Hymns: Wonderful Grace

I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the in-between hymns.

Today’s song is Wonderful Grace from 1990.

I discovered this one in 2017, and I remember singing it with my acoustic guitar in our little fellowship at the time. I love the song. I saw very few performances on YouTube. I did find one video from Korea.

I remember handing out leaflets with some friends from Westminster Chapel in London back in 1983. I handed one to a chap from Korea. I don’t remember how I discovered where he was from because he couldn’t speak English and I couldn’t speak Korean 😀. He initially looked puzzled, but when he ascertained that it was a Christian message, he smiled and thanked me. He seemed quite enthusiastic about it, so I assume that he was a Christian. And there was a lot of talk about revivals in Korea at the time. I even remember a book called “God Can Do it Here“, which reported on a Korean revival. And a lady in the fellowship that I attended, in Bermondsey, wrote a little song with that title. She only sang it once – or at least, I only heard it once, but I vividly remember the tune and the lyrics. I find that deeply fascinating. He it is – as I remember it anyway 😀:

God can do it by His Spirit,
God can do here.
God can do it by His Spirit,
We can’t, but He can.
Increase our faith Lord to receive the vision,
To believe for your plan,
God can do it by His Spirit,
We can’t but He can.
I am God and I can do it by my mighty Spirit,
You can’t but I can.

It’s a very good example of how something we say or sing in a meeting can stick with a person and bless them many years later – even 43 years later 😀. I remember some points that famous preachers made, but I also remember little conversations by ordinary folk.

Anyway, let’s get back to today’s hymn. The previous “in-between” hymn (not very old and not very new) that I wrote about was “Only by Grace Can We Enter” and I outlined the following simple definition of grace.

And grace is indeed wonderful. I’ll be in heaven, not because of anything I did, but because God’s Son, Jesus, died for me.

The writer, John Pantry, cited Ephesians 2:4–9 as central to understanding the song’s theology of grace. Here’s what it says:

Ephesians 2:4–9
⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.

As I said, I don’t see many performances, but here are some audio performances, most with lyrics: