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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
There's no sound louder than a captive set free. So let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
Definition of redeem:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
I'm confident You're faithfulness will see me through.
Just another great song about the faithfulness of God. Living in a world where things are so temporary, and seemingly getting more temporary, to understand the eternal faithfulness of God can be hard. In a world where it seems change is speeding up, our only foundation is in a God who never changes.
Several years ago, I saw an artist post something about the well known "love is patient, love is kind..." verse. It said that's how God loves us. It's been one of the most impactful ideas for me. It was a snowball that's still turning into an avalanche. This journey of learning just how much God loves each and every one of us.
"Perfect love casts out fear" - God's love for us is not afraid of anything in us or our lives. Love is not blind, it sees the whole thing. God, the One who created us, knows us better than we know ourselves. But He's not scared off by anything He sees - in the saved and unsaved. He just loves. There's no reason to hide from Him.
This is the super extended version.
Our God creates things out of nothing with just His voice. Everything in creation is an extension of who He is. Jesus calmed the seas and storm with just words.
In a book I read decades ago, Divine Romance, it tells the idea that our infinite God portioned off a part of Himself to be our universe - so that literally everything that exists is IN Him. It's an image I've carried.
I love weather and nature. I've wondered why the sky is blue, water is blue, grass is green, dirt is brown, trees are green and brown - what is it about blue, green, and brown that they make up the majority of color we see? And then the glory of the flowers and birds and fish with all their many colors.
In the mornings on the way to school, Noah and I often talk about the weather and the sunrise and no matter the weather I say what a beautiful day it is - sunshine or clouds, blue skies or gray. The other day we could see the moon and the sunrise. We talked about the earth's rotation is a day, the earth's orbit around the sun is year, the moon around the earth is a month. How it's all perfectly timed. And how God created it all perfectly. I hope he has the same sense of awe that I do.
One day when subbing, I was in a class where they were studying waves - light waves, sounds waves. It struck me how stunning it is that God created this universe for us - and then He created us out of the dust of the Earth so that we would be connected to it, so that it would "work" for us. That our bodies perceive and use those waves. Our eyes are created to work perfectly with light waves. Our ears with sound waves.
I know the creation story takes place over seven days, not looking to get into that. How long did God take to imagine and dream up our universe? Every little detail. What an artist, engineer, physicist - I don't even know what all. When we create things we put such love and effort and thinking and care into our projects. How much more God...
Oh what love He shows us in His creation. So yes, the only appropriate response is So Will I.
I'm never gonna let you go. I never have and I never will.
I don't listen to this song as much as some of the others. When I first heard it, WOW. It brings to life all the scriptures about God forming us and knowing us in our mother's womb. About knowing the number of hairs on our head. About having a purpose and a destiny for each and every one of us. "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11
As a society and culture, we've moved away from God and family. That makes us as individuals feel very disconnected, consciously or not. If you don't have intact families you don't have history, family lines, family stories. Then on an even bigger level, without God, we lose the thread of human history. We lose that we're all part of a bigger human race with a common story - past and future.
It's just a beautiful look at God's heart for each of us.
Jesus, Jesus you make the darkness tremble.
Your name cannot be overcome.
I don't remember exactly the first time I heard this, but it wasn't like anything else I'd heard. It helped shift how I see Jesus. I still have so much to learn about the power and authority in just His name. "He silenced the voice of the liar on the cross." He defeated death and sin. I know I grasp about 1% of what all that means. But oh how I love the image of darkness trembling at His name. When I say His name.
I was in my early 20s when I first had this image: it's Jesus standing ready for battle with a sword in His hand. And I am a little girl standing under Him, coming up to his knee maybe. And I knew that He was not just protecting me, but fighting for me. It's stayed with me all these years, so clear.
What is there to fear with so great a Savior? He's already done it all.
