February 27, 2024 • 53 mins
As my father, Steve Peavyhouse, joins me once again in a heartfelt journey through the stanzas of "Blessed Assurance," we unravel the story of Fanny J. Crosby's timeless hymn that has fortified believers' faith for generations. Together, we trace the lineage of this sacred song from its inception, when a simple melody from Phoebe Knapp stirred Crosby's soul, to its role as a beacon of hope throughout history. Our conversation not only celebrates the spiritual depth found within Crosby's lyrics but also the emotional resonance that transcends the mere notes on a page, offering solace during life's unpredictable twists and turns.
Imagine finding strength and clarity not despite your challenges, but because of them. This episode delves into the profound truth that sometimes our greatest insights into God's grace come through what we perceive as weaknesses. Inspired by Crosby's own journey, we contemplate the conundrum of physical blindness opening the eyes of the soul. Our musings extend to personal battles, like grappling with a stutter, and how these hurdles can unveil the sufficiency of God's grace in our lives.
In a world that often looks for "saviors" in the wrong places, this episode is a testament to the joy and worth we find when the cross of Christ looms large in our lives—giving us an assurance that withstands all of life's storms and speaks to the very core of our being. Join us for a journey of faith, identity, and the unshakeable assurance we have in the love that was secured for us on the cross.
SHOW LINKS:
"Blessed Assurance" performed by Nathan Drake of Reawaken Hymns with chord charts and many other church music resources.
"Blessed Assurance" appears on the album Hymns of the Son available here.
The book I talk about on the podcast that explains the idea of the how the cross should "loom large" in our lives is found in Show Them Jesus by Jack Klumpenhower.
www.thebrightforever.com
All songs used by permission.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
For we are not saved by believing in our own
salvation, nor by believinganything whatsoever about
ourselves.
We are saved by what we believeabout the Son of God and His
righteousness.
The gospel believed saves, notthe believing in our own faith.
(00:26):
Horatious Bonner, this is theBright Forever.
Hello and welcome to the BrightForever where each week we
(00:55):
rediscover the power andrichness found in some of the
greatest hymns of the faith.
My name is Andy Peeviehouse andI am your host and guide on
this Our Adventure ThroughHymnity.
It is always great to be backwith you each week.
We were off last week and thisweek is exciting because of
(01:15):
another amazing special guestReturning for another episode,
almost exactly a year after hisfirst appearance, my dad, steve
Peeviehouse, and we will bediscussing an amazing hymn, one
with which many of you will befamiliar, blessed Assurance by
(01:36):
the amazingly prolific hymnwriter, fanny J Crosby.
Many of you know this podcast isactually named after another
amazing Fanny Crosby hymn, theBright Forever.
To learn more about it and tohear how this podcast actually
got started in the first place,you can go and check out episode
(01:59):
one of season one Before wedive into this amazing hymn and
hear from, in my opinion, one ofthe greatest and most amazing
men in the world.
Let's explore the history ofhow this hymn became a song that
has continued to help believersstand secure in their faith and
proclaim the truth in itsrefrain.
(02:21):
This is my story, this is mysong, but before we begin, make
sure to hit that follow buttonand click subscribe to never
miss an episode.
In the late 19th century,amidst a tumultuous era in
(02:44):
American history, a woman namedFanny Crosby pinned the timeless
hymn Blessed Assurance.
Those of you who have been withus since the beginning know a
number of details from FannyCrosby's life, but for those of
you who are new to our podcast,fanny Crosby was born in 1820 in
(03:06):
New York.
At six weeks old, little babyFanny lost her sight due to a
terrible medical error.
However, despite her blindness,fanny Crosby became a prolific
hymn writer, composing over8,000 hymns throughout her
(03:29):
lifetime.
One day in 1873, fanny Crosbyvisited a dear friend, phoebe
Knapp, a talented musician andcomposer in her own right.
Mrs Knapp had recently composeda melody and was eager to share
it with her friend Fanny.
In Memories of 80 Years, herautobiography, written in 1906,
(03:52):
mrs Crosby recalls this meetingand how one of her most beloved
hymns came into being.
She says in a successful song,words and music must harmonize
not only in number of syllablesbut in subject matter and
(04:14):
especially accent.
In nine cases out of ten, thesuccess of a hymn depends
directly upon these qualities.
Thus, melodies tell their owntale, and it is the purpose of
the poet to interpret thismusical story into language.
(04:36):
Not infrequently, a composerasks what does that melody say
to you?
And if it says nothing to you,the probability is that your
words will not agree with themusic when an attempt is made to
join them.
(04:57):
Blessed Assurance was written toa melody composed by my friend
Mrs Joseph F Knapp.
She played it over once ortwice on the piano and then
asked me what it said to me.
I replied Blessed Assurance,jesus is mine.
Oh, what a foretaste of glory,divine air of salvation,
(05:21):
purchase of God born of hisspirit washed in his blood.
This is my story.
This is my song, praising mySavior all the day long.
The hymn thus written seemed toexpress the experience to both
Mrs Knapp and myself.
(05:43):
Later in the book she recountsan interesting story about how
Blessed Assurance had been used.
She says Blessed Assurance waswritten in 1873.
The music was composed by MrsJoseph F Knapp, who became known
(06:04):
to me as early as 1863, and whohas also written the notes to
several hymns of mine, includingNearer the Cross and Open the
Gates of the Temple.
She continues and says AnEnglish religious weekly gives
the following account of howsoldiers use God be with you and
(06:29):
Blessed Assurance for passwords.
When one member of the Soldiers'Christian Association meets a
comrade, he says 494, which isthe number of the hymn God be
with you till we meet again insacred songs and solos.
(06:52):
The latter replies 6.
Further on, that is hymn 500,which is the number of Blessed
Assurance.
Of this custom.
The Secretary of theAssociation writes these hymns
(07:14):
are constantly being used by ourmembers as greetings and
response and I do not think anymember of the Soldiers'
Christian Association everwrites without putting them
somewhere on the letter orenvelope.
It's such a cool story I'mthinking about starting that.
(07:40):
I'm just going to start maybegreeting and responding to
people with hymn numbers.
I don't know, it might work, itmay not.
A little different accountexists in an earlier
autobiography, fanny Crosby'sLife Story, written by a friend
(08:01):
of hers, will Carlton, in 1903.
It wasn't in her own words butit had been approved by her and
was written in the first person,and it reads Blessed assurance
was made in this manner.
My dear friend, mrs Joseph FKnapp, so well known as a writer
(08:26):
and singer of most exquisitemusic and as an aid and
inspiration to all who know her,had composed the tune and it
seemed to me one of the sweetestI had heard for a long time.
She asked me to write a hymnfor it and I felt, while
(08:46):
bringing the words and tonestogether, that the air and the
hymn were intended for eachother, and the many hundred
times that I have heard it sung,this opinion has been more and
more confirmed.
(09:07):
Whichever way you believe thehymn came about, there is no
doubt that Fanny was moved bythe melody's beauty.
She was inspired in that momentto compose what would become
one of her most cherished hymnsBlessed assurance, jesus' mind.
(09:40):
Oh, what a foretaste of glorydivine.
The hymn's words echoed itsauthor's life, an unwavering
trust in God and her certaintyof his presence.
Despite her physicallimitations, fanny Crosby's hymn
(10:02):
resonated deeply with audiencescapturing the essence of
assurance and hope in whatChrist had accomplished on the
cross.
It spread rapidly throughoutchurches across America and
beyond, becoming a powerfulanthem of faith for generations
(10:27):
to come.
Today, blessed assurance standsas a testimony to Fanny
Crosby's enduring legacy as ahymnwriter and her profound
impact on Christian worship.
Through her words and amazingmelodies, she continues to
(10:53):
inspire millions around theworld to find peace and
assurance in their simple faith.
This is a hymn that my dad,steve Peavey House, specifically
asked to talk about, and I'mexcited to hear what he has to
(11:17):
say.
Let's find out why he chose totalk about this hymn.
Well, we are here with myfather, steve Peavey House, and
we're going to be talking aboutblessed assurance, and I've had
(11:39):
you on before and so this isyour second time on, and so
we've kind of talked to youabout, like, hymns and your
history with hymns.
But before we start, is thereanything in the past year, since
we've done this before, that'skind of changed about hymns, or
(12:02):
for you, that you have realizedsomething new about hymns that
you didn't realize before, or isthere anything like that?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Well, I think that what I've noticed and I really
started thinking about it morewhen you interviewed your mom
about he keeps me singing, and Ithought about I know it sort of
sounds like I've been watchingtoo much Pollyanna, but happy
hymns, there are happy hymns.
There are songs that just andof course, a lot of the
(12:34):
Christmas carols are like thatand he keeps me singing.
There's within my heart amelody and there are just sings
and there are rings and I'veforgotten how it goes, but it's
a happy song.
But so many of the hymns areeven the ones that are not, in
(12:55):
terms of melodies and so on,happy sounding and everything.
There's a deep joy that youfind in so many of them and this
happens to be one that I thinkjust rings with joy.
It just has so much power in.
I mean, when you get to achorus that says this is my
(13:17):
story, this is my song, praisingmy Savior all the day long, I
mean you know you just sort ofyou can just feel the abolience,
you can feel the positive joyto sort of rising up out of you
as you're singing this song.
One of the reasons I love thisparticular song is the fact that
(13:38):
it fits perfectly in my vocalrange and, very honestly, if
there was nobody else in thechurch it would be, you know, I
would still be blasting away onthis song because it just is the
perfect song for that.
But I think that's the thingthat has changed somewhat, as
(13:59):
I've gotten a new appreciationfor just, not just the great
theology and hymns, not just thegreat, the deep meetings.
Some of the hymns are difficulthymns to sing, dealing with
what Christ went through,dealing with our own sin and
awareness of our own sin.
They're not, you know, I wouldnever classify them as happy
(14:23):
hymns.
But this is one that goesbeyond happy.
There's a joy because there's adepth to it, because it tells
you it's not just that you canbe happy as you go along life's
merry way, but there is a reasonwhy you have joy in your life
(14:48):
and that just sort of like, andas you sing it, as you look at
the words, it begins to well upin you and there's nothing like
Jesus talks about living waterwelling up within you, and I
think that kind of what is goingon whenever I think about or
(15:09):
sing this hymn.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Well, that brings me to my second question, and
answers it as well, which is canyou share your personal
connection to Blessed Assurance,and what significance does it
hold for you?
Well, which?
Speaker 3 (15:24):
is pretty much what you just told me.
So, but pretty much, but there.
But the thing is too.
It's a.
I'm a positive person for themost part.
Sometimes, depending on whomaround, I'm disgustingly
optimistic about things, to thepoint of I have blinders on and
(15:46):
I don't see reality.
When things are really horrible, I need to see that there was
being.
They're horrible and so.
But I tend to be veryoptimistic and one of the things
about this particular song isthat as you go through and look
at the individual words and thephrases that they put in there,
it gives it gives deeper meaningto my optimism.
(16:11):
Even the things are verydifficult in life and so on.
There's a reason why you can befilled with joy and there's a
reason why and that reason isbasic because you have this
Blessed Assurance, no matterwhether or not the difficulties
are there, because of justcircumstances, the world is
(16:31):
placed on you, or someone elseis placed on you, or financial
situation and so on, or forsomething particularly that
you've brought on yourself byyour own sin, by your own
weaknesses and so on.
In the middle of that, youstill have Blessed Assurance,
and because it has nothing to dowith what you do.
It has to do with what he hasdone, what he is doing and what
(16:53):
he will continue to do in yourlife.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
One of the things and I shared this earlier in the
podcast when I told the story ofthis hymn the way she wrote it
is actually really interestingbecause of the fact that you
just said that you enjoy themore upbeat hymns and things
like that.
And she was talking about howhymns there's a harmonization,
(17:19):
not just musically, but thewords to the music, and her
friend, mrs Joseph F Knapp, isthe one who wrote the actual
music for this and she played itfor her two times on her piano
and then asks Fanny, is thereanything that comes to mind when
(17:44):
you hear this?
And boom, here comes BlessedAssurance.
So the music was there beforethe song was written yes, so she
had written this piece.
and she turns to Fanny Crosbyand asks does this like?
Does anything kind of spring upin you?
(18:04):
Does this song make you thinkanything?
And she recalls going.
It makes me think BlessedAssurance, jesus is mine.
Oh, what a foretaste of glory,divine Air of salvation,
purchase of God, born of hisspirit, lost in his love.
This is my story.
This is my song, praising mySavior all the day long and I'm
(18:25):
going.
Well, that's one way to write asong.
I mean.
I wish I could do that.
Yeah, and but it reminds me ofand this is something that I
talked with mom about.
It's something I talked withaunt Pam about too.
In both of those instances, themusic is what kind of elevates
(18:47):
the hymn and it makes you likehe keeps me singing, it puts you
into this happy upbeat.
Yes, god's gonna keep me going.
He's gonna like, even in themidst of bad times, god's gonna
keep moving me forward.
And it's got this veryuplifting song and this idea of
day by day that you listen tothe music, and the music is this
(19:12):
calming, very things are gonnabe okay.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
The word steadfast comes to me.
Yeah, exactly, there's asteadfastness that you have
because he covers day by day.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah, it's just every single day.
It's just, you don't have toworry.
It's a very comforting song andthe music is very comforting.
Along with it and this songcomes along and one of the
things that Fanny Crosby said isthat you know, and she knew
when a hymn of hers was going tobe, it was gonna become popular
(19:46):
, it was gonna be a really justman, it was gonna stick into
people's heads.
And this was one of those hymns, because the music and the
lyrics, harmonized together insuch a way that it's just the
music of Blessed Assurance,brings along this feeling of
assurance, like I can do thisbecause I have Jesus Christ, and
(20:11):
so I am assured.
And the music comes along andit assures you as well.
Yes, they fit together soperfectly.
So last time I had you on, wetalked about the hymn Thy Mercy,
my God, which is a little bitmore of a heady type song, very
much a deeper understanding ofwhat does it mean for God to
(20:34):
have a mercy on us, and wetalked about that.
And this is, and it was, muchmore of an obscure hymn to.
Not a lot of people have everheard of it, which also goes to
show why your podcast has notoutpaced mom's downloads of the
Old Rucket Cross.
But this, on the other hand, isa completely different song
(21:00):
because it may not be like asuper deep intellectual song,
but it is a very popular songand yet it does have a very deep
understanding of we can know.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Well, it reminds me that the poor, not brilliant
peasant along the road, like aJohn Bunyan could then immerse
himself in scripture and writePilgrim's Progress.
Because I read this and it hasdeep theological significance,
(21:45):
but easy to understandsignificance I mean the second
perfect submission, perfectdelight.
Visions of rapture now burst onmy sight, angels descending
bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
I mean, anybody reading thiswho knows how to read is gonna
(22:08):
be able to understand what isgoing on in Fannie Crosby's mind
as she is writing these wordsdown.
And also, if they are believers, they have had those
experiences, if nothing else.
When they came to know JesusChrist as their personal savior
(22:29):
and suddenly the weight of theirsin was no longer on them, then
the freedom that comes in that,the exuberance, the abolience,
the just amazing feeling andthat's not always a feeling
thing, but the feeling thatcomes with that is just visions
(22:53):
of rapture now burst on my sight.
Yeah, that's what happens,because you're just amazed that
you are now a part of thisfamily, you are accepted.
In the middle of the yuck,sometimes, that is you that you
have angels descending towardsyou, bringing from above echoes
(23:15):
of mercy and whispers of loveinto your life, and that, to me,
is just.
It's one of those things thatit is powerful, theologically,
very powerful, but at the sametime it's not that difficult to
understand.
The regular person can grab it,and you're right, I know this
(23:35):
is perhaps one of the mostpopular of her songs and I can
see exactly why it would be.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
One of the things also about verse two and we kind
of talked about this earlierthat I absolutely and I've
talked about this I talked aboutthis when I talked about Fanny
Crosby in the very first episodeof season one, when we talked
about the bright forever and herunderstanding of what heaven's
going to look like and the factthat she's blind and she says
(24:05):
visions of rapture now burst onmy sight, that this perfect
submission, perfect delight,visions of rapture burst on her
sight.
She was blind.
Yes, like, how does she know?
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Well, and the last verse, the last couple of lines,
watching and waiting, lookingabove, yeah, I mean, but it goes
back to Jesus says in John, onepoint, and I don't want to, I'm
doing a little bit of aparaphrase here, but he's
bringing sight to those who areblind and making blind those who
(24:53):
think they see.
You know, the whole idea thereis that we are there's a
difference between physical andspiritual sight and you can have
all the, you can have 2020, youhave 2010,.
You can have perfect, perfect,perfect physical sight and be
totally blind spirituallybecause you do not see what is
(25:16):
really there.
You see the externalcircumstances, you see the
things that you want to see, butyou don't see the truth behind
what is really going on.
You don't see the spiritualworld that God is in control of
and is doing battle on yourbehalf against Satan and his
minions.
I mean, you don't see that ifyou don't have a spiritual sight
(25:40):
.
But those things are spiritualand I think these things here
are spiritually discerned and Ijust wish that I had the sight
that Fannie Crosby had.
I mean, she was physicallyblind, but you know she was
watching, she was waiting, shewas always looking above because
(26:03):
she was setting her mind onthose things that were above,
not on the things of the earth.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Yeah, and she has actually said before that if God
were to come back and to offerher sight and I think you
actually had the quote from itthat she would be like no no I
(26:32):
would not accept it.
Yeah, I would rather continueto be blind.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Yeah, what she said is I might not have sung hymns
to the praise of God if I hadbeen distracted by the beautiful
and interesting things about me.
I mean, it reminds me of and wehave a contemporary like that
too Gianni Eric Santata.
I mean talks about if I go backand God could give me the
(27:03):
ability to stand upright andwalk and breathe and all the
things that I don't have becauseof my paraplegia or
quadriplegia.
I wouldn't take it because Iwould not give anything,
anything for the closerelationship I have with Jesus
Christ.
And I mean that is for those ofus who are blessed and
(27:24):
privileged to have their bodiesfunctioning in a fairly normal
way at 75, I'm not sure it'sfunctioning in a fairly normal
way any longer, but to have thatsaying, no, I would rather have
Jesus anything, yeah, I'drather.
Oh, wait, that's another song.
Wait, that's another hymn,that's another song.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
But it's true because and I've actually shared this
with this podcast before andI've also shared it with
numerous groups that I've spokento the same feelings, like I
would be so concerned with how Iwas able to turn a phrase and
(28:09):
how good I was at speaking andhow I could jab at somebody or
if I had fluency.
But I've started my whole lifeand I look back and I see this
path God was taking me on andactually, what was really
interesting, pastor Tim atchurch was talking about that
(28:37):
we're clay.
We're clay to be molded andsometimes we would just rather
just sit and just be clay.
But God is shaping us intosomething.
And I look back and I for along time I thought my
(28:58):
stuttering was not a gift fromGod.
It was far from it.
But I look back on it now,after years and years and years
of thinking through it andreading God's word, and go, wait
a minute.
This is grace, because if I hadbeen able to speak and speak
(29:19):
fluently one, I don't know ifI'd be where I am.
I don't know if I'd be the sameperson I am, because I would be.
I'd be so concerned about howgood I speak and how wonderful I
am at this and oh man, I havesuch a quick wit and I can do
this and I can do this and I cando this and I can pierce
somebody with my words Instead,it's humbled me tremendously.
(29:46):
And not that I can't still bequick-witted at times or joke
and be sarcastic and things likethat and sometimes take it too
far still, but how many times ithas stopped me my stuttering
has stopped me from sayingthings that I look back and go,
(30:06):
man, I'm glad I didn't say that,man, I'm glad I not only that I
didn't say it, I'm glad Icouldn't say that.
That would not have been ableto even come out because of
God's grace and it's God's gracethat.
And she sees that and says man,I wouldn't want my sight
because I'd be so concerned withme and I'd be distracted by me.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
And that's really good, and I think sometimes also
the picture there of echoes ofmercy and whispers of love and
so on.
We fail to see that the reasonwhy God does, actively, does
things or allows things into ourlives that we don't see as
particularly good, one of thosewould be obviously her being
(30:55):
blinded when she was six yearsold and the whole issue of John
Eric Santata having when she was17, having the spinal injury
that she had, and you havingthis disfluency and so on.
But you go back to I keep goingback to John because that's
what I've been studying latelythe gospel of John.
(31:15):
But the gospels were, and thegospels, the disciples, were,
asking Jesus about the man bornblind.
Whose fault was it?
Was it because of this or wasit because of that?
Was it his sin or was it hisparents' sin and so on, that he
was born blind?
He goes neither.
It was for the glory of Godthat the glory of God be
manifested, and the same thingwhen he would.
(31:37):
Why did Jesus wait two extradays to go to Lazarus and so
that Lazarus is gonna be deadfour days before Jesus ever gets
there?
And why?
Why did he do that?
Because God was gonna beglorified.
And so your disfluency.
I mean, I hear people mentionand I'm sure they've mentioned
(31:58):
it to you too a lot, but just Icannot believe the fact that in
carrying on conversation youstruggle with the disfluency,
but when you're up there leadingworship, when you're on your
podcast and so on, you don'thave that disfluency.
And it is a God thing, it issomething which he is protecting
you with and he is using you,and that's one of those echoes
(32:23):
of mercy, one of those whispersof love and so on.
Because I think God, he's notlike the man born.
You're not like the man bornblind, where he just took away
the disfluency.
But see, god either deals withhis grace he has and there are
probably more variations of thisbut sometimes God does this
thing to show his supremacy ofhis grace, and sometimes he does
(32:48):
things in order to show thesufficiency of his grace.
And with the man born blind, heshowed the supremacy With
ladders he showed the supremacy.
He had power over illnesses, hehad power over death itself,
and yet in your situation youstill have the disfluency, but
his grace is sufficient in themiddle of that.
(33:10):
And I think that picture there,of that assurance that we have,
that we can depend upon allthings working the good to those
who love him and are calledaccording to his purposes.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
And then I don't know and in 2 Corinthians, chapter
12, that my grace is sufficientfor you, for my power is made
perfect in your weakness, right.
So boast all the more in yourweakness, because when I am weak
he is strong.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Yeah, get out there and show people how disfluency
can be.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Oh, I can do it.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
But because in that then, seeing how he works in
your life as you are worshipinghim that just one of the things
I would love and I know you'vegot the idea, I think and you
may have even talked about itmore before on the podcast, but
from Bob Coffin about as aworship leader.
(34:11):
Your job is not to be a worshipleader but a lead worshiper,
and if you go out there andworship with all your heart,
other people will want toworship along with you, and I
think that's and I go back tothis hymn there if she, the
blind person, sees these things,I mean I want to see them with
(34:34):
her.
I want to walk along with herand experience that same blessed
assurance that Jesus is mineand I want this to be my story.
I'm gonna go ahead and justblast it out that praising my
Savior all the day long isreally what life is all about.
And you could look around theworld today and you can see the
(34:56):
things that people look to togive them happiness and to give
them satisfaction and so on, orto even be their saviors.
I mean, we're coming up anotheryear now where there's gonna be
an election and there arepeople on both sides of the
aisle and right in the middle ofthe aisle, who really in some
(35:18):
ways see the possibility of anearthly Savior, that they'll see
a Democratic candidate or aRepublican candidate or some
independent candidate, someoneout there who has an answer
that's gonna make their lifebetter, more acceptable, and so
on.
And she comes back to no, no,no.
(35:40):
This is all because Jesus ismine.
Life is worth living because helives.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
I'm sorry, I'm going to.
Are you going back into anothertoilet or song?
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Nevermind, but no, but it really is true.
Life is worth living and youhave this joy well enough within
you because you have theblessed assurance that Jesus
belongs to you and you belong tohim.
You were held in his hands andthere's no place else you would
want to be.
(36:13):
We see that the great thingsbeyond us that God has done in
Christ and therefore give us theability to be happy, to be
joyful, to experience and to say, no matter what it is that
we're facing God's bigger thanthat.
It's also a thing that Ilearned.
(36:39):
I can't remember if I learnedit from taking psychology
classes, but whatever you focuson tends to enlarge.
If you focus on something, itbecomes bigger and bigger in
your life, and so if you havedifficult things that you are
focusing on, they get to be hugeand totally unable to be
(37:01):
overcome.
But if you're focusing on andGod seems then because of that
to be sort of small, lose hispower in the background because
you're so overwhelmed by thedifficulty or the disruptions
going on in your life.
But when you're focusing on Godand this is a beautiful picture
(37:21):
there of that when you'rewatching, you're waiting, you're
looking above, and when you'refocusing on those things, God
just gets bigger in your mind.
I mean, he doesn't get bigger,he's always huge, he's always
more powerful than anything youwould possibly think or imagine,
but it reminds me of.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
I wanna say there's a book I taught to the teachers
at my school a couple of yearsago and it's something that
actually, I think, when we wereat Journey, pastor Michael used
to talk about this, about doesthe cross loom large?
Yes, and the bigger we see oursin, the greater the cross has
(38:04):
to be.
And how does the cross loom inyour life?
Is it this tiny little pictureof God, or is it this thing
where the cross is huge becauseit has to be huge in order to
cover my sin and to cover?
With regards to this hymn to,to remind me, I do have that
(38:27):
assurance because of the cross,you know.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Yeah, and it's all because of the cross, just like
we talked, you know, the idea oflater on.
It's actually about goodness,filled with goodness, and so on.
It is nothing of ours, you knowit's.
You know it is something thathe gives us.
He makes us heirs, he is theone who gives us the blessed
assurance.
And because we can focus onthat, you know, it doesn't even.
(38:51):
Does it dishearten me at timesto see how weak I really am?
Yeah, it does.
It bothers me.
I remember one of my answers tothe questions in the Bible
study one time was do I have anyquestions for Jesus?
And I don't have the questionslike why, why me?
(39:12):
Why is this a bad thinghappening?
Why is it evil?
I don't have those.
The questions I have are likeis there, you know, is there any
chance that someday I might getit together enough to where I
feel like I'm not just an abjectfailure at the Christian life
and in one sense.
No, no, it will be but at thesame time that does not
(39:34):
dishearten me because I knowit's not about me, it's not
about how good I do.
I mean, I want to do thingswell because I want to please my
savior, I want to please myheavenly father, but even doing
things well, you know, if I dothings well it's because he is
somehow doing something in mylife to make me, you know, give
(39:57):
up my momentary absolute, totaldependence on and attraction of
my earthly self and focus on himmore.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
Yeah Well, and it's kind of like what I talked about
in from the depths of woe, allthe good I can muster up in my
life is still filthy rags.
It's not about me, it's notabout what I can do, it's not
about how good I can be, and ifit is, then I am.
I am an abject failure and Ialways will be, and you can't
(40:29):
have.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
If that's your plumb line is how well you're doing, I
don't see how someone can haveless of assurance.
How can you have assurance ifit depends on you knowing what
you're like?
I mean, I know what I'm likeand so you know and I love that
Jesus is mine, because Jesusalso says in John that I am in
(40:56):
the father and he and me and Iam in you, are in me and I am in
you, and so it's like, yes,jesus is mine, but we're also
his and that's the mostimportant thing, that we are his
, we're in his hands.
We cannot be lost.
We always have that blessedassurance.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Well, thank you for being on the podcast again.
Thank you for having me on.
It is almost guaranteed thiswill have more downloads than by
mercy, my God.
I have found that when I do theobscure hymns, when I do hymns
that people haven't heard ofbefore, they tend not to want to
(41:36):
listen to that podcast, which Ithe only challenge I would give
to any of you out there who arelistening to this right now go
and listen to the obscure hymns.
I find them to be so deep andjust some of the most absolutely
beautiful hymns are the onesthat we don't really hear a lot
(42:02):
Like.
From the depths of woe is anamazing hymn.
During Advent I had a bunch ofpeople go I've never heard the
song.
Let all mortal flesh keepsilence For many people.
I had a lot of people like, say, I've never heard that song
before and at the same timethey're like it's beautiful,
it's a great song.
Yes, it is Thy mercy, my God,is a beautiful song.
(42:25):
Go to dark guess how many wasanother one of those obscure
type of songs that you may haveheard it once in your lifetime
kind of songs, if that.
But some of the most obscuresongs are some of the most
beautiful, but they don't get alot of downloads when I do that.
(42:46):
But this one, I have a feelingthis one's gonna get a whole lot
more, just because of the factthat it's blessed at assurance.
Yes, it's a song thateveryone's heard of, so you may
be able to surpass mom.
Not a chance.
Speaker 3 (43:03):
Not a chance.
I married up.
I'm sorry, that's okay.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
Well.
Again, thank you so much forbeing on the podcast.
Thank you for sharing yourinsights into this hymn.
It's an amazing hymn and it's agreat choice.
So thank you.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
Thank you, I appreciate it chili.
Speaker 4 (43:48):
Blessed is your rose, jesus is mine.
O, what a foretaste of glory.
Divine Erosavition, purchase ofGod, born of his spirit washed
(44:20):
in his blood.
This is my story.
This is my song, praising mySavior all the day long.
This is my story.
(44:44):
This is my song, praising mySavior all the day long, perfect
(45:17):
submission, all his address.
I am my Savior and I be blessed, watching and waiting, looking
(45:39):
up off, filled with his goodness, lost in his love.
This is my story.
This is my song, praising mySavior all the day long.
(46:06):
This is my story.
This is my song, praising mySavior all the day long.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
That was Blessed Assurance, performed by Nathan
Drake of Reawaken Hymns from thealbum Hymns of the Sun.
For more information about thissong and all of the amazing
resources available at ReawakenHymns, check out the links in
the show notes for this episode.
As always, thank you forjoining us this week on the
(47:05):
Bright Forever.
Remember to follow us, reviewus and, of course, subscribe and
check out all of the featureson our website at
wwwthepbrightforevercom.
We always want to hear from you.
There are multiple ways thatyou can do just that.
You can email us at podcast atwwwthepbrightforevercom.
(47:27):
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(47:52):
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called the Bright Forever, thatyou would have the opportunity
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(48:17):
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Well, guess what you can,because we have a merch store on
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Simply click on the store taband it will take you to our
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(48:40):
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Don't forget, five star reviewsare always accepted.
(49:02):
Lastly, your financial supportmeans more to me than you could
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(49:25):
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(49:46):
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(50:07):
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Thank you again for listeningto our podcast and I hope you
all have an amazing week.
Before we go, let me close us inprayer.
Lord, we thank you that we haveassurance that God, we have
(50:37):
hope and it is secure in you.
Father, thank you so much forhymns like blessed assurance
that God, we can know and we canhave a peace and we can be
secure in the fact that we aresaved, that through the work
(51:06):
your son Jesus has done on thecross, we have that blessed
assurance, god, the confidenceof this song that this is my
story, this is my song and Iwill praise you all the day long
(51:28):
.
No matter what happens in ourlife, no matter the circumstance
, we stand secure in you and inwhat you have done for us, god.
We thank you for that.
We thank you for who you are.
(51:49):
We thank you for your love.
We thank you for your grace.
We thank you that you are a Godwho saves.
It is in your son's name, jesus, we pray.
Amen, god bless.
You all have a great week and494.
(52:14):
And may you all experience sixfarther on.
We're out.
We're out.
For we are not saved by believing in our own
salvation, nor by believinganything whatsoever about
ourselves.
We are saved by what we believeabout the Son of God and His
righteousness.
The gospel believed saves, notthe believing in our own faith.
(00:26):
Horatious Bonner, this is theBright Forever.
Hello and welcome to the BrightForever where each week we
(00:55):
rediscover the power andrichness found in some of the
greatest hymns of the faith.
My name is Andy Peeviehouse andI am your host and guide on
this Our Adventure ThroughHymnity.
It is always great to be backwith you each week.
We were off last week and thisweek is exciting because of
(01:15):
another amazing special guestReturning for another episode,
almost exactly a year after hisfirst appearance, my dad, steve
Peeviehouse, and we will bediscussing an amazing hymn, one
with which many of you will befamiliar, blessed Assurance by
(01:36):
the amazingly prolific hymnwriter, fanny J Crosby.
Many of you know this podcast isactually named after another
amazing Fanny Crosby hymn, theBright Forever.
To learn more about it and tohear how this podcast actually
got started in the first place,you can go and check out episode
(01:59):
one of season one Before wedive into this amazing hymn and
hear from, in my opinion, one ofthe greatest and most amazing
men in the world.
Let's explore the history ofhow this hymn became a song that
has continued to help believersstand secure in their faith and
proclaim the truth in itsrefrain.
(02:21):
This is my story, this is mysong, but before we begin, make
sure to hit that follow buttonand click subscribe to never
miss an episode.
In the late 19th century,amidst a tumultuous era in
(02:44):
American history, a woman namedFanny Crosby pinned the timeless
hymn Blessed Assurance.
Those of you who have been withus since the beginning know a
number of details from FannyCrosby's life, but for those of
you who are new to our podcast,fanny Crosby was born in 1820 in
(03:06):
New York.
At six weeks old, little babyFanny lost her sight due to a
terrible medical error.
However, despite her blindness,fanny Crosby became a prolific
hymn writer, composing over8,000 hymns throughout her
(03:29):
lifetime.
One day in 1873, fanny Crosbyvisited a dear friend, phoebe
Knapp, a talented musician andcomposer in her own right.
Mrs Knapp had recently composeda melody and was eager to share
it with her friend Fanny.
In Memories of 80 Years, herautobiography, written in 1906,
(03:52):
mrs Crosby recalls this meetingand how one of her most beloved
hymns came into being.
She says in a successful song,words and music must harmonize
not only in number of syllablesbut in subject matter and
(04:14):
especially accent.
In nine cases out of ten, thesuccess of a hymn depends
directly upon these qualities.
Thus, melodies tell their owntale, and it is the purpose of
the poet to interpret thismusical story into language.
(04:36):
Not infrequently, a composerasks what does that melody say
to you?
And if it says nothing to you,the probability is that your
words will not agree with themusic when an attempt is made to
join them.
(04:57):
Blessed Assurance was written toa melody composed by my friend
Mrs Joseph F Knapp.
She played it over once ortwice on the piano and then
asked me what it said to me.
I replied Blessed Assurance,jesus is mine.
Oh, what a foretaste of glory,divine air of salvation,
(05:21):
purchase of God born of hisspirit washed in his blood.
This is my story.
This is my song, praising mySavior all the day long.
The hymn thus written seemed toexpress the experience to both
Mrs Knapp and myself.
(05:43):
Later in the book she recountsan interesting story about how
Blessed Assurance had been used.
She says Blessed Assurance waswritten in 1873.
The music was composed by MrsJoseph F Knapp, who became known
(06:04):
to me as early as 1863, and whohas also written the notes to
several hymns of mine, includingNearer the Cross and Open the
Gates of the Temple.
She continues and says AnEnglish religious weekly gives
the following account of howsoldiers use God be with you and
(06:29):
Blessed Assurance for passwords.
When one member of the Soldiers'Christian Association meets a
comrade, he says 494, which isthe number of the hymn God be
with you till we meet again insacred songs and solos.
(06:52):
The latter replies 6.
Further on, that is hymn 500,which is the number of Blessed
Assurance.
Of this custom.
The Secretary of theAssociation writes these hymns
(07:14):
are constantly being used by ourmembers as greetings and
response and I do not think anymember of the Soldiers'
Christian Association everwrites without putting them
somewhere on the letter orenvelope.
It's such a cool story I'mthinking about starting that.
(07:40):
I'm just going to start maybegreeting and responding to
people with hymn numbers.
I don't know, it might work, itmay not.
A little different accountexists in an earlier
autobiography, fanny Crosby'sLife Story, written by a friend
(08:01):
of hers, will Carlton, in 1903.
It wasn't in her own words butit had been approved by her and
was written in the first person,and it reads Blessed assurance
was made in this manner.
My dear friend, mrs Joseph FKnapp, so well known as a writer
(08:26):
and singer of most exquisitemusic and as an aid and
inspiration to all who know her,had composed the tune and it
seemed to me one of the sweetestI had heard for a long time.
She asked me to write a hymnfor it and I felt, while
(08:46):
bringing the words and tonestogether, that the air and the
hymn were intended for eachother, and the many hundred
times that I have heard it sung,this opinion has been more and
more confirmed.
(09:07):
Whichever way you believe thehymn came about, there is no
doubt that Fanny was moved bythe melody's beauty.
She was inspired in that momentto compose what would become
one of her most cherished hymnsBlessed assurance, jesus' mind.
(09:40):
Oh, what a foretaste of glorydivine.
The hymn's words echoed itsauthor's life, an unwavering
trust in God and her certaintyof his presence.
Despite her physicallimitations, fanny Crosby's hymn
(10:02):
resonated deeply with audiencescapturing the essence of
assurance and hope in whatChrist had accomplished on the
cross.
It spread rapidly throughoutchurches across America and
beyond, becoming a powerfulanthem of faith for generations
(10:27):
to come.
Today, blessed assurance standsas a testimony to Fanny
Crosby's enduring legacy as ahymnwriter and her profound
impact on Christian worship.
Through her words and amazingmelodies, she continues to
(10:53):
inspire millions around theworld to find peace and
assurance in their simple faith.
This is a hymn that my dad,steve Peavey House, specifically
asked to talk about, and I'mexcited to hear what he has to
(11:17):
say.
Let's find out why he chose totalk about this hymn.
Well, we are here with myfather, steve Peavey House, and
we're going to be talking aboutblessed assurance, and I've had
(11:39):
you on before and so this isyour second time on, and so
we've kind of talked to youabout, like, hymns and your
history with hymns.
But before we start, is thereanything in the past year, since
we've done this before, that'skind of changed about hymns, or
(12:02):
for you, that you have realizedsomething new about hymns that
you didn't realize before, or isthere anything like that?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Well, I think that what I've noticed and I really
started thinking about it morewhen you interviewed your mom
about he keeps me singing, and Ithought about I know it sort of
sounds like I've been watchingtoo much Pollyanna, but happy
hymns, there are happy hymns.
There are songs that just andof course, a lot of the
(12:34):
Christmas carols are like thatand he keeps me singing.
There's within my heart amelody and there are just sings
and there are rings and I'veforgotten how it goes, but it's
a happy song.
But so many of the hymns areeven the ones that are not, in
(12:55):
terms of melodies and so on,happy sounding and everything.
There's a deep joy that youfind in so many of them and this
happens to be one that I thinkjust rings with joy.
It just has so much power in.
I mean, when you get to achorus that says this is my
(13:17):
story, this is my song, praisingmy Savior all the day long, I
mean you know you just sort ofyou can just feel the abolience,
you can feel the positive joyto sort of rising up out of you
as you're singing this song.
One of the reasons I love thisparticular song is the fact that
(13:38):
it fits perfectly in my vocalrange and, very honestly, if
there was nobody else in thechurch it would be, you know, I
would still be blasting away onthis song because it just is the
perfect song for that.
But I think that's the thingthat has changed somewhat, as
(13:59):
I've gotten a new appreciationfor just, not just the great
theology and hymns, not just thegreat, the deep meetings.
Some of the hymns are difficulthymns to sing, dealing with
what Christ went through,dealing with our own sin and
awareness of our own sin.
They're not, you know, I wouldnever classify them as happy
(14:23):
hymns.
But this is one that goesbeyond happy.
There's a joy because there's adepth to it, because it tells
you it's not just that you canbe happy as you go along life's
merry way, but there is a reasonwhy you have joy in your life
(14:48):
and that just sort of like, andas you sing it, as you look at
the words, it begins to well upin you and there's nothing like
Jesus talks about living waterwelling up within you, and I
think that kind of what is goingon whenever I think about or
(15:09):
sing this hymn.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Well, that brings me to my second question, and
answers it as well, which is canyou share your personal
connection to Blessed Assurance,and what significance does it
hold for you?
Well, which?
Speaker 3 (15:24):
is pretty much what you just told me.
So, but pretty much, but there.
But the thing is too.
It's a.
I'm a positive person for themost part.
Sometimes, depending on whomaround, I'm disgustingly
optimistic about things, to thepoint of I have blinders on and
(15:46):
I don't see reality.
When things are really horrible, I need to see that there was
being.
They're horrible and so.
But I tend to be veryoptimistic and one of the things
about this particular song isthat as you go through and look
at the individual words and thephrases that they put in there,
it gives it gives deeper meaningto my optimism.
(16:11):
Even the things are verydifficult in life and so on.
There's a reason why you can befilled with joy and there's a
reason why and that reason isbasic because you have this
Blessed Assurance, no matterwhether or not the difficulties
are there, because of justcircumstances, the world is
(16:31):
placed on you, or someone elseis placed on you, or financial
situation and so on, or forsomething particularly that
you've brought on yourself byyour own sin, by your own
weaknesses and so on.
In the middle of that, youstill have Blessed Assurance,
and because it has nothing to dowith what you do.
It has to do with what he hasdone, what he is doing and what
(16:53):
he will continue to do in yourlife.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
One of the things and I shared this earlier in the
podcast when I told the story ofthis hymn the way she wrote it
is actually really interestingbecause of the fact that you
just said that you enjoy themore upbeat hymns and things
like that.
And she was talking about howhymns there's a harmonization,
(17:19):
not just musically, but thewords to the music, and her
friend, mrs Joseph F Knapp, isthe one who wrote the actual
music for this and she played itfor her two times on her piano
and then asks Fanny, is thereanything that comes to mind when
(17:44):
you hear this?
And boom, here comes BlessedAssurance.
So the music was there beforethe song was written yes, so she
had written this piece.
and she turns to Fanny Crosbyand asks does this like?
Does anything kind of spring upin you?
(18:04):
Does this song make you thinkanything?
And she recalls going.
It makes me think BlessedAssurance, jesus is mine.
Oh, what a foretaste of glory,divine Air of salvation,
purchase of God, born of hisspirit, lost in his love.
This is my story.
This is my song, praising mySavior all the day long and I'm
(18:25):
going.
Well, that's one way to write asong.
I mean.
I wish I could do that.
Yeah, and but it reminds me ofand this is something that I
talked with mom about.
It's something I talked withaunt Pam about too.
In both of those instances, themusic is what kind of elevates
(18:47):
the hymn and it makes you likehe keeps me singing, it puts you
into this happy upbeat.
Yes, god's gonna keep me going.
He's gonna like, even in themidst of bad times, god's gonna
keep moving me forward.
And it's got this veryuplifting song and this idea of
day by day that you listen tothe music, and the music is this
(19:12):
calming, very things are gonnabe okay.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
The word steadfast comes to me.
Yeah, exactly, there's asteadfastness that you have
because he covers day by day.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah, it's just every single day.
It's just, you don't have toworry.
It's a very comforting song andthe music is very comforting.
Along with it and this songcomes along and one of the
things that Fanny Crosby said isthat you know, and she knew
when a hymn of hers was going tobe, it was gonna become popular
(19:46):
, it was gonna be a really justman, it was gonna stick into
people's heads.
And this was one of those hymns, because the music and the
lyrics, harmonized together insuch a way that it's just the
music of Blessed Assurance,brings along this feeling of
assurance, like I can do thisbecause I have Jesus Christ, and
(20:11):
so I am assured.
And the music comes along andit assures you as well.
Yes, they fit together soperfectly.
So last time I had you on, wetalked about the hymn Thy Mercy,
my God, which is a little bitmore of a heady type song, very
much a deeper understanding ofwhat does it mean for God to
(20:34):
have a mercy on us, and wetalked about that.
And this is, and it was, muchmore of an obscure hymn to.
Not a lot of people have everheard of it, which also goes to
show why your podcast has notoutpaced mom's downloads of the
Old Rucket Cross.
But this, on the other hand, isa completely different song
(21:00):
because it may not be like asuper deep intellectual song,
but it is a very popular songand yet it does have a very deep
understanding of we can know.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Well, it reminds me that the poor, not brilliant
peasant along the road, like aJohn Bunyan could then immerse
himself in scripture and writePilgrim's Progress.
Because I read this and it hasdeep theological significance,
(21:45):
but easy to understandsignificance I mean the second
perfect submission, perfectdelight.
Visions of rapture now burst onmy sight, angels descending
bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
I mean, anybody reading thiswho knows how to read is gonna
(22:08):
be able to understand what isgoing on in Fannie Crosby's mind
as she is writing these wordsdown.
And also, if they are believers, they have had those
experiences, if nothing else.
When they came to know JesusChrist as their personal savior
(22:29):
and suddenly the weight of theirsin was no longer on them, then
the freedom that comes in that,the exuberance, the abolience,
the just amazing feeling andthat's not always a feeling
thing, but the feeling thatcomes with that is just visions
(22:53):
of rapture now burst on my sight.
Yeah, that's what happens,because you're just amazed that
you are now a part of thisfamily, you are accepted.
In the middle of the yuck,sometimes, that is you that you
have angels descending towardsyou, bringing from above echoes
(23:15):
of mercy and whispers of loveinto your life, and that, to me,
is just.
It's one of those things thatit is powerful, theologically,
very powerful, but at the sametime it's not that difficult to
understand.
The regular person can grab it,and you're right, I know this
(23:35):
is perhaps one of the mostpopular of her songs and I can
see exactly why it would be.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
One of the things also about verse two and we kind
of talked about this earlierthat I absolutely and I've
talked about this I talked aboutthis when I talked about Fanny
Crosby in the very first episodeof season one, when we talked
about the bright forever and herunderstanding of what heaven's
going to look like and the factthat she's blind and she says
(24:05):
visions of rapture now burst onmy sight, that this perfect
submission, perfect delight,visions of rapture burst on her
sight.
She was blind.
Yes, like, how does she know?
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Well, and the last verse, the last couple of lines,
watching and waiting, lookingabove, yeah, I mean, but it goes
back to Jesus says in John, onepoint, and I don't want to, I'm
doing a little bit of aparaphrase here, but he's
bringing sight to those who areblind and making blind those who
(24:53):
think they see.
You know, the whole idea thereis that we are there's a
difference between physical andspiritual sight and you can have
all the, you can have 2020, youhave 2010,.
You can have perfect, perfect,perfect physical sight and be
totally blind spirituallybecause you do not see what is
(25:16):
really there.
You see the externalcircumstances, you see the
things that you want to see, butyou don't see the truth behind
what is really going on.
You don't see the spiritualworld that God is in control of
and is doing battle on yourbehalf against Satan and his
minions.
I mean, you don't see that ifyou don't have a spiritual sight
(25:40):
.
But those things are spiritualand I think these things here
are spiritually discerned and Ijust wish that I had the sight
that Fannie Crosby had.
I mean, she was physicallyblind, but you know she was
watching, she was waiting, shewas always looking above because
(26:03):
she was setting her mind onthose things that were above,
not on the things of the earth.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Yeah, and she has actually said before that if God
were to come back and to offerher sight and I think you
actually had the quote from itthat she would be like no no I
(26:32):
would not accept it.
Yeah, I would rather continueto be blind.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Yeah, what she said is I might not have sung hymns
to the praise of God if I hadbeen distracted by the beautiful
and interesting things about me.
I mean, it reminds me of and wehave a contemporary like that
too Gianni Eric Santata.
I mean talks about if I go backand God could give me the
(27:03):
ability to stand upright andwalk and breathe and all the
things that I don't have becauseof my paraplegia or
quadriplegia.
I wouldn't take it because Iwould not give anything,
anything for the closerelationship I have with Jesus
Christ.
And I mean that is for those ofus who are blessed and
(27:24):
privileged to have their bodiesfunctioning in a fairly normal
way at 75, I'm not sure it'sfunctioning in a fairly normal
way any longer, but to have thatsaying, no, I would rather have
Jesus anything, yeah, I'drather.
Oh, wait, that's another song.
Wait, that's another hymn,that's another song.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
But it's true because and I've actually shared this
with this podcast before andI've also shared it with
numerous groups that I've spokento the same feelings, like I
would be so concerned with how Iwas able to turn a phrase and
(28:09):
how good I was at speaking andhow I could jab at somebody or
if I had fluency.
But I've started my whole lifeand I look back and I see this
path God was taking me on andactually, what was really
interesting, pastor Tim atchurch was talking about that
(28:37):
we're clay.
We're clay to be molded andsometimes we would just rather
just sit and just be clay.
But God is shaping us intosomething.
And I look back and I for along time I thought my
(28:58):
stuttering was not a gift fromGod.
It was far from it.
But I look back on it now,after years and years and years
of thinking through it andreading God's word, and go, wait
a minute.
This is grace, because if I hadbeen able to speak and speak
(29:19):
fluently one, I don't know ifI'd be where I am.
I don't know if I'd be the sameperson I am, because I would be.
I'd be so concerned about howgood I speak and how wonderful I
am at this and oh man, I havesuch a quick wit and I can do
this and I can do this and I cando this and I can pierce
somebody with my words Instead,it's humbled me tremendously.
(29:46):
And not that I can't still bequick-witted at times or joke
and be sarcastic and things likethat and sometimes take it too
far still, but how many times ithas stopped me my stuttering
has stopped me from sayingthings that I look back and go,
(30:06):
man, I'm glad I didn't say that,man, I'm glad I not only that I
didn't say it, I'm glad Icouldn't say that.
That would not have been ableto even come out because of
God's grace and it's God's gracethat.
And she sees that and says man,I wouldn't want my sight
because I'd be so concerned withme and I'd be distracted by me.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
And that's really good, and I think sometimes also
the picture there of echoes ofmercy and whispers of love and
so on.
We fail to see that the reasonwhy God does, actively, does
things or allows things into ourlives that we don't see as
particularly good, one of thosewould be obviously her being
(30:55):
blinded when she was six yearsold and the whole issue of John
Eric Santata having when she was17, having the spinal injury
that she had, and you havingthis disfluency and so on.
But you go back to I keep goingback to John because that's
what I've been studying latelythe gospel of John.
(31:15):
But the gospels were, and thegospels, the disciples, were,
asking Jesus about the man bornblind.
Whose fault was it?
Was it because of this or wasit because of that?
Was it his sin or was it hisparents' sin and so on, that he
was born blind?
He goes neither.
It was for the glory of Godthat the glory of God be
manifested, and the same thingwhen he would.
(31:37):
Why did Jesus wait two extradays to go to Lazarus and so
that Lazarus is gonna be deadfour days before Jesus ever gets
there?
And why?
Why did he do that?
Because God was gonna beglorified.
And so your disfluency.
I mean, I hear people mentionand I'm sure they've mentioned
(31:58):
it to you too a lot, but just Icannot believe the fact that in
carrying on conversation youstruggle with the disfluency,
but when you're up there leadingworship, when you're on your
podcast and so on, you don'thave that disfluency.
And it is a God thing, it issomething which he is protecting
you with and he is using you,and that's one of those echoes
(32:23):
of mercy, one of those whispersof love and so on.
Because I think God, he's notlike the man born.
You're not like the man bornblind, where he just took away
the disfluency.
But see, god either deals withhis grace he has and there are
probably more variations of thisbut sometimes God does this
thing to show his supremacy ofhis grace, and sometimes he does
(32:48):
things in order to show thesufficiency of his grace.
And with the man born blind, heshowed the supremacy With
ladders he showed the supremacy.
He had power over illnesses, hehad power over death itself,
and yet in your situation youstill have the disfluency, but
his grace is sufficient in themiddle of that.
(33:10):
And I think that picture there,of that assurance that we have,
that we can depend upon allthings working the good to those
who love him and are calledaccording to his purposes.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
And then I don't know and in 2 Corinthians, chapter
12, that my grace is sufficientfor you, for my power is made
perfect in your weakness, right.
So boast all the more in yourweakness, because when I am weak
he is strong.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Yeah, get out there and show people how disfluency
can be.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Oh, I can do it.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
But because in that then, seeing how he works in
your life as you are worshipinghim that just one of the things
I would love and I know you'vegot the idea, I think and you
may have even talked about itmore before on the podcast, but
from Bob Coffin about as aworship leader.
(34:11):
Your job is not to be a worshipleader but a lead worshiper,
and if you go out there andworship with all your heart,
other people will want toworship along with you, and I
think that's and I go back tothis hymn there if she, the
blind person, sees these things,I mean I want to see them with
(34:34):
her.
I want to walk along with herand experience that same blessed
assurance that Jesus is mineand I want this to be my story.
I'm gonna go ahead and justblast it out that praising my
Savior all the day long isreally what life is all about.
And you could look around theworld today and you can see the
(34:56):
things that people look to togive them happiness and to give
them satisfaction and so on, orto even be their saviors.
I mean, we're coming up anotheryear now where there's gonna be
an election and there arepeople on both sides of the
aisle and right in the middle ofthe aisle, who really in some
(35:18):
ways see the possibility of anearthly Savior, that they'll see
a Democratic candidate or aRepublican candidate or some
independent candidate, someoneout there who has an answer
that's gonna make their lifebetter, more acceptable, and so
on.
And she comes back to no, no,no.
(35:40):
This is all because Jesus ismine.
Life is worth living because helives.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
I'm sorry, I'm going to.
Are you going back into anothertoilet or song?
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Nevermind, but no, but it really is true.
Life is worth living and youhave this joy well enough within
you because you have theblessed assurance that Jesus
belongs to you and you belong tohim.
You were held in his hands andthere's no place else you would
want to be.
(36:13):
We see that the great thingsbeyond us that God has done in
Christ and therefore give us theability to be happy, to be
joyful, to experience and to say, no matter what it is that
we're facing God's bigger thanthat.
It's also a thing that Ilearned.
(36:39):
I can't remember if I learnedit from taking psychology
classes, but whatever you focuson tends to enlarge.
If you focus on something, itbecomes bigger and bigger in
your life, and so if you havedifficult things that you are
focusing on, they get to be hugeand totally unable to be
(37:01):
overcome.
But if you're focusing on andGod seems then because of that
to be sort of small, lose hispower in the background because
you're so overwhelmed by thedifficulty or the disruptions
going on in your life.
But when you're focusing on Godand this is a beautiful picture
(37:21):
there of that when you'rewatching, you're waiting, you're
looking above, and when you'refocusing on those things, God
just gets bigger in your mind.
I mean, he doesn't get bigger,he's always huge, he's always
more powerful than anything youwould possibly think or imagine,
but it reminds me of.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
I wanna say there's a book I taught to the teachers
at my school a couple of yearsago and it's something that
actually, I think, when we wereat Journey, pastor Michael used
to talk about this, about doesthe cross loom large?
Yes, and the bigger we see oursin, the greater the cross has
(38:04):
to be.
And how does the cross loom inyour life?
Is it this tiny little pictureof God, or is it this thing
where the cross is huge becauseit has to be huge in order to
cover my sin and to cover?
With regards to this hymn to,to remind me, I do have that
(38:27):
assurance because of the cross,you know.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Yeah, and it's all because of the cross, just like
we talked, you know, the idea oflater on.
It's actually about goodness,filled with goodness, and so on.
It is nothing of ours, you knowit's.
You know it is something thathe gives us.
He makes us heirs, he is theone who gives us the blessed
assurance.
And because we can focus onthat, you know, it doesn't even.
(38:51):
Does it dishearten me at timesto see how weak I really am?
Yeah, it does.
It bothers me.
I remember one of my answers tothe questions in the Bible
study one time was do I have anyquestions for Jesus?
And I don't have the questionslike why, why me?
(39:12):
Why is this a bad thinghappening?
Why is it evil?
I don't have those.
The questions I have are likeis there, you know, is there any
chance that someday I might getit together enough to where I
feel like I'm not just an abjectfailure at the Christian life
and in one sense.
No, no, it will be but at thesame time that does not
(39:34):
dishearten me because I knowit's not about me, it's not
about how good I do.
I mean, I want to do thingswell because I want to please my
savior, I want to please myheavenly father, but even doing
things well, you know, if I dothings well it's because he is
somehow doing something in mylife to make me, you know, give
(39:57):
up my momentary absolute, totaldependence on and attraction of
my earthly self and focus on himmore.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
Yeah Well, and it's kind of like what I talked about
in from the depths of woe, allthe good I can muster up in my
life is still filthy rags.
It's not about me, it's notabout what I can do, it's not
about how good I can be, and ifit is, then I am.
I am an abject failure and Ialways will be, and you can't
(40:29):
have.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
If that's your plumb line is how well you're doing, I
don't see how someone can haveless of assurance.
How can you have assurance ifit depends on you knowing what
you're like?
I mean, I know what I'm likeand so you know and I love that
Jesus is mine, because Jesusalso says in John that I am in
(40:56):
the father and he and me and Iam in you, are in me and I am in
you, and so it's like, yes,jesus is mine, but we're also
his and that's the mostimportant thing, that we are his
, we're in his hands.
We cannot be lost.
We always have that blessedassurance.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Well, thank you for being on the podcast again.
Thank you for having me on.
It is almost guaranteed thiswill have more downloads than by
mercy, my God.
I have found that when I do theobscure hymns, when I do hymns
that people haven't heard ofbefore, they tend not to want to
(41:36):
listen to that podcast, which Ithe only challenge I would give
to any of you out there who arelistening to this right now go
and listen to the obscure hymns.
I find them to be so deep andjust some of the most absolutely
beautiful hymns are the onesthat we don't really hear a lot
(42:02):
Like.
From the depths of woe is anamazing hymn.
During Advent I had a bunch ofpeople go I've never heard the
song.
Let all mortal flesh keepsilence For many people.
I had a lot of people like, say, I've never heard that song
before and at the same timethey're like it's beautiful,
it's a great song.
Yes, it is Thy mercy, my God,is a beautiful song.
(42:25):
Go to dark guess how many wasanother one of those obscure
type of songs that you may haveheard it once in your lifetime
kind of songs, if that.
But some of the most obscuresongs are some of the most
beautiful, but they don't get alot of downloads when I do that.
(42:46):
But this one, I have a feelingthis one's gonna get a whole lot
more, just because of the factthat it's blessed at assurance.
Yes, it's a song thateveryone's heard of, so you may
be able to surpass mom.
Not a chance.
Speaker 3 (43:03):
Not a chance.
I married up.
I'm sorry, that's okay.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
Well.
Again, thank you so much forbeing on the podcast.
Thank you for sharing yourinsights into this hymn.
It's an amazing hymn and it's agreat choice.
So thank you.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
Thank you, I appreciate it chili.
Speaker 4 (43:48):
Blessed is your rose, jesus is mine.
O, what a foretaste of glory.
Divine Erosavition, purchase ofGod, born of his spirit washed
(44:20):
in his blood.
This is my story.
This is my song, praising mySavior all the day long.
This is my story.
(44:44):
This is my song, praising mySavior all the day long, perfect
(45:17):
submission, all his address.
I am my Savior and I be blessed, watching and waiting, looking
(45:39):
up off, filled with his goodness, lost in his love.
This is my story.
This is my song, praising mySavior all the day long.
(46:06):
This is my story.
This is my song, praising mySavior all the day long.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
That was Blessed Assurance, performed by Nathan
Drake of Reawaken Hymns from thealbum Hymns of the Sun.
For more information about thissong and all of the amazing
resources available at ReawakenHymns, check out the links in
the show notes for this episode.
As always, thank you forjoining us this week on the
(47:05):
Bright Forever.
Remember to follow us, reviewus and, of course, subscribe and
check out all of the featureson our website at
wwwthepbrightforevercom.
We always want to hear from you.
There are multiple ways thatyou can do just that.
You can email us at podcast atwwwthepbrightforevercom.
(47:27):
You can also click the ContactUs tab at the top of our website
and send us a message throughour contact form.
You can go to our website andclick the radio microphone in
the bottom right corner andrecord a message up to two
minutes and let us know what youthink of the podcast.
I know some of you out thereare thinking man, I wish I had a
(47:52):
t-shirt that I could wear thatsaid the Bright Forever and that
would draw people to me to askwhat is this amazing thing
called the Bright Forever, thatyou would have the opportunity
to share what it is witheveryone you come in contact
(48:17):
with?
Well, guess what you can,because we have a merch store on
our website.
Simply click on the store taband it will take you to our
merchandise store where you canbuy t-shirts.
There's playing cards, there'sstickers and magnets.
There's all sorts of thingsthat you can check out, some
(48:40):
designed by my daughters andmyself that help you show off
the fact that you listen to theBright Forever, those
conversation starters, so thatyou can spread the word about
this amazing podcast and howawesome and wonderful you think
it is.
Don't forget, five star reviewsare always accepted.
(49:02):
Lastly, your financial supportmeans more to me than you could
possibly understand.
We want to reach more peoplewith this podcast and the only
way to do that is through yoursupport.
If you would like to help usreach that greater audience with
(49:25):
these amazing hymns, you can goto thebrightforevercom and
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(49:46):
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(50:07):
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Thank you again for listeningto our podcast and I hope you
all have an amazing week.
Before we go, let me close us inprayer.
Lord, we thank you that we haveassurance that God, we have
(50:37):
hope and it is secure in you.
Father, thank you so much forhymns like blessed assurance
that God, we can know and we canhave a peace and we can be
secure in the fact that we aresaved, that through the work
(51:06):
your son Jesus has done on thecross, we have that blessed
assurance, god, the confidenceof this song that this is my
story, this is my song and Iwill praise you all the day long
(51:28):
.
No matter what happens in ourlife, no matter the circumstance
, we stand secure in you and inwhat you have done for us, god.
We thank you for that.
We thank you for who you are.
(51:49):
We thank you for your love.
We thank you for your grace.
We thank you that you are a Godwho saves.
It is in your son's name, jesus, we pray.
Amen, god bless.
You all have a great week and494.
(52:14):
And may you all experience sixfarther on.
We're out.
We're out.
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