Last month, we introduced a number of songs at the Together for the Gospel conference in Louisville, KY. O Great God was one of them.
I originally wrote the song for our album, Valley of Vision, a collection of songs based on The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. It comes from the prayer, “Regeneration,” that begins:
Occupy the throne of my heart,
take full possession and reign supreme,
lay low every rebel lust,
let no vile passion resist they holy war;
manifest thy mighty power,
and make me thine for ever.
Thou art worthy to be
praised with my every breath,
loved with my every faculty of soul
served with my every act of life.
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. Andrew Sherwood from T4G put together a slide show (pictures by Pete Artemenko of Latent Designs) from the conference that also lets you hear how O Great God sounded with one piano and 7000 voices.
And here are the lyrics:
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
© 2006 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)
If you’re interested, you can download the guitar chart and lead sheet for free at the Sovereign Grace online store.
Thanks Bob, that’s really helpful and encouraging. Stuart Towned taught this at New Word Alive this year.
Chills – powerful song.
Thanks for posting this – I had the privilege to be at T4G this year, and emotions from the worship came flooding back as I viewed this.
Such a powerful week!
So encouraged to see how SGM is investing so much into pastors around the country. Praise God.
Ah, the last line of that wonderful song, “Glorify Your name through me.” Please God, do it.
thank you for posting…LOVE that song…and LOVE the gospel
We sing this regularly at our church (in fact, we’re doing it this week). Thanks, Bob, for writing it! It was easy for our congregation to learn, and it articulates very clearly and powerfully how God is at work in us and how we should respond.
Wow! Finally, a song with a powerful scripturally accurate message with music which is easily learned and sung by any congregation! Excellent job bringing “ancient” words into a modern context. My wish is that more of the current songwriters would do the same. May your tribe increase!
Dave, thanks for the encouraging words. You might also check out the songs of Keith & Kristyn Getty at http://www.gettymusic.com, as well as a number of songs by Stuart Townend.
Thank’s for Given Glory to God! with a love song! God’s word is so amazing and yes He loves us. Glory to God.
Frank Harrell, GAHooMCPRO
Beautiful. I can use this. Thanks!
Always been a great song! I enjoyed the video as well.
Great song. We’ve been doing it at our church for a little over a year or so. If I may be blunt, your songs (and SGM songs in general) are so much more singable, thought-provoking, Christ and cross centered than the majority of the current “worship” music out there (see the CCLI top 100).
Thank you for all you do for the church.
Isaac, I had the same experience watching this. The conference was so beneficial to me for the ministry. My choir is currently working on this song to introduce to our church. “Glorify Your Name through me!”
My heart is rejoicing in the Lord as I listen to this song again this morning and watched the beautiful pictures, especially seeing all the people praying over Matt Chandler. What a blessing.
Any chance you would be able to post the audio file that is on the video? I think the T4G version beats out the CD recording if I may be quite honest! =)
Bethany, we always welcome honesty! We’re talking about releasing some of the T4G audio as singles, but haven’t reached a decision yet. Thanks for the suggestion.
Bob: Praise the Lord brother, I was so good to hear your voice with the other 7000 that were worshiping with us in Louisville. I was meditating on the “song list” and the last minute details for the sunday meeting, and felt led to read from VOV and couldn’t remember the name of the prayer for “O Great God” and so I googled it and as soon as I saw worshipmatters I was blessed to know that you would know, and you did. Thanks for writing the song and sharing your gift with the body. thanks for telling me “Regeneration” and if the Lord wills I will see you in August 2011. Extend greetings to your bride Julie and your tribe as well. Grace to you p
Bob,
The video is noted as a “Private Video”. I remember looking at it last year and really enjoyed your rendition of it with piano and all those voices. Can you repost the video or the audio? I would like to use it with my worship team.
Blessings,
Mark Jackson
Grace Bible Church
Thanks for letting me know, Mark. we didn’t originally post it, so we don’t control it. Sorry!
Mark- Looks like you can still view it by going through the T4G group page on Vimeo.
Our chancel choir sang this beautiful anthem at Custer Road United Methodist in Plano, Texas. What a wonderful interpretation of the lyrics in moving and uplifting music! I was going to share the lyrics with a friend and Google brought me straight to you… never imagined the composer would have given us a glimpse of his creation here. If you’d like to hear how we did, the anthem is at 20:23 in this video:
http://www.ourchurchvideos.com/75023/crumcv3/videos/366/january-8,-2012-full-service
Thank you for giving us this song to share with our congregation!
Great arrangement Genny!