We praise Thee, O God!
For Thy Spirit of light,
Who hath shown us our Savior,
And scattered our night.

Refrain:
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Hallelujah! Amen.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Revive us again.

Revive Us Again (1863)

By: Mackay, William Paton, M.D. (1839-1885)

Listen to this version in a gospel style as you prepare to ponder this hymn. Please make certain to enjoy the video below.

Below is video content always available as part of an extensive archive of resources. We have lots of tools and options designed to help you be Resonant!  Check them out today and please consider becoming a Subscriber to support our mission of providing these tools to everyone with access to the internet!!

Everyone, enjoy this video, and the transcript below.

Transcript may be found below, at the end of the blog.

We continue our journey through this classic hymn sung across oceans and denominations for 150 years. Our prayer is the same as all the saints who have sung it before, “Revive us again”. Let’s tune our hearts.

Continued Praise

What’s the key?

We tend to get off to a good start in our spiritual walk. Having stumbled around in the darkness for longer than we realized, it is so good to finally be able to see where we are going. Just the thought of that makes the prospect of welcoming darkness seem silly, but we are all guilty of doing it.

Try to imagine it. You are looking for you car keys, in the dark. You believe you left them on the corner of the counter so you don’t bother turning on the light. As you feel for the edge of the counter you trip over something on the floor you had forgotten you left out. As you tumble forward, turning on the light suddenly seems like it would have been a really good idea.

So why do we fail to turn on the light? Sometimes we think we know the way. We do not need help. Sometimes there are things we want to keep hidden. We do not want help. Sometimes we are too proud to acknowledge our need. We do not want to ask for help.

How do we turn on the light? We praise God. Praising Him pushes back the darkness and shows us a clear, favorable path forward. Not to mention it is also the only appropriate response to His calling us out of darkness in the first place.

We praise Thee, O God!

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9 ESV

We praise Him at first because of His Son. We keep praising Him because of His Spirit. We will forever praise Him because He is our Father.

RESONATE!
Having made the choice to praise God at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, we depend on His power to keep praising. Giving glory to God is a way of life, not an occasional occurrence. How are you doing with your continual praise offering to Him? Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the quality of your offering of praise, and the power to improve the quantity of it as well. Depending on Him is the key to a life of continued praise.

Finding His Way

Once you have found your keys you are off and ready to go. Maybe you remember the era when your car headlights did not have an automatic feature and you had to turn them on. Maybe you can recall a moment when you left a well-lit area and suddenly realized your lights were not on, or someone flashed their lights at you to warn you.

This is the work of the Spirit of light.

He leads us in ways we formerly did not know. He turns darkness into light. He makes rough places into level ground. There are the things He does.

For Thy Spirit of light,

And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them. Isaiah 42:16 ESV

We were stumbling around in the darkness and did not even know it. Then the Spirit of light revealed to us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. How grateful we are for His work of bringing light to our darkness. He pushed the darkness back by revealing our Savior. He continues to do that every day.

RESONATE!
Do you recall when He first pushed back your darkness? Can you recall when He last did it? Take a few moments and ask Him to do that work again today. We need Him to do it every single day because the darkness seems in unbeknownst to us. Walk with Him today with this prayer on your lips, “Spirit, please show me my Savior again.”

Spirit, do Your work of revealing my Savior to me again today. Push back my darkness once again. I need You. In Jesus’ name.  Amen!

Illuminated Tuning!

Keep coming back, and we will work to help you remove the things that may hinder your longing for His return by cultivating an awareness of God’s presence.   We will help you tune your heart to live out your worship by providing resources like this to help you acknowledge the greatness of God as you become more Resonant, 7 days a week.

Like what you’re finding here?  Fill out the form to the right to get an email with each fresh post and updates of new tools to help you be Resonant.

Please comment below and share if you have found this helpful in your journey of being more resonant.

Video 22.2 Transcript

Welcome to Tuesday Tunings at Resonant 7, where we reflect on the reality of God and resolve to let it resound in our lives, repeatedly. Let’s tune our hearts.

We praise Thee, O God!
For Thy Spirit of light,
Who hath shown us our Savior,
And scattered our night.

Refrain:
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Hallelujah! Amen.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Revive us again.

Having made the choice to praise God at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, we depend on His power to keep praising. Giving glory to God is a way of life, not an occasional occurrence. How are you doing with your continual praise offering to Him?

God, show me how to praise You more consistently.

We were stumbling around in the darkness and did not even know it. Then the Spirit of light revealed to us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. How grateful we are for His work of bringing light to our darkness. Thank Him.

Spirit, thank You for illuminating my darkness.

He pushed the darkness back by revealing our Savior. He continues to do that every day. Do you recall when He first did that? Can you recall when He last did? Walk with Himi today with the prayer on your lips, “Spirit, please show me my Savior again.”

Spirit, please show me my Savior again.

What a beautiful image of our night scattering in response to the coming of the light of Christ! Welcome Him again today to do that work, but realize it may be a little painful if you have grown accustomed to the darkness. Thankfully, He is gracious and kind.

Jesus, please come and kindly scatter the darkness in my heart.

Take a few moments to talk to Jesus about what has surfaced in your heart, or just listen to what He is saying to you, then we will sing once more.

Sing

Take the awareness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes into the next ones and beyond.  Until next time, Be Resonant.

The post What’s the Key to Continued Praise? appeared first on Resonant 7.

Image Attributions
We Praise Thee O God – https://pixabay.com/photos/car-key-car-keys-table-key-keys-2648850/
For Thy Spirit of Light – https://pixabay.com/photos/headlights-fog-night-scary-mist-1449254/

We praise Thee, O God!
For the Son of Thy love,
For Jesus Who died,
And is now gone above.

Refrain:
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Hallelujah! Amen.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Revive us again.

Revive Us Again (1863)
By: Mackay, William Paton, M.D. (1839-1885)

Listen to this version in a gospel style as you prepare to ponder this hymn. Please make certain to enjoy the video below.

Below is video content always available as part of an extensive archive of resources. We have lots of tools and options designed to help you be Resonant!  Check them out today and please consider becoming a Subscriber to support our mission of providing these tools to everyone with access to the internet!!

Everyone, enjoy this video, and the transcript below.

Transcript may be found below, at the end of the blog.

We begin our journey through this classic hymn sung across oceans and denominations for 150 years. Our prayer is the same as all the saints who have sung it before, “Revive us again”. Let’s tune our hearts.

Praise Him

It’s a good place to start a cry for revival.

How often we need revived because life has squeezed what seemed like all the praise out of us? Or maybe we simply let it slowly seep out without taking time to nurture more of it until we were all but empty? Or maybe we have allowed ourselves to question if He is even worthy of praise, or if we even want to offer it?

Ever had any of those feelings? Or others that resembled them? I figure you have. I certainly have. And if you can acknowledge it, then you are in good company.

But you are also not alone if you are ready and eager to join the praise again. Praise has both vertical and horizontal impacts. We praise Him! We come together to acknowledge His worth. We send His praise vertically, as we declare our need for revival horizontally. And when we do, we join the saints of old and on high.

We praise Thee, O God!

Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power. Psalm 21:13 ESV

Praising God is a choice and commitment. We must make this choice based on His worth, put on display by His powerful acts. We also make this commitment as a result of the choice. We will sing…

Sometimes, however, the choice is not easy. He is always worthy, but sometimes the circumstances in which we find ourselves make acknowledging that difficult. How will you acknowledge God’s praiseworthiness today?

RESONATE!
Are you offering praise to God? If something has stopped your praise, you have at least two ways to address it. You can try to identify whatever is keeping you from offering your praise, confess it to God, and ask Him to deliver you from it. Or you can think about His strength and power and begin offering praise as a result of it. Make a choice to praise, and ask for God’s help to offer it.

What For

Maybe you struggled as you tried to think of God’s strength and power on display in your life. We have shared that perspective at one time or another, often when there is a particular way we are longing to see God move and He does not seem to be. We all share that malady.

But that is not all we share.

As we contemplate the praiseworthiness of God, there is another perspective we can share. Imagine for a moment you are standing at the foot of the cross. You look up and see Jesus hanging there, and you lock eyes with him. You might expect to feel pity, but instead, you feel acceptance.

Jesus is the incarnate expression of God’s great love for us. The hymnwriter calls Him, “the Son of Thy love”. If you ever struggle to find a reason for praise, think on this: God loves you so much He sent His Son to earth to complete the mission of reconciling lost sinners to Himself. The Father was pleased with Jesus from the beginning to the end of His work.

For the Son of Thy love,

And behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17 ESV

RESONATE!
Because of what Jesus did, we have both a reason and the means to praise God. Even when we drift and loose sight of it, He draws us back, reviving our hallelujahs. What is the state of your praise today? Hearty or anemic or somewhere in between? Think on Jesus and give praise to God today.

Jesus, thank You for giving me a reason to praise. Forgive me for the times I have taken the gift of life for granted and have remained silent. Renew my hallelujah today I pray. In Jesus’ name.  Amen!

Refreshing Tuning!

Keep coming back, and we will work to help you remove the things that may hinder your longing for His return by cultivating an awareness of God’s presence.   We will help you tune your heart to live out your worship by providing resources like this to help you acknowledge the greatness of God as you become more Resonant, 7 days a week.

Like what you’re finding here?  Fill out the form to the right to get an email with each fresh post and updates of new tools to help you be Resonant.

Please comment below and share if you have found this helpful in your journey of being more resonant.

Video 22.1 Transcript

Welcome to Tuesday Tunings at Resonant 7, where we reflect on the reality of God and resolve to let it resound in our lives, repeatedly. Let’s tune our hearts.

We praise Thee, O God!
For the Son of Thy love,
For Jesus Who died,
And is now gone above.

Refrain:
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Hallelujah! Amen.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Revive us again.

We must make the choice to praise God, and sometimes that choice is not easy. He is always worthy, but sometimes the circumstances we are in make acknowledging that difficult. How will you acknowledge God’s praiseworthiness today? Make a choice, and ask for help.

Jesus, help me to acknowledge Your worth today.

The Father loves His Son. And He loves us, too. So much so that He was willing to do whatever it would take to reconcile us to Himself, including sacrificing His Son. Thank Him again today for offering you such an incredible, unmerited favor, the love of God.

Father, thank You for loving me.

We praise Him for Jesus who died. Though there are many things for which we can praise God, the death of Jesus, which makes eternal life available to us, is easily the greatest, for without it we are lost. Ask the Holy Spirit to revive your faith in Jesus today.

Holy Spirit, revive my faith in Jesus.

He died, but is alive forever, and has ascended to the right hand of the Father. From there, He will return one day to take us to be with Him forever. There will be many hallelujahs sung that glorious day. Give God glory now and forevermore for the hope we have in Him. 

God, I praise You for the hope I have in You.

Take a few moments to talk to Jesus about what has surfaced in your heart, or just listen to what He is saying to you, then we will sing once more.

Sing

Take the awareness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes into the next ones and beyond.  Until next time, Be Resonant.

The post Renewing Your Reverence appeared first on Resonant 7.

Image Attributions
We Praise Thee O God – https://pixabay.com/photos/people-lady-woman-man-guy-praying-2585962/
For the Son of Thy Love – https://pixabay.com/photos/jesus-cross-crucifixion-christ-578217/

Jesus, our only joy be Thou,
As Thou our prize will be;
Jesus, be Thou our glory now,
And through eternity.

Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee (Early 12th Century)
By: Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 – 1153)

Listen to this version with a single solo voice as you prepare to ponder this hymn. Please make certain to enjoy the video below.

Below is video content always available as part of an extensive archive of resources. We have lots of tools and options designed to help you be Resonant!  Check them out today and please consider becoming a Subscriber to support our mission of providing these tools to everyone with access to the internet!!

Everyone, enjoy this video, and the transcript below.

Transcript may be found below, at the end of the blog.

We continue our journey through this ancient hymn, originally written in Latin, but still true today. There truly is no name like Jesus, no matter the century. He is our source of hope and joy. Let’s tune our hearts.

What’s Your View?

When you think of the words of Jesus, even the whole of God’s communication to us in His written word, what is your view? Is it a list of commands to follow? An interesting history lesson? A road map? A love letter? 

For many of us, it is likely different things at different times, seasons, and days. It serves different purposes as God sees fit at different parts of our journey. Even still, sometimes it can be tedious to open it and read it, or more appropriately let it read us.

With those considerations in mind, please answer this simple question: When was the last time you looked at this book and thought “Herein lies to key to my joy”? Jesus’ words informed my perspective again today as I thought about the joy that He is, and how to cultivate it.

Jesus, our only joy be Thou,

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. John 15:11 ESV

Jesus is our joy. He desires His joy to be in us, and that joy to be full. How do we ascertain that joy? By welcoming His words into our hearts and ives.

We find joy in many things in life, but Jesus is the source of them all. In this passage, Jesus is speaking of living in His love, for doing so provides us life, and with it, access to joy. When we stay connected to Jesus, His joy flows through us. 

RESONATE!
Are you joyful? Let me ask it another way. Are you full of joy? In another translation, Jesus says complete. If not, consider if maybe you are trying to find your joy elsewhere, and in so doing are constraining the flow Jesus has granted to you. The remedy? Take Jesus’ words and apply them. Read John 15:1-11 for some insight. Thank Him for the access to His joy His words provide.

Pressing On

So as you contemplate how to make Jesus your only joy now, what implications does that have for later? The things of value in this life require some effort, right? As you apply yourself to the pursuit of joy today, what else might you be pressing on toward?

As Thou our prize will be;

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14 ESV

There is no prize like this one. It is better than any other you can achieve by far, and also has already been granted to you at your surrender to Jesus. There is a sense in which it is yours now, and simultaneously is not fully within your grasp. It is as if the event is over, but the award ceremony has not taken place. Jesus has accomplished the trophy of a redeemed life, and you are the one who gets to stand on the podium to receive it.

We know there is more coming. Jesus is our joy today, and one day soon will be our prize. It is the ultimate conclusion of living in the call of God. Jesus has done His part, and now we must do ours, infinitesimally small though it may be by comparison. Even still, we press on today through every delight and dilemma, listening to His voice. 

RESONATE!
We will wear a crown when we arrive in glory, but we will gladly lay it down before Jesus who will be our prize. We may believe nothing compares to Him now, but on that day, we will know and practice the wonder of how true it is. Ask Jesus to help you anticipate the prize He will be, even as you praise Him for calling you upward.

Jesus, thank You for the joy You are today, and the prize You will be one day. Help me to live in Your words, so Your joy may flow through me as I long to receive the prize of my upward calling in You one day. In Jesus’ name.  Amen!

Joyful Tuning!

Keep coming back, and we will work to help you remove the things that may hinder your longing for His return by cultivating an awareness of God’s presence.   We will help you tune your heart to live out your worship by providing resources like this to help you acknowledge the greatness of God as you become more Resonant, 7 days a week.

Like what you’re finding here?  Fill out the form to the right to get an email with each fresh post and updates of new tools to help you be Resonant.

Please comment below and share if you have found this helpful in your journey of being more resonant.

Video 21.4 Transcript

Welcome to Tuesday Tunings at Resonant 7, where we reflect on the reality of God and resolve to let it resound in our lives, repeatedly. Let’s tune our hearts.

Jesus, our only joy be Thou,
As Thou our prize will be;
Jesus, be Thou our glory now,
And through eternity.

May we learn to hold Jesus in such high esteem that every other joy pales in comparison, so much so that He appears to be our only joy. There are many other joys in life, but none should captivate our hearts like Him. Ask the Spirit to overwhelm you with joy in Jesus.

Spirit, overwhelm me with joy in Jesus.

We may wear a crown when we arrive in glory, but we will gladly lay it down before Jesus who will be our prize. We may believe nothing compares to Him now, but on that day, we will practice it. Ask Jesus to help you anticipate the prize He will be.

Jesus, help me anticipate the prize You will be.

But we are not simply waiting until that day to live in the glory of Jesus. We can do that today. There is an inheritance that will be ours one day, but we can walk in the reality of it even now. Ask the Father to help you live in the glory of Jesus while you wait to see His face.

Father, help me live in Jesus’ glory today.

Though we want to walk in it now, there is so much we can not even begin to comprehend of His glory until we see His face. He is our glory now, but we will enjoy an even greater glory eternally in His presence. Thank Him there is more to come.

Jesus, thank You there is more glory to come.

Take a few moments to talk to Jesus about what has surfaced in your heart, or just listen to what He is saying to you, then we will sing once more.

Sing

Take the awareness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes into the next ones and beyond.  Until next time, Be Resonant.

The post Perspective, Now and Then appeared first on Resonant 7.

Image Attributions
Jesus, Our Only Joy Be Thou – https://pixabay.com/photos/bible-book-knowledge-pages-reading-1868070/
As Thou Our Prize Wilt Be – https://pixabay.com/photos/trophies-show-award-trophy-prize-710169/