The world needs hope right now and the words of this song are just so powerful! Please join in with all of God’s children and sing out loud about the love of God! #HappyEaster #Heisrisen #BecauseHelives
“Because He Lives” by Matt Maher
I believe in the Son
I believe in the risen One
I believe I overcome By the power of His blood
Amen, Amen
I’m alive, I’m alive
Because He lives
Amen, Amen
Let my song join the one that never ends
Because He lives
I was dead in the grave
I was covered in sin and shame
I heard mercy call my name
He rolled the stone away
Amen, Amen
I’m alive, I’m alive
Because He lives
Amen, Amen
Because He lives
I can face tomorrow
Because He lives
Every fear is gone
I know He holds my life my future in His hands
Amen, Amen
I’m alive, I’m alive
Because He lives
Amen, Amen
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nail Him to the tree?
Were you there when they nail Him to the tree?
Were you there when they nail Him to the tree?
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they nail Him to the tree?
Were you there when they pierced Him in the side?
Were you there when they pierced Him in the side?
Were you there when they pierced Him in the side?
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they pierced Him in the side?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were You there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were You there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were You there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were You there when they laid Him in the tomb?
I have just fallen in love with the words of this song and I sing this as a prayer and an affirmation of my faith and commitment to Jesus Christ.
“So Will I” by Hillsong
God of creation
There at the start
Before the beginning of time
With no point of reference
You spoke to the dark
And fleshed out the wonder of light
And as You speak
A hundred billion galaxies are born
In the vapor of Your breath the planets form
If the stars were made to worship so will I
I can see Your heart in everything You’ve made
Every burning star
A signal fire of grace
If creation sings Your praises so will I
God of Your promise
You don’t speak in vain
No syllable empty or void
For once You have spoken
All nature and science
Follow the sound of Your voice
And as You speak
A hundred billion creatures catch Your breath
Evolving in pursuit of what You said
If it all reveals Your nature so will I
I can see Your heart in everything You say
Every painted sky
A canvas of Your grace
If creation still obeys You so will I
So will I
So will I
I wrote this song a few years ago for my friend who had just graduated from seminary and was ordained for her first call in the ministry of the ELCA in Seattle, Washington. Her favorite hymn is “Be Thou My Vision,” so I created a contemporary reflection on the text of this most beloved hymn. She is also of Japanese descent so I found this chord progression from Japanese pop music.
I always pray to follow God’s vision and not my own, even if/when it may not be what I am comfortable with. Pray, listen and follow the direction that God has for your life because our vision does not allow us to see what God has in store. I hope you like the song and if you do, then please share this post! To God be the glory!
“Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance!
I just want to praise You! I just want to praise You!
You broke the chains now I can lift my hands!
I just want to praise You! I just want to praise You!”
This song by Mary Mary has been one of my all time favorite praise songs since I was in high school! As the years go by, the words have taken an even deeper meaning for me as I had to journey through life’s challenges and valleys.
“Everything that could go wrong
all went wrong at one time
so much pressure fell on me
thought I was gonna lose my mind
but Lord I know You wanna see
if I will hold on through these trials
but I need you to lift this load
cause I can’t take it no more”
We’ve all been there right? When everything thing that could possibly go wrong does. But you know what? Even then, in our darkest hour, God is is with us. Even when we feel alone and abandoned, the Lord is right there beside us.
“Been through the fire and the rain
bound in every kind of way
but God has broken every chain
so let me go right now”
Revelations 2:10 (NIV)Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.
James 1:2-3 (NIV) Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds,3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
In these past 6 months, I had to leave all that I have ever known because I was not safe there. And the Lord has provided for me and my family beyond what I could ever have imagined. I did not step out in faith. I leapt. I jumped because I had to and the Lord caught me and has kept me safe. This is what it means to trust in the Lord and not rely on your own understanding or knowledge.
Isaiah 55:11 (MSG) “I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree. “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth, Doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.
So, whoever you are and wherever you are in this life, all that I can say to you, from one child of God to another, is that God is there for you now and forever. Amen.
O Great Redeemer, thank You for another day. Thank You for Your forgiveness and Your mercy. Thank You for Your grace, that surrounds us no matter what we’ve done or not done. Lord, give us the wisdom to understand that in this house there is no class, no race, no gender or anything that would separate us from our creation. There is no us or them. There are only broken sinners in need of community with God and with each other.
Stop the fighting. Stop us from sharpening our knives while we confess our sins to You and to each other. It’s time to take care of the family of God. It’s time to take care of this world. It’s time to “take care of this house, for this house is a home for us all” (From the musical “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue” by Alan Jay Lerner / Leonard Bernstein).
“This step is once again our first. There is no journey gone so far (that) we cannot stop and change direction. Our hands can choose to drop the knife. Our hearts can choose to stop the hating. Every moment of our life is the beginning” (From the musical “Children of Eden” by Stephen Schwartz) not the end of God’s dream for our lives.
Great Provider, let us be aligned with You, O God. Mend the broken and embrace the forgotten. Remind us, that “our glory cannot save us, but the Glory of God is eternal” (Jonathan Cahn). Speak to us directly and cure the infection of hate, so that we can be propelled into the Light of the world and be instruments of healing. Don’t let us get lost in the desert of unused life. Open up the floodgates and wash away the hurt and the shame. And from our nothingness, create in us a clean heart and a clear mind that seeks You in everything that we do.
Calm the storms when we are overwhelmed by the hunger of the multitudes. Remind us that it is not what we have that will provide but that God will always provide when we come up short. “In Jesus, there is not one category of people who heal and one who need wholeness. There is not one category of people who minister and one who needs care. There is just one category: Hungry sinners in need of a Savior” (Nadia Boltz Webber). So let’s claim our miracle today and grab hold of the only truth that matters: That there is salvation and hope in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Original Oil Painting commissioned by New Song Church
Eternal One, we are here because we need You. We need Your strength and we need Your wisdom to rush into our lives right now. Don’t hold back, because we need You to reignite our faith so that we can get out of our head and get back into living in the here and now.
Etch Your truth into our hearts today so that we can boldly speak the Word of God and not miss out on this life. Give us patience, Lord. Give us the patience to wait for You because “those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall soar on wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and never faint.” (Isaiah 40:31 TVB)
The gospel truth is that Jesus, the cross, and the resurrection all liberate us from a decaying world. And even though we can’t see or hear You, Lord, our faith tells us that You are here. You have always been right here. And even when our own hearts abandon us, You take away our burdens so that we can just lean on You and depend on You. So we wait…we wait through our joys and our sorrows. We wait through the darkness for the sun to rise. We wait and we pray for Your miracles to move the mountains and obstacles in our way. We wait for You.
Lord Jesus, You make the impossible possible. You transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. You breathe life into what was once dead. You see us, and You know us more than we know ourselves because You knew us before we took our first breath and You will be there with us when we take our last.
You, Jesus, are amazing, and we ask that whatever truth we need to hear from Your word, in this moment, be given to us as a gift from God. Let Your words just fall down from heaven and touch our hearts. “For, all people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” (1 Peter 1:24)
Move us, right now and right here, so that the words that we hear and say today will match the way we that live out our lives. Take away the hypocrisy of religion and pride by calling on all of us to love with the same love that forgave and released us from our own regrets, hatred and shame. Through You, Jesus, we are now free to love because You first loved us. That same love, the love of God, is present now and is available/accessible to us now, today and forever. So Lord, speak into our hearts so that we can also love all and condemn no one.
Yes, this life is challenging as the enemy stares us down, “but greater is He that lives in all of us than he that is of the world.” (1 John 4:4) Here is the reality that we can all embrace: The crucified and resurrected Christ frees us all from yesterdays mistakes so that we can be brave, we can be courageous, and we can truly and whole-heartedly live in the abundance of God’s favor, grace and love.
It’s never too late to accept Christ. It’s never too late to experience His love. All of the chaos in this world is silenced by His eternity for “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39)
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