hi guysss! so today I'm sharing a hymn that has a special place in my heart. it soothes the soul so well! it's like chicken soup for the soul.
it amazes me how Fanny Crosby, the hymn writer was blind when she wrote her hymns. God is interesting, right?! He does wonderful things through the most unlikely of humans.
To God be the glory, great things He has done; So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, Who yielded His life an atonement for sin, And opened the life gate that all may go in.
Refrain
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear His voice! Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice! O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son, And give Him the glory, great things He has done.
O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood, To every believer the promise of God; The vilest offender who truly believes, That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
Refrain
Great things He has taught us, great things He has done, And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son; But purer, and higher, and greater will be Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.
Refrain
Let them give glory to the LORD And declare His praise in the coastlands.// isaiah 42:12
"For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea.// hubakkuk 2:14
I will praise the name of God with song And magnify Him with thanksgiving.// psalm 69:30
I would
like to encourage you that no matter what you're facing, praising the
Lord is the answer to unlock the door He has promised to open for you.
giving Him the glory
makes you focus on Him despite the attacks and schemes of the enemy. and
worship does something wonderful. never stop worshiping. give God the
glory.
welcome to the first day of the month of march! i hope February treated you well. the hymn i'm sharing today is one of my favs. it reminds me the the Word of God (who is the person of Jesus), is the most important book i can ever read.
i get to know the heart of Jesus as i read His love letters each day. they rebuke me and correct me and most importantly, they remind me that i am loved by my Darling Jesus. and this love, His love, changes everything. i journal what He teaches me each day when i read to get to know more about Him and how my relationship with Him will thrive.
ancient words by michael w. smith
Holy words long preserved
For our walk in this world,
They resound with god's own heart
Oh, let the ancient words impart.
Words of life, words of hope
Give us strength, help us cope
In this world, where e'er we roam
Ancient words will guide us home.
Chorus:
Ancient words ever true
Changing me, and changing you.
We have come with open hearts
Oh let the ancient words impart.
Holy words of our faith
Handed down to this age.
Came to us through sacrifice
Oh heed the faithful words of Christ.
Holy words long preserved
For our walk in this world.
They resound with god's own heart
Oh let the ancient words impart.
Chorus x4
We have come with open hearts
Oh let the ancient words impart.
"and these words which i command you today shall be in your heart. you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."// deuteronomy 6:6-9
"My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you."// galatians 4:19
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth."// John 1:14
Jesus is formed in me day by day as i spend time with Him, the Word. i get to know what He likes, dislikes... i get to understand why He asks me to do certain things.
and hopefully, people out there who don't read the Bible get to see humans who are showing Jesus so well by the way they live so much so that unbelievers will be convicted to believe in Jesus.
some of the major truths in the Bible are:
"for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus) that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting Life" //John 3:16
"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’This is the first commandment.And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” // mark 12:30-31
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things..And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love..// 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 13
so have you been reading and meditating on the Word lately, have you been teaching the truths hidden in the love letters of Father to your children, nephews, nieces, grand kids, stranger kids, kids in your church, kids on the street, your friends and colleagues, your siblings, your family? i hope you do. and i hope that you use the Word practically in Your life because Father always has a word from His Word to encourage our weary hearts in every situation that we find ourselves in.
heya! i'd like to introduce a new line of songs i'd be blogging about. guesssss!!!!
hymns!!! :D i grew up mostly catholic and got to learn and sing a lot of hymns plus i went to an all-girls catholic senior high school too. but well, with time i grew out of being catholic. i guess i desired something more, not to mention that i had a tad load of excuses to give not to go for mass on sundays especially during vacation times from school. a great deal of my sundays during my university life was my laundry time and watching unnecessary tv series + movies.
lemme pause on this bit of the story and tell you about "why hymns?" considering it's 1:22 am and i awfully need me some beauty sleep.
so the long and short of my story about hymns is that, i sang them alright in church, but i didn't ever bother to actually hunt them down, learn the lyrics and collect them on my playlist. i found them too slow and well sometimes 'boring' but these days, i've been pondering on how Father says in His love letters to us that we need to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to encourage ourselves. actually, all the 3 worship camps at which i recently served as one of the camp ministers had ephesians 5:18-19 as the key scripture. and i'm being reminded how hymns actually have deep meaning to their words. and you know ya girl, she likes deep. ;) i find the words of hymns carrying so much depth, so much weight. the depth that actually moves you to think some more on eternity and Jesus and the meaning of the lives we are living on this fleeting earth. this depth obviously comes from some of the difficult personal experiences of the composers. and this hymn...hark the voice of Jesus calling...there's just something about it. i came across it twice last month on 1st december and the second time a few days after that. the first encounter was when after going back to facebook after 3 years of deactivating my facebook account, i saw it on a friend's facebook wall. i didn't know why then, but the words meant something more to me than mere lyrics and i read each line with intrigue. the second encounter with this hymn was a few days after the first encounter. when i realized it was the same hymn that intrigued me on my friend's FB wall i went like, this hymn again! i shook my head in quiet disbelief but somehow smiled too. as i sang it with some lovely humans after a much convicting message about missions and missionaries, i just knew God was talking to me. as i sang this beautiful and compelling hymn, i couldn't withhold the tears. they flowed down unhindered and i wasn't in the least ashamed. i let them flow as Jesus was tugging at my heart yet again about what He had been telling me way back in 2013 before i actually went on a missions trip to south africa and swaziland about serving Him in ministry as a missionary. i just knew encountering this soul stirring hymn on both occasions wasn't some coincidence. (i'll fill you guys in on more details about the call Jesus has on my life to be a missionary + teacher). so as i offer this hymn to you, as i share the richness of its lines with you, i hope it somehow moves you to ask Father what He wants you to do about its message, should you go for a short term missions trip? has He called you to be a full time missionary? ask Him, talk it over with Him. in matthew 28:19 Jesus says we should GO and make disciples of all nations. every Christian is a default missionary wherever they find themselves.
there's just something about soulful hymns. really, there is.
enjoy this lovely goodness. :)
Hark, the Voice of Jesus Calling// Daniel March
Hark, the voice of Jesus calling,
"Who will go and work today?
Fields are white and harvests waiting,
Who will bear the sheaves away?"
Loud and long the master calls you;
Rich reward He offers free.
Who will answer, gladly saying,
"Here am I. Send me, send me"?
If you cannot speak like angels,
If you cannot preach like Paul,
You can tell the love of Jesus;
You can say He died for all.
If you cannot rouse the wicked
With the judgment’s dread alarms,
You can lead the little children
To the Savior’s waiting arms.
If you cannot be a watchman,
Standing high on Zion’s wall,
Pointing out the path to heaven,
Offering life and peace to all,
With your prayers and with your bounties
You can do what God demands;
You can be like faithful Aaron,
Holding up the prophet’s hands.
Let none hear you idly saying,
"There is nothing I can do,"
While the multitudes are dying
And the master calls for you.
Take the task He gives you gladly;
Let His work your pleasure be.
Answer quickly when He calls you,
"Here am I. Send me, send me!"
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”// Isaiah 6:8
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples: "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field." // Matthew 9: 35-38 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord. // ephesians 5:18-19 "Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts." // colossians 3:16 "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose." // acts 16:25-26 singing hymns is a very powerful tool against the enemy. it causes miracles, it helps me to dwell and ponder on Jesus some more and on things that actually matter on this side of heaven. I hope this hymn means something deep to you after sticking it out with me, reading all my words above. i promise, i didn't mean to write so much, it just kinda happened. ;) well, so Jesus desires for us, His children and friends to obey Him and share His gift of eternal salvation with others. you are a default missionary where you are. what is your response?
