Music Mondays

“Me and 2012 are gonna fight” was my Facebook status in early January.  So, I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that the first quarter of 2012 has been a rough one.  Even my friends find themselves in the midst of some struggles and irritations.

I hate to wish the year away, but I find myself doing it almost on a daily basis.  Case in point:  I thought it would be fun to have an Adios 1st Quarter 2012 party.

My friends did too.

But regardless of how much I want to fight with 2012, the fact of the matter is that God has blessings in store for me through the fits and frustrations.  And that fact is what brings me to our Music Monday for today.

Blessings

By Laura Story

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while You hear each spoken need
Yet Love us way too much to give us lesser things
‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?

What if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

And all the while You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?
And what if trails of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?

When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It’s not our home
‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst
This world can’t satisfy?

And what if the trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. – John 4:23

What does God require of us when we worship Him? John 4:23 says that the Father seeks worshipers that worship Him in spirit and in truth. Those believers are the people that He seeks out!

Oh, how I want to be sought out by God!

Worshiping God can happen at any time in any place with or without music. There are times when the sweetest, most honest, God worshipping time that we can offer our Savior is alone. When the beat is nothing more than the rhythm of our own hearts in sync with His. When the strum of a grateful soul gives Him greater pause that the chord on a guitar. When our thoughts wonder at:

His beauty and His grace;
His mercy and His faithfulness;
Him might and His power;
His works and His wonders.

But…

sometimes a song helps.

I Wonder

by Leeland

At the stars in the night, I wonder.
At Your lightning in the sky, I shudder.
Your glory is a blanket that covers every living thing.
And it feels like there’s not enough praise inside of me.
With all these words all my heart can sing in holy.
You are holy.

Jesus Christ
You bled Your love
Laid down Yourself
And gave me life
In naked shame You hung
And You were lifted high.
So, here I lay in awe and wonder.
I am afraid
for no one’s ever sacrificed and loved me this way.
So, on my face I fall under Your heavy grace.
Here I lay in awe and wonder.
Oh, and I wonder.

I’m in awe at the majesty of who you are
Your love is a seal burnt inside my heart
And all of the day I want to be where You are

And it feels like there’s not enough praise inside of me.
With all these words all my heart can sing in holy.
You are holy.

Jesus Christ
You bled Your love
Laid down Yourself
And gave me life
In naked shame You hung
And You were lifted high.
So, here I lay in awe and wonder.
I am afraid
for no one’s ever sacrificed and loved me this way.
So, on my face I fall under Your heavy grace.
Here I lay in awe and wonder.
Oh, and I wonder.

“Awaken” is the name of the conference in January.  I had a nice blurb written all about why Jamie & I picked that word, but I trashed it when I ran across this video by Leeland Mooring.  This is EXACTLY what I feel like God wants to do in His Church today.

 

The Great Awakening

One man wakes, awakens another
Second one wakes his next door brother
Three awake can rouse a town
And turn the whole place upside down
Many awake will cause such a fuss
It finally awakes all of us
One man wakes with dawn in his eyes
Surely then it multiplies
Surely then it multiplies

 

 

 

This song has been on repeat for the past week on my iPod. I just love it so much. I hope you do too! Let’s bask in His beauty this Monday morning!

Your face is beautiful
And your eyes are like the stars
Your gentle hands have healing
There, inside the scars
You’re loving arms they draw me near
And your smile, it brings me peace
Draw me closer, Oh my Lord,
Draw me closer, Lord, to thee

Captivate us, Lord Jesus
Set our eyes on you
Devastate us with your presence
Falling down
And rushing river, draw us nearer
Holy fountain consume us with you
And captivate us, Lord Jesus
With you.

Your voice is powerful
and your words are radiant bright
In your breath and shadow
I will come close and abide
You whisper love and life divine
And your fellowship is free
Draw me closer
Oh my Lord
Draw me closer Lord to thee

Captivate us, Lord Jesus,
Set our eyes on you
Devastate us with your presence
Falling down
And rushing river draw us nearer
Holy Fountain consume us with you
And captivate us, Lord Jesus
With you.

Let everything be lost in the shadows
Of the light of your face
Let every chain be broken from me
As I’m bound in your grace
For your yoke is easy
Your burden is light
You’re full of wisdom, power and might
And every eye, will see you.

Captivate us, Lord Jesus,
Set our eyes on you
Devastate us with your presence
Falling down
And rushing river draw us nearer
Holy Fountain consume us with you
And captivate us, Lord Jesus,
With you.

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned the verse Zephaniah 3:17.  This is an obscure verse in the middle of an even more obscure book of the Bible.

God brought this verse, and the concept of him singing over me, to my attention about a year or more ago.  I cannot tell you how many times I see this verse or hear a song that references it.  It’s like God’s little love note to me that pops up in the most unexpected places.  He’s dropped these little sticky notes…

…at work
…in emails
…in the car
…with my friends
…at the beach
…in Peru (yep, in Peru)
…in devotions
…at church
…in books (there is even a book called The Singing God)
…in innumerable songs
…in church bulletins
…on a jumbo-tron at a conference
…and then, last night, in the movie Courageous

Hence our song for Music Monday.  Enjoy.

Sound of Your Voice
I ran away from your love
but you waited for me
yes you waited for me
and then I heard your song
singing over me
singing over me

and now that I hear you, Lord
I want to know you more
I want to know you more

Sing your song to me
oh, there’s no greater thing
than to listen to the sound of your voice
and when I hear your song
I want to sing along
and listen to the sound of your voice

Lord I am calling your name
and I’m waiting for you
yes, I’m waiting for you
so, won’t you show me your ways
and I will follow you
yes, I will follow you

And now that I hear you Lord
I want to know you more
I want to know you more

Sing over me
bringing peace and mercy
with a song that never ends
sing over me
I want to listen for it
Lord, I want to hear your song again.