1. Christ Receiveth Sinful Men 2. Ye Must Be Born Again 3. Amazing Grace 4. Grace! ’Tis a Charming Sound 5. Grace Greater Than Our Sin 6. Saved by Grace 7. Wonderful Grace of Jesus 8. Depth of Mercy 9. There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy 10. Art Thou Weary? 11. I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say 12. The Ninety and Nine 13. Let Jesus Come Into Your Heart 14. Room at the Cross for You 15. In Times Like These 16. Just As I Am 17. Jesus Is All the World to Me 18. Saved, Saved! 19. Now I Belong to Jesus 20. The Solid Rock 21. My Faith Has Found a Resting Place 22. In Jesus 23. I’d Rather Have Jesus 24. Satisfied 25. O Happy Day 26. No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus 27. My Sins Are Blotted Out, I Know! 28. The Haven of Rest 29. Christ Liveth in Me 30. Why Do I Sing About Jesus?
MY COUNTRY, ’TIS OF THEE Samuel Francis Smith, 1808–1895 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He chose for His inheritance. (Psalm 33:12) Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants. —William Penn Moved deeply by the desire to create a national hymn that would allow the American people to offer praise to God for our wonderful land, a 24 year-old theological student penned these lines on a scrap of paper in less than 30 minutes in 1832. Yet even today many consider “My Country, ’Tis of Thee” their favorite patriotic hymn and call it our “unofficial national anthem.” The easily singable words of the song are matched with a popular international melody used by many nations, including England, where it accompanies “God Save the King/Queen.” The emotionally powerful ideas that Smith expressed had an immediate response. The hymn soon became a national favorite. The stirring tributes to our fatherland in the first three stanzas lead to a worshipful climax of gratefulness to God and a prayer for His continued guidance. Following his graduation from Harvard and the Andover Theological Seminary, Samuel Smith became an outstanding minister in several Baptist churches in the East. He composed 150 hymns during his 87 years and helped compile the leading Baptist hymnal of his day. He was also editor of a missionary magazine through which he exerted a strong influence in promoting the cause of missions. Later he became the secretary of the Baptist Missionary Union and spent considerable time visiting various foreign fields. Samuel Smith was truly a distinctive representative of both his country and his God. My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing: Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims’ pride, from ev’ry mountain side let freedom ring! My native country, thee, land of the noble free, thy name I love: I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills; my heart with rapture thrills like that above. Let music swell the breeze, and ring from all the trees sweet freedom’s song: Let mortal tongues awake; let all that breathe partake; let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong. Our father’s God, to Thee, author of liberty, to Thee we sing: Long may our land be bright with freedom’s holy light; protect us by Thy might, great God, our King!
For Today: Psalm 33; Matthew 22:21; Acts 10:35; Romans 13:1–7
Spend time thinking of the many wonderful positive aspects of our great land and give praise to God for all of His past blessings. Pray for His continued guidance and protection in future days. Carry this musical message as you go—
BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC Julia Ward Howe, 1819–1910 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. (Psalm 20:7) To have implicit trust in God’s faithful care and protection is never easy in times of danger or strife. Yet even in the midst of the terrible Civil War between the Northern and Southern states, a remarkable woman named Julia Ward Howe proclaimed her confidence in God’s triumphant power in this inspiring text. Deeply anguished at the growing conflict between the two sections of the country, Mrs. Howe watched troops marching off to war singing “John Brown’s Body,” a song about a man who had been hanged in his efforts to free the slaves. Julia felt that the catchy camp meeting tune should have better words. In a desire to phrase her own feelings about the dreadful events of the time, she “scrawled the verses almost without looking at the paper.” The national hymn first appeared in the Atlantic Monthly Magazine in 1862, as a battle song for the republic. Before long the entire nation became inspired by her text and united in singing the new words with the old tune. Mrs. Howe’s hymn has been acclaimed through the years as one of our finest patriotic songs. At one time it was sung as a solo at a large rally attended by President Abraham Lincoln. After the audience had responded with loud applause, the President, with tears in his eyes, cried out, “Sing it again!” It was sung again. And after more than a hundred years, Americans still join often in proclaiming, “Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on!” Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on. I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps; they have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps; His day is marching on. He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat; O be swift, my soul, to answer Him; be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on. In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, with a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me; as He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free! While God is marching on. Refrain: Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
For Today: 2 Chronicles 7:14; Psalm 33:12; 144:15; 1 Peter 2:16
How can we best express our gratitude for those who have died defending their country? Try to honor them by continuing to support the truths for which they fought. Sing as you go—
AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL Katharine Lee Bates, 1859–1929 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. (Proverbs 14:34) After what I owe to God, nothing should be more dear or more sacred to me than the love and respect I owe to my country. —Jacques Auguste de Thou Each time we join together in singing the vividly descriptive lines of “America the Beautiful,” we are moved emotionally as we contemplate the wonders of our great nation. The scenic beauties, the courage of the early settlers, and the sacrifices of heroes in battle all stir us to avid appreciation of our country’s heritage. But this national hymn does more than inspire us to praise our great nation. It also encourages us to pray for it. Each stanza is completed with an earnest plea for God’s grace, God’s healing, and His refining until we as a people achieve true brotherhood, law-abiding control, and nobility. The author felt deeply about the message of her patriotic hymn: We must match the greatness of our country with the goodness of personal godly living. If only we could couple the daring of the Pilgrims with the moral teachings of Moses, we would have something in this country that no one could ever take from us. As we consider this hymn, we are reminded that America owes its birth to the living, vital and dynamic faith in God that our founding fathers demonstrated. There is a real need today for a return to such a national dependence upon God as well as a renewed pride in our wonderful land. Katherine Bates, who was a teacher and head of the English department at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, wrote the original lines of this text in 1893, while teaching summer school in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where the Rocky Mountains and Pike’s Peak had especially impressed her. O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain! America, America! God shed His grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea. O beautiful for pilgrim feet, whose stern, impassioned stress a thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness! America! America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw, confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law. O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine, till all success be nobleness, and ev’ry gain divine. O beautiful for patriot dream that sees, beyond the years, thine alabaster cities gleam—undimmed by human tears! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
For Today: Isaiah 32:17; Romans 13:1–7; 1 Peter 2:13–17
Give thanks to God for the noble heritage and the many beauties of our great country He has entrusted to us. Raise your voice in praise to God and country—
O PERFECT LOVE Dorothy B. Gurney, 1858–1932 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. (Ephesians 5:31) A perfect union of selfless and totally committed love, not an indulgent form of physical gratification, is God’s plan for the human race. Kindness, patience, forgiveness, and demonstrated affection for each other are the ingredients of a happy marriage. The desire to put the needs and interests of one’s mate first before your own is the basis of matrimonial harmony. Marriage has been instituted by God to be a picture of the sacrificial and unending love of Christ for His bride, the church, and the bride’s loving and devoted responses to her Lord. Yet today we see an epidemic of broken marriages, lack of genuine faithfulness, self-centered conflicts between husbands and wives—even among professing Christians. A beautiful portrayal of ideal married love is given in this wedding hymn as it describes the harmony that exists when God is the foundation of the marriage relationship. Dorothy Gurney, an English woman, was asked by her sister, who was soon to be married, if she would try writing some suitable words for a favorite hymn tune that could be used at the wedding. Dorothy went off by herself for only 15 minutes and returned with the text of “O Perfect Love.” Her sister was delighted with it and insisted that it be sung at the wedding. Mrs. Gurney stated that the writing of the hymn “was no effort whatever after the initial idea had come to me of the two-fold aspect of perfect union—love and life—and I have always felt that God helped me write it.” Although this was the only hymn she wrote, it has been recognized as one of the finest wedding texts in the English language. O perfect love, all human thought transcending, lowly we kneel in prayer before Thy throne, that theirs may be the love which knows no ending, whom thou forevermore dost join in one. O perfect life, be Thou their full assurance of tender charity and steadfast faith, of patient hope, and quiet, brave endurance, with child-like trust that fears nor pain nor death. Grant them the joy which brightens earthly sorrow; grant them the peace which calms all earthly strife, and to life’s day the glorious unknown morrow that dawns upon eternal love and life!
For Today: Genesis 2:18–25; Mark 10:7–9; Ephesians 5:21–33; 1 Peter 3:7
Reflect on this statement: “A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.” Determine to let your marriage more fully imitate Christ’s love for His bride, the Church.
This is my personal collection of thoughts and writings, mainly from much smarter people than I, which challenge me in my discipleship walk. Don't rush by these thoughts, but ponder them.
Milo 