One week until Thanksgiving! Rich worked late last night so the kids and I sat on the couches after dinner and sang hymns for about half an hour. The little ones don’t sing with us, but I was thrilled when I heard David (5yrs) humming and singing “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” yesterday while coloring. . . . .(they are listening even it doesn’t seem like they are!)
The words to this particular hymn are beautiful. What is your favorite line?
Sing Praise To God
Sing praise to God Who reigns above, the God of all creation,
The God of power, the God of love, the God of our salvation.
With healing balm my soul is filled and every faithless murmur stilled:
To God all praise and glory.
What God’s almighty power hath made His gracious mercy keepeth,
By morning glow or evening shade His watchful eye ne’er sleepeth;
Within the kingdom of His might, Lo! all is just and all is right:
To God all praise and glory.
The Lord is never far away, but through all grief distressing,
An ever present help and stay, our peace and joy and blessing.
As with a mother’s tender hand, God gently leads the chosen band:
To God all praise and glory.
Thus, all my toilsome way along, I sing aloud Thy praises,
That earth may hear the grateful song my voice unwearied raises.
Be joyful in the Lord, my heart, both soul and body bear your part:
To God all praise and glory.
Let all who name Christ’s holy Name give God all praise and glory;
Let all who own His power proclaim aloud the wondrous story!
Cast each false idol from its throne, for Christ is Lord, and Christ alone:
To God all praise and glory.
written by Johann J. Schutz, 1640-1690
I will sing praise
to the name of the Lord
most high
Psalm 7:17
*****
“Praising God is one of the highest and
purest acts of religion.
In prayer we act like men;
in praise we act like angels.” Thomas Watson
*****
“Self-love may lead us
to prayers, but love
to God excites us to praises” Thomas Manton
*****
“Praise shall conclude that work which prayer began.” William Jenkyn
Good to be Home 
‘…as with a mother’s tender hand, God gently leads the chosen band.’ What a responsibility to portray Christ to the children!
Learning new hymns is a joy. Our three year old loves ‘Rescue the Perishing’.
“With healing balm my soul is filled and every faithless murmur stilled”What a beautifully written hymn! I don’t believe I’ve ever heard it before.Oh, and I love that David was humming “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.” I needed the reminder that our kids not only pick up our “bad” but our “good” as well…
It is difficult to choose a favorite line in that song, but these words blessed me when I read the words this morning.
“An ever present help and stay, our peace and joy and blessing”
Sorry, can’t pick one. I love the old hymns. We do song time every night too and mix old and new stuff. We love the online cyberhymnal.
My favorite: “With healing balm my soul is filled and every faithless murmur stilled:To God all praise and glory”
Goodness. I don’t know which to choose. I’m learning so much about prayer, praise and being thankful…the whole song speaks to me and brings tears to my weary eyes. I think you must have all three-prayer, praise and thanks or your response to Him is incomplete. They all work together–the praise puts God in His place (in a good way!), the thanks puts me in my place (no more whining!!!), and the prayer unites the two of us. He is so good; my heart overflows.
My favorite hymn is “Be Thou my Vision” My favorite verse is..
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
It is good when parents still teach the great hymns of the faith to their children. The first one I remember learning was “Rock of Ages.” I am not familiar with this particular hymn but if I had to chose a line in it that speaks to me the most it would be the last one. “Cast each false idol from its throne, for Christ is Lord, and Christ alone: to God all praise and glory.” Often, self is on the throne and there are “idols” in my life that hinder praise. The Lord knows my heart and the struggle if face; I am constantly “casting down” but I will not accept defeat. Praise comes when I submit to His reign in my life and realize that I am nothing without Him.
“Self-love may lead us to prayers, but love to God excites us to praises” how true! such beautiful words shared here ~ thanks.and thanks too for the words of encouragement you shared on my post… so timely and needed. I’m THANKFUL for God allowing our paths to cross. 🙂 I’ve been blessed by YOU!!love~ a.
“Let all who own His power proclaim aloud the wondrous story!” As a child of God, I “own His power”. Wow! Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.
“Be joyful in the Lord, my heart, both soul and body bear your part” – Praising Him with all of me. I have loved singing hymns with my Davy. We used to have a piano and I would pick out the melodies and we would sing them. We also did some studies of hymns and of great composers and looked over the deep meaning in the words. One year when we had just finished studying Handels Messiah we went to a concert at my older son Nick’s college. The last portion of the program “just happened” to be Handel’s Messiah. ( no just happened with God!) I love it when the Spirit works in the music and words and lays them into our hearts. I will sometimes wake up at night and be in the middle of a song….then I know for sure my spirit is praising even when I sleep! Have a blessed day! Jenny
ryc: no actually, my birthday is tomorrow (friday). It has been fun to celebrate all week long!
“By morning glow or evening shade His watchful eye ne’er sleepeth;” I love that! He is always there, watching me, taking care of me, guiding me, chastising me. Such a wonderful promise. I sang along as I read all the words. :)I hope you’re having a good day.
thanks a lot for the comments/encouragement/wisdom. I really enjoy your blogs– what a beautiful family you have. You are blessed!
“What God’s almighty power hath made His gracious mercy keepeth,By morning glow or evening shade His watchful eye ne’er sleepeth;”
Now this line to me is so reassuring. God is always on the job, so to speak. He is mighty and all powerful, and oh so merciful towards us!
Thanks you for posting this!
Nadine
Since I love the out-of-doors and what we’ve seen of God’s creation in the last several weeks, I guess the first phrase “Sing praise to God Who reigns above, the God of all creation, the God of power, the God of love, the God of our Salvation” struck me. “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” Isaiah 12:2. I too sang along as I read those words.
So many meaningful lines — thank you for sharing this hymn! I guess if I were to choose one line, it would be “Cast each false idol from its throne, for Christ is Lord, and Christ alone” because that is the truth that the Lord is pressing upon my heart this week. 🙂
I love the part about “As with a mother’s tender hand, God gently leads the chosen band”
So often we forget how God loves us so tenderly. If we were to remember that, would we so easily leave his side?
I would choose the last verse.Beautiful words.
I love old hymns and it seems they’re being pushed away by the new praise music. I learned so many of them in my childhood and they remain with me and comfort me. I love the single photo.
Pick a favorite? Wow right now I’m thinking of “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and rightesness . . .On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand . . . ” Thankyou for sharing your thoughts. We’ll spend all eternity giving praise to our God who deserves so much more than us wretches. Glory to God in the highest! Worthy is the Lamb!