Jesus loves me this I know


I have been inspired over the years by the ministry of Bible teacher and author Judson Cornwall. I once heard him tell the story of his brother Robert, who was pastor of a small church in Salem Oregon USA. He looked to supplement his struggling income as a counsellor at a local state psychiatric hospital. When he arrived they took him to Room 37. The sight that greeted Cornwall took his breath away. This was a padded room reserved for the most severe psychotic patients who walked around in a drug—induced daze, half naked, some in nappies, some just defecating on the floor.
These people were no longer being treated, but, like caged animals, they were being controlled. This was many decades ago, before the sophisticated medical and psychiatric treatments of today. The Lord whispered to Cornwall: ‘Sit on the floor.’ Robert sat in the middle of filth. The Lord said: ‘Sing a song.’ From deep within he began singing, ‘Yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me — the Bible tells me so. After an hour he was let out. A week later he returned to work and was taken back to Room 37! Again, he sang this song — this time a large black woman, touched deep in her being, drawn by love, sat behind him and joined in the song. He kept this up every visit. Within one month thirty-six of the patients had been transferred to self-help wards; and in less than a year all but two were released from the mental institution. In a year thirty-six had left hospital and two were members of his church. Oh, how the church needs to know God’s love. That love which sets life in order. That love which expands our heart for God, fuels our passion for worship and fills our language of praise. Worship, true worship, is the adoring of the
adored — the church of the Beloved, loving the Lover.

Simon Ponsonby

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From the book “Amazed by Jesus”

Available on amazon.co.uk*

Available on amazon.com*



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