Thy covenant care<br \/>\nI sleeping and waking resign.<br \/>\nIf Thou art my Shield and my Sun,<br \/>\nThe night is no darkness to me;<br \/>\nAnd fast as my moments roll on,<br \/>\nThey bring me but nearer to Thee.<\/p>\n<p>Kind Author, and ground of my hope,<br \/>\nThee, Thee, for my God I avow;<br \/>\nMy glad Ebenezer set up,<br \/>\nAnd own Thou hast helped me till now.<br \/>\nI muse on the years that are past,<br \/>\nWherein my defense Thou hast proved;<br \/>\nNor wilt Thou relinquish at last<br \/>\nA sinner so signally loved!<\/p>\n<p>Augustus Toplady<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A lesser known contribution from Augustus Toplady is my poem of the week this week. It is a wonderful reflection on the comfort and assurance of the fact that in Christ the Almighty is our Protector. The bedrock truth of God\u2019s sovereign care over his people rooted in his covenant love is ever the foundation &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?p=4552\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading &lsquo;\u201cA Sovereign Protector I Have\u201d&rsquo; &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,337],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4552"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4553,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4552\/revisions\/4553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}