Christian Poetry: If Christ is For Me -Who Can Stand Against Me?

Deuteronomy 28:7 KJV  “The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.”

Romans 8:31 KJV  “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”

 

Keyword:  #christianpoetry, #ifchristisforme, #nowweapon, #salvation, #condemnation, Jesuschrist, eprayercircle, #freebiblelessons

 

If God Himself Be For Me

 If God Himself be for me, I may a host defy;

For when I pray, before him, my foes, confounded, fly.

If Christ, my Head, and Master, befriend me from above,

What foe or what disaster can drive me from His love?

This I believe, yea, rather, of this I make my boast,

That God is my dear Father, The Friend who loves me most,

And that, whatever betides me, my Savior is at hand

Through stormy seas to guide me and bring me safely to land.

I build on this foundation, that Jesus and His blood alone are my salvation,

The true, eternal good. Without Him all that pleases is valueless on earth;

The gift I owe to Jesus alone is my love

 My Jesus is my splendor, my sun, my light, alone;

were He not my defender before God’s awesome throne,

I never would find favor And mercy in His sight, but be destroyed forever as darkness by the light.

He canceled my offenses, and delivered me from death; He is the Lord who cleanses my soul from sin through faith.

In Him I can be cheerful, bold, and undaunted aye; In Him I am not fearful Of God’s great Judgment Day.

 No one, No one, can now condemn me nor set my hope aside;

Now hell no more can claim me, Its fury I deride. No sentence ever reproves me,

No ill destroys my peace; For Christ, my Savior loves me And shields me with His grace.

His Spirit in me dwelleth, And over my mind, He reigns.

All sorrow He dispels And soothes away all pains.

He crowns His work with blessings and helps me to cry,

“My Father!” without ceasing, to Him who dwells on high.

 When my soul is lying weak, trembling, and oppressed, He pleads with groans and sighing That cannot be expressed;

But God’s quick eye discerns them, Although they give no sound, And into language turns them even in the heart’s deep ground.

To mine, His Spirit speaks Sweet words of holy cheer,

How God to him that seeketh for rest is always near

And how He hath erected a city fair and new, where what our faith expected We evermore shall view.

 In yonder home does flourish my heritage, my lot; Though here I die and perish, my heaven shall fail me not.

Though care my life often saddens And causeth tears to flow, The light of Jesus gladdens And sweetens every woe.

Who clings with resolution To Him whom Satan hates must look for persecution;

For Him, the burden waits of mockery, shame, and losses, Heaped on his blameless head;

A thousand plagues and crosses will be his daily bread.

 From me this is not hidden, yet I am not afraid;

I leave my cares, as bidden, to whom my vows were paid.

Though life and limb it cost me and everything I won, unshaken shall I trust Thee And cleave to Thee alone.

Though the earth is rent asunder, Thou art mine eternally; not fire nor sword nor thunder shall sever me from Thee;

Not hunger, thirst, nor danger, not pain nor poverty nor mighty princes’ anger shall ever hinder me.

 No angel and no gladness, no throne, no pomp, no show, no love, no hate, no sadness, no pain, no depth of woe,

No scheme of man’s contrivance, However small or great, Shall draw me from Thy guidance nor from Thee separate.

 My heart for joy is springing And can no more be sad,

‘Tis full of mirth and singing, Sees naught but sunshine glad.

The Sun that cheers my spirit Is Jesus Christ, my King; That which I shall inherit Makes me rejoice and sing.

 

Words: Paul Gerhardt, 1656. Verses 1-3, 7-9, 11-15 Translated by Richard Massie, 1856, alt. Verses 4-6,10 Translated for Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book (Pittsburgh), 1907, alt.
Music: ‘Woodbird’ or ‘Es Flog Ein Kleins Waldvögelein’ traditional German found in “Memminger Tabulaturbuche”, 17th Century.
Setting: George Ratcliffe Woodward, 1904.
copyright: public domain. This score is a part of the Open Hymnal Project, 2011 Revision.

 

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