Vishwaya Obei

The universe is yours, O Creator,
the plans are yours in the journey of my life
love flows, and that blood destroys sin
you hold the throne within my heart

Raising my hands, I worship you
from the depths of my heart I sing your praises
Lord, I feel your touch now, upon me,
it spreads within me like a fire

Ceaselessly you reign within me
you reign, you reign
Lord, you reign within me
I feel it, I feel it now
Lord, I feel your touch upon me

Raising my hands, I worship you…
Lord, your touch…
Hallelujah…

This is a hymn of surrender and praise to God as Creator, and it moves from the vastness of creation down into the singer’s own heart. It opens by handing everything over: “the universe is yours, O Creator,” and, just as importantly, “the plans are yours in the journey of my life.” From the start the believer confesses that both the cosmos and his own path belong to God. Then comes the gospel heart of it, “love flows, and that blood destroys sin,” pointing to the redeeming blood of Christ, followed by the intimate claim that God “holds the throne within my heart.”

The worship becomes physical and felt. “Raising my hands, I worship you,” a common posture in charismatic Christian praise, and “from the depths of my heart I sing your praises.” The most vivid line is the sense of God’s nearness as sensation: “I feel your touch now, it spreads within me like a fire,” an image of the Holy Spirit filling and warming the believer.

The song then settles into its central, repeated confession, that God “reigns within me,” ceaselessly. This is the whole point of the hymn: not just that God is Creator of the universe, but that he rules the small kingdom of one human heart, and the singer can actually feel it, “I feel it now.” It closes on the oldest word of praise, “Hallelujah.” What the listener is left with is joyful, hands-lifted worship, a believer awed that the Maker of the universe would come and reign, like fire, inside him.