Another good hymn is number 720:
God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.
But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.
Hymns, #720
Sing this hymn over and over again. Do not sing too loudly or too strongly, but sing softly. Then there is hymn 679:
Safe in the arms of Jesus,
Safe on His gentle breast,
There by His love o’ershaded,
Sweetly my soul doth rest.
Hark! ’tis a song of heaven
Borne in the sweetest voice,
Echoed by saints in spirit,
Making my heart rejoice.
Hymns, #679
Do not consider this as a hymn used during a funeral. Do not wait until you die to enjoy the arms of Jesus when you can enjoy them today.
The hymns we sing in the home meetings need not be fully in line with the fellowship in the meeting. Do not be legal. The hymns we select depend fully on whether we have the Spirit or not. If in your daily life you let the Lord make home in you, and if you are being transformed into His image by beholding His glory with unveiled face, then He will lead you. You will sense the nourishing and comforting within. The Lord may give you a hymn. Then you come to the meeting. You may be the first one in the meeting, but you do not need to wait for others. You just begin to sing, “Safe in the arms of Jesus....” As you sing, you bring the spiritual atmosphere into the meeting. Those who come later will join the singing and the meeting will begin spontaneously.
Brothers and sisters, you need to see that the key to the home meetings is that we live in the Lord in our daily life. We let the Lord make home in us, allowing Him the ground within us, and we are always before the Lord beholding Him. As the Lord gives you various feelings, you begin to sing different hymns. Then no matter which hymn you sing, you are always in the Spirit, and you will bring the spiritual atmosphere to the meeting. Please remember that we go to the meetings, especially the home meetings, not to attend a religious ceremony nor to hear some messages. We go to enjoy the Lord and to bring the Lord whom we have enjoyed to the meeting.
When we come to the meeting, I bring the Lord I have enjoyed, you bring the Lord you have enjoyed, he brings the Lord he has enjoyed. Is this not like the ancient Israelites coming to feast before God? They brought the top portion of their yearly harvest to offer to God, and God invited them to enjoy it together with Him. How sweet this is! We and He, God and man, enjoy together. This is the proper principle of the meeting of the believers. Therefore, we must have the home meetings. Without the home meetings it is difficult to attain to such a situation. It is only in the home meetings that what is within everyone can be easily developed.
I really love the home meetings, because in the big meetings structure cannot be avoided, but in the home meetings the atmosphere is very free. In our daily life we labor on the Lord, and when we come to the meeting each one brings something. This kind of meeting is a meeting in which we enjoy God and God enjoys us.