Hallelujah The Lord God Almighty Reigns

It happened last Sunday evening during the worship service. The evening’s featured soloist, accompanied by his own mother on piano, sang Were You There When They Crucified My Lord. Then the youth choir sang a beautiful a cappella song of praise and worship. You know it’s good when the music minister smiles from ear to ear following their performance. Then he cued the instrumentalists to begin the next song… Agnus Dei. It says:

Alleluia, alleluia, for the Lord God Almighty reigns
Alleluia, alleluia, for the Lord God Almighty reigns
Alleluia, holy, holy are You Lord God Almighty
Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb
You are holy, holy are you Lord God Almighty
Worthy is the Lamb
Worthy is the Lamb

Listen here:

Michael W. Smith - Agnus Dei

The song comes directly from Revelation 19:6 when John says, “Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.”

As we sang the words of the song, it truly felt like God was right there in the sanctuary with me. Of course I’ve felt God’s presence many times before, but I don’t remember ever feeling like this. It was all I could do to remain standing. I felt overwhelmingly compelled to fall to my knees and if I hadn’t sat on the second row that evening, I might just have.

God knows our hearts, He knows the trials we are going through, past, present and future. I think through the words of that song He was reassuring me He would be by my side, no matter what I might be facing.

I’m so happy and blessed to serve a God and Savior who is worthy...of all honor and all praise.

“I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.” Psalm 18:3

Picture courtesy of: Ben Ehmke on Flickr 

The Circle Girls: Once Upon A Witch, by Anya Novikov

I recently read, The Circle Girls: Once Upon A Witch, by Anya Novikov and thoroughly enjoyed it! 

Don’t worry; the book isn’t really about witchcraft! I came across this book browsing the Pelican Book Group website after having read another one of their books, Homeschooling Can Be Murder (previously reviewed). 

The author wrote this book in a very cool and interesting way. The main character, Delli, short for Deliverance, is a present day girl living a life that parallels that of another girl, also named Deliverance, from the 1692 Salem witch trials. Delli has dreams about this other Deliverance and blames it on the fact that she’s currently studying about the witch trials. That alone might have put her over the edge were it not for her strong relationship with Christ. 

The book has a positive message about how it’s okay to be different from everyone else, no matter what other people may think. This aspect is shown mostly through her parents who are devout Christians even though they act like hippies from the sixties. There’s also a strong theme about how spreading rumors and lying can hurt people worse than actual being physically abused. 

I honestly didn’t pick up on the aspect that the two girls had parallel lives until the end of the book. It’s very well written. I would recommend this book to anyone (preferably female) over the age of thirteen. I’m way past thirteen and I loved it!