To God Be the Glory

        I love singing songs from Fanny Crosby, because she worshiped God in every area of her life. She was a blind woman living in the 1800s and wrote over 8,000 hymns, but what is more encouraging to me is her devotional life. She wrote a song for everything, even to the point when her neighbors would come to her when they needed a song for an event. Talk about loving your relational world (Oikos). Her songs are filled with personal testimony thanking God for what he has done for her and praising His name. How often do I praise God throughout the day? How often do we notice God in our day?

Pray through these scriptures in preparation for worship this week

Romans 15:5-6 
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalm 29:2 
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. 

Romans 11:36 
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Galatians 1:3-5 
Grace and peace to you form God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:21 
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

In our response song this week we are going to sing the famous song It is Well by Horatio Spafford.

Horatio’s story is a sad one. He lost his family as the boat sank coming from England to America. He wrote this lyric when he passed over that place in the ocean, “When sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say it is well, it is well with my soul”. The story that we don’t see is how he dealt with this grief, but what we do know is at the end of the anger, frustration and sadness he placed His hope firmly in Christ. Lets remember from last week that “when times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made one as well as the other” (Ecc. 7:14a). He does not promise us a life of prosperity, but he promises us His presence in adversity. Worship for Horatio meant taking all of his emotion before God.