Phenomena (Da Da) - Hillsong Young and Free

This is the first one I heard from the EP.  It's a great song, but the video is where it's at!  What's cool is I've seen video of several youth/kids camps this summer that had very similar worship times.  I know that I know one day soon this will be in the streets in our cities.  God will start an unstoppable fire in their hearts. 

Pride of a Father - Hillsong Young and Free

When You see me, You see my heart, through the eyes of Your mercy, in the light of Your Son. You love me with open arms, and the pride of a father.

It's been a while. Lots of reasons for that, none worth writing about at this time.

Other than always finding new worship songs for me, I'm always looking for worship songs for Noah. I've always tried to take seriously guarding his mind and soul by at least somewhat limiting what he watches and listens to. It's not easy. And it will certainly not get any easier in the next few years. But it's also more important than ever. It's not enough to say no, you can't watch or listen to X. There has to be really good alternatives.

So I was really happy when I ran across the first song on this playlist - linked right over there in the sidebar. This is not the first song, but this is the one that I believe is a crucial message for young people right now. I love that this EP is done by young people. I know God has started a work in young people that's going to grow and spread and change the world - literally. He has not written off any generation, certainly not the young.

If you've got pre-teens and teens in the house, have them give the playlist a listen.  

Save Us Oh God - Kevin Prosch

We confess, the sins of our nation.  Lord, we are guilty of a prayerless life.  We've turned away our hearts from Your love and taken for granted Your unchanging grace.  Turn away this curse from our country.  We say that we've robbed you, and our storehouses are bare.  Open wide the floodgates of heaven.  Rebuke the devourer so we may not be destroyed. 

You said that if we humble ourselves and begin to pray You would heal our barren land and cleanse us with Your rain.  Don't pass us by.  Let this be the generation Lord, that lifts up your name to all the world.  Save us oh God.

Another song from the late 90s.  I'm not sure it could ever be more timely.  I think a lot about how God moved in the 1990s.  And then it all faded.  I don't know why.  But there are rumblings and signs of the beginnings of a great revival on the near horizon.

Isaiah 59:19  So shall they fear The name of the LORD from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in  like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.

What has the last year, last decade, been if not the enemy coming in like a flood?  I believe the enemy knows his days are so limited.  He's like a toddler throwing his last tantrum before bedtime.  One of the best phrases in the Bible is "but God..."  But God will lift up a standard against him.  I believe we're about to see the God of Psalms, the God David knew, the God who dealt with the wicked and just.  The God of righteousness and justice.  The God of powerful mercy and grace. 

Thank You, Lord! - Dennis Jernigan

For all that You've done I will thank you.  For all that You're going to do.  For all that You've promised, and all that You are, is all that has carried me through.  Jesus, I thank You.

Thank You for loving and setting me free.  Thank You for giving Your life just for me.  How I thank You.

Another throwback.

I love the simplicity of this song.  It's stayed with me for decades.  It pops into my head at random times and is so sweet.  

I think it's harder to thank Him for things He's going to do.  I pray for them.  I try to have faith for them.  But to thank Him, sincerely, before something happens is a little new.  Recently at church someone said to thank Him and praise Him for something we're praying for - seeing at as if it's already done.  There's nothing in this life I want more than for Noah to know and follow Jesus.  And in that moment I had a picture of him receiving Jesus and us just hugging.  To see what that moment could like look was just so encouraging.  It does build faith.  Also knowing that Jesus wants that more than I do, and that He will work it out.  I can trust Him. 

Hey Jesus - Elyssa Smith

Hey Jesus, You move me, You wreck me every time.  It's not a new kind of love, it's a new kind of beautiful.

Oh does He wreck me.  With His love and goodness.  I almost always have tears during worship.  I've been taking an old fashioned handkerchief for months now.  I don't even always know the why behind the tears.  Sometimes it's just my body's reaction to all that's happening inside.  For a couple months, there has been a small taste of deep joy behind the tears.  [[Psalm 34:8]] "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.  Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!"  I don't know how to explain this "tasting".  

Talking To Jesus - Brandon Lake

What a friend we have in Jesus!

There's no wrong way to do it.  There's no bad time to start.  It don't have to sound pretty.  Just tell Him what's on your heart.  Cuz it's not a religion.  Cuz it's more like a friendship.  Just talk to your Father like you are His kid.  Just start talking to Jesus.  

Here's to all the parents and grandparents who have prayed over and taken their kids to church over all the years.  Those prayers are powerful.  The example set is priceless. 

Being friends with Jesus has been a big theme so far.  I love the familiar story of this song.  I love the simplicity of the message.  If you've never prayed in your life, it can be so simple to just talk to Jesus.  And if you've been praying for decades it might be good to just talk to Jesus like you would your best friend.  

It can be so good to embrace the paradoxes of my faith.  Yes, Jesus is Lord of Lords and King of Kings sitting at the right hand of the Father interceding for us constantly.  He is also the friend that sticks closer than a brother.  I'm still developing that friendship.  Learning to literally chat with Him throughout the day about all the things.  Learning to give Him space to respond.   

General Update

It was good to reach my goal of writing about all the songs on my playlist on a daily basis (minus a couple vacation days).  These days there's almost a constant stream of new worship songs being released.  That's a good thing.  So over time I'll be adding new songs to the playlist, maybe even deleting some older ones.  There are also more long ago worship songs I might write about.  I also fully believe there's a new sound coming in worship.  It's part of the revival so many believe is coming.  I'm full of anticipation for both.  I think it's a keep your ears to the heavens instead of keep your ears to the ground moment.  

All this to say I'm not done writing yet.  It just won't be an every day thing.  

And I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts, your favorite songs, what worship means to you.

If I Could Just Sit With You A While - Dennis Jernigan

When I cannot feel.  When my wounds don't heal.  Lord I humbly kneel, hidden in You.  Lord You are my life, so I don't mind to die, just as long I'm hidden in You.

If I could just sit with You a while.  If You could just hold me, nothing could touch me, though I'm wounded, though I die.  If I could just sit with You a while.  I need you to hold me, moment by moment till forever passes by.  

When I know I've sinned, when I should have been crying out my God and hidden in You.  Lord I need you now, more than I know how, so I humbly bow, hidden in You. 

There have been times innumerable I have been wounded and felt like dying.  And so very often Jesus was faithful to have this song play in my head - if I could just sit with Him.  I'd like to say I always listened to His voice, but I probably didn't.  But I'm learning to.  I'm learning to sit and be with Him.  I'm learning to cast my cares on Him.  I'm learning to let Him heal all the wounds.  And if I never learned anything else, it would be enough.  He alone is enough. 

All The Playlists!

Getting Ready was the last worship song in my current playlist for now.  I have another playlist where I add new songs to listen to until I feel like adding them to the current playlist.  I actually have several playlists in you tube, plus a few downloaded albums.  I don't like the impermanence of things on you tube, but Apple made it too much trouble to go from iTunes to Apple Music.  I miss the simplicity of iPods. 

Anyway.  Noah has always had a playlist of songs he likes.  I think we're on the fourth iteration of secular music for him.  But I also made a new playlist for him of more upbeat Christian music. That's our go to drive to school music.  He also loves all the music associated with Roblox - so I try to play the better stuff when I can. 

I have a playlist of some of the 90s Christian music I listened to back then.  Bands like Skillet and Third Day and DC Talk.  Listening to them over the past year or two, I realized just how deep and on point a lot of their lyrics are.  And they're still fun to blast while driving on a sunny day. 

Last but not least (for now) is my old worship playlist.  Years ago, probably more than a decade, I gave away all my Christian cds - bands and worship.  Of course now I wish I hadn't.  (Hence why I started these playlists of older things.)  I'm sure there are dozens of songs I don't remember at all from my church days in the 90s.  But a few were stuck in my head in my non church days.  So I think I'm going to do a few of them as song of the day.

All the playlists are linked right there on the right.  

Getting Ready - UpperRoom

We'll shout till the whole world hears it.  We'll sing till the whole world knows.  King Jesus, He is faithful.  

The end of this story isn't Jesus return, or the tribulation, or all Christians being taken out of this world - and all of that is so far beyond my wisdom.  This story - the story of humanity - of Christianity - is about a wedding.  Jesus receiving His bride.  Spotless and glorious as is He.  I know little of eschatology.  I just know the verses that say no one knows the day of His return.  I know the story of the ten virgins, all of whom fell asleep, but only five had oil in their lamps when it was needed.  Jesus says to be ready.  Not in a get me out of here kind of way.  In a bride who is ready for marriage kind of way.  Maybe that looks like the Church being one - as Jesus and the Father are one, as He prayed we will be.  Maybe it looks like the Church discipling all the nations.  Maybe it looks like every tribe and tongue knowing Jesus.  I don't know.  I know we're not ready.  I'm not ready.

Jireh - Maverick City Music

I'll never be more loved than I am right now.   

I'm already loved, I'm already chosen.  I know who I am.  I know what you've spoken.  

If He dresses the lilies with beauty and splendor, how much more will clothe you?  If he watches over each sparrow, how much more does He love you?

Jehovah-Jireh is the KJV’s translation of YHWH-Yireh and means “The LORD Will Provide” Genesis 22:14. It is the name memorialized by Abraham when God provided the ram to be sacrificed in place of Isaac.

This is just one of several of the names of God in the Old Testament.  But oh what a name. And what a story with Abraham.  Yet that was just a foreshadowing of His ultimate provision of His own Son for our lives.  If He gave His own Son to die for us, what would He not do for us?  He has storehouses in Heaven of all that we need.  He never runs out.  We're children of a good Father who withholds nothing His children need.  We're co-heirs with King Jesus, everything at His disposal is ours.

As a parent it would break my heart if Noah thought there was something I would hold back from him.  If he were afraid to come to me for something he needs I would be crushed.  Imagine an all powerful God who's children didn't trust Him to provide for them. 

Your Blood Is Strong Enough - Maverick City Music

I'm not sure why, but the blood of Jesus seems to be a mysterious topic.  I'm not sure how many sermons are preached on it these days.  Are we collectively squeamish?  I don't know.  So I really appreciate this song. 

I think our lack of understanding the blood of Jesus leads us to try to be righteous on our own - putting ourselves back under the law actually.  If we just get the balance of doing right and doing wrong right we'll be ok.  If we're just better than most people.  I'll admit that I find there's a part of me that really wants a point system - I want credit for the good things I do, or even think of doing.  I want credit for not saying the things I shouldn't say anyway.  I want credit for not doing something I'm not supposed to do.  I want even my intentions to count.  I enjoyed the tv show The Good Place because they really delved into what a point system might look like.  There's a quote, I can't remember from who, that says we judge ourselves on our intentions but others on their actions.  I know CS Lewis talks about how we loves ourselves, how we give ourselves every benefit of the doubt.

Anyway.  The only righteousness there is is in the blood of Jesus.  I'm either covered by it or I'm not.  From there the Bible says obedience is better than sacrifice.  I know there's so much freedom and joy in really knowing the truth and depth of those two things.

Isaiah Song - Maverick City Music

This is the word of the Lord your Creator, I am the God who stood before the world was framed, I am the First, the Last and everything between.  I hold your future.  Who can know these things but me?  So don't fear.  I will be your song.  

This is the word of the Lord your Creator, I stand from age to age the Ancient of Days.  I am the Holy One the fairest of ten thousand.  And all who call upon my name they shall be saved.  So don't fear.  I will be your song.

Sing, sing o barren land.  Water is coming to the thirsty.  Though you are empty, I am the well, draw from Me, I will provide.

Cuz I'm a river, in the desert.  Pouring my spirit on the broken.  Giving beauty for your ashes.  Joy for your sadness.  Heaven's open. 

I love all the descriptions of God in books like Isaiah and Job.  The Ancient of Days - the steadfastness and wisdom implied there.  The way in the wilderness.  The river in the desert.  He's in all of our circumstances, and even more His presence transforms them.  He doesn't have to take us out of the desert to make it beautiful, He can make a river flow in it.  There are so many deserts in our lives, dry places - family, jobs, health, you name it.  And then He shows up IN it and makes it beautiful.  River of living waters. 

I Just Want To Move Your Heart - UpperRoom

I just want to move Your heart, it's all I want to do.  I just want to stand in awe and pour my love on You.  No matter how much the cost, I freely give it all to You.  

I just want to move Your heart, get caught within Your gaze.  Right here in Your presence God is where I want to stay.  Oh just to dwell in Your house, waste my hours and my days on You.  

How many verses are there that say Jesus was moved with compassion?  I've been thinking about that.  How Jesus interacted with entire cities, with individuals, with those in the stories we know about Him healing people.  How he called each of the disciples.  But so often it says He was moved with compassion and healed them all.  People move His heart.  The Centurion He says had the greatest faith - he moved Jesus.  So for me it's about moving His heart, but it's also about being moved with compassion for people like He was.  

When I Lock Eyes With You - UpperRoom

All I want is You, all I need is You.   Come in like a fire, come in like a flood, I don't care what it looks like, I'm so in love.  

This song follows Son of Heaven so beautifully.  For me it's also another song that's more aspirational than reality.  But again, Jesus is so gracious to take even the smallest desire of my heart to know Him, to see Him, and accepts it and grows it. 

Son of Heaven - Brandon Lake

Behold Him.  Lift up your eyes, see the Son of Heaven.

The cross is still the answer.  The blood is still the blood.  

There's been a slight shift in the past few months, maybe year.  The focus is rightly becoming Jesus - spending time in worship seeing Him, gazing upon Him.  This can feel tricky, maybe a little weird.  I mean, it's not like we can see Him with our eyes (yet).  So how do we behold Him?  For me, sometimes, the hardest part is just getting my eyes off myself, off of circumstances, and in corporate worship, stop being distracted.  (I've found just how easily distracted I am.)  I just try to focus on who He is - savior, shepherd, healer, friend, King of Kings, Lion of Judah.  Focus on His characteristics - His love and faithfulness and goodness and patience and kindness.  Focus on the Cross and all He accomplished there, conquering sin and death.  On His resurrection.  On His being seated at the right hand of God.  And on His return as the Bridegroom.   It just gets easier over time - because He is so faithful to meet me in that place of effort, of longing to see Him.  Oh to have eyes to see and ears to hear.  

I Thank God - Maverick City Music & UpperRoom

He picked me up.  He turned me around. He placed my feet on solid ground.  I thank the Master, I thank the Savior, I thank God.  Because He healed my heart, He changed my name, forever free, I'm not the same.  I thank the Master, I thank the Savior, I thank God.

Oh how joy needs to infiltrate the Body of Christ!  And I believe it's coming soon.  There will be dancing in the streets, worship ringing out.  (It's already begun in places.)  And I believe children will be leading the way.  Oh imagine the world seeing all out joy after the year + we've all had.  The church is broken and bleeding like Jesus was on the cross - BUT the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us!  And He's about to raise Christ's body - the church!  Get up out of that grave!!

Voice of God - Dance By Jamal Midgette

Yesterday youtube put this version of this song in my feed, and I'm so so glad it did.  It's an amazing song in and of itself.  God is always speaking.  He speaks in so many different ways so anyone and everyone can hear Him.  

I've always been a music person.  I'm not a graceful or athletic person.  I'm white through and through when it comes to dancing.  But over the past decade I've come to appreciate dance in a very real way.  It is the most basic and honest form of art - done with our bodies, our selves.  Our church has a dance troupe and it just adds another dimension to worship.  So this young man's performance to this song really touches me.  

Blessed Assurance - Worship Circle

This is my story.  This is my song.  Praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, all is at rest.  And I in my Savior am happy and blessed.  Just watching and waiting, looking above.  Filled with His goodness and lost in His love.  

Jesus keeps us.  He sits at the right hand of the Father ever interceding for us.  All we do is surrender and trust.  He does all the hard parts.  Oh to know the joy of being kept by Him.

Great Is Thy Faithfulness - Worship Circle

Morning by morning new mercies I see. 

With strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.  

It's not easy to write about such a timeless song.  It's almost 100 years old, from what I can find it was written in 1923.  

Morning by morning.  That's what I'm trying to learn.  He's in the everydayness of life.  To start every day anew.  Jesus seems pretty serious about one day at a time with Him.  Goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life.  He's the good shepherd, I can trust Him to keep me and lead me all the day long, and to watch over me in the night. 

Jesus Paid It All - Worship Circle

Jesus paid it all.  All to Him I owe.  Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.  

This one happens to fall on Easter this year.  So good.  Jesus paid it all.  We can add nothing to what He's done.  All our righteousness is as filthy rags.  Oh but His righteousness that He clothes us with, that allows us access to the very throne of God.  We have been bought for a price.  He paid with His very life, His blood.  For the joy set before Him.  We are His joy.  We belong to Him.  

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus - Lauren Daigle

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?

1. There’s light for a look at the Savior,
   And life more abundant and free!
   • Refrain:
     Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
     Look full in His wonderful face,
     And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
     In the light of His glory and grace.
2. Through death into life everlasting
   He passed, and we follow Him there;
   O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
   For more than conqu’rors we are!
3. His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
   Believe Him, and all will be well:
   Then go to a world that is dying,
   His perfect salvation to tell!

Now we get to the short hymns section.  There is timeless wisdom in so many of them.  My four favorite books/devotionals are all from over 100 years ago.  

How wonderfully this song tells the whole story of the Christian life. 

Watching Over Me - Jason Upton

Jesus You know all my struggles.  Jesus You feel all my pain.  I hear You singing in the struggle.  I hear You whispering my name.  God of justice and of mercy.  God who says I'm not alone.  

Such a sweet song.  Such a sweet God.  He's close to the broken hearted.  He's close in our struggles and dark nights.  Oh those long dark nights.  He sings over us.  He weeps with us.  He knows all the unspoken things.  He knows the things no one else knows.  He's the God of all comfort.

Love You Just Like That - Jason Upton

You never look away.  You love me as I am.  Forever Unashamed.  I want to love You just like that.

I want to love You like you love me, willing and humble, daring and free, patient and subtle, yet restless to be with You.

There comes a point I have to stop making it all about how much God loves me and turn my eyes and attention from myself to how I can love Him.  The question changes from how good of a friend Jesus is to me to how can I be a good friend to Him.  He longs for my love and affection.  He died to make it possible.

This Close - Steffany Gretzinger

You're not struggling to hear me, so I'm not striving to be heard.  I am sure the One who made me, is catching every word. 

I would fight for your attention, but Your eyes are fixed on me.  I would reach for Your affection, but You've already given it to me.

It's so easy to think of God as far off, uninterested, busy with bigger things.  His presence, His nearness, is the joy of an omnipresent God.  And if that's all He was that would be enough.  But He wasn't content with that.  God put on flesh/humanity and came to Earth - to be with us, to be one of us, to know us.   Jesus was tempted in all ways.  Jesus knows.  Jesus knows us.  But even that wasn't close enough for God.  Jesus said “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you."  ([[John 16:7]])  God wasn't content to sit in Heaven and watch us.  He wasn't even content to become human and walk with us.  He made a way to live in us through Holy Spirit.

He loves us that much.  We have His attention.  We have His affection.  God is love.  Oh that I would learn to receive it moment by moment. 

No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus - Steffany Gretzinger

No one ever cared for me like Jesus.  His faithful hand has held me all this way.  

Some of these songs are fun, some build my faith, some are encouraging.  Then ones like this are almost purely aspirational.  It's so easy and tempting to be jealous of people farther along on their journey with Jesus.  I really fight that and choose to be inspired.  He doesn't play favorites.  Nothing can make Him love me more than He does now and has forever.  The journey now is me learning to love Him more as I see Him more clearly.  

Cared for me - Jesus cares for me.  Like the best of parents, or friends, or even lovers.  He cares for me.  He takes care of me.  That's not in some spiritual, maybe one day in Heaven, or some intangible way.  He surprises me with good things.  He encourages me.  I pray for eyes to see and ears to hear more of His caring.

 

More To Me - Steffany Gretzinger

It's Your company I long to keep, Your presence here the sweetest thing.  

All of the others, they don't matter, You are everything. 

Jesus as our first love.  This whole story of Christianity, humanity, time, history, everything ends up at the wedding feast and Christ and His bride.  Love.  The biggest, boldest love story ever imagined.  It starts here and now.  It starts when any individual makes Jesus Lord and Savior.  We love because He first loved us.  We love Him as we see Him more clearly, as we experience Him lavishing His love on us.  This song can be our only response. 

Remember - Steffany Gretzinger

Jesus the Lamb of God, oh what a Savior.  You took the altar and made it a table. 

The insight in that one line is awesome to me.  The Old Testament was all about the law and the blood sacrifice on the altar.  The New Testament is all about a table of communion where we come together with the ultimate and final sacrifice - Jesus the Lamb of God.  Jesus changed everything.  His sacrifice on the cross was sufficient.  There is nothing we can add to it.  His blood is enough.  (Pretty sure that's in an upcoming song.)  All we can do in return is offer our lives as a living sacrifice, because He is worthy.

Don't let me stay the same.  Only Your love can change me.

This.  This is what I've learned.  It's so important.  I know I've written of this on other songs. But this is the line I hear in my head all the time.  Only Your love can change me.  I cannot change myself.  Understanding that really does stop all striving.  All I can do is surrender to His love and let it change me.  That's why time in His presence is the most important thing.  It doesn't matter where that takes place, only that it does.  Obviously for me it's often in times of worship - either in church or my car or wherever. 

Never Leave - Maverick City Music

You said that You would never leave, and I know that You are here with me.

Is there any greater promise from Jesus than that He would never leave us nor forsake us?  Human loyalty falls so short, but His never will.  When the Footprints poem was so overwhelmingly popular I thought it cheesy.  Now I understand the truth of it.  I don't even know all the times He's carried me.  A friend who sticks closer than a brother.  I'm learning how to be His friend.  

Good and Loved - Travis Green & Steffany Gretzinger

Through your story is My fingerprint.  One thing's for sure, I am your Lord.

If you forget, just lift your head, my banner over you is love.

I can listen to this one over and over.  I am good, you are loved.  I'll listen until there is nothing that makes me think otherwise.  Until it's so engrained no other belief has any room.

You Hold It All Together - Maverick City Music & UpperRoom

God of my present.  God of my future.  You write my story.  You hold it all together.  

Decades ago, I was thinking about the verse that says the universe is upheld by the word of God.  As usual, I thought about the literalness of it.  The universe is upheld...  So I thought about gravity.  Not once in history has gravity stopped.  Not once in history has God's mind wandered and the universe began to fall apart, or gravity fail.  It's a funny yet frightening picture if it did fail.  Ha.  

He holds it all together.  Everything.  The stars in their place.  The planets in their courses.  The seasons.  It all points to Him.  To a good and faithful God.  He put His faithfulness on full display.  And He wrote it in hearts.

Hebrews 1:3  (Jesus) who, being the radiance of His glory and the exact expression of His substance, and upholding all things by the power of His word, through having made the purification of sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high...

Heaven's Secrets - Maverick City Music

You don't let a tear fall.  You collect them all.  And You don't waste our suffering.  You're with us in the rain.

As if Your love wasn't enough, You promised us all of heaven's secrets.  There's nothing You keep from us. 

Another beautiful song.  I've said that if God collects our tears, I have a lake somewhere.  All kinds of tears, sadness, anger, frustration, and yet some of joy and hope.  More than that, this idea that He doesn't waste anything - our hard times, our failures, our suffering - He turns them all to good, He uses it all for His purposes.  It's such a mental battle to believe that on hard days.  Part of the battle is knowing that His kingdom is the real reality, the eternal reality.  This life is a reflection of it at best.  It's enemy territory at worst.  But it's all fading and impermanent.  When I feel alone, I have to know Jesus really is with me.  When I am impatient, I have to know He is my source of patience, I don't have to rely on my own.

Remember - UpperRoom

This is our Savior, look at Him, look at Him.  Our Christ Redeemer, look at Him, look at Him.

Oh just to know You in Your suffering.  Just to get closer than I've ever been. 

We're heading into Easter season.  This song is stunningly powerful for this season.  There's another song titled Remember by Steffany Gretzinger coming up.  Her album came out about a year ago.  They've all helped me go a little deeper into communion, it's more than a ritual we sometimes do at church.  

To know Jesus in His suffering.  Man, I'm not there yet.

The other day I heard a line is worship that was kind of a throw away line, it was about how beautiful Jesus' scars are.  I realized I had never thought about His resurrected body having scars.  It struck me as counterintuitive, why would a resurrected body still have scars instead of being made "perfect"?  How important must those scars be?  In some way we're all Thomas - needing to see and feel those scars to believe.

Hebrews 2:9-11  But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.  For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.  For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren

Fun side note - I was at this service.  I've been going to UpperRoom for well over a year, but sporadically.  This was one of those times I believe God was blessing me with a surprise.  I wasn't really paying any attention to worship starting, and then I heard Dante's voice and thought Hey, I know that voice!  So cool.

Prophesy Your Promise - Jesus Culture

I have found You in the middle of my mess.  You have been there all along.  With open arms and open heart You call me in.  And You didn't hesitate at all. 

When I only see in part I will prophesy Your promise.  I believe You God.  Because You finish what You start,  I will trust You with the process.  I believe You God. 

Fear can go to hell, shame can go there too.  Because I know whose I am, God I belong You.

My only confidence is in God.  It's certainly not in me - I know me.  Ha.  He hasn't let me have confidence in others.  That's tough.  It's not in circumstances - how could it be, they are ever changing.  He's my rock, my firm foundation.  Man it's hard.  

You Keep On Getting Better - Maverick City Music

You have always been patient.  You have always been kind.  You're consistent through the ages.  Oh, what a friend of mine. 

It hit me one night just how patient God has been with me.  Waiting years for me to stop my wandering, my trying things my own way.  And so kind.  Infinite kindness and patience.  He never runs out. 

From glory to glory.  As we gaze on Jesus we see more of His glory and become more like Him.  Day by day.   2 Corinthians 3:18  But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Temple - Maverick City Music

You are the center of my heart and my soul.  I am a temple.  Holy and worthy - you call me Your home.  

This is a much more recent find for me.  But it follows My Heart Your Home so perfectly.  The first time I heard it it moved me so much.  It opened something in my understanding that I didn't have.

Other than a fresh or new filling of the Holy Spirit, a real understanding of this truth - us being a temple of the living God - would change everything.  It's such a deep revelation.  It affects everything about us.  Of course it would remove sin and bad habits and all that.  But it would absolutely remove all negative ways we view ourselves.  To absolutely know He lives in us.  It cures everything.  And from that, how could it not affect everything around us?  Oh to be so full of God that it spills over.  Rivers of Living Water.  Oh let me not settle for less.

My Heart Your Home - Maverick City Music

 Make my heart Your home.  All that's mine is yours. 

Come on in, take a seat, I made room for You and Me.  Never leave.  Oh Jesus, stay with me. 

I wasn't going to add any new songs to the playlist until I finished the ones already on it.  So I started a new playlist a few weeks ago.  There's just such an abundance of good worship these days.  Temple is a fantastic follow up to this song.  I'll post it tomorrow.

Both songs are about Jesus making us His home, His temple.  I think it's one of those truths that is hard to wrap our heads around.  It's one thing to think, ok Jesus is always WITH me.  It's another to be more aware that the Holy Spirit always dwells IN me.  Jesus, King of Kings, creator of the universe, Lion of Judah, Prince of Peace, He is with me always.  I can hang out with Him, talk with Him, anytime, all the time.  He's my shepherd who guides me, who kills the wolves coming for me.   

I love come on in take a seat, I made room for You and me.  Oh to see this Christian life as this simple.  To spend time, all the time, with my friend Jesus.  No one more full of love and grace and patience for me. 

Thank You - Maverick City Music

If time were to stop, I could never tell it all, words are few, this will have to do.  I just want to thank You.  

I was tempted to write this is a more fun, less serious song.  But few things are more serious than thankfulness.  We enter His presence with praise and thanksgiving.

How do I say I generally do grateful well without sounding boastful?  Shrug.  Laugh.  But I do.  I am always saying thank You to God throughout the day (ok most days) for all the little things.  Then there's all He's done for me - I don't even know where to start without sounding cliche.  I drive Noah to school in the mornings and I try to get in a little prayer with him that's simply thanking Jesus for the weather, for the day, for being with us, for loving us.  And honestly, simple is great.  How different would my outlook be if I spent a week only thanking God and not saying anything else to Him?  What if I thanked Him for the frustrating things?  For the inconveniences?  For all of it?  I better stop typing.  HA!  

The Story I'll Tell - Maverick City Music

Singing, oh my God did not fail.  Oh, it's the story I'll tell.

Believing gets hard when options are few.  When I can't see what You're doing, I know that You're proving You're the God who comes through.

I love how raw this song is.  There are many hard days, weeks, years in my life.  There's nothing fun in uncertainty, loneliness, failing in the same way over and over.  I'm trying to learn how to get my eyes - my thoughts - off of myself and onto Jesus.  But when I can't quite do that, I'm trying to learn to pour it all out to Him.  All my sadness.  All my anger.  All my frustration.  The silent screams in my head when I'm beyond words.  He's big enough.  His infinite love and kindness can absorb it all.  Recently I've had a glimpse, a taste, of what His joy feels like.  And like everything from Him, that one taste has made me hungry to do whatever it takes to have more.  

Love Is A Miracle - Maverick City Music

This is more than religion.  Glad I made my decision.  Hope reversed the curse I was walkin in.  

I remember the Voice that called me.  I remember when my heart said yes.  I will never forget that morning, You were singing over me.

You called me out.  You said that one is mine.  You set me apart for your purpose.

I've mentioned I grew up in a Southern Baptist church.  We started going when I was about five.  I still have the Bible I received when I was baptised at age nine.  The one thing I remember is going and telling our next door neighbors I had received Jesus.  It's been a strange journey.  But, He calls me His.  He goes before me.  And one day I'll fully know the why. 

Hymn Of The Ages - Maverick City Music

And all of the promises, all of the praise, all of your people have sung through the ages.  No matter the season, the song's still the same, great is Your faithfulness, great is Your name.

I loved this idea the first time I heard the song - that all through history there is a thread of praise.  There's always been a song - there will always be a song.

We're all prone to wander, but You're prone to chase.

Don't Tread On Me - We The Kingdom

Oh no, you've done it now, gone against the King, gone against the Crown.  Oh no, you've done it now, time to feel the fire.

Ain't no devil gonna tread on me.  He's choking on the blood that ran down the tree.  Ain't no devil gonna tread on me. 

I don't remember exactly when I first heard this, it was within the last few months, but it really caught my attention.  It was good to feel fed up with Satan.  I'm increasingly fed up with Satan.  I don't generally like to give him too much credit or attention, but he is out to kill, steal from, or destroy me.  So sometimes it's good to take that personally and then remind him of his own defeat.

I absolutely love the chocking on the blood that ran down the tree line.  It hits me every time.  I know there's power in the blood of Jesus - but I also know there's so much more understanding of it that I need. 

I Need A Ghost - Brandon Lake

I am convinced that what the American church collectively needs more than anything is a mass filling of the Holy Spirit.  Without Holy Spirit there can be no internal change and there can be no external signs and wonders.  Both are desperately needed.  Everything Jesus did was by the power of Holy Spirit.  We are to be no different.  If every church that believes in the filling of Holy Spirit simply spent the next few weeks or months pursuing nothing more than a true Pentecost season, it would do more good than the last few decades of teaching and sermons and everything else. 

Graves Into Gardens - Brandon Lake

Oh, there's nothing better than You.

I'm not afraid to show You my weakness.  My failures and falls, Lord you've seen them all, and You still call me friend.

I just love this section of songs.  The energy.  The way they build my faith.

There are so many things we each believe are better to us and for us than God. And then His love and goodness and kindness break through.  His peace and joy start to fill us.  We get glimpses of his kingdom.  And everything else doesn't just pale in comparison - it all fades away.

Revivals In The Air - Dante Bowe

Receiving all that You died to give.  

Let the wind blow, let the tide roll, till the Earth knows You're the God of Love.

Lift your eyes to see, He's better than you dreamed.  Everything you lost, love's returning.  It's just what You do, making all things new.

What if we really received all that Jesus died to give us?  What if we believed God does what He says He does?  Oh if we dared.  Let's dare.

A few months ago I was so very frustrated with God.  I was bringing him my list of things He hasn't done and telling Him how mad and frustrated I was.  I told Him - prove me wrong, prove my doubts wrong.  I think what He's been doing since is changing me instead.  It's a crazy process, an internal process.  It's been a solitary process - just Him and me.  He doesn't let me lean on understanding because I have no understanding.  And that's ok with me.

So this revival that's being spoken of so much, well, it can start with a personal revival.  Holy Spirit can bring it to you personally, and your family and house, and it spreads from there.  Revival doesn't depend on the state of the world, or circumstances, or anything.  It can be our own little cloud that surrounds us.

My Hands Are Open - Josh Baldwin

I want to live in expectation of Your kingdom breaking through.

YES!  There's a phrase in my devotional - apostles of the little things.  And I love that.  I can do the little things.  I can be kind to strangers. I can open doors and I can chat with the postal workers or cashiers.  I can buy lunch or dinner for someone.  All the little things - for and with Jesus.  But I also want to do the greater things Jesus did.  I want to see the lost saved, the sick healed, demons cast out.  I think all the time "the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you".  Again, it's not yet...  but I know it's coming.  I live in that expectation. 

Anything Is Possible - Dante Bowe

Every battle You've already won.

There is no weapon that has ever left a mark on You.

There is a Kingdom that's advancing to the speed of light.

This is another one that's fun to sing - on a good day.  On a bad day it can be a challenge.  On a bad day I'm looking at that list of things that still look impossible.  One of those impossibles is my parents' health.  I pray for their healing - physical, mental, all of it.  Dad's alzheimer's is steadily progressing.  Mom has good and bad times, but her mind isn't right either.  And I have a vision of them both totally healed and me having to explain why I sold their house and now we have to find them a new one.  And there's a part of me that has faith for that.  And yet... 

There are hundreds of beliefs about God and healing and all that.  I know He's a God who heals.  I know sickness is never from God.  I believe with all my heart there are cures coming soon for so many things - including Alzheimer's.  Will it be in time?  Don't know.  Can Jesus walk into their room at anytime and simply heal them.  Absolutely. 

And so I sing.  And I trust.  And I worship the God of the impossible. 

Better Than - The Hesslers

I prophesy into tomorrow - we will see the goodness of our God.

It's gonna be better than I could dream.

After the year the world has been through, this might be a very hard time to believe this.  Or maybe we're starting to be at the point where we think things will get better because they can't get worse. 

I tend to be an optimist.  And - Spring is just around the corner.  

Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Prepare the Way - Bethel Music

We're gonna see Heaven on Earth, come Holy Spirit, awaken your church.  

Awaken your church.  I can't seem to find what I want to say about church.  Is it asleep?  Is it distracted?  Is the term becoming meaningless - like the institution it represents.  Lately, I'm seeing ekklesia used to refer to the body of Christ more.

Jesus used the term ekklesia to refer to His followers.  At the time the ekklesia of ancient Greece was the popular assembly, open to all male citizens as soon as they qualified for citizenship.  It was a secular term, a political term, that had nothing to do with religion. It had to do with being a citizen and all that entailed.  I'm sure there were religious terms He could have used, but didn't.  It was all part of Him getting us to see the Kingdom of God and how it operates. 

Ever Be - Kalley Heiligenthal

Now you're making me like You, clothing me in white, bringing beauty from ashes, for You will have Your bride - free of all her guilt and rid of all her shame, and known by her true name.  And that's why I sing. 

It's such a lovely song to listen to, easy to listen to, and then the lyrics -when you catch them - are so powerful.

Your praise will ever by on my lips.  Oh if that were true.  Imagine all the things I wouldn't say if that were true.  There wouldn't be room for anything that wasn't of love.  Almost nothing in scripture haunts me as much as how He will hold us responsible for everything we say.  I've joked that if I took a vow of silence now, and then lived to over 100, I probably still wouldn't make up for all the ungodly things I've said.  If God is Love - then anything not said in love is ungodly.  It's a standard hard to even think of.  

Sing His Praise Again - Jenn Johnson

Oh my soul - sing to the God of the ages, sing to the Lord of creation.  

Sometimes I just have to make a real effort and make my soul praise God.  I love all the times David talks to his soul in Psalms.  Worship isn't a mood.  And honestly, so often in corporate worship I'm not in the mood, or I'm distracted, or annoyed, or my mind wanders and on and on.  But it's always worth it.  He's faithful to meet me where I am. 

Always Good - The McClures

This will be my song, that You are always good.  

What is it about God being only and always good that is hard for Christians to believe.  Maybe Western Christians.  Maybe Christians who have been Christians a long time.  God's goodness is tough to see sometimes in the light of life and circumstances and all the things - sin, the fallen world, others.

I have a constant list in my head of all the things I'm still waiting to see God's goodness in.  I spend way too much time looking at those things, questioning the reason for them and the delay.  I don't know how many times in the past two or three years God has reminded me of "I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence comes my help?  My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1-2  It is hard to live in a place of faith all the time.  The yet and not yet.  God has to be the constant.  His character is unchanging.  

There's a phrase in the old old books I've read and mentioned - throw your faith on God's side.  When in doubt - trust God and who He is.  

All Hail King Jesus - Steffany Gretzinger

This just always seems like a great song to follow For Your Glory. 

A couple definitions of hail:  to greet with enthusiastic approval, to greet or summon by calling, used to express acclamation. 

Synonyms:  acclaim, accredit, applaud, cheer, laud, praise, salute.

That's all I got this morning.  It is a happy song, and He is worthy. 

For Your Glory - Kalley Heiligenthal

All is for Your Glory, and all is for Your name.

This song challenges me in so many ways.  Sadly, everything being for the glory of Jesus just wasn't a concept I was really familiar with.  It's foundational and yet deep.  Sitting here I don't even know what to say about it.  All of creation exists to glorify Jesus. And we, specifically created in the image of God, more so than anything else.  So how do I make this real every day?  I'm finding the answer in phrases like absolute surrender, abide in me, I am the vine and you are the branches, it is not I who live...

To treasure You above all others.  To love You like we love no other.  Wow.

There's only one true King and He's worthy of it all.  All.  All of my love and affection and attention.  Needless to say I'm not there yet.  But this is why I'm so grateful for songs like this.  They don't replace scripture, or teaching, or anything.  But they help me understand those things in new ways.  And then to sing this - and to even want to mean it - God hears it every time.  And Holy Spirit takes note and helps me to get there.  Whatever that looks like. 

Catch me up in Your story, all my life for Your glory.  My God, My Joy, My Delight.  Again, He has me singing things that I want to be true and know they're not yet.

God of Revival - Bethel Music

The first time I heard this one was live in the summer of 2019.  It made a big impression.  Then I couldn't find it on you tube or anything for several months.  Haven't done it live many times since then, but it always makes something rise  up in me.

Come awaken Your people, come awaken this city, Oh God of Revival, pour it out.  Every stronghold will crumble, I hear the chains hit the ground.  Oh God of Revival, pour it out.  

That's the heart cry of many.  And yet so many are not awake.  It's like Elijah and his servant looking for the cloud.  The seventh time there was a cloud as small as a man's hand.  Then the rains came!  I don't know what time we're in.  But I know we're close to seeing that small cloud - and then the outpouring.

It's hard sometimes, I've been hearing the cloud was close for about thirty years.  And I know it's been seen in some measure in some places during that time.  But I'm so ready for what's coming.

Revelation Song - Brian and Jenn Johnson

When I was in middle school I used to read Revelation and think how super cool it would be to be alive during the "end times".  As it looks like we're getting closer to those times I might not be as excited - ha.  

But I love this song and how it uses the description of Jesus in Revelation.

A few months ago Upper Room had a series of sermons on Revelation and I learned some new things.  This was part of it:

There are 90 descriptions of Jesus in the entire book of Revelation.  There are 24 distinct descriptions in Revelation 1, 18 descriptions in Revelation 2-3, totaling 42. Since 12 are repeated there are 30 unique descriptions of Jesus in these first three chapters of Revelation. 

I won't list them all here, but it's something cool to look into. 

Christians love the Jesus of Christmas and Easter - the baby and the newly resurrected Christ.  We might not be as comfortable with the Jesus of Revelation, but that's who He is now, full of wonder and power and glory.  

How Great A King - Paul and Hannah McClure

I think that in America it's very hard for us as Christians to really understand and embrace the idea of Jesus as King.  He is a King with a Kingdom.  We're all His subjects, except as Christians He has made us co-heirs, brothers and sisters.  We can be close friends with the King of the universe.  But also that He gave up His throne to come to Earth as a man and died to reconcile us back to God the Father.  There is none like Him.  And after defeating sin and death and hell, He ascended back to His eternal throne where He now intercedes for us.  I think we water it all down because we have fairy tales that inform our perception of kings and kingdoms and not history. 

Great Are You Lord - Morgan Faleolo

All the earth will shout Your praise.  Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing Great are You Lord. 

I love singing this one with lots of other people.  The line above reminds me of my favorite part of Joy To The World - "He makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness".  Yes, He's our Saviour individually, but He is King of all the nations.  

Habakkuk 2:14  For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

Psalm 72:17-19  His name shall endure forever; His name shall continue as long as the sun.  And men shall be blessed in Him;  All nations shall call Him blessed.  Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, Who only does wondrous things!  And blessed be His glorious name forever!  And let the whole earth be filled with His glory.  Amen and Amen.

This Is A Move - Brandon Lake

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Jesus is still the risen King.  The New Testament church of Acts is still the prototype of church.  The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in every Christian.  And I believe a move of God unlike anything in history is coming.  

Let The Redeemed - Josh Baldwin

There's no sound louder than a captive set free.  So let the redeemed of the Lord say so. 

Definition of redeem:

• transitive verb
• 1 a: to buy back: REPURCHASE
• b: to get or win back

I've always been fascinated by this idea that God owns us by rights of creation.  In my ceramics class, if I made something it belonged to me simply for that reason.  But God had to redeem - repurchase us - pay for us, His creation.  He owns us twice over.

Another book I read about 30 years ago that has had a huge impact is The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whitall Smith.  It planted the idea that Christians should always be the happiest people in the room.  It also explains why that is far too often not the case.  You should read it.

I liked this song from the first time I heard it.  I thought about all the captives in all the wars.  I can't imagine any of it.  But I try to imagine finally being rescued or in some way being set free. 

It's all kind of disjointed...  I think there's a general misunderstanding, or lack of real awareness, of us as Christians being captives set free, of us being redeemed from sin and death.  And that leads to a lack of exuberance and gratitude.  Maybe we're more like the man whose debt was forgiven and yet he went and demanded payment of what was owed him, and they all ended up in jail.  

Stand In Your Love - Josh Baldwin

My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in Your love.  

I am standing on the Rock, my firm foundation.

I think this is the first song where we get to fear.  For a long time I didn't think I dealt much with fear.  Eventually I realized I sometimes fear the future and I fear my own heart. 

The fear of the future would be hard to explain.  It's a very specific personal fear, not a general fear of what the future holds for humanity or the world or America or anything.  On those things I remain absolutely optimistic.

My fear of my own heart might also be a little weird.  In our journey with Jesus He is so kind to reveal our own hearts to us over time.  The downside of that is I know there will always be hidden things in my heart that will need to be dealt with at some point.  But as I'm on this walk with Him, and He does reveal the dark parts of my heart, I learn that He is so gentle and faithful and has infinite grace and His own blood to heal those areas.  Past experience helps me not fear the future.  And I completely fearless in this?  No.  There are many long hours in the dead of night with too many thoughts.

Nothing Else - Cody Carnes

It seems appropriate in this worship playlist to have a song about getting worship wrong.  While this might seem more for those who lead worship, at whatever level, it can be for any of us.  I know it's so easy to be distracted during worship - I am definitely easily distracted, especially at church with people coming in and out or moving around or talking.  But even alone at home or in the car it takes effort to focus.  My mind wanders around worse than a toddler at a playground. 

More than anything that You can do, I just want You.  Like in my prayers, in worship it's easy to let the focus be on me, my mood, my needs, my thoughts.  Even the songs about how much He loves us can lead me to think about me and not Him.  There are some songs that are more about who He is, those are awesome and helpful.

Refiner - Maverick City Music

When I first heard this one I laughed.  I love how God gives us songs to sing that are way more aspirational than reality.  I mean, asking for His refining fire?  Really?  Honestly I was hesitant.  Then He just draws me in as it keeps coming up in my playlist.  And I find myself singing along.

I want to be tried by fire, purified.  You take whatever You desire. Lord here's my life.  Seriously - who volunteers for this?

Romans 12:1-2  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

If Your Glory wants to come here, let it fall, we want it all.  If this is what we get in return...  then yes.

There is no analogy sufficient to explain the exchange - we give God us and we get Him.  It goes beyond Him being strong in our weakness.  It's an exchange of our sinful broken selves for His Holiness. 

Revelation 14:1  His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire.

He has eyes like a flame of fire from the fire within Him.  Oh that our eyes would be the same.

Communion - Maverick City Music

I didn't know I could have a friend like You.  I didn't think that I deserved it.

There's so much we don't know about communion - whichever one we're talking about.  It's defined as:  Intimate fellowship or rapport, a body of Christians having a common faith and discipline, and a Christian sacrament in which bread and wine are consumed as memorials of Christ's death or as symbols for the realization of a spiritual union between Christ and communicant or as the body and blood of Christ.

I read a book on Communion by Beni Johnson and really learned a lot.  I've seen communion services done very well at a couple of churches - detailed and not rote.

It's still an area with much to learn.  So I really appreciate this song.

Back to You are closer, closer than my skin.  

Here's where the dead things come back to living, I feel my heart beating again.  Oh how many dead things we carry around.  Some we need to just let go and bury.  But some we need to let God breathe on and bring them back to life. 

It feels so good to know you are my friend.

I don't have to prove a thing - You've already approved of me.  How healing is that idea?  

Abba - The Helsers

You're more real than the ground I'm standing on.

You're closer than the skin on my bones.

Abba, I belong to You.

Oh the great mysteries of the Christian faith.  There are still times I think this is crazy.  How can any of this be true?  Yet it's the truest reality and our world is just a shadow.

Grace is the collision on the way back home to the arms of the Father who won't let go.

It's His faithfulness.  It's His love.  There are so many layers to the story of the prodigal son, always something new to discover.  We identify with the sons, the one who left and came home, or the one who never left.  But it's such a beautiful story of God the Father.  He waited and watched patiently, still full of love for His son.  There was no condemnation when the son came home - only joy and acceptance. 

Oh, if the church would treat the prodigals and lost that way.  

Luke 15:7  “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. 

Sinking Deep - Kalley Heiligenthal

Your love so deep is washing over me, Your face is all I seek, You are my everything.  And Jesus Christ You are my one desire, Lord hear my cry, to know You all my life.

It's probably rare I don't start with How He Loves and then just play through this song and the next one.  They just go so well together.

I don't have much to say about this one.  It's a beautiful song and time of worship.  It's so good just to let us wash over me and be the cry of my heart.  

How He Loves - Andrew Griggs

He is jealous for me.  Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree.

When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory.  I realize just how beautiful You are and how great Your affections are for me.

If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.

I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way...

This might be the most calming and healing song for my soul.  I love the piano and the strings.  I love the lyrics.  The images.

How many ways are there to say the same thing - how much God loves us?  It has to be as infinite as His love.  It's the answer to everything.

As I've been reading through the New Testament is the Chronological Bible I'm drawn time and time again to the phrase - "He had compassion and He healed them all."  That's Jesus.  In His compassion, His love, He heals us all.  And living in His people - He wants us to do the same through us, to have compassion and heal them all.  Broken hearts and souls, broken lives.  Oh that we would drown in His love and grace and then pour it out in others until they drown too. 

This Love - Housefires

 This love is an everyday kind of love.

There is no chain this love can't break.

This song and the next three I have spent countless hours listening to.  And honestly, so many tears shed as I have.  Just to really, deeply know His love.  That's the entire point of our being.  And yet for so many reasons it's really hard to know His love.  That's probably the biggest reason I'm grateful for all these songs.  I guess it's a positive kind of brain washing.  The washing of my mind, imprinting it with better thoughts.  I'll find a phrase from some song on repeat in my thoughts.  God's spoken to me time and time again that way.

You Are My Champion - Dante Bowe

 I am who You say I am.  

Now I can finally see it.  You're teaching me how to receive it.

We are not victims, but we walk in victory.

This is another one that really caught my attention.  I'm not sure when, but I also heard "Jesus is undefeated" around this time.  I had never thought of that.  And it took me a little time to think about that and then realize it's true.  It's too easy to look at the world - current and past - and feel like Jesus is losing the battles if not the war.  Maybe it's back to that we're in time and everything eternal is outside of time.  The cross - the shedding of His blood, Jesus taking the keys to sin and death, these are events that occured in time, but forever remain outside of time.  They are all past, present, and future.  We know how the story ends.  We are to be overcomers, because He has already overcome everything.  

Then there's the concept of us being seated in heavenly places with Jesus.  Still working on understanding this.  

    Ephesians 2:4-7 4) But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5) even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6) and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7) that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

More recently, I had this thought that Jesus invites us to join Him in these battles (whatever they may be for us individually and corporately) so that His bride can enjoy His victory with Him.  How much sweeter is something done together with ones that we love? 

Still - Amanda Cook

You know everything, yet You listen.  

If You are with me, what can overwhelm me?

I'm working on friendship with Jesus, which will come up more later.  But I do find it hard sometimes to just talk to Him about all the little things in daily life, or even the really big overwhelming things - because there's this sense that He already knows.  And it's not that I think I'm boring Him, like a human friend would be bored.  It just seems weird to tell someone something they already know.  

As I'm writing this the whole parent/child dynamic comes to mind.  I do find that I can be impatient with Noah when he's going on and on about something (Roblox) for the 100th time.  But God has infinite patience, and a pure Love that is always interested in what we say - which will also come up again later. 

Perfect Peace - Amanda Cook & Steffany Gretzinger

Isaiah 26:3 "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."

Whatever has come, whatever will be, I'm held by the One whose name is Perfect Peace.  

Sometimes you just have to repeat it until it sinks deep into your heart and soul.  Until nothing can shake your belief that His word is true. 

Peace - Amanda Cook

Dare anxiety come, I'll remember that peace is a promise you keep.

Your word remains truth even when my mind wrecks havoc.  

You are peace when my mind wages war.  

Peace is a promise You keep.

Peace is a person - Jesus.  His peace is in us and is all around us.  It's our shield both over our minds, our anxious, fearful, crazy thoughts, and over our lives.  He keeps us in perfect peace.  It surrounds us like a protective bubble.  No matter the war waging around us we are safe in His peace.  Peace is not dependant on circumstances or emotions.

Pieces - Amanda Cook

 "You're giving us new memories.  You're giving us Your memory.  It's not just perspective, it's innocence restored.  You're rewriting our story, our story with your love."

Wow.  Before the song even starts.  I don't know how much time I've spent thinking about this whole concept.  God redeems everything.  How can I begin to know what that looks like?  I mean, at 52 that's a LOT of redeeming.  Things remembered and things forgotten.  Things done by me, to me, for me.  But Jesus is our Redeemer.  God is the author and finisher of our faith.  He writes our story.  And as the ultimate author, He's able to write enough drafts for it all to work together for good, work together for His glory.  An author with perfect love writing a love story for every part of His creation, for every person.  I don't know what all it means.  I don't know what all it looks like.  But I know He can, and I pray He does.

Oh.  Then the song.  Unreserved, unrestrained, Your love is wild for me.  It isn't shy.  It's unashamed.  Your love is proud to be seen with me.  What?  Even now that's a tough idea.

You don't give your heart in pieces.  You don't hide Yourself to tease us.

Uncontrolled.  Uncontained.  Your love is a fire, it's burning bright for me.  It's not a spark, it's not just a flame, your love is a light and all the world will see.

Your love's not passive, it's never disengaged.  It's always present, it hangs on every word we say.

Oh what a love.  And all we have to do is receive it.

There's nothing we as humans long for more than to be loved.  And the God of the universe, who created us to be with Him, to be loved by Him, pours a perfect love on us constantly.  Oh that we would know that love.

You're not far away.  You're here to stay.  You're Emmanuel.  You don't come and go.  You're here to stay.  Moment to moment.  Minute to minute.  You're not just in the Glory, You meet us on the ground.  You're not just in the sky.  You meet us on the ground.

This is what it is to be children.