I serve a risen Savior

1
I serve a risen Savior
  He's in the world today.
I know that He is living,
  Whatever men may say.
I see His hand of mercy;
  I hear His voice of cheer;
And just the time I need Him
  He's always near.
  He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives?
    He lives within my heart.
2
In all the world around me
  I see His loving care,
And though my heart grows weary,
  I never will despair;
I know that He is leading,
  Through all the stormy blast;
The day of His appearing
  Will come at last.
3
Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian,
  Lift up your voice and sing
Eternal hallelujahs
  To Jesus Christ the King!
The Hope of all who seek Him,
  The Help of all who find,
None other is so loving,
  So good and kind.
174
Ana Lara

Tolland, Connecticut, United States

Alfred H. Ackley was born in 1887 and died in California in 1960. His early musical education came from his father and later he studied music in New York and the Royal Academy of music in London where he became an accomplished cellist.

He was ordained in 1914 after graduating from Westminster Seminary in Princeton and served in the Presbyterian Church In Pennsylvania and California.

Alfred compiled hymns and songs for the Rodeheaver Publishing Company and is credited with writing 1500 hymns, gospel songs and children’s songs. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Sacred Music from John Brown University.

“He Lives” first appeared in The Triumphant Service Songs (Rodeheaver Company) and has been a favorite of revival meetings since its publication.


Deronda J Doolittle

Tulsa, OK, United States

An empty grave to prove He Lives! I too am so glad He has given me a little of His heart, too!

Wonderful when we do repent, He brings us back!


George

Winnipeg, MB, Canada

I think such a hymn merits the name of the author/composer and date of composition: A. H. Ackley, 1933. He was 46 years of age.


Virginia Geoffrion

Huntsville, AL, United States

I was listening to one of the morning news programs, and I don't remember what was being said or what sparked this, but suddenly this hymn started running through my head.

When I was a young girl growing up in the Salvation Army, this was one of the hymns that we would typically sing during our open-air services outside on the street corner. I was in my late teens when I met someone whom I later married and left the church for.

I felt like God had a calling for me back then, but because I felt like I was living my life less than perfectly, when my now late husband came into my life I figured that I would continue on my merry way and live my life in the ways of the world. Little did I know that I would be living a life of pain and heartbreak. My mom had passed away after I had moved out of town, and I didn't know that she had passed away until two weeks after she had been buried. My son had gotten adopted by a family that my parents had gone to church with at the age of three, my dad passed away from side effects of type 2 diabetes, my husband passed away at the age of 41, from type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, cancer and a massive heart attack. Before he passed away, we had a hospital chaplain pray with us, he'd apologized for all of the abuse that he had put me through, and it was no more than an hour or so later after the chaplain prayed with us and he made his apologies, he died. I made a promise right there and then, that I was going to do everything that I could to start going back to church, and make make my life right with God.

Fast forward five or six years later, for several Sundays in a row, I am listening to the tv at 6 o'clock in the morning, and I find this church service from a local non-denominational church that I had driven past many times over the years. The messages are speaking directly to me about things in my life that I feel that I have been doing wrong, and it was an Easter message that especially got my attention, and it was that day that God called me back home. I rededicated my life to the Lord, and I have been doing my best to live my life the way that He wants for me.

Praise God for His love and grace.


Jonathan Arias

Northglenn, CO, United States

“he lives, He lives”


Sara Zaki 🌻

New Jersey, United States

I love this hymn.


Ryan Duncan

Bradenton, FL, United States

Laying in bed at 11:11 pm and this song cane flooding into my spirit. I haven’t heard it in years, but the joy of the memories of singing this at my Grandparents country church and my own church growing up. I praise the Lord for those seeds that were so loving sowed. I love you Grandma and Grandpa Duncan. May God bless you and keep you until we meet again. 🙏🏻


Rosemarie

Auburn, PA, United States

As I buckled my 5 year old granddaughter into her car seat she began to sing this hymn that we sang in church earlier that day. Gram and Gramps joined her and oh what joy filled our hearts as we sang together. We want to leave a living legacy of Jesus as forever friend and Savior in our grandchildren’s hearts.


Tabitha Amj

Lagos, Nigeria

This song came to my heart so strongly on the 3rd day of July, 2018; when I came to the understanding, appreciation and acknowledgment of the provision of God that I received, not just by looking to that cross on which He died, but actually SEEING what Christ wrought for me there, then and even now.

I came to the full consciousness of my baptism into the death of Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but CHRIST LIVES IN ME! I am merely Christ’s container, carrying Him everywhere He leads; until death is swallowed up in victory, and I, revealed exactly like my Lord, Who gave Himself for me and lives forever and ever. AMEN


Carruthers Donkor

Serrekunda, Gambia

I was in a despairing situation while all hope seemed to had lost. Everyone knew I was going through hell. I was in secondary form 2 then. A very good friend and a classmate of mine visited me to offer his sympathy and console me. He suggested to me to find help outside the realm of God and Godliness, such as going to seek help with a native doctor or a soothsayer. Instantly, this song rang in my heart and I sang it silently within me. I told my I will do no such thing that I will continue to trust my God to see me through. I had my peace thank, though I still the problem. But in His own good time the Lord helped me out. Praise the Lord.

Throughout the centuries, all the living servants of God have had this resurrected Christ living in them. I can also testify that He lives in me, enabling me to do what I never could do in myself. Hallelujah, the Lord Jesus lives! How do we know He lives? As the hymn says, we know He lives because He lives in us (Hymns, #503). We may be persecuted and opposed, and we may suffer very much. But we have the resurrected Christ in us. The more we are opposed, the more alive and active we become. Nevertheless, our testimony is this: Not I, but the grace of God with us.

Many Bible readers do not have this understanding of the word witness; even our understanding is not this deep. In Galatians 2:20 Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me." This is the meaning of being a witness. A witness is a person who has Christ living in him. The chorus of a hymn says, "He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today! /...You ask me how I know He lives? / He lives within my heart" (Hymns, #503). His living in us proves that He has resurrected and that He is living.

This is a good hymn, and I appreciate it. The chorus says that we know Christ lives because He walks with us and talks with us. However, this is not as good as saying that we know Christ lives because He lives within our heart. In answer to the question, "How do you know Christ lives?" the chorus of this hymn answers, "He lives within my heart!" We know that the Lord lives not simply because He walks with us and talks with us, but because He lives in us.

How do you know Christ lives? You should answer this question by saying, "I know He lives because He lives in me." Likewise, if we are asked if we have seen the Lord Jesus, we should say, "Yes, I have seen the Lord, for He lives in me. Even while you are asking me this question, He lives in me. Because He lives in me, I see Him. Even now as I am speaking, I can see Him. While I am speaking to you, He is speaking to me. I am simply a transmitter speaking whatever He speaks to me."

The Lord's word, "Because I live, you shall live also," certainly was fully fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. When Peter stood up with the eleven, that was Christ in resurrection. Peter's speaking was also Christ in resurrection. If someone had asked Peter where Christ is, he might have said, "Christ is here. Don't you see me? If you see me, you see Christ because He lives in me."

Piano Hymns