The Power of Hymns

For those of you who do not know me well enough, I love music and when I say love it, I mean it. I LOVE music! Music is power in my eyes. Power, because it can say what I cannot express, music has a way to touch our hearts, it has a way to bring the Spirit into our lives. Jay E. Jensen stated, "Hymns are “an essential part of our church meetings. [They] invite the Spirit of the Lord.” They often do this quicker than anything else we may do. President J. Reuben Clark Jr. said, “We get nearer to the Lord through music than perhaps through any other thing except prayer.”
Music has power, more importantly Hymns have power. This last Sunday I had the privilege to sing in sacrament meeting "I am a Child of God." I always knew the power that this song had, but never did I fully appreciate it until I sang it. Until I fully read the lyrics. It goes as follows:
1.I am a Child of God
And He has Sent me Here
Has given me an earthly home
With parents kind and dear
2.I am a Child of God
And so my needs are great
Help me to understand His words
Before it grows to late
3.I am a Child of God
Rich blessings are in Store
If I but learn to do His will
I'll live with Him once more
4.I am a Child of God
His promises are sure
Celestial Glory shall be mine
If I can but endure
Chorus:
Lead me, guide me walk beside me
Help me find the way
Teach me all that I must do
To live with him someday.

What power this song has! To know that we are all children of God! An all powerful being and we are his children! He loves us and wants nothing but the best for us! How great to know that His promises are sure for each of His children and that if we endure we can live with Him again! This song is in the Children Songbook today as well as the Hymn Book. This song has the power to help us remember, to realize we are God's Children and we are of worth! There will be times in our lives where we will struggle and just to recite or to sing a hymn will bring us the comfort and strength necessary to continue pressing forward.
The First Presidency has said: “Brothers and sisters, let us use the hymns to invite the Spirit of the Lord into our congregations, our homes, and our personal lives. Let us memorize and ponder them, recite and sing them, and partake of their spiritual nourishment. Know that the song of the righteous is a prayer unto our Father in Heaven, ‘and it shall be answered with a blessing upon [your] heads.”