Praying this year as we hear the old Christmas songs, that they become ‘as new’, as a new song, as life has been born a-new, daily, as our faith increases and our eyes and ears are opened to see and hear as never before, the songs of old. “Sing to Him a new song”, now that your heart has been ‘tuned’ to sing His grace.
Month: December 2014
Speaking of a 'spiritual song'…"Bring Me to My Knees"
(Joel 2:28)”And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy…”
My son Chris wrote a song a few years ago in 2008 with his band, ‘asforme’. I didn’t know it at the time, but I know it now -it is prophesy. It speaks true of the human heart and mind at some time in one’s life. It is called, Bring Me To My Knees.
“How long O Lord will You be silent? Will You forget me?
How long O Lord, will You be silent? Will You hide Your face from me?
“I thought I knew You better than this. So why can’t I hear You?
I thought I knew You better than this, so I’m crying out to You.”
“Bring me to my knees until I breathe, until I hear You, and take me to my face until I break – “I’m lost without You!”
In life, all that happens, God uses…and His word says, ‘He makes all things work together for good.’ (Romans 8:28).
Well, the song has a bridge: “The night is dark and cold, but still the morning comes. The night is dark and cold, but still the morning comes…” perhaps every life has a bridge as well. Much like a ‘bridge over troubled waters’ so to speak !
I believe that bridge is God! He’s got a hold on His children.
But the ‘bridge’ of the song( and of life itself) brings us around:To, “Bring me to my knees until I breathe, until I hear You, and take me to my face until I break – “I’m lost without You!”
God uses those cries in the ‘dark, cold’ nights and He ... “Bring(s) me to my knees until I breathe, until I hear You, and take me to my face until I break – “I’m lost without You!”
Nothing makes sense when great loss occurs- of career, or of a loved one, or huge disappointment, or great physical or mental tests and trials.
And many of us understand these words:
“The night is dark and cold,… but still the morning comes…”
And we even understand the repetition as well, as time goes on and on:
“the night is dark and cold, but still the morning comes…”
But GOD. This is the difference right here, this is what makes all things ‘work together’ for good:
“But in this day, I will rejoice, knowing I will breathe again, and in this day I will rejoice and
I will love you more.”
Making the choice to ‘worship’ while waiting IS the very breath. Making the choice to ‘worship’ when the ‘water-pots’ are empty at the wedding feast of life (so to speak) IS when we hear Him (Jesus) say: “Fill the water-pots with water.”(John 2:5-8).
Are we going to argue? Are we going to complain because those water-pots are 20 gallons each and there are 6 of them?! “That is way too hard!” ” And this doesn’t make any sense at all!” Are these our thoughts?
Oh, so often they are. That’s why the wrestling:
Oh yes, we do ask these words, we do over and over again:, “How long, O Lord? will You be silent…?”
And we can admit that we’ve even felt like this:
“I thought I knew You better than this. So why can’t I hear You?
I thought I knew You better than this, so I’m crying out to You.”
God allows at times, our days to be like ‘night’, ‘cold and dark’, yet ‘still the morning comes.’
And He ‘brings us to our knees’. This is how He makes ‘all things work together for good. Perhaps, because He understands that our greatest good begins when we are ‘brought to our knees,’ seeking our King.
“Bring me to my knees until I breathe, until I hear You. And take me to my face until I break -I’m lost without You!”
The Lord is faithful, holding us in His hands. His love is unsearchable. When we are faithless, He is faithful still. That’s what the Bible tells us.
But the song has a bridge. Just as we have a bridge over our troubled waters: ” The night is dark and cold, but still the morning comes. The night is dark and cold, but still the morning comes…”
Bring me to my knees until I breathe, until I hear You. Take me to my face, ‘till I break, I’m lost without You!”
“It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting,…Sorrow is better than laughter, For by a sad countenance the heart is made better…” (Ecclesiastes 6:2,3).
“But in this day, I will rejoice, knowing I will breathe again. But in this day I will rejoice, and I will love You more.”
Our hearts are made ‘better’ by our times of struggle and trial when we choose to see Him and Know Him more. He is concerned with our holiness, which is eternal, which in the end brings great happiness for today and forever.
Do you feel afflicted with great trial? (Isaiah 53:4,5) “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted…”
Why would God allow suffering?
(Isaiah 53:5) “He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”
Did Jesus know a dark and cold night?
(Is. 53:7)He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth.
…”All we like sheep have gone astray;(Is. 53:6).
God in His mercy knew that ‘before I was afflicted I went astray’
“But now I keep Your Word.” …and in this day I will rejoice, and I will love You more.”
Thank you Chris for writing a song that touches my heart and speaks so prophetically of all of my days. I love you forever.
"Make known His deeds among the peoples…"
A hymn writer of the 1870’s by the name of Samuel Trevor Francis did just that. He painted a most vivid picture of God’s love in his hymn titled ‘O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus’. But everyone has a story, and Samuel Francis’s story is told like this: Samuel was born in a northern village of London on November 19, 1834. As a child Samuel enjoyed poetry, and developed a passion for music, even singing in the church choir. However, as a teenager, he moved to London for work and struggled spiritually.
One day, it is documented in his writings, “I was on my way home from work and had to cross Hungerford Bridge to the south of the Thames. During the winter’s night of wind and rain and in the loneliness of that walk, I cried to God to have mercy on me. I stayed for a moment to look at the dark waters flowing under the bridge, and the temptation was whispered to me: ‘Make an end of all this misery.’ I drew back from the evil thought, and suddenly a message was borne into my very soul:
‘You do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?’ I at once answered, ‘I do believe,’and I put my whole trust in Him as my Savior.” (Then Sings My Soul,Robert J. Morgan, O the Deep,Deep Love of Jesus).
Francis became a London merchant, but his main passion: Kingdom work! “O the deep, deep love of Jesus, Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free! Rolling as a mighty ocean In its fullness over me! Underneath me, all around me, Is the current of Thy love, Leading onward, leading homeward, To my glorious rest above!”
Our God saves. Yes, He does. Our God is able, yes He is. Our God is present, all the time. Our God loves…
“O the deep, deep love of Jesus, Spread His praise from shore to shore! How He loveth, ever loveth, Chageth never, never-more! How He watches o’er His loved ones, Died to call them all His own,
How fro them He intercedeth, Watcheth o’er them from the throne!…”
“Talk of all His wondrous works…”(Ps. 105:2)
“Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgements of His mouth…”(Psalm 105:5)
Yes, it is a wonder, His deep, deep love for me and for you! Yes, it is a wonder, but oh… it is true:
“O the deep, deep love of Jesus, Love of every love the best! ‘Tis an ocean full of blessing, ‘Tis a haven giving rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ‘Tis a heav’n of heav’ns to me, And it lifts me up to glory, For it lifts me up to Thee!” (O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus, Samuel Trevor Francis).
“You do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?” If not, please hear the stories, please hear of His deep, deep love. Make the choice to receive Him, His love is an ‘ocean full of blessing’ just like Samuel Francis expressed.
You do know that when you receive Him, it is recorded in God’s word that the angels in heaven rejoice, rejoice, and rejoice! And it is also known that here on earth there is freedom and forgiveness and newness of life! One who is ‘poor in spirit’ discovers that ‘vast, unmeasured, and boundless, and free is that deep, deep love of Jesus, and it’s been waiting …for whoever will believe!