Dear God, I wanted to just have some Christian music playing while I got ready for church this morning, so I got on YouTube and started looking through the music section. I happened upon this concert by Michael W. Smith in Canada in 2002. I remember when this album came out. It was so successful they did a volume 2 of it. And I really liked it.
It’s funny how judgmental I can be, like I’m all that or I have it all figured out. I’m so sorry. My first response when I saw it this morning was to react negatively to all of the overproduction. Yuck. But then the Holy Spirit whispered to me, “Exactly what is your problem? There is an arena of people, thousands of people, earnestly worshipping me as best as they know how. Just how you worship me as best you know how. Their worship isn’t perfect. Your worship isn’t perfect. But all of it delights me. It is a sweet fragrance to me.” So I sank into it and came in and out of my worship as I ironed my shirt, shaved, and just got ready for church. It was a good experience. And I appreciate Michael. I think he’s a good, earnest man. I think he’s a lover and worshipper of you. He’s also a brilliant musician–especially as a pianist. And his notoriety led others to join him that evening 23 years ago to worship you.
Father, I know my worship is flawed. I know my prayer life is flawed. I’d like to think I know just how inadequate I am before you, but I still think I oversell myself and undersell you. But you smile at me. You have mercy on me. You ask me to love you, which I do. You ask me to love others and have mercy on them, which I try to do. I just want to be who you need me to be today. Walk with me, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
“We Are Not As Strong As We Think We Are” by Rich Mullins
Well, it took the hand of God Almighty To part the waters of the sea But it only took one little lie To separate you and me Oh, we are not as strong as we think we are
And they say that one day Joshua Made the sun stand still in the sky But I can’t even keep these thoughts of you from passing by Oh, we are not as strong as we think we are
We are frail, we are fearfully and wonderfully made Forged in the fires of human passion Choking on the fumes of selfish rage And with these our hells and our heavens So few inches apart We must be awfully small And not as strong as we think we are
And the Master said their faith was Gonna make them mountains move But me, I tremble like a hill on a fault line Just at the thought of how I lost you Oh, we are not as strong as we think we are
We are frail, we are fearfully and wonderfully made Forged in the fires of human passion Choking on the fumes of selfish rage And with these our hells and our heavens So few inches apart We must be awfully small And not as strong as we think we are
And if you make me laugh I know I could make you like me ‘Cause when I laugh I can be a lot of fun But we can’t do that I know that it is frightening What I don’t know is why we can’t hold on We can’t hold on
It took the hand of God Almighty To part the waters of the sea But it only took one little lie To separate you and me Oh, we are not as strong as we think we are
When you love you walk on the water Just don’t stumble on the waves We all want to go there something’ awful But to stand there it takes some grace
Dear God, I was listening to a podcast this morning, and they were talking about something they were reading that we are only able to see about 2% of what is visible around us due to our limited visual spectrum and the size of things. My wife and I talked about it a bit. We have a friend who is an ophthalmologist and she talks about the mission trips she goes on and how just something as simple as $.50 reading glasses change a person’s life because they were a seamstress and thought they could no longer work because they couldn’t see detail anymore. How much would that be us if we could all of a sudden see a fraction of what is around us that we cannot see? Is the vision of the spirits in the world actually closer than we think? Is it maybe not a veil between us, but simple ignorance?
That’s when this song came to mind for me. I am not as strong as I think I am. I think the closer I get to you the smaller I feel. And that’s a good thing. I think the closer I get to you the weaker I feel. And that’s a good thing. I don’t have to put my faith in my own strength to find my certainty or peace. I talk to people around my age who say they don’t feel their age. And that’s fine. I always tell them, “I’m not sure what 55 is supposed to feel like, but I think this is it.” I just don’t feel the need to push myself up and pretend to be something that I’m not. Is that good or bad? I’m not sure.
Thinking about this song that Beaker and Rich wrote, I wonder what they inspiration for it was. How did they decide to write this song? Were they feeling especially powerless? It starts with a broken relationship. It’s a love song to lost love. Poetically, I think my favorite part of the song talks about how we are “formed in the fires of human passion.” But the passion between those two people also succumbs sometimes to the fumes of selfish rage. This is truly an amazing song when you really sit with the lyrics.
Father, my hells and my heavens are just a few inches apart. Tonight, I will try to lean into the heavens and cling to them as I try to teach the Bible study lesson I think you gave me for these men. Help me. Be with me. Fill me. Help me to be weak. Be strong for me.
A little boy sitting on a metal folding chair In what appears to be a Sunday school room He could see that shepherd boy, His sling up in the air He could feel that giant hit with a boom In that room I saw the Red Sea part And two by two animals get in the ark And Mrs. Keen gently would say The God of the past is still God today
So tell me again of the old, old stories Tell me again of the faithful who walked In the lions’ den and the fiery furnace Of Noah and rainbows and donkeys that talked I don’t want to forget so please, tell me again
A young man sitting at a desk with a wooden chair In what appears to be a high school class He can see a battlefield there’s giants everywhere Saying, “The Bible is a thing of the past” In this new age you believe what you want to believe ‘Cause god is whatever you want it to be And I can hear Mrs. Keen gently say The God of the past is still God today
So tell me again of the old, old stories Tell me again of the faithful who walked In the lions’ den and the fiery furnace Of Noah and rainbows and donkeys that talked I don’t want to forget so please, tell me again
How the God of the ages Turned history’s pages and saw my need Tell me again of the shepherds and wise men And the star that would lead them to the baby who was born So that we could be born again
Tell me again of the Gospel story Tell me again how the whole world was lost How the Only Begotten with grace so amazing Gave up His life on an old rugged cross I don’t want to forget so please, tell me Tell me again of the old, old stories Tell me again of the faithful who walked How the Only Begotten, with grace so amazing Gave up His life on an old rugged cross I don’t want to forget so please, tell me again I dont’ want to forget, so please, tell me again
Written by Geoff Moore and Steve Chapman
Dear God, I’m I. A chapel at almost 10:00 on a Sunday evening. my wife is taking an hour to pray. I decided to take the time to be with her, although in another corner of the room and finish a book I’ve been reading. I finished the book so I started playing solitaire on the tablet and listening to my Christian playlist on shuffle (with headphones). This song was the first song up and I listened to it three or four times. It filled me with warmth. It made me remember back to sitting in Sunday school as an 8- and 9-year-old, listening to the stories. The flannel-graph was always fun (I just looked up flannel-graphs for sale—they still exist!).
I still love those stories, but I’m better at applying them to my life now. They were always great, but now I have more sympathy for the unfaithful Israelites who drove me crazy because they just kept repeating the same sins (sounds like me). I see Noah’s, Abraham’s, and Samson’s flaws. I understand the rise and fall of David and how the sin of Bathsheba/Uriah followed him to his death.
As I sit here and pray now, I pray that my children will remember these stories and times in Sunday school like I do, and mature into the stories and see the real beauty in how you’ve chosen to reveal yourself to us through them. Help them to learn about themselves through a mature look at these women and men who were wonderful and flawed. And how much you loved them. Help them to see you through these old stories of the faithful, and not so faithful.
I'm the one with two left feet Standing on a lonely street I can't even walk a straight line And every time you look at me I'm spinning like an autumn leave Bound to hit bottom sometime
Where would I be without someone to save me Someone who won't let me fall
You are everything that I live for Everything that I can't believe is happening You're standing right in front of me With arms wide open, all I know is Every day is filled with hope 'Cause you are everything that I breathe for And I can't help but breathe you in And breathe again Feeling all this life within Every single beat of my heart
I'm the one with big mistakes Big regrets and bigger breaks Than I'd ever care to confess Ah, but you're the one who looks at me And sees what I was meant to be More than just a beautiful mess
Where would I be without someone to save me Someone who won't let me fall
You are everything that I live for Everything that I can't believe is happening You're standing right in front of me With arms wide open, all I know is Every day is filled with hope 'Cause you are everything that I breathe for And I can't help but breathe you in Breathe again, feeling all this life within Every single beat of my heart
You're everything good in my life Everything honest and true And all of those stars Hanging up in the sky Could never shine brighter than you
You are everything that I live for Everything that I can't believe is happening You're standing right in front of me With arms wide open, all I know is Every day is filled with hope 'Cause you are everything that I breathe for And I can't help but breathe you in And breathe again, feeling all this life within Every single beat of my heart
You are, oh, you are. Jesus, you are You are everthing
Songwriters Matthew West and Sam Mizell
Dear God, I normally copy and paste lyrics when I do songs like this, but this time I really wanted to sink into this song and worship you with the words so I typed them out. I need some worship time. I feel like I am spinning a little. With some personal struggles combined with preaching in the morning, working alongside my wife tomorrow afternoon with a couple about to get married, teaching a Bible study Monday night and then officiating a funeral on Wednesday, I have a all of these things swirling through my head. How will I manage them? How will I do you justice in all of this? The answer: Stop and worship. Make everything in my being about you. Worship you. Take my eyes off of all of this and just fall into you. Let you do it through me.
To be clear, what I am experiencing is first-world problems. You have given me so much. I was listening to a podcast earlier today and this pastor was talking about exhorting his congregation to make a practice of observing Sabbath, and he got feedback from some that they would love to, but they cannot because they are working two jobs to make ends meet. From his view of the world, choosing to observe the Sabbath was a choice that his “internal Pharaoh” would have to grant, but he realized that a lot of people live with an “external Pharaoh” that compels them to ignore Sabbath.
Another good thing I heard today as I listened to another podcast was the importance of not teaching the secondary benefits of Christianity as our motivation for worshipping you. And I’m not talking about prosperity gospel heresy, but even making the motivation to worship you and live a life of discipleship be attaining the fruits of the Spirit. Yes, that is a side-effect, but I’m here right now not for that. I’m here right now simply because I love you. I’m into you. I first followed you almost 46 years ago. I’ve been intentionally discipling in one way or another for 38 years. Can I see your fruit in my life? Absolutely. Is that why I’m here? No. I’m here because I simply love you.
Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, inhabit me. Inhabit all of my being. I feel like I’ve been broken this week. I feel like you’ve been melting me and molding me. Now fill me to overflowing so that you might overflow onto those around me. All for your glory, oh, Lord. All for your glory.
1 Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him. 3 For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods. 4 He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains. 5 The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too.
6 Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, 7 for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care.
If only you would listen to his voice today! 8 The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah, as they did at Massah in the wilderness. 9 For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw everything I did. 10 For forty years I was angry with them, and I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’ 11 So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”
Dear God, reading this as a 21st-century American, I’m shocked with how this worship psalm ends. Was this typical for them? Did it cycle around and use something as a chorus to make this ending more hopeful and worshipful. I am preaching at a church several weeks from now, and I started to wonder if the first part of this psalm wasn’t the message you wanted me to give. “If only you would listen to his voice today.” Then I saw the rest of it that ended in such a negative place. It stunned me. I know I’ve read this before, and I’ve probably had the same response before. But it still stuns me to see this description by the psalmist of what they imagined you felt (or you revealed to them you felt) for those 40 years between Egypt and they Jordan.
In today’s entry into Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, Sister Miriam actually focused on the line I focused on, but she included the first part of verse 8, “Don’t harden your hearts…” She quote the Catholic Catechism (CCC 2840): “Now–and this is daunting–this outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us.” She follows up later and says, “Forgiveness is asking Jesus Christ for the grace to forgive. It is relinquishing our grasp upon the person who hurt us, surrendering the person to Jesus and asking Jesus to restore justice. It is an acknowledgment of the pain inflicted, how it affected us, an ongoing emotional release of it, and a decision to offer that person and ourselves a gift of love and freedom.”
Father, there are times when I think I have forgiven everyone, but then anger flashed back to me. Maybe it’s a new offense. Maybe it’s a reminder of an offense that I thought I had worked through and forgiven. Maybe it’s trying to find that line between loving and forgiving while still not trusting. I do know that I don’t want a hard heart. Even in my daily vocation, I work with clients who sometimes deceive me to get what they want. It can be hard to not become calloused for the next person even though they might legitimately need me. As I sit here now, I’m reminded of an old song by Petra called “Don’t Let Your Heart be Hardened.” I just looked up the song and listened to it. Frankly, it sounded pretty trite and “easy to say,” until I got to the last verse:
Let His love rain down upon you Breaking up your fallow ground Let it loosen all the binding Till only tenderness is found
I think that the key to be really becoming forgiving and merciful is coming to deep terms with how sinful I really am and how much I really grieve you sometimes. And also how sinful I was before I finally turned to you and started worshipping you faithfully. But when I really see myself in the mirror, accept who I am and what I’ve been forgiven of, then I will more easily give your love and forgiveness to others. Help me to do all of this, Father.
Good sweet earth Sleeves rolled up and hands buried in the dirt I can see you there in one of dad’s old shirts Showin’ me how life’s supposed to work
Good straight lines You need seed and sweat and soil and sweet sunshine And once those roots take hold, you’ll be just fine
It’s a beautiful design It just takes love (love) and faith (faith) and grace, a little time
We’re all sons and daughters, just ripples on the water Tryna make it matter until our time to leave One day, they’ll carve your name in stone And send your soul on home ‘Til then it’s prayin’ for rain and pullin’ up the weeds Plantin’ trees we’ll never see
First day of spring The whole world’s wakin’ up and turnin’ green And everything connects to everything
It’s a beautiful design It just takes love and faith and grace, a little time
We’re all sons and daughters, just ripples on the water Tryna make it matter until our time to leave One day, they’ll carve your name in stone And send your soul on home ‘Til then it’s prayin’ for rain and pullin’ up the weeds Plantin’ trees we’ll never see
Statues fall and glory fades But a 100-year-old oak tree still gives shade
We’re all sons and daughters, just ripples on the water Tryna make it matter, until our time to leave One day, they’ll carve our name in stone And send our souls on home ‘Til then it’s prayin’ for rain and pullin’ up the weeds ‘Til then it’s prayin’ for rain and pullin’ up the weeds Plantin’ trees we’ll never see
Dear God, well, I would have lost the song-selection BINGO I wanted to play last night, coming up with the songs I thought Amy Grant would play for her concert. She did nothing from her first three albums, which really surprised me (“Old Man’s Rubble,” “My Father’s Eyes,” “Walking Away with You”). But some of the songs she released since I followed her career closely were lovely. This is the one that really struck me.
So much of my life–of every life–is about the seeds we plant that we never see the fruit from. And some of those seeds die. Some fall on the path. Some on the rocks. Some in the vines and thorns. But for those seeds that find the good soil… Well, that fruit can be stunning.
I remember when my kids were young and I would pray that the good seeds we were planting would find good soil and grow. Perhaps I should have prayed against the bad seeds we planted. That they would land on the path or in the rocks. But I still pray for the good seeds my wife and I tried to plant. That some of them are still in there. Still growing. Maybe dormant. Maybe I can’t see it above the soil. Not that I don’t see tons of good fruit in their lives and I know you had us have a role in planting. Especially my wife. She’s such a great woman. And our children have amazing and wonderful strengths. Oh, Father, continue to love them and grow them into people who are wholly yours. For their significant others. For the people around them who invest into their lives. I pray that you will live in and speak through all of them. Fill them all with your Spirit.
Father, I might not live to see all of the fruit from the seeds my life has planted. Both the good fruit and the bad fruit. That’s what the weeding is about, I suppose. I certainly made mistakes. I continue to make them. But my heart is to worship you with everything I have, love others, and then that will be enough for me. I don’t have to see the fruit. I don’t have to see the results. In fact, that is zero chance I will know all of the effects of my life. That’s good. Because it’s not about me. It’s about you. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
We were young, And none of us know quite what to say, But the feeling moved Among us in silence anyway. Slowly we had made Quite a change– Somewhere we had crossed a big line. Down upon our knees, We had tasted holy wine, And no one could sway us In a life time. Purer than the sky, Behind the rain. Falling down all around us, Calling out from a boundless love. Love had lit a fire; We were the flame. Burning into the darkness, Shining out from inside us. Not a word. And no one had to say we were changed. Nothing else we lived through Would ever be same the same, Knowing the truth That we had gained. Purer than the sky, Behind the rain. Falling down all around us, Calling out from a boundless love. Love had lit a fire; We were the flame. Burning into the darkness, Shining out from inside us. Stay with me. Make it ever new, So time will not undo, As the years go by, How I need to see That’s still me. Falling down all around us, Calling out from a boundless love. Yeah… Burning into the darkness, Shining out from inside us. Purer than the sky, Behind the rain. Falling down all around us, Calling out from a boundless love. Love has lit a fire; I am the flame. Burning into the darkness, Shining out from inside us. Purer than the sky, Behind the rain. Falling down all around us, Calling out from a boundless love. (Ohh…) Love has lit a fire; I am the flame. Burning into the darkness, Shining out from inside us. Purer than the sky, Behind the rain. Falling down all around us, Calling out from a boundless love.
Songwriters: Amy Grant / Jerry Mcpherson / Gary Chapman
Dear God, my wife and I are going to see Amy Grant in concert tomorrow night. I saw a lot of Christian concerts in the 1990s, but I never saw Amy Grant in concert for some reason. And I worked for Word at the time so I sold a ton of her stuff through Christian bookstores. I met her once at a sales conference for the House of Love album, but I’ve never heard her sing.
Regardless, here I am, about to see her in concert for the first time so I have been listening to some of her old songs to just reminisce a little. It was this song that kind of struck me this week when it came on. I remember it being on the Lead Me On album. I think it was the first track. No, “Lead Me On” might have been the first track. Anyway, it really captured the emotions 18-year-old me felt at the time. I had grown up Baptist and had “accepted Jesus” possibly as many as 30 times up to that point. Effective church sermons. Revivals. Fellowship of Christian Athletes conferences. But somehow I never felt like I got it right the previous time. I wasn’t getting the formula correct. I needed to do it again.
So I remember the emotions Grant reflects in this song that she apparently wrote with her husband at the time, Gary Chapman, and Jerry McPherson. I wonder what their conversations were like as they wrote this song. Now, 38 years and a lot of life and heartache later, if they could rewrite any of it, would they? Would they change the lyrics? I think it’s prescient to have the part that says:
Stay with me. Make it ever new, So time will not undo, As the years go by, How I need to see That’s still me.
I remember the feelings of just sinking into you and that moment of feeling a complete connection with you, but I never seemed to carry it beyond a few days. There was no discipleship. Or there was not self-discipline in my discipleship or even a real knowledge of what discipleship between you and me should look like.
So now, 38 years later since I had my experience of learning what discipleship looks like for me–or beginning to learn what discipleship looks like for me–how do I think of myself in relation to this song? Where are the friends I had then? How are they doing? I can tell you that the ones I’ve kept up with have had sorrows and struggles, but they seem to still have an active faith in you. For that, I’m grateful. My faith and discipleship are certainly imperfect, but I guess I’m at least faithfully imperfect. Maybe getting a little closer to you on more days than I’m getting farther from you on others?
Father, I do love you. I do worship you. Even now, even in this mode of worship, I know that my worship is so inadequate for who you are compared with who I am, but this is what I can offer you in my limited mind and body. Help me to learn a little more today how to love you and how to love others. I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship you. Oh, my soul, rejoice! Take joy my King in what you hear. May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ears. (“I Love You Lord” by Laurie Klein)
Dear God, this theme keeps coming up for me lately: The cheapness of human life combined with the preciousness of it. I wonder how you see all of this. I know you care about each death because Jesus cared so much about Lazarus’s death. I know you care about each life lived because you took the time to send Jesus to us. And yet there are just so many of us. So many people.
I had a high school friend die of a sudden heart attack a few days ago. I found out about 36 hours ago. His mother has been on my heart as I know she must be hurting. Then there is the mom I know more locally who lost her adult daughter who was over 60. Both of these people lost had trouble finding traction in this life, but both definitely loved you and neither ever stopped trying. I hadn’t seen the high school friend in several years, but he was an incredibly good man. From everything I could see, he was simply good through and through. But he just never seemed to get traction. His career didn’t go where he wanted it to go. His love life didn’t go where he wanted it to go.
What is certain about both of these friends is that they had people who really loved them, starting with their parents. Both had lost their fathers already, but from what I understand, their fathers loved them as much as their mothers did.
I guess I’m praying all of this because I came across this song this morning, and it seemed to fit the sadness I feel for these losses, but it also reminded me of the angels smiling and caring about us too. In fact, isn’t it interesting that they angels seem to love us so much? I don’t know how many other worlds you might have like us that you care about, but you have certainly set up a system in the spiritual realm that shows an incredible amount of love for us.
Father, I pray that my two friends I’m thinking of right now will continue to ripple through this physical world while their souls enjoy you in the spiritual one. In your kingdom. In the New Earth. You are a great God who takes the 100 billion souls that have entered and left the world and cares about each and every one of them. I pray that one day I will be able to go to heaven a shoutin’ my love for you, my Triune God. And please comfort the mothers and others who were close to these two and are feeling this loss. Love them well.
6 It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!”
4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”
8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”
I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
Isaiah 6:1-8
Dear God, this might be the passage in Isaiah with which I am most familiar. I remember that some Christian song opened with someone reading from it about 30 years ago. I think it was Wes King. Let me look for it.
Okay, I just found it. It’s a song called “Holy” by Wes King:
“Holy” by Wes King
“In the year of King Uziah’s death I saw the Lord, sitting on a throne Lofty, and exalted With the train of His robe filling the temple Ceraphim stood above Him Each having six wings With two, He covered his face With two, He covered his feet And with two, He flew And one called out to another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts”
Oy Vay Ist Mer, I am, undone I am a man of an unclean heart My eyes have seen the King I’ve seen the Lord, Almighty
Holy, holy Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
I am naked beneath, the Gaze of God My heart is shattered For I have, seen my shame Dust and ashes beneath His mighty throne I am unworthy, I shudder at His feet But with fire, He touched my lips And took away my sin
Holy, holy Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Holy, holy Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
He has cleansed me, I’m not what I will be For when I see Him, I shall be as He
Holy, holy Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Holy, holy Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
So there is no way I can ever express with my human mind just how different you and I are, Father. It’s amazing you can even hear my prayers, know my thoughts, or care about my life. What am I to you? Who am I to you? There is a huge difference between me and my dog. When it comes to understanding and abilities, I am light years ahead of my dog in comparison. But on a continuum of intelligence, on a scale of 1 to 10, my dog is a .1, I am possibly a .3, and you are 100. But in my literal world–in my little reality–here I am. I am foolish. I am unclean. But I offer what I have to you. Here am I. Send me.
Father, what would you like me to do today? I think I will visit a friend’s church this morning. I will try to bless people who made donations to our nonprofit through acknowledgments for their gifts. I will go through the money I have and figure out how you will have me use it. I will work on my Parents of the Bible project. And I will enjoy the Super Bowl with a friend. Is that all you would have me do today? Of course, I will love my wife. I will pray for my children, their significant others, and my relatives. I will reach out to some of my relatives and offer love. I will submit myself to you. Father, thank you for touching me with Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. Make me a fisher of people. Make me a lover of people with your love.
… Lord I come, I confess Bowing here, I find my rest Without You, I fall apart You’re the one that guides my heart
… Lord, I need You, oh, I need You Every hour, I need You My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You
… Where sin runs deep, Your grace is more Where grace is found is where You are And where You are, Lord, I am free Holiness is Christ in me
… Lord, I need You, oh, I need You Every hour, I need You My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You
… So teach my song to rise to You When temptation comes my way And when I cannot stand, I’ll fall on You Jesus, You’re my hope and stay
… Lord, I need You, oh, I need You Every hour, I need You My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You You’re my one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You
… My one defense, my righteousness Oh God, how I need You
Songwriters: Matt Maher / Daniel Carson / Jesse Reeves / Kristian Paul Stanfill / Christy L. Nockels
Dear God, I woke up this morning with this song in my head. I’m pretty sure we sang it at the church I visited this last Sunday to bid farewell to a pastor friend of mine who was preaching his last sermon before retirement. I’m kind of surprised the song stuck with me over the last two days, but when I found myself singing it this morning, I thought I would spend some time with the lyrics and use them to pray to you. You know, Father, I do, indeed, need you.
Right now, I’m sitting in my warm home in South Texas with snow on the ground outside. It’s kind of fun, but I know there are people who don’t have a warm place to be, and I haven’t cared. Granted, there is only so much I can “care” about. There is so much awful in the world, and even in my community, that happens on a continual basis, and I cannot care about everything. But I know you do. I know you care about the people who are cold right now. Maybe they are homeless and living in their car–if they have a car. Oh, Father, they need you, oh, they need you. Every hour they need you. Please be with them somehow.
As for me, you have given me a set of people with specific needs to love. Help me to love them well. Whether it is through my vocational work, my side projects, my volunteer work in the community, or my relationships, I have work to do. Help me to do it well.
Father, without you, I fall apart. When my sin runs deep, so does your grace. Help me to withstand temptation. Help me to worship you well. Help me to love you. Help me to love others. Lord, I need you, oh, I need you. Every hour, I need you. You’re my one defense. My righteousness. Oh, God, how I need you.
Emails to God 