This song by Emu Music is based on both Psalm 86 and James 1. Depending on the version you read, Psalm 86:1 reads “Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.” May these words be all of our prayer.

Give me an undivided heart,
That I might fear Your name;
Teach me to walk in righteous paths,
And follow in Your ways.
For You are gracious and forgiving,
Hear O Lord and answer me.

Give me an undivided mind,
That I might love Your word;
Help me to hunger for Your voice,
And know Your Spirit’s sword.
For You are good, Your truth unchanging;
Life is found in serving You.

Undivided
I want to live for You;
Single minded,
All that I say all that I do.
Sanctify me,
Take me and make me new;
That I might live for Christ my Lord.

Give me an undivided love,
For all that You desire;
Make me a living sacrifice,
Ignite in me Your fire.
For You, O Lord, are God eternal,
All my ways are known to You.

Undivided,
Counting my gains as loss;
Single minded,
Whatever the pain, whatever the cost.
Sanctify me,
Help me take up my cross;
And live for Him who died for me.

This hymn written by Bob Kauflin of Sovereign Grace is based on a prayer from The Valley of Visions: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions called ‘Regeneration’. The prayer asks God to occupy and reign supreme in the heart, to lay low every rebel power, and to let no vile passion resist His holy war. Speaking of this hymn, Kauflin writes “I wanted to set that prayer to music because of how often I’m asking God to do whatever He needs to do to make me love and glorify Him more”¹.

O great God of highest heaven
Occupy my lowly heart
Own it all and reign supreme
Conquer every rebel power
Let no vice or sin remain
That resists Your holy war
You have loved and purchased me
Make me Yours forevermore

I was blinded by my sin
Had no ears to hear Your voice
Did not know Your love within
Had no taste for heaven’s joys
Then Your Spirit gave me life
Opened up Your Word to me
Through the gospel of Your Son
Gave me endless hope and peace

Help me now to live a life
That’s dependent on Your grace
Keep my heart and guard my soul
From the evils that I face
You are worthy to be praised
With my every thought and deed
O great God of highest heaven
Glorify Your Name through me

¹page 254 – Leeman, D. and Leeman, B., 2022. Our Hymns, Our Heritage: A Student Guide to Songs of the Church

Written by James John Cummins, this hymn is a sweet and musical litany, which appeared in his Poetical Meditations and Hymns, 1839, in 7 stanzas of 4 lines, with the refrain, “By Thy mercy, 0 deliver us, Good Lord.” In 1819, it was reprinted in his Hymns, Meditations, and Other Poems in 1839¹. Enjoy the below version 🙂

Jesus, Lord of life and glory,
bend from heav’n thy gracious ear;
while our waiting souls adore thee,
Friend of helpless sinners, hear:

Refrain:
By thy mercy, O deliver us, good Lord.

From the depth of nature’s blindness,
from the hard’ning pow’r of sin,
from all malice and unkindness,
from the pride that lurks within.

Refrain

When temptation sorely presses,
In the day of Satan’s pow’r,
In our times of deep distresses,
In each dark and trying hour.

Refrain

When the world around is smiling,
in the time of wealth and ease,
earthly joys our hearts beguiling,
in the day of health and peace.

Refrain

In our weary hours of sickness,
in our times of grief and pain,
when we feel our mortal weakness,
when the creature’s help is vain.

Refrain

In the solemn hour of dying,
in the awful Judgment Day,
may our souls, on thee relying,
find thee still our rock and stay:

Refrain

¹https://hymnary.org/text/jesus_lord_of_life_and_glory_bend_from_h

This song by Emu Music is based on a prayer by Love M. Whitcomb Willis. Not much is known about her other than she was born 9 June 1824 and died on 26 November 1908. She was the daughter of a Unitarian minister and married Frederick Llewellyn Hovey Willis. Enjoy this simple prayer.

Hear our prayer, God above
As we come to you and seek your patient love;
Hear our hearts, hear our minds
Hear the echoes of the words we cannot find

Be our hope, be our guide
In our wanderings of weakness break our pride;
Not for ease shall we pray,
But for strength that we may walk with you this day.

Refrain
So we pray in faith, your will be done
As we long to see your kingdom come
We ask with one voice
Through Jesus Christ our Lord

Hear our prayer, faithful one
Shape our yearnings to the gospel of your Son;
Free our hearts, free our minds
From the war that sin will wage till you arrive.

Be our joy, be our stay
Give us eyes to see you answer prayer this day;
Hear us praise all you’ve done
We rejoice as we receive the victory won.

Approach, my soul, the mercy seat was first published in John Newton’s Olney Hymns, 1779. It came into early use in the hymnals and has attained to a foremost position as one of the most popular of Newton’s productions. In the Olney Hymns it is the second of two hymns headed, “The Effort.” The first hymn by Newton on this same subject begins:— “Cheer up, my soul, there is a mercy seat.”¹

Approach, my soul, the mercy seat
Where Jesus answers prayer;
There humbly fall before his feet,
For none can perish there.

Thy promise is my only plea;
With this I venture nigh:
Thou callest burdened souls to thee,
And such, O Lord, am I.

Bowed down beneath a load of sin,
By Satan sorely pressed,
By war without and fears within,
I come to thee for rest.

Be thou my shield and hiding place,
That, sheltered near thy side,
I may my fierce accuser face,
And tell him thou hast died.

O wondrous love! to bleed and die,
To bear the cross and shame,
That guilty sinners, such as I,
Might plead thy gracious name!

¹https://hymnary.org/text/approach_my_soul_the_mercy_seat

Samuel Medley was born June 23, 1738, at Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, where his father kept a school. He received a good education; but not liking the business to which he was apprenticed, he entered the Royal Navy. Having been severely wounded in a battle in 1759, he was obliged to retire from active service. A sermon by Dr. Watts, read to him about this time, led to his conversion. Having begun to preach, he received, in 1767, a call to become pastor of the Baptist church at Watford. In 1772, he moved to Byrom Street, Liverpool, where he gathered a large congregation, and for 27 years was remarkably popular and useful. After a long and painful illness he died July 17, 1799¹. The below hymn has been reworked by The Corner Room in the video; enjoy!.

Hear, gracious God, a sinner’s cry,
For I have nowhere else to fly;
My hope, my only hope’s in thee;
O God, be merciful to me!

To thee I come, a sinner poor,
And wait for mercy at thy door;
Indeed, I’ve nowhere else to flee;
O God, be merciful to me!

To thee I come, a sinner weak,
And scarce know how to pray or speak;
From fear and weakness set me free;
O God, be merciful to me!

To thee I come, a sinner vile;
Upon me, Lord, vouchsafe to smile;
Mercy, through blood, I make my plea;
O God, be merciful to me!

To thee I come, a sinner great,
And well thou knowest all my state;
Yet full forgiveness is with thee;
O God, be merciful to me!

To thee I come, a sinner lost,
Nor have I aught wherein to trust;
But where thou art, Lord, I would be;
O God, be merciful to me!

To glory bring me, Lord, at last,
And there, when all my fears are past,
With all thy saints I’ll then agree,
God has been merciful to me!

¹hymnary.org/person/Medley_S

Frances Jane van Alstyne, more commonly known as Fanny J. Crosby, was an American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. Hers was an age of evan­gel­is­tic sing­ing miss­ions, and Fan­ny Cros­by’s hymns were al­ways in re­quest. The late hymnologist William J. Reynolds discovered that the inspiration for this hymn was the result of a visit to a prison by the poet during spring 1868. He notes: “After she had spoken and some of her hymns had been sung, she heard one of the prisoners cry out in a pleading voice, ‘Good Lord, do not pass me by’; Following Doane’s suggestion, she wrote a hymn that evening incorporating the line, “Pass me not, O gentle Saviour.” The hymn gained international recognition when introduced by Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey during their London revivals. According to Dr. Young, “This is Crosby’s first hymn to win worldwide acclaim.”¹

Pass me not, O gentle Saviour,
Hear my humble cry,
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.

Refrain
Saviour, Saviour,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.

Let me at a throne of mercy
Find a sweet relief;
Kneeling there in deep contrition,
Help my unbelief.

Refrain

Trusting only in Thy merit,
Would I seek Thy face;
Heal my wounded, broken spirit,
Save me by Thy grace.

Refrain

Thou the Spring of all my comfort,
More than life to me,
Whom have I on earth beside Thee?
Whom in heav’n but Thee?

Refrain

¹https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-pass-me-not-o-gentle-savior

The author of the hymn, Henry Francis Lyte, was an Anglican minister. He was a curate in County Wexford from 1815 to 1818. For most of his life Lyte suffered from poor health, and he would regularly travel abroad for relief, as was customary at that time. The belief is that when Lyte felt his own end approaching at the age of 54, as he developed tuberculosis, he recalled the lines to a hymn he had written so many years before in County Wexford when visiting a friend. The Biblical link for the hymn is Luke 24:29 in which the disciples asked Jesus to abide with them “for it is toward evening and the day is spent”. Using his friend’s more personal phrasing “Abide with Me”, Lyte composed the hymn¹. Below are the full words, but most hymnals and songs omit most of the verses.

Abide with me;
fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens;
Lord with me abide.
When other helpers,
fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless,
abide with me.

Swift to its close,
ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim;
its glories pass away;
Change and decay in,
all around I see;
O Thou who changest not,
abide with me.

Not a brief glance I beg,
a passing word,
But as Thou dwell’st
with Thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending,
patient, free.
Come not to sojourn,
but abide with me.

Come not in terrors,
as the King of kings,
But kind and good,
with healing in Thy wings;
Tears for all woes,
a heart for every plea.
Come, Friend of sinners,
thus abide with me.

Thou on my head,
in early youth didst smile;
And, though rebellious,
and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me,
though I oft left Thee,
On to the close Lord,
abide with me.

I need Thy presence,
every passing hour.
What but Thy grace,
can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself,
my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine,
abide with me.

I fear no foe,
with Thee at hand to bless
Ills have no weight,
tears lose their bitterness
Where is thy sting death?
Where grave thy victory?
I triumph still,
abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross,
before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom,
and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks,
and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death,
Lord, abide with me.

¹wikipedia.org/wiki/Abide_with_Me

Another hymn by Isaac Watts, this one is a paraphrase of Psalm 90 for his 1719 collection: “Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament”. At the time of writing, the Church of England was persecuting non-conformist Christians like Watts who worshipped in congregations outside the state-owned church. It is thought these events influenced these words. Psalm 90 and this hymn asks us to behold the God who is timeless, the One whose days and years are the same. It promises that the same God who has worked in the past, and will work in the future, is at work right now. This hymn has often been sung in times of great significance; the BBC in the UK aired it on the radio when Britain entered WW2, and again at the funeral of Winston Churchill¹.

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
Under the shadow of Thy throne,
Still may we dwell secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone.
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
soon bears us all away;
we fly forgotten, as a dream
dies at the op’ning day.
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be thou our guide while troubles last,
And our eternal home!

¹page 164 – Leeman, D. and Leeman, B., 2022. Our Hymns, Our Heritage: A Student Guide to Songs of the Church

This hymn was written by modern songwriters Stuart Townend & Keith Getty. Often today the preaching of the Word has been diminished in value – from its prominence in a service, to it’s passion; but most of all in our own expectation each time we sit down and ask God to speak to us. In writing this hymn, it was their prayer that through the power of the Spirit, this hymn would prepare people to humbly listen to the Bible being taught and respond to the huge consequences it has on their lives¹. The lyrics below would be an excellent prayer for any church leader to lead their congregation with before the preaching of the Word.

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You
To receive the food of your holy word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfil in us
All Your purposes, for Your glory.

Teach us Lord full obedience,
Holy reverence, true humility.
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
In the radiance of Your purity.
Cause our faith to rise
Cause our eyes to see,
Your majestic love and authority.
Words of power that can never fail;
Let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us.
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time,
That will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we’ll stand on Your promises;
And by faith we’ll walk as You walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, ’til your church is built
And the earth is filled with Your glory.

¹facebook.com/gettymusic/posts/the-story-behind-speak-o-lordone-of-christianitys-distinctives-is-that-we-worshi/10155873712805136/