Saturday, February 23, 2008

Jesus, Bring the Rain

I remember the Praise Band singing this the first week of school,
but I just heard it again today, and it hit me in a completely different way...

Bring the Rain

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that
I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You

Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to Praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am yours regardless of the clouds
that may loom above because
You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
suffering Your destiny
So tell me whats a little rain?

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Now playing: MercyMe - Bring the Rain

Thursday, February 21, 2008

None But Jesus

Have you ever gone to church and thought that the Praise Band
has been shadowing your life? They sang this song tonight,
and that's how I felt, so I thought I would share it.

None But Jesus

Hillsong



In the quiet
In the stillness
I know that You are God
In the secret of Your presence
I know there I am restored
When You call I won't refuse
Each new day again I'll choose
 
There is no one else for me
None but Jesus
Crucified to set me free
Now I live to bring Him praise
 
In the chaos in confusion
I know You're sovereign still
In the moment of my weakness
You give me grace to do Your will
When You call I won't delay
This my song through all my days
 
All my delight is in You Lord
All of my hope
All of my strength
All my delight is in You Lord
Forever more

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Now playing: Hillsong - None But Jesus

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Brokenness

I have learned over the past month that God sometimes needs to bring you to your worst, on your face before Him, before He can start to put the pieces back together and get you back on your feet. We don't always understand why stuff happens, and there are times where no one can see the "good" that could possibly come out of a situation.
Over the past month, our leadership team has been studying Brokenness, as I watch my family crumble.
My devotion on February 6th was, "Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering?"

Are you ready to be poured out as an offering? It is an act of your will, not your emotions. Tell God you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him. Then accept the consequences as they come, without any complaints, in spite of what God may send your way. God sends you through a crisis in private, where no other person can help you. From the outside, your life may appear to be the same, but the difference is taking place in your will. Once you have experienced the crisis in your will, you will take no thought of the cost when it begins to affect you externally. If you don't deal with God on the level of your will first, the result will be only to arouse sympathy for yourself. "Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horn of the altar" (Psalm 11:27). You must be willing to be placed on the altar and go through the fire; willing to experience what the altar represents--burning, purifications, and separation for only one purpose--elimination of every desire and affection not grounded in or directed toward God. But you don 't eliminate it, God does. You "bind the sacrifice...to the horns of the altar" and see to it that you don't wallow in self-pity once the fire begins. After you have gone through the fire, there will be nothing that will be able to trouble or depress you. When another crisis arises, you will realize that things cannot touch you as they used to do. What fire lies ahead in you life?
Tell God you are ready to be poured out as an offering, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be.
My Utmost for His Highest
Oswald Chambers

We all know that nothing takes God by surprise, and He knows what is best, and everything will work out according to His purpose, but it takes a while to get it. Grief lasts a long time. The pain lasts longer. But, it is the surrender to God's will that begins the healing process--when you are on your face, giving every tear to Him.

"The appropriate response to suffering is worship, and worship is the first act of faith."
~Johnnie Moore, Campus Church--Job, January 27, 2008

Only You

David Crowder


Take my heart, I Lay it down
At the feet of you whose crowned
Take my life, I’m letting go
I lift it upto You who’s throned
 
And I will worship You, Lord
Only You, Lord
And I will bow down before You
Only You Lord
 
Take my fret, take my fear
All I have, I’m leaving here
Be all my hopes, be all my dreams
Be all my delights, be my everything
 
And It’s just you and me here now
Only you and me here now
 
You should see the view
When it’s only You
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Now playing: David Crowder - Only You