1
I have a Savior, He's pleading in glory,
A dear loving Savior, though earth-friends be few;
And now He is watching in tenderness o'er me,
But oh, that my Savior were your Savior too!
A dear loving Savior, though earth-friends be few;
And now He is watching in tenderness o'er me,
But oh, that my Savior were your Savior too!
For you I am praying,
For you I am praying,
For you I am praying,
I'm praying for you.
For you I am praying,
For you I am praying,
I'm praying for you.
2
I have a Father: to me He has given
A hope for eternity, blessed and true;
He'll call me one day to the kingdom of heaven,
But oh, that He'd let me bring you with me too!
A hope for eternity, blessed and true;
He'll call me one day to the kingdom of heaven,
But oh, that He'd let me bring you with me too!
3
I have a peace: it is calm as a river,
A peace that the friends of this world never knew;
My Savior alone is its Author and Giver,
And oh, could I know it was given to you!
A peace that the friends of this world never knew;
My Savior alone is its Author and Giver,
And oh, could I know it was given to you!
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Irving, TX, United States
Steve Miller's comment on July 5th, 2016 records stories of just how touching this hymn can be. I encourage you to pray and to read it right now, and then keep singing!
Freetown, Sierra Leone
This hymn came back to me today, as though it was just yesterday that my mom sang it to me.
I only remembered the 1st verse and chorus.
Mom taught it to me some 30 years ago. She was called to heaven in 2017, but the song ministered to me so meaningfully, now that she"s in glory.
Thank you for sharing!
Mityana, Buganda, Uganda
I have fallen in love with this lyrics that encourages every man to be saved.
Storrs, Connecticut, United States
The writer of the lyrics for this hymn was Samuel O’Malley Gore Cluff also known as Samuel Clough. Born 1837, Dublin Ireland and died 1910, Timahoe, Queens County, Ireland. He was buried in Timahoe Round Tower, County Laois, Ireland.
Samuel was the husband of Anne Blake Edge. He attended Trinity College and became a minister of the Church of Ireland (Anglican).
He pastored in various locations in Ireland. In 1884 he became the leader of the Plymouth Brethren. He wrote about 1000 songs, and composed many melodies and oratories. He also published the “Timogue Leaflets, ”
Ira Sankey (1840-1908), writes the background for the music he composed for this hymn also known as “I am praying for you. ”
“On our first visit to Ireland, in 1874, we came across these words in a printed leaflet. It was the second hymn to which I wrote music [The Ninety and Nine was the first], and it was much used in our meetings in London. It has long been a favorite prayer-meeting hymn in many churches. ”
Dwight L Moody told many stories of the power given to this hymn. He related that a young man from Sweden told him that he first heard this song in his native land. “It was sung by two evangelists who went house to house to hold a series of meetings. The two-roomed log house was packed and after one evangelist had prayed, the other one said, ‘sing one of Sankey‘s hymns. ’ The young man continued: “Since then I have heard this sweet hymn sung in many places. I have heard it in primitive homes, on the Western prairies, and by great choirs in our large cities. But whenever I do hear it I am a lad again in the little log house in Sweden. ”
“You help us by your prayers. ”
2 Corinthians 1:11
Detroit, Michigan, United States
Stanza 7 in my post below made me think that there must have been a stanza about a harp that is missing. I found it in a copy of Clough's original poem on Google Books in "One hundred choice large-type Hymn Leaflefts, assorted".
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2a. I have a Harp in those regions all-glorious -
Away, far away, in that ocean of blue;
And there shall it breathe out its music melodious;
But oh! could I know one was tuning for you!
Detroit, Michigan, United States
Stanza 2 line 3 originally says:
And soon He will call me to meet Him in heaven,
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There are additional stanzas that make the song more convicting, both to saints and sinners:
2b. (usually omitted) I have a Crown - and I'll wear it forever,
Encircled with jewels of heavenly hue.
'Twas purchased by Jesus my glorified Savior.
But oh! could I know one was purchased for you.
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2c. I have a robe; ’tis resplendent in whiteness,
Awaiting in glory my wondering view;
Oh, when I receive it all shining in brightness,
Dear friend, could I see you receiving one, too!
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4. (usually omitted) I have a Rest - and the earnest if given,
Though now for a time 'tis concealed from my view,
'Tis life everlasting - 'tis Jesus - 'tis heaven!
And oh! dearest friend let me meet you there too!
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5. (usually omitted) For you I am praying - for you I am praying!
For you I am praying, for you, yes, for you,
And soon shall I hear you rejoicing and saying,
"Your dear loving Savior is my Savior too."
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6. When Jesus has found you, tell others the story,
That my loving Savior is your Savior, too;
Then pray that your Savior may bring them to glory,
And prayer will be answered—’twas answered for you!
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7. Speak of that Savior, that Father in Heaven,
That harp, crown, and robe which are waiting for you—
That peace you possess, and that rest to be given,
Still praying that Jesus may save them with you.
Detroit, Michigan, United States
On our first visit to Ireland, in 1874, we came across these words in a printed leaflet. It was the second hymn to which I wrote music ["The Ninety and Nine" was the first], and it was much used in our meetings in London. It has long been a favorite prayer-meeting hymn in many churches - Sankey's Story of the Gospel Hymns by Ira Sankey.
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A blind lady, doing her housework, sang as she worked for she had a song in her heart. This special song was "For You I Am Praying". Out in the street busy people hurried to and fro in Belfast. A ragman passed and heard the singing. He stopped. "I wonder whom she is praying for?" he mused. He stopped a few doors away and knocked.
"Any old rags?" Yes, the woman had some. And then he asked, "That lady over there is singing, 'For you I am praying'. Who's she praying for?"
"Oh, that is Mrs. Christie who is blind. She is praying for you and for everyone who is away from God and needs Him."
"You mean she is praying for me? I would like to talk to her."
In a short time the ragman, one of society's unfortunates and misfits whom sin had dragged down to the depths of despair, was standing at the door of the house of Mrs. Christie, the blind lady, who had a song in her heart. She invited him into the house. He explained about the hymn and said he felt he just had to come to see her. Mrs. Christie nodded. He was only a ragman, but he was some mother's boy, far from home and God.
"Would you like me to read to you?"
The ragman was startled. "I thought you were blind! Can you read then?"
Mrs. Christie smiled and brought out her Testament in Braille. She; though physically blind, read to the man who was blind spiritually. She read the story of the prodigal son. When she had finished, there were tears coursing down the cheeks of this hardened sinner, who had thought he was an atheist with nobody to care what he believed or did. Together they knelt in prayer, and with the guidance of this child of God the ragman began to confess his sins and to cry to God for mercy. And the Savior who said, "Him that comes unto Me I will in no wise cast out". and "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely", was true to His promise. The Savior pardoned him, and this ragman, once a Roman Catholic and later a hopeless unbeliever, had become a child of God!
"If I am a Christian, I can't be a ragman any more", he said.
"I will pray that God will give you a better job," answered Mrs. Christie confidently. Recently when I visited Mrs. Christie in her home in Belfast, she told me the man had called at her house a few days after he had been saved to let her know that God had indeed given him a better job. He was very happy in the joy of sins forgiven.
A year later Mrs. Christie told me the sequel to the remarkable conversion of the ragman. Some months after he had found Christ as his Savior, he called again at her house. He had been talking to an old crony of his who was also a ragman. He had told him about the wonderful change in his life since he had accepted Christ. His friend became hungry for God too, and so the man whom Mrs. Christie had helped called again on her. "I don't know just how to read to him and pray with him like you did with me, but my mate wants Christ, and I want him to get saved just like I did. So do you mind if I bring him along so you can pray with him too?"
Mrs. Christie was only too pleased to pray with this man who, like his friend, became a Christian and entered upon a new life.
God moves in mysterious ways to perform His wonders! On a wet day workmen were repairing the road in front of Mrs. Christie's house. One of them called at her door to ask if she would boil his can of water for him so that he could make some tea. Mrs. Christie said that her first impulse was to refuse because she being blind had never put an open can like that on the gas stove before, and she was afraid of burning herself. But a voice seemed to be saying to her, "I have sent him; you take the can and trust Me." And so she filled the can with water and put it on the stove Before it was hot, her little 8-year-old boy came home from school and took the can off when the water boiled.
When the boy said, "Mummy, that man is out there in the rain", she invited him in.
"Would you like to drink your tea and eat your sandwiches here in the house where it is warm?"
The man, grateful for the warmth and the dry room, was then given a tract to read while she prepared his tea. The workman said he was "not interested in this salvation business", but he read the tract out of courtesy. When he left the house, Mrs. Christie asked him if he would accept a Gospel of John to read in his leisure. He said he would take it, but would not promise to read it. Mrs. Christie then promised to pray for him.
It has long been Mrs. Christie's custom on Saturday night to take her son and go to a certain corner near the docks where she can give out tracts to the men going home from work.
The tracts they give out are often those printed by the Scripture Gift Mission and they contain only the words of the Bible. This time it was a booklet of Scripture on eternity.
"Mummy, that man stopped under the light post to read his tract", remarked the lad.
"We will pray especially for him", was the mother's wise reply.
A few days later the blind lady had another call from the man who had been working in the street.
"You know you gave me a tract", he explained. "Did you stand on the street and give out tracts near the dock Saturday night?"
"Yes."
""Well, you gave a tract on eternity to my brother. He read it, and it proper upset him. He brought it home, and I read it too. Between that one and the one on 'God's Way of Salvation', I have been proper miserable too."
Then the 2 knelt in prayer, and again God marvelously heard. The road-worker was saved and later returned to say that his brother had been born again as well. What a marvelous ministry God has given to my blind friend!
One day Mrs. Christie took a bus ride a short distance from home to do some shopping. It is her custom to leave a tract on the seat of the bus. When she was ready to go home, it happened that she boarded the same bus. The conductor spoke of the booklet she had left on the bus. "Yes, I meant for someone to get it and read it."
"Well, I got it and read it", said the conductor. "When we got to the end of the run, instead of smoking a cigarette or having a game of cards with the boys as I usually do, I sat where you are sitting and read the booklet. It has put me thinking."
The blind lady nodded and smiled, saying, "I will pray that God will make you a real Christian."
A few weeks later the busman again met Mrs. Christie. His heart was bubbling over with joy as he told how he had at last found peace in Christ and had had the pleasure of bringing his own father to the knowledge of sins forgiven as well. Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Fellow Christian, are you witnessing for Christ? You, too, can do as much as this kind blind lady, to win others to the Savior. - More Living Hymn Stories by Wilbur Konkel
Detroit, MI
Clough was an Irishman and an Anglican clergyman. He left the Anglicans and joined the Plymouth Brethren. This song was frequently used in gospel meetings. - Songs of the Spirit by Martin
João testemunha a respeito dele e exclama. Este é o de quem eu disse~o que vem depois de mim tem, contudo, a primazia, porquanto já existe antes de mim. Porque todos nós temos recebido da sua plenitude e graça sobre graça. / Porque a lei foi dada por intermédio de Moisés; a graça e a verdade vieram por meio de Jesus Cristo. Ninguém jamais viu a Deus; o Deus unigênito, que está no seio do Pai, é aquém o revelou.
GMA, Cavite, Philippines
We need to pray for the salvation of others.
This hymn was once heard by an unbeliever who thought that a person's only need is to be good. One day she was invited to a prayer meeting and heard this wonderful hymn. Since then she opened her heart to the Lord and became one of the co-workers of Watchman Nee. She is Ruth Lee who was a great help to the Lord's work in China.
There may be some people like her that is waiting for our prayer in order to be saved. Keep on praying for the salvation of others. God bless.