We're Marching to Zion

Come we that love the Lord

And let your joys be known

Join in the song with sweet accord

Join in the some with sweet accord

And thus around the throne

And thus around the throne

We're marching to Zion

Beautiful, beautiful Zion

We're marching upward to Zion

The beautiful city of God.

            Whenever I sing that hymn I always find myself marching.  I mean, I don't actually march in this wheelchair of mine, but I sure do march in my heart.  I want to keep in step with the Spirit just like it says in the book of Galatians.  And often (not always) but many, many times I sense that the Spirit of God loves to march.  When I'm, let's say, on the road delivering wheelchairs and Bibles with our Joni and Friends' teams, or when I'm heading to Family Retreats as I'm doing this time of year, I can almost hear the rustling in the tops of the trees (remember that story in II Samuel when David heard the marching of the Lord's Army in the tops of the balsam trees?)  Well, it says in II Samuel that God went marching - isn't that something; isn't that a great word -- out ahead of them.  And I love that image of the Spirit of God on the march. 

            Because, friend, when you're marching, -- and just remember doing that when you were a little kid, right - you really are moving to a different tune.  It's a battle cry; it's invigorating.  The Lord your God is a victorious warrior, that's what it says elsewhere in the Bible, and you know as well as I do there is a hotly contested battle going on in the world right now - a spiritual battle - that requires that we stay alert.  Second Timothy, chapter 2 tells us to endure hardship just like a good soldier of Jesus Christ.  Friend, we're soldiers and our battle cry?  You know what it is, don't you -- Jesus is Lord!  And our destination at the end of this march? just like today's hymn says - it's Zion, the city of the Living God.  We are marching to Zion and we are following in the train of our Savior, we're taking captivity captive... we're reclaiming earth as rightfully the Lord's... holding our shield of faith high and our sword of the Spirit in our hand. 

            What tune do you move to today?  To be honest, it may be a quiet tune... it may be a time of spiritual rest for you, a time of reflection.  But it won't be long.  Just remember God is a victorious warrior and you're going to hear a battle cry and if we're to keep in step with His Spirit, you'll soon be on the move... you'll be on a march.

MUSIC: Marching To Zion;   WORDS:  Isaac Watts, 1707; MUSIC: Robert Lowry, 1867  Public Domain

               Used by permission of JONI AND FRIENDS  P.O. Box 3333  Agoura Hills, CA 91376

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