I was preaching today at a local church – a really good bunch of people and a crew who I always enjoy being with. But after my thoughts yesterday, I couldn’t help noticing how many songs were crying out to God to ‘revive us’ or to ‘revive’ the people around us. It is a very significant motif in our western thinking.
I found it very hard to sing the first few songs.
But then there was this song from Matt Redman
I could sing again…
Thanks Matt for a song that isn’t all about me and reminds us that God is still God whether my life is wonderfully prosperous or desperately difficult.
Blessed Be Your Name mulan divx movie online
by Matt Redman
Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
Blessed Be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be Your name
When the sun’s shining down on me
When the world’s ‘all as it should be’
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name
yep, my favorite. i love that it doesn’t ask God to save us or rescue us from the crap of life.
🙂
I like this one. When I had just crashed my car (and thereby lost my pizza delivery job) this is the song I played when I got home.
If Job was a singer, I doubt he would have sung it as upbeat as this one is often done. (“My Redeemer Lives” might have sounded different as well).
Yeah – that’s true Eric – it is tad upbeat for some of the lyrics – but maybe (ironically?) its in that tone that there is power!
Yep, I think Matt Redman has given us a goodie here. I believe it and it’s very hard to sing or say. “You give and take away, my heart will choose to say, Blessed be Your name” is not something you clap along to the day after your younger brother is diagnosed with incurable cancer. But this I believe.
yeah it’s one of those song you can’t just brush over – if you’re singing it you need to understand it, and believe it.
there’s no power in it unless you do that.
i love it
yeah – thought it might strike a chord with you guys
I heard of one church that has changed it to ,’You give not take away’.
Wonder what their theology is…
Yeah I love this song! I do wonder though what is so “wrong” with a heartfelt cry for God to “revive” us. Is this not merely expressing an awareness of our own weaknesses and inadequacies and a corresponding desire fornot simply a genuine response to Jesus’ call: “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand”? Or is it just the associated pictures and experiences that come with the word “Revival”?
Sorry I stuffed up my previous comment. It was supposed to read:
Yeah I love this song! I do wonder though what is so “wrong” with a heartfelt cry for God to “revive” us. Is this not merely expressing an awareness of our own weaknesses and inadequacies and a corresponding desire for God to fill us with his Spirit? Could it not simply be a genuine response to Jesus’ call: “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand”? Or is it just the associated pictures and experiences that come with the word “Revival”?
As i see it Andrew way too much emphasis gets placed on God doing something in us before we do something ‘in us’.
When you use ‘revive us’ what do you mean by it?
Awaken us from our slumber, stir us from our laziness, empower us, breathe your Spirit into us…
‘Awaken us from our slumber, stir us from our laziness’…. God the heavenly alarm clock? Sorry that was very cynical of me :p
I hear you Andrew, but I wonder if this is a ‘both/and’ scenario also where we don’t hear enough of the responsibility accepted by us?
Without the presense of God, there is no power.
Without God, the builders labour in vain.
I have no problem with asking God to empower what we do….without Him, its all wood and stubble.
I love the Matt Redman song, but I also have no problem with asking God to revive us, we need His power, and sometimes we need a kick up the bum as well.
I am a huge fan of this song, it totally resonates in my heart. And I kinda like the upbeatness it is often sung with, I feel like it is a proclamation – blessed be the name of the Lord, no matter what – my heart will choose to say – sometimes it’s a choice to praise God when life is getting you down, or even when it’s not!
Mark E, do we need to ask God to empower what we do? Or, does He empower what we do?
I think it was Bono that said ‘Don’t ask God to bless what you’re doing, get involved in what God is doing, because it’s already blessed.’
Mark R….. “you don’t have because you don’t ask”
I strongly believe in asking God to empower what we do….
I believe in spiritual warfare….and spiritual warfare needs prayer….
Do we need to ask God? God is not some slot machine…but there is a reason God’s preferred name for Himself is Father…
And I dont think the HS is a non feeling force…He is God too….and I think we should ask Him to bless and empower us…
I agree with Hamos call for their to be a redress to the ‘name it and claim it’ crowd…but I also wonder how often we could see far more happen in our lives and ministries if we devoted ourselves to prayer more…as well as doing the practical… very often God will use us as an answer to our own prayers…
Hmm… my original point is getting lost in a loosely related discussion.
Does God work? Yep
Should we pray? Yep
Should we do our bit? Yep
My point relates to the disproportionate emphasis I see placed on God’s responsibility ton ‘revive us’ and to bring ‘revival’ when compared to our responsibility to live Godly lives and be active in the world.
So it is actually the place of emphasis I am grumpy with and it flows from the endless emphasis on ‘revival’ etc in prophetic messages as per the previous post.
Chuck Smith believed that the job of the curch after it’s primary task of bringing glory to God is not to evangelise but rather build up the church for the work of ministry so that they can reach maturity in Christ. I like the feel of this statement.
Oh by the way, the frontier revival brought us the altar call, Finney had up front what he called an anxious chair, I think it was Billy who gave us shut your eyes and raise your hands, Moody gave us those cards, for the saved to sign and what church they would like to go too, the Sinner’s prayer these are things revival has brought.
on a slight tangent to this post I’d love some of your readers to post a list of favourite songs suitable for small churches (those that may only have keyboard and percussion).Please post song title and who it’s by.
Thanks
As an antedote, I recently noticed that those dudes in Delirious? are shortly releasing what promises to be something that challenges some of the slightly self-centred theologies in many songs. Called Kingdom of Comfort, here’s what the blurb says:
“Delirious? return with their 9th studio album, ready to risk it all. From cancer to consumerism, five star dreams to slums and poverty made personal, Kingdom of Comfort questions everything. The result is their most risky, real and compelling album to date…”
And if you pre-order it on purashop.com you even get a free booklet with stories from Shane Claiborne, Brian McLaren and others. A ray of light here?
And no, i am not on commission 😉
Spent some time in W. Africa about 3 years ago and taught this song to college age university students who we were working with / teaching English.
Interesting note…we decided to change the line, “when the sun’s shining down on me” – as the “sun shining down” is a sign of famine, death, disease…generally a bad thing – not a “world’s all as it should be” phrase.
We simply sang “when the rain’s falling down on me…” We were assured that it fit much better.
“it is well with my soul”
is having things you love taken out of your life a blessing or a curse?
I think i most feel loved when a dream close to my heart is shattered. is that werid?
“God disciplines those who he loves just as a father disciplines his son”.