It’s Saturday! Let’s put a hymn 🎶 in our hearts 💕 for the Lord! 🙌
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1
Author: Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879)
This hymn is a beautiful prayer that God would both draw us closer to Himself, and use us to bring others to Him. God calls us to a life of discipleship, and our only response should be, “Here am I. Send me.”
About the Author:
Frances Ridley Havergal, often called “the consecration poet,” was born on December 14, 183*, in Astley, Worcestershire, England, to Rev. William Henry Havergal, an Anglican minister and hymn writer. Though the youngest child in the family and often in fragile health, she lived a life fully devoted to serving Christ.
An exceptionally gifted child, Frances began reading and memorizing Scripture at an early age. By adulthood, she had memorized the Psalms, the book of Isaiah, and much of the New Testament. She also became an accomplished pianist, a beautiful vocalist, and mastered several languages, including Greek, Hebrew, Latin, French, and German.
After trusting Christ as her Saviour as a teenager, Frances dedicated every talent to the Lord. She sang only sacred music, believing her abilities were gifts entrusted to her for God’s glory and the winning of souls. She was also known for praying over every poem she wrote and for encouraging believers to pursue a deeper walk with Christ.
On February 4, 1874, she wrote her best-known hymn, “Take My Life and Let It Be.” Four years later, she demonstrated the hymn’s message by joyfully giving away her jewelry and valuable possessions to support missionary work, saying she had never packed a box with greater pleasure.
Frances often challenged others to live lives of complete surrender. At one consecration meeting, she gave attendees cards printed with the words of her hymn, asking them to pray over the lyrics and sign the cards on their knees only if they could sincerely make the hymn their own.
Frances Ridley Havergal entered the presence of her Lord on June 3, 1879, at the age of 42, leaving behind a lasting legacy of hymns that continue to inspire believers to wholehearted devotion to Christ.
About the hymn:
Here is how author Frances Havergal describes the events that inspired the writing of this hymn:
“I went for a little visit of five days. There were ten persons in the house, some unconverted and long prayed for; some converted, but not rejoicing Christians. He gave me the prayer: ‘Lord, give me all in this house.’ And He just DID! Before I left the house everyone had got a blessing. The last night of my visit, after I had retired, the governess asked me to go to the two daughters. They were crying, etc. Then and there both of them trusted and rejoiced. It was nearly midnight. I was too happy to sleep, and passed most of the night in praise and renewal of my own consecration; and these little couplets formed themselves and chimed in my heart one after another till they finished with ‘ever, only, all for Thee’”
Lyrics:
1 Take my life and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days;
let them flow in endless praise,
let them flow in endless praise.
2 Take my hands and let them move
at the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
swift and beautiful for thee,
swift and beautiful for thee.
3 Take my voice and let me sing
always, only, for my King.
Take my lips and let them be
filled with messages from thee,
filled with messages from thee.
4 Take my silver and my gold;
not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use
every power as thou shalt choose,
every power as thou shalt choose.
5 Take my will and make it thine;
it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart it is thine own;
it shall be thy royal throne,
it shall be thy royal throne.
6 Take my love; my Lord, I pour
at thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be
ever, only, all for thee,
ever, only, all for thee.
Listen here:
https://youtu.be/Jq2scdF6muU?is=SVUoHTOf-N3cdAlV
Sources:
https://hymnary.org/text/take_my_life_and_let_it_be#google_vignette
https://dianaleaghmatthews.com/take-my-life-and-let-it-be
https://meaningfulhomeschooling.com/hymn-study-take-my-life-and-let-it-be/