Prepare to Meet Thy God

 

1  

Careless soul, why will you linger,  

Wand’ring from the fold of God?  

Hear you not the invitation?  

Oh, prepare to meet thy God.  

2  

Why so thoughtless are you standing,  

While the fleeting years go by,  

And your life is spent in folly?  

Oh, prepare to meet thy God. 

3  

Hear you not the earnest pleadings  

Of your friends that wish you well?  

And perhaps before tomorrow  

You’ll be called to meet your God. 

4  

If you spurn the invitation  

Till the Spirit shall depart,  

Then you’ll see your sad condition,  

Unprepared to meet thy God. 

Refrain:  

Careless soul, oh, heed the warning,  

For your life will soon be gone;  

Oh, how sad to face the judgment,  

Unprepared to meet thy God.      

Author: James H. Stanley   

 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.    

Ecclesiastes 12:14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.    

Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.

 This song, along with many others, is often used as an "invitation" song at the end of the sermon in many Christian churches, especially those of the baptist/pentecostal varieties. Sometimes known as the "altar call," this is an opportunity for congregants to come forward and make a confession of sin and ask for prayers, or request to become a member of the church, or to rededicate themselves to their original commitment to Christ. The invitation song is a sort of pregnant pause, an anticipatory moment in evangelical churches, with their focus on "winning souls for Christ." It is often fraught with emotion, particularly in special worship services such as "revival" meetings.