Take My Life and Let It Be is a consecration hymn written by the English poet Frances Ridley Havergal on February 4, 1874. In twelve short couplets it offers every part of life to God: time, hands, feet, voice, lips, money, mind, will, heart, love and finally the whole self, ever, only, all for Thee. It is a sung version of Romans 12:1: present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
In February 1874, Frances Havergal spent five days at Areley House in Worcestershire with ten people, some of them not believers and some believers who were, in her words, not rejoicing. She prayed that God would give her all in the house. Before she left, every one of them had been blessed. On the last night she was too happy to sleep, and she spent it renewing her own consecration. The couplets formed in her mind one after another, ending with Ever, only, all for Thee. She lived what she wrote. Four years later she wrote to a friend that the line Take my silver and my gold now meant shipping off almost all her jewelry to the Church Missionary Society, keeping only a few family pieces. Here are her six stanzas and the 12 KJV passages that stand behind them.
Take My Life and Let It Be: the words
Verse 1
Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days;
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Verse 2
Take my hands, and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee.
Verse 3
Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee.
Verse 4
Take my silver and my gold;
Not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use
Every power as Thou shalt choose.
Verse 5
Take my will, and make it Thine;
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own;
It shall be Thy royal throne.
Verse 6
Take my love; my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure-store.
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee.
Words: Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879), written February 4, 1874, at Areley House, Worcestershire, and first published in 1874. Text copied from her Loyal Responses (London, 1878), pp. 9-10, Consecration Hymn (Internet Archive scan), where it appears as twelve couplets under the Prayer Book words Here we offer and present unto Thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies; they are grouped here in the usual six stanzas. Havergal put beautiful in quotation marks, pointing to Isaiah 52:7; the marks are not shown. Sung to several tunes, including HENDON (H. A. Cesar Malan, 1827). Modern versions with an added refrain (for example Paul Baloche's) are copyrighted and not reproduced. Public domain.
Take my life: a living sacrifice
1. Romans 12:1
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."
Havergal printed the hymn under words from the Anglican communion service, here we offer and present unto Thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, and that prayer comes from this verse. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. An Old Testament sacrifice was given once and died. A living sacrifice is given every day and goes on living for God. Paul's reason is the mercies of God described in Romans 1-11. Consecration does not earn salvation; it is the grateful answer to it.
2. Romans 6:13
"Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."
The hymn goes through the body part by part: hands, feet, voice, lips. Paul does the same: yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Members means the parts of the body. Every hand and tongue will be used for something; the only question is whether it serves sin or serves God. Havergal's hymn is a practical way of making that choice one member at a time. Taking the hymn slowly, couplet by couplet, can become an honest self-examination.
3. Psalms 90:12
"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise. Moses prayed, So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psalm 90 is a sober psalm about how short human life is: seventy or eighty years, soon cut off. Numbering our days does not mean counting them anxiously. It means valuing them, knowing that each one is a gift that will not come back. Havergal herself died at 42. Her hymn asks God to take not only the big decisions but the minutes, which is where most of life is actually spent.
4. 1 Corinthians 6:19
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? This verse explains why the hymn's offer is reasonable. A believer's body is already the dwelling place of God's Spirit, and it already belongs to Him, because He bought it (1 Corinthians 6:20). When we pray take my life, we are not giving God something He has no claim on. We are agreeing with what is already true and asking Him to make it real in every hour. Consecration is simply living as though we are not our own.
Hands, feet, voice and lips: every part in God's service
5. Colossians 3:23
"And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;"
Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Most of what hands do is ordinary: cooking, typing, cleaning, building, caring for children. Paul tells servants doing exactly that kind of work: whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men. Consecrated hands do not have to leave their everyday work for religious work. They do the same work for a new Master and from a new motive, the impulse of His love. Read more Bible verses about work.
6. Isaiah 52:7
"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!"
Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee. Havergal put beautiful in quotation marks because she was quoting this verse: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace. Paul quotes it in Romans 10:15 about preachers of the gospel. Feet are not usually called beautiful. They become beautiful when they carry good news to someone who needs it. Every Christian can have feet like that, by going where God sends, even if it is only across the street to a lonely neighbor.
7. Psalms 104:33
"I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being."
Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King. Havergal was a trained singer with a fine voice, and she gave up opportunities to sing secular concerts so she could sing only songs about Christ. The psalmist made the same resolve: I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. Most of us will never perform in public, but we all have a voice that can praise God, in church, in the car and in the kitchen. See more Bible verses about music.
8. Psalms 71:23
"My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed."
Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee. The psalmist says, My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. Lips that belong to God speak His messages: encouragement, truth, comfort and the gospel. Havergal wrote letters, books and poems by the hundreds, all of them carrying messages from God's Word. Our lips can do the same in ordinary conversation. The question is not how much we speak but whose message we carry. See also Bible verses about the tongue.
Silver, intellect, will and heart: holding nothing back
9. Mark 12:42-44
"And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living."
Not a mite would I withhold. The mite was the smallest coin in circulation, and the word comes from this story. A poor widow threw in two mites, which make a farthing, and Jesus said she had given more than all the rich donors, because she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. God measures giving not by the amount but by what is held back. Havergal gave her jewelry to missions and kept only a few pieces. The widow kept nothing. Read more Bible verses about giving.
10. Mark 12:30
"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment."
Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose. Jesus said the greatest commandment is thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. The mind is included. Faith does not ask us to switch off our thinking but to put it at God's disposal. Havergal read Hebrew and Greek, studied the Bible deeply and used every gift she had in writing. A consecrated mind studies, questions and creates, all for the glory of God.
11. Luke 22:42
"Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."
Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine. This is the hardest couplet of the hymn, and Jesus Himself shows what it costs. In Gethsemane He prayed, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. He did not pretend the cup was easy. He told His Father honestly what He wanted and then yielded. Surrendering the will is not pretending we have no wishes. It is placing our wishes under God's. See more Bible verses about surrender.
12. Proverbs 23:26
"My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways."
My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. In Proverbs the heart is the center of a person, the place where thoughts, desires and decisions come from. A father asks his son for it, because whoever has the heart will have everything else. Havergal's hymn reaches the same point near its end: Take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne. Then it offers the last and greatest gift: Take myself. Every earlier couplet was a part; this is the whole.
A short prayer
Lord, take my life and let it be consecrated to You. Take my moments and my days, my hands and feet, my voice and lips. Take my money and my mind, and hold back nothing that belongs to You. Take my will and make it Yours, as Jesus prayed in the garden, not my will, but Yours be done. Take my heart for Your throne, and take my whole self. I cannot give this by my own strength, so let Christ live in me. Ever, only, all for You. Amen.
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Frequently asked questions
Who wrote Take My Life and Let It Be?
Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879), an English poet, hymn writer and singer and the daughter of a clergyman, wrote the hymn on February 4, 1874, at Areley House in Worcestershire. She also wrote Like a River Glorious and Who Is on the Lord's Side? She died in 1879 at the age of 42.
What is the story behind Take My Life and Let It Be?
Havergal was visiting a house of ten people and prayed that all of them would come to faith or a deeper faith. By her last night every one of them had, and she was too joyful to sleep. She spent the night renewing her own consecration, and the couplets came to her one by one. In 1878 she gave most of her jewelry to the Church Missionary Society, saying the line Take my silver and my gold now meant exactly that.
What Bible verse is Take My Life and Let It Be based on?
The hymn is a sung form of Romans 12:1, present your bodies a living sacrifice, and of Romans 6:13, which asks believers to yield their members to God. Individual lines echo Isaiah 52:7 (beautiful feet), Mark 12:42-44 (the widow's mites), Luke 22:42 (not my will) and Proverbs 23:26 (give me thine heart).
Is Take My Life and Let It Be in the public domain?
Yes. Havergal's words were published in 1874 and she died in 1879, so the hymn is in the public domain in the United States. Modern arrangements that add a new refrain, such as the version by Paul Baloche and others, are copyrighted works; the original words printed here may be used freely.
Sources: All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV), public domain in the United States. References were checked against the KJV text from bible-api.com.
Related: Just As I Am · Be Thou My Vision · When I Survey the Wondrous Cross · Romans 12 (KJV) · Surrender · Sacrifice · Commitment · Stewardship
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