Posts for the ‘Updated Hymns’ Category
Posted June 1st, 2006
This great Trinitarian hymn comes from Gadsby's hymnal and does not have an author listed. It could be from the compiler of the second supplement, J C Philpot. As we sing this song we address each member of the Godhead, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, addressing each one with praises and petitions appropriate to His function and role within the trinity. We declare that the Father reigns over all things in majesty from His heavenly throne room, ask the Son to shed His Word in our hearts and in the world, and show us His loving, sympathetic heart. We ask the spirit to work out our faith and fill us with peace - not just any peace, gospel peace.
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Posted June 1st, 2006
There is a great need for modern worship songs about Jesus' second coming. Most older hymnals have a section about the second coming but hymns there usually focus on the judgment Jesus will render there. But for those who belong to Christ, this coming will be a truly joyful time. Believer, Jesus is certainly coming back for you. Let that truth settle deep in your soul and move you to worship Him with your voice and your life. When you are tempted to despair, remember 1 Peter 4:12-13: "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation."
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Posted June 1st, 2006
This powerful hymn from Isaac Watts ascribes wisdom, power, and majesty through song to the Lord our God. It looks ahead to the eternity in heaven that we will spend extolling and enjoying God in worship. In verse one we are exhorted to bring our humble praise before our King. Verse two declares that because of His love, God is preserving and will preserve us safely until we reach our final home. Then in verses three and four we look forward to the time when we will meet saints and angels around Jesus' throne and praise Him with everlasting songs. Perhaps Watts was thinking of Revelation 5:11-13: "Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.' And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, 'To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.'"
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Posted January 10th, 2006
This song should resonate in the hearts of anyone who has been born again longer than 30 seconds. One of the most besetting and annoying sins that believers deal with is that of being distracted, both in mind and heart from our true love, the Lord Jesus. The mind is one of the primary battlefields of the Christian life. We are commanded to "rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thess 5:16-18) and to set our minds only on things that are pure and lovely (Philippians 4:8). All too often we spend time and energy thinking of "the passing things of earth" (as Toplady describes them). We desperately want to be removed from all the noise and strife of life, particularly in private devotions. May this song be our prayer in our quiet times with the Lord.
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Posted January 7th, 2006
This song is a paraphrase of Psalm 95 and can function as a wonderful "call to worship," but thankfully doesn't just stop at encouraging the singers to stand and sing (like many contemporary worhsip songs). It goes much deeper, and reiterates the reasons why we worship Him and the means by which we can even worship to begin with. We give God thanks for His grace shown to us by Jesus "fixing our place" through His death and resurrection applied to us thorugh faith. To Him belongs a thousand joyful worship songs because He is the sovereign King over heaven and earth. And His sovereignty ultimately moves us to more than simply singing - in the last verse we sing about falling to our knees (either metaphorically, in our hearts or physically) because of the awesomeness of God's power and might.
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Posted December 27th, 2005
All Christians doubt their salvation from time to time. Satan, our remaining sin (called simply "the flesh"), and the sinfulness of the world cause us to take our eyes off of Jesus' work on the cross and focus on our own hopelessness and despair. If our salvation did depend on our own performance how miserably we would fail! But thanks be to God that we need simply to remind ourselves along with this song that:
Has not Jesus died for sin?
Did He not in resurrection
Victory o'er Satan win?
When we doubt God's salvation and despair at our own lack of holiness, let us remember the gospel, that Jesus died for sinners, including me.
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Posted December 27th, 2005
This hymn from hymn-writer Albert Midlane describes the doctrine of "the Perseverance of the Saints," the precious truth that true believers will remain in the faith and persevere to the end. We know this from passages like Philippians 1:6 - "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." We will persevere because the same God who caused us to be born again will cause us to remain. This does not mean that we can sit back and just assume that we are safe because we trust in Jesus now. Rather, the biblical exhortation is to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12) and to "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith." (2 Cor 13:5). Even though we are commanded to strive for holiness, we are so thankful that our faith doesn't depend on our own efforts, but on God's grace. May these truths be on our hearts as we sing this song.
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Posted December 27th, 2005
This song expresses the intimate love that is possible between a Christian and the Lord Jesus. The culminating desire of a love this deep is to be joined together with our Lord when we finally depart from this world and go home to be with Him in heaven. The Bible portrays believers as the bride of Christ in the final chapters of Revelation. Husbands are exhorted to "love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her." (Ephesians 5:25) The most intimate love possible in this world, marriage, is but a picture of the love that can and will exist between Jesus and His people. So it is right and fitting to sing such intimate and tender lyrics like "seal me upon Your arm, and wear that pledge of love forever there" (v. 1) and "but I am jealous of my heart, lest it should once from You depart" (v. 3). May songs like this help us feel love for Jesus, a love that is better even than romantic love.
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Posted April 9th, 2005
We welcome songwriter Nathan Copeland to Reformed Praise and are proud to offer his version of Be Still, My Soul! This beloved song has been a staple of worship for generations of Christians. These comforting lyrics describe the believer's desire to command their soul, as it were, to rest and trust in God. The phrase "be still," probably comes from Mark 4:30, where Jesus commands the wind and sea to be still, an act that brought His disciples to acknowledge Him as Lord and worship Him. In like manner, we want Jesus to command our souls to be still from grief, pain, fear of the future, and the death of loved ones. In the fourth verse, we realize that our soul will ultimately be still when we leave behind this sinful, grief-filled world for our heavenly home. The things described in verses 1-3 that cause our soul to be "unstill" are proclaimed to be "gone", "forgot", and "past".
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Posted March 14th, 2005
This hymn was originally written by Horatius Bonar, who has been called the prince of the Scottish hymnwriters. In it we are reminded of how God invites us to bring our sins to Jesus not just initially when we come to Christ for justification, but repeatedly as we continue to become trapped in the guilt and shame of our remaining sin. The chorus was added with Revelation 3:19-20 in mind, an often-misquoted passage about God's invitation to believers to repent and return to Him. "Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me." Jesus is speaking to the church in Laodicea which had become "lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold" in thier deeds of righteousness. This song explores WHY we can bring our sins to Jesus, giving us peaceful trust that He is willing, able, and ready to forgive and restore sweet communion with Himself to us when we ask.
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