Let’s Start a Movement!
Those of you who have read my newsletters and blogs for some time now know me well. I’ve never asked you to do anything strange or out of the ordinary. Today, I am asking you to do something I think God plans to use for His glory in ways not even I understand.
We are in a battle. The invisible enemy needs to be defeated. Before sleeping two nights ago, I was praying and asking God how He plans to do this. In the night, several times I awakened with the first verse and chorus of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” singing through my mind. I hadn’t thought of it in years. The Lord reminded me of His words, “All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s…”( I Samuel 17:47)
God fights battles in ways we rarely understand. Whether using David to fight the battle against Goliath and the Philistines with rock and sling or trumpets blasted to bring down the walls of Jericho, God has His own battle plan.
I felt challenged in the night to encourage everyone I know to consider, read out loud, sing and\or meditate on the words of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” And felt challenged to ask you to encourage friends, neighbors and family to do the same…using any method you desire. In other words “PASS IT ON.” (I feel led to do this daily for the next 20 days until May 31.)
This may seem a strange request, but as I read the words myself and sat at my piano singing this Battle Hymn, two lines stood out, “My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord”…and “His truth is marching on!” I then studied the hymn’s origin and found the video clip above a stirring confirmation.
So if you can sing, play an instrument, video conference with friends and sing together…if you can create your own rendition of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” or simply pass on someone else’s, as we approach Memorial Day let’s make this Battle Hymn our battle cry. Let’s humbly asking God together to fight the battle and destroy this plague that has swept our nation and the world. Let’s post it on every social media location possible with #battlehymnbattlecry. Join me, won’t you?
“The Battle Hymn our Battle Cry to Defeat the Invisible Enemy!”
Battle Hymn of the Republic
Julia W. Howe, 1862
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps;
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps,
His day is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him; be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me;
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free!
While God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
