~ By Evangelist John BJ Hall ~
I had been in the ministry since I was eighteen years of age. While I was a freshman at Oklahoma Baptist University I served as part-time music and youth director for First Baptist Church, Arcadia, Oklahoma.
There were some traumatic events that took place in my life during that year. As a result, I dropped out of OBU and tendered my resignation at Arcadia. I went back to Sapulpa, broke up with my fiancé and quit a part-time job I had in Tulsa.
I then moved in with my parents in Disney, Oklahoma. Daddy was pastor of First Baptist Church there. He asked me to go on visitation with him. Every house we visited had a young lady about my age. I didn’t fall off the turnip truck. I knew what he was trying to do. And I was having none of it.
On January 6, 1970, we drove up a long hill for another visit. He would always have me knock on the door. I knocked on the door and before I knew it the most beautiful young woman I had ever seen was looking up at me with her deep brown eyes. I was speechless. But I knew one thing for sure. I was going to marry that girl and spend the rest of my life with her.
We were both shy. But I wasn’t about to let her get away. On Thursday night of that same week, I asked her to marry me. And praise the Lord, she said yes. Toward the end of February, I asked her dad for her hand in marriage. His response was amazing. “I’ve been wondering what was taking you so long.”
We began planning our wedding and on May 29, 1970, we walked down the aisle at First Baptist Church, Disney, Oklahoma and made our vows to one another and to our Lord. Shortly after our marriage, a church on the eastern edge of Oklahoma (Poynor Baptist Church) asked me to come and be their pastor.
There has never been a time when I wanted to do anything other than to serve my Lord. My prayer was and remains to this day “I want to be wholly Thine, Jesus. I want to serve you every day of my life.”
Is there any better thing in life than to be wholly committed to the Lord? I think not. D. L. Moody heard two men standing outside the shoe store where he worked. One said, “We have yet to see what God can do through a man wholly committed unto God.” Moody said to himself, “By the grace of God, I will be that man.”
Yet on his deathbed, after a life of service to the Lord, D. L. Moody said these words, “We have yet to see what God can do through a man wholly committed unto God.”
Now at 67 years of age, I have come to the realization that I too have fallen short of the mark in my life. I am grateful for the helpmeet that the Lord has given me. I definitely "married above myself." Connie remains my best friend and most powerful prayer warrior. God has truly blessed me. We have two awesome children that are each serving the Lord in their own right. And of course, the grandchildren are the icing on the cake. And now, some beautiful step-great-grandkids have come into our lives.
My prayer remains, “I want to be wholly Thine, Jesus. I want to serve you every day of my life.”
King David said, “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. 7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, 8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. 9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. 10 I have not hidden thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.” Psalm 40:6-10 (KJV)
Wholly Thine
Wholly Thine, my Lord and King,
‘Tis the anthem I will sing.
As you gave your all for me,
So I give my all to Thee.
All I am, I give to You,
For that’s all that I can do,
So, my Lord, the world will see,
How that they can come to Thee.
Savior, you have done so much,
I have felt Your loving touch.
I’ll give that love to others too,
For that’s why Love came down from You.
You have done so much for me,
On the cross, You set me free.
So wholly Thine, my Lord and King,
‘Tis the anthem I will sing.
© Copyright 1985 by Passages Ministries. All rights reserved.
For permission to use this song contact Passages Ministries.