WE'RE IN GOD'S ARMY - insights: life, song lyrics & video blog Church in Oshawa

WE’RE IN GOD’S ARMY

Heather Allington

Heather writes for Sunday Song Book on behalf of the The Salvation Army Oshawa. As a lifelong member of the Army, she has loved these familiar - and some less familiar - songs for many years, and enjoys researching and writing about their origins. She is a wife, mother, grandmother and retired elementary school teacher who likes trying her hand at watercolour painting and poetry writing.

We’re in God’s Army and we fight
Wherever wrong is found;
A lowly cot or stately home
May be our battleground.
We own no man as enemy;
Sin is our challenged foe;
We follow Jesus, Son of God,
As to the war we go.

CHORUS:
We shall not lose the fight of faith,
For Jesus is our Lord.
We lay all carnal weapons down
To take His shining sword.

When our invading forces march,
In every tongue we sing;
We are of every class and race,
Yet one in Christ, the King.
Our Master’s darkest battlefield,
Upon a lonely height,
Reveals God’s sword to everyone:
A cross of love and light.

His Kingdom cometh not by force,
But, by the gentle power
Of righteousness and truth and grace,
He triumphs every hour.
Sometimes His happy people march
With banners floating high,
Though often in secluded ways,
They fight that self may die.

The good fight is the fight of faith;
Heaven’s victories are won
By men unarmed, save with the mind
That was in Christ, the Son.
As morning overwhelms the night,
So truth shall sin o’erthrow,
And love at last shall vanquish hate
As sunshine melts the snow.

An old song that is still relevant today, this one restates the Salvation Army’s mission and explains to the world that our fighting is not physical, but spiritual. The Army’s fight was clear to Catherine Baird, the daughter of officers in Australia in the early 20th century. She was born in 1895, but her parents were unexpectedly appointed to South Africa in 1903. When Catherine asked her mother if she was sad to be leaving Australia, her mother replied in the affirmative, since her parents and siblings lived there. Catherine then asked why her mother was leaving, to which Mrs. Baird replied, ” Because Father is needed in Africa, and a soldier goes where he is needed.” The Boer War had fortunately just ended, but the Salvation war continued!

In 1915, Catherine Baird became a Salvation Army officer and went on to serve in various corps, headquarters and editorial appointments, including some in the U.S. and some in London, England. She wrote numerous poems and songs, and retired as a Colonel in 1957.

WORDS: CATHERINE BAIRD; MUSIC (TUNE – THE VOICE OF JESUS): SECULAR MELODY – COMPOSER UNKNOWN
S.A. SONG BOOK, 1987 EDITION, #705; 2015 EDITION, #991
REFERENCES: IZZARD & GARIEPY, PEN OF FLAME
USAWEST.ORG