As to the repetition, sometimes you need 3,4,5 times before your heart opens enough to get it. Thanks for this review. Of course, He also made a way for His enemies to be forgiven. I heard that the pastor of Elevation church (Steven Furtick) felt that God was speaking this blessing over his church and wanted his congregation to receive it, so he sat down in a room with Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes and wrote this song for his church. It therefore seems to me that this can be gladly heard by the church or sung to the church, but not to unbelievers and certainly not to a whole nation. Thank you! Blessed words. The list goes on and on. Im not sure how I even feel about that as it is taken out of context, but thats something Im working through right now. While its Biblically accurate it is neither a song of praise nor worship because its focus is on us and not on God. It took everything that I read in the Bible about Gods love for me and wrapped it into the biggest blessing God can give us. It is a prayer based on scripture set to music. Another commenter to a different song mentioned that they use repetition to help others learn a new song, then slowly reduce it over time. In order to do the Lord's work, we must resolve conflicts in the church in a biblical manner. I went and read Deuteronomy chapter 7, and took away these key points, which I think helps to make Jons case: Praise ( songs about or to God most of the time the word you is withheld in these songs) 2. Its hard to deny the possibility. A primitive root; properly, to mark (so as to be recognized), i.e. I have never been able to understand the fear that some Christians have for the emotional side of the human experience. It does seem to be inspired by God, based on the worldwide response. There has been a lot of indepth commentary about this song. Thank you, Norma. And look at the people the close-ups of people weeping. Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations, ASV. Intense feelings about the words are great, but theres a danger of overdoing it. Psalm 31:16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake. Again, So sorry for your lost but we have the hope of re-uniting with our loved ones that have gone before! This song isnt about me. Great to acknowledge context, but the Lord extends this blessing to us, it is unending. Thank you for using your hobby to bless others a congratulations on breaking through! Im not much of a 7-Eleven kind of worshipper (7-11 repeats) but this song Can absolutely get away with it. I simply have permission to use it from Capitol CMG Publishing and Essential Music (a subsidiary of Sony). Like a declaration. You still reserve the right to dock points for repetition strictly out of preference of style, though, Vince. I enjoy this song but as a worship leader I have a responsibility to use songs in church services that give praise and worship to God. (Principles remain love your neighbors, dont be a pagan, theres only one God.). He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. In that agrarian society, good weather was all-important. Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, OT Poetry: Psalm 90:17 Let the favor of the Lord our (Psalm Ps Psa. Promise. So the music rises in intensity to help bring that understanding from our heads to our hearts which brings deeper faith to our struggling minds. Check out the New Zealand Version The Blessing Aoteorea. I am not at all disregarding emotions as the Bible teaches us to Love our God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind.. I think only believers receive the type of blessings they are proclaiming and would sing amen. So I assume theyre addressing believers, but it could be unclear. It is nice to hear someone presenting an analytical approach to worship music. I must say that I disagree with Dons assessment (and, consequently, your revision of section 3) of this song. Strength to Live for God: An Example of God's Favor. This takes you further away & not nearer to God! For instance, Psalm 67:1-2 says: "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known upon earth, your saving power among all nations.". The exact complaint that Don has presented against The Blessing (and you accepted) can be made against this Psalm. We actually read in many places that he is against even his own people when they are sinning. Proverbs 13:11 says, "Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. Learning is great, but manipulating minds is something we want to avoid in churches. Rather, Scripture says the opposite: Little in this song applies to unbelievers until they turn from their wickedness and trust in Jesus. All orders are custom made and most ship worldwide within 24 hours. It has been used continuously in Jewish and Christian worship for over 3300 years as a blessing for Gods people. We delight in him. He will simply think whoever this Lord is being sung about, seems good. Waddya think? The live video thats out there was performed just days after they wrote the song. I actually have made a play list of only this song to give me 30 minutes of meditative background to my prayers. Rather, it seems like a secret agenda of hoping Hell give us what we want (hindering on the prosperity gospel here). I admit that my constant criticism over repetition is subjective (although any opinion will be subjective) and it affects the scoring. While browsing the internet to find out which Scripture this song was taken from, I saw your website. holy, holy, holy is highly acceptable, not to mention Biblical! And, as I sang along with all the repetition, I praised my God for his goodness, grace, and faithfulness and prayed this blessing in faith for my son and his soon to be bride and their future family, and their children and their children and their children unto a thousand generations. However, the bigger issue is, will an unbeliever interpret Psalm 23 as applicable to them? I love the repetition! We love to receive blessings, but not as quock to carry out the responsibility that comes with one. (Deut 7:17-26) The Israelites are not to fear that the nations in the promised land are more numerous / stronger than they. Bless you for your statement! He is with you If we embrace the blessings of Moses-era Israel, we can expect to miss out on the blessings of Christjoining Him in His suffering. God is for lost people, he is so for them that he sent his only son so that they might believe and have eternal life. God put me in the right place to hear it. Job 10:12 Well be doing a lot of what we might call repetition in heaven, but itll be to the awe provoking majesty of our God and His Christ. Overall my humble opinion is that it is far too vague taken as solely a Christian song & doctrinally not as sound as one would prefer. Ezekiel 5:8; Nahum 3:5; Rev. 7, read it all, in context). But heres my biggest issue that Im struggling with: the fact that this is a worship song. This songs (like you said) main focus is blessings on believers- but that means its for believers not for God. Additionally, I find that repetition is the key to effectual learning. It was specifically meant for his church, I believe. How do I respond to this? To the extent that this song glorifies God, it is for Christ, not against Him, even if the church where it comes from is misleading people with man-centered teaching. For instance, in Psalm 25, David begs God to Remember, Lord, Your great mercy and love remember me (Psalm 25:6-7). Just my thought. However, they will also be lead astray, thinking that God is with, within, and for them without repentance or faith. I think that it is overstating the case by saying that they WILL BE lead astray., This song is replete with its declaration of the goodness of God. The way that it builds the way that it just speaks to us every time through. It is totally fine that someone gets super irritated by repetition. Its not just the music but sermons as well that talk about all the benefits we have who are IN Christ and many lost people hear these things and think they assume that the words apply to them as well. Repetition is not a issue here. But you & I both know that people from that audience, a large majority though; is not living right & this forms part of the emergent stuff He has done tremendous work in exposing false worship & this video as well as many more on his youtube channel, is well worth some of everybodys time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ji5mwWVHMk People will also do well to look up the kundalini spirit & repetitive style there-off. Robert, I am very sorry for your loss. Great question! I appreciate it! I dont mind the words being repeated over and over again. The modern protestant church is a child of the enlightenment. In short, this song, while well intended, is out of context for the Church. Most often not due to reverentially to God, but rather by way of applying the words to your own lifes circumstances, which cause your fake spiritual euphoric moment. One may wonder if per say this review is contributing to assist leading young immature Christians away from truth & on the flip side, is it doing everything it can, to lead the lost or seeking listeners to Christ? Beautiful. The song makes it seem like WE can somehow make His face shine upon us. Jim Bomar: I agree with Stephan Briton, I have teach children & youth for 40 year and have always believed that the message God spoke to Jerusalem in Isaiah 28 means there is some lessons about him that can only be learned through the patient prodding of repetition. Ultimately our relationship to God is just that ours. We should all do our own due diligence to examine the theology of artists.. But surprise, this song actually uses biblical language and concepts which are common to the old testament covenant and the new testament gospel to remind us that God has been at work building relationships with people from the very beginning of His creation even when we choose to ignore or reject Him. In effect, there are two ways to pay for operating expenses: charge tickets or ask for donations. So I have had a hard time with this song from the beginning. I agree with you as well Renee, and sadly its nothing surprising being the fact that this song was written by people who are heavily connected with churches that are not biblically sound and teach heresy (just listen to the messages from Elevation church and Gateway -very evidently self-centered and all about what profits them). Like God's grace.His favor is also unmerited. Having said that, I also dont believe that its intended to be man-centered, that somehow the blessing will guarantee its outcome, or that it worships idols. One such verse is Psalm 30:5 (ESV): "For his anger lasts but for a moment, and his favor for a lifetime. Id rather listen to Good Good Father on repeat. This was clearly not the case in biblical times. saith the LORD of hosts. That makes sense! He is for you! How I hope and pray this will be true for my children. May the hand of God be with you. I know that historically hard and fearful times have caused believers to draw themselves closer to God. Yet Moses had to remind Him of His promise when He wanted to wipe Israel out after they created the golden calf. Spurgeon said in one of his writings: Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong but rather between right and almost right. God will do what he will, allowing persecution or unrest or discipline or judgement, but our command as believers is still to pray for peace and to bless the nation in which we find ourselves living. When I listen to testimony of elevation worship all I ever hear, is how wonderful it makes ME feel. (Deut 7:9-11) God keeps his covenants. If they did, they would be blessed to the thousandth generation (Deut. They get a little high & they feel good about it. Secondly, the Bereans were noted for testing the Gospel against the scriptures (which at the time consisted only the Old Testament). Right? There are plenty of other spaces for such deliberation. TheLordturn His Refrain: Yes, Jesus loves me! Im not a fan of Elevations theology- in fact I think some of it is not biblical. May His presence go before you And behind you, and . Much of the focus of 1 Peter is on how Christians should conduct themselves during unjust persecution. Dont be shy or have a cow! One final remark, in these days when the drum beat that is repeated through the media is fear inducing, perhaps we will need words of hope a thousand times to drown them out. Something more to chew on! This falls behind Bible study, Prayer, Meditation & selected personal worship singing songs / hymns. The epistle of 1 Peter is addressed to "pilgrims" ( 1 Peter 1:1 )Christians who had been called out of the world to be set apart as God's special . Those undeterred by repetition may consider ending their church service with this song; However, I cannot recommend this song for seeker-sensitive churches without an explanation. The song is simple..anyone can sing it and give glory to God as they do. It is necessary to make this distinction so that lost people are not given false assurance of being a Christian and having eternal hope. Job 22:28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways. I normally wont concentrate on lyrics when im listening to any other secular music. May His favor be upon you And a thousand generations And your family and your children And their children, and their children May His presence go before you And behind you, and beside you All around you, and within you He is with you, He is with you In the morning, in the evening In your coming, and your going In your weeping, and rejoicing Perhaps its because we arent trying to sell them as our own work? There is no reason to think that this ancient blessing would not apply to gentile believers today, those of us who are adopted sons of God (John 1:12-13, John 14:18, Romans 8:14-17, Romans 8:23, Romans 9:1-8, Galatians 3:26, Galatians 4:5-7, Ephesians 1:3-14, Ephesians 2:11-22, Hebrews 9:15, and 1 John 3:1-3) and in effect, are adopted Israelites (Romans 11:11-24). And their children and their children. 3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Maybe this song will get the worlds attention and since when is Gods own words nauseating repetition? I imagine a lot of that came from being aligned with the Lord in his desire to bless his people. Shan Nope & Ill stick to being overly cautious [not saying always outright wrong] with the mystical influences [kundalini similarity] of repetition. If you mean the 2nd, I think Eph. This song puts me into praise mode and I listen to it multiple times in a row when possible. But God is concerned if our hearts are whole. Indeed, in every instance of God remembering, we see in the Old Testament that it always includes an action. Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof. This one isnt my fav. Today I'm talking about a song that has undone me this week. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish, Agreeableness, delight, suitableness, splendor, grace, Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common plural, gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative, Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive imperfect Jussive - third person masculine singular, Verb - Piel - Imperative - masculine singular | third person feminine singular, Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct, An action, a transaction, activity, a product, property, Verb - Piel - Imperative - masculine singular | third person masculine singular. pon you. Again no, He doesnt. Since God is so generous with His enemies, then we should be as well. Copyrights being stolen by Copyrights all in the name of money- just like Jesus planed !!! As a father of two, I cannot (I feel) ask God enough for protection, blessing, and mercy for my children. Youve probably heard of YouTube, Pandora, and Spotify. Again, I guess this applies only to those in Christ who has fulfilled the requirements of the law on their behalf and thus brought Gods blessing to them. The writer of the article should tread lightly when condemning a song entirely derived fro Gods own book. I have listened to this song at least a dozen times, all 12 minutes of it, and I have wept every time. Paul made a point of saying that we as gentiles are adopted into the family of God, and into the Abrahamic lineage (Rom 8:14-17, Gal 3:27-29). New Living Translation And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Now let us discern this, the problem with songs labelled Christian; is not just lyrics, music, performance style or in fact often have nothing to do with the song or the artist performing it being possibly found sound by measure, but the where-from. . [17] They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. When this Psalm is read in its context (and exclusively in its context) one could legitimately say, 1) Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life unaccompanied by anything else suggests that God is pleased with unrepentant sinners as they are, who neither know, love, nor follow him (I substituted the Words from verse 6 in the place of He is for you in the original quote). May His Favor Be Upon You Lyrics The Lord bless you And keep you Make His face shine upon you And be gracious to you The Lord turn His Face toward you And give you peace The Lord bless you And keep you Make His face shine upon you And be gracious to you The Lord turn His Face toward you And give you peace Amen, amen, amen Amen, amen, amen Remember me, O LORD, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation; In case you are wondering, in the Hebrew the word for remember is, zakar, It means, surprisingly enough, to remember. Proverbs 31 Ministries. They are there to specifically listen to that artist for entertainment. Make His face shine upon you Listen: Yeah I hear you Jeff. Check out our may god's favor be upon you selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our shops. Thank you Vince. There have been some great comments here. you. Comfort to all, Maggie. 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