Good Words for Today: November 3

Though blinded by an illness as an infant, Fanny Crosby lived a long and productive life. She began writing poetry at an early age and never stopped. By the time she died, she had written over 8000 hymns, including such favorites as “Blessed Assurance,” “Jesus is Tenderly Calling You Home,” and “Near the Cross.” It’s hard to say which one remains most popular today, but it might be “To God be the Glory.” Although made popular during the great evangelistic campaigns of D. L. Moody in the late 1800s, it never caught on in the United States.  That changed in 1954 when Billy Graham held an evangelistic csmpaign at Harringay Arena in London. Someone suggested to Cliff Barrows that he should add “To God be the Glory” to the official campaign songbook. He did, and the crowd loved it so much that they sang it almost every night. The Billy Graham team added it to their American crusades and it became popular in churches across the US. To God be the glory, great things He has done; So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, Who yielded His life an atonement for sin, And opened the life gate that all may go in.

Refrain

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear His voice! Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice! O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son, And give Him the glory, great things He has done.

O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood, To every believer the promise of God; The vilest offender who truly believes, That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Refrain

Great things He has taught us, great things He has done, And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son; But purer, and higher, and greater will be Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.

Refrain

If you’d like to listen to this great hymn, here’s a stirring performance recorded at Royal Albert Hall, London.

November 3, 2016