This song is just fun to me..
Sometimes being overly familiar with all the Old Testament stories might be a hindrance to seeing how big our God is. He created everything. He parted the Red Sea. He delivered Daniel from the lions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fire, and He rained down fire from Heaven for Elijah. Then we also think, that was then, not now. But He never changes.
Sometimes my very best is only my weakest yes.
I won't win this battle with the strength of my own hands. You're the mountain mover, and only You can.
Wow does that sum up our daily Christian walk. All He asks is our weakest yes. Yes, Lord, your will and not mine. Yes, Lord, I will listen and obey. Yes, Lord. Even if we only mean it about ten percent, one percent. Even if we just sigh it out in our weakest moment.
That yes brings all of Him in. He's the Lord of creation, God Almighty, the mountain mover, the way maker. And He respects us enough to wait for that simple yes. And when He has it has brings all of Heaven and His resources to help us.
Find me here in Your presence, I'm not leaving the same.
This is why I pursue worship. He changes me in it. In ways I don't even know. In ways I can't explain. Sometimes it's like He's rearranging my heart and soul. I can sit still in the middle of worship and just know that He's doing whatever it is that needs done. Then later - the next day or week or month I'll realize I'm not the same. That there is more understanding, or more peace, or more patience, or more faith.
He's the potter and I'm the clay. I took a ceramics class in college that made that analogy come to life. Clay is hard to work with. And there are many different kinds of clay. And to work on the wheel the first thing that happens is centering the lump of clay on the wheel. I know He centers me during worship. Then the vessel can begin to take form. But if it fails, the process goes back to centering. When the vessel is formed there are still many steps - moving from the wheel, partial drying, final forming, more drying. Then the fire. And if there are any mistakes or any water still in the clay it will explode in the fire.
He's the potter. He knows the whole process. The order, the timing, and He sees what the vessel will look like when it's finally ready for use. The only job of the clay is to yield itself to the work of the potter.
Such a beautiful song and sentiment. Not really much to say other than for me it's kinda like faith - Lord I believe, help my unbelief. Lord I love You, help me love You more. He's so worthy of our love and adoration. Even in worship I'm too often distracted. Lord give me eyes to see You and ears to hear You more.
I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living
Psalm 27:13 "I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Psalm 27
When I heard this at church it really made me think. What will it look like to actually see God's goodness?
Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord.
God's goodness is as infinite as He is. There is no end to His goodness. So how does it show up? I think it looks like when we're good to one another - to our family, kids, friends. It's something tangible. People know when you've been good to them. I think if we're tuned in, we know when God is good to us, too. He's the God of the little and big things.
You're love is like a freight train - it keeps on coming, cannot stop it.
I cannot run away from Your unfailing love.
Wow. A few themes will emerge as I write about all these songs. God's love is at the top of the list. It's literally where everything starts. For God so loved the world. That's it. That's His motivation for everything. God IS love. Love is His only motivation. He pours His love out on us relentlessly. History is just His love story.
The old phrase "you can run but you can't hide" comes to mind. Where can we go God is not there? The universe exists within Him.
There is an intentional order the songs are in. I'll try not to change it up while writing these posts. The first five I still love, but they aren't as much a part of a "set" that flows. I moved them to the top so that if I start at a song lower in the list and it plays through these won't play.
The majority of versions I chose are live versions. Again, it's because of the conversations between what God is saying and how the people respond.
"You Have My Yes" "My God Is So Big" and "Tremble" are a great little set."Love Is Unafraid", "Confident", "Pieces", "PEACE", "Perfect Peace" and "Still" are a fantastic set.
"This Love", "How He Loves", "Sinking Deep" and "Abba" are another set I play very often.
Those two mini sets are pretty self explanatory.
From there is just an ebb and flow of awesome songs until you get to "Good and Loved" through "This Close". There is shifts moods again.
I've got four modern versions of old hymns. I'm sure there is much written about modern worship and how it's all terrible compared to the old hymns. I love them both. There is a richness to the old hymns, a depth to the lyrics. All of my devotional books were written over 100 years ago. They, too, have a depth to them that is unmatchable. God is unchanging. But, we are privileged all our lives to learn in deeper ways who He is. They sing "Holy Holy Holy" for eternity in Heaven. Here on Earth we sing as we see Him.
The rest of the playlist is songs I've found more recently. By the time I write about them individually I'll be more familiar with them.
I also love how God uses songs to speak a unifying message to His body collectively. I know worship can be too corporate. But I also believe that certain songs becoming popular and going world wide can get us all on the same page as God's heart. One of the best examples just from 2020 was "The Blessing". How much comfort did it bring to so many just as the pandemic was about to start? Or when "Who You Say I Am" really hit. What a powerful message for so many of us. And the amazing "Reckless Love". It still makes me cry. Oh if we all knew how true it is.
My prayer is that as people listen to the songs, they will hear what God is saying to them personally. That they will know God's deep personal love for them.
I don't know exactly when I started this playlist, sometime in the past two or three years. I know it changes every so often. Probably more songs added than deleted, but some deleted.
These songs have certainly help form my theology and helped me find the words I need sometimes. My goal is to listen to each song and write about one song from the playlist a day, what it means to me, or what I learned from it, or the images that I have with it.
Some background. Music has always gotten through to me like probably nothing else. I grew up in a Southern Baptist church in Texas. We had what was probably a standard hymnal and church choir. We had lovely piano and organ players. I've never been able to sing. Still can't. But I do anyway. And I loved several of those hymns. As you'll see eventually, a few have ended up on this playlist. I remember sharing a hymnal with my mother on occasion. She sang a little better than I did.
I first heard worship music when I was in college and started attending church again. This was in the late 1980s to the mid 1990s. There was one charismatic church in Waco and I made friends with some young ladies who went there. There was also Choice on the Baylor campus led by Louie Giglio. From day one I loved worship music. I had several Vineyard cds and almost all the Integrity Hosanna series. For a while that was mostly what I listened to.
There was also Kim Clement and his prophetic worship. There would be services where the worship was a conversation between what God was saying over/to the people, and then that set of people's response. It was so beautiful.
Then, due to a series of events that are too much to explain, I stopped going to church for a long time. I know all those songs and all the time spent in God's presence stayed with me.
When it was time to find a new church, I knew that worship had to be an integral part of it. In some ways, worship went mainstream in churches in the past decade or two. I always longed for the prophetic aspect of it as well.
In the past three years I've been fortunate to find churches with great worship, both in person and online. These songs are from a variety of people and organizations, and I know there are so many others out there.
I find driving in my car alone is one of the best places for me to worship, although crying while driving is not recommended. But there's something so essential and wonderful about worshipping with others, to take that journey that's both personal and corporate in a shared space.
