Already All I need--God's sufficiency

God's totally comforting me with this song, so I'd like to share it. May it bless you like it has for me. This song is about finding sufficiency in Christ. It's very pretty. The lyrics are SOOO good.

And here's what the writer says about the song:

It was "suggested that I write a song about the sufficiency of Christ by saying it as plainly as, 'He’s already all we need'.  So many times we come to Jesus in worship and ask Him for things that He already IS and has already done… What a concept to come into worship knowing who we are approaching…the absolute fullness of God, pleased to dwell in this Jesus whom we worship.  He’s already broken the chains…already seated us with Him…already invited us ‘into the glorious’."

Asking where You are, Lord
Wondering where You’ve been. 
Is like standing in a hurricane, trying to find the wind. 
And hoping for Your mercy to meet me where I am. 

Is forgetting that Your thoughts for me, outnumber the sand. 
You filled the sun with morning light. 
You bid the moon to lead the night. 
You clothe the lilies bright and beautiful. 

You’re already all I need. 
Already everything that I could hope for. 
You’re already all I need. 
You’ve already set me free. 
Already making me. More like You. 
You’re already all I need. 
Jesus, You’re already all I need. 

Walking through this life without Your freedom in my heart.
Is like holding onto shackles that You have torn apart. 
So remind me of Your promises.
And all that You have done. 
In this world I will have trouble. 
But You have overcome. 
And every gift that I receive. 
You determine just for me. 
But nothing I desire compares with You. 

In Your fullness. You’re my all in all. 
In Your healing. I’m forever made whole. 
In Your freedom. Your love overflows.
 And carries me. You carry me. 

For Your Splendor

I am feeling judged...which makes me very introspective, which is not good. My heart desperately cried out for help for someone to save me from my selfish heart. I didn't get it from my brothers and sisters like I expected but instead through Him, by His grace, so that I wouldn't rely on my bros/siss but on Him. I see connections to 1 Corinthians... So I've been praying to get out of this cycle of self-centeredness and this song is helping me a lot to focus on what God is doing rather than how imperfect I am now. I'm too concerned with being spiritually mature in people's eyes rather than God's. I should be searching for God and surrendering to Him to let Him shape me. 

So this song is for all those other people who are feeling judged and inadequate: you may be small and standing in the storm. You may be bare and cold now, but your season's coming and you will spring up in His faithfulness(one of which is to mature you to Christ's likeness, for His glory of course). Because your roots are deep in Him and you'll grow branches that bear fruit. For you are planted by the river of life and you'll grow up strong and beautiful for His splendor! You will blossom into what He hopes you to be. Rejoice in the Lord always; Rejoice! Do not be anxious about anything. For you can do all things through Him who strengthens you. He is able to save you from yourself. He is that powerful. Please trust Him...No more thinking how useless you are. Rest in His power and hope in your future, the new fate bought with His shed blood, evidenced by His resurrection, and sealed with the Helper. Humble yourself, embrace your badness because this needs to happen before His grace will be sufficient, and before you will to be able to praise Him with all your heart out of gratitude and awe of His love/grace/power/faithfulness/gentleness. Keep seeking God (who He is and His will for whatever He's placing in your heart) for He rewards those who seek Him. God promises this and our faithful God is kind of good at keeping promises ;) 

I am so concerned with what I look like from the outside
And will I blossom in to what you hope I’ll be.
Yet you are so patient just to help me see that blooms come from the deepest seed that you planted in me.

Some times it’s hard to grow when ever body is watching.
To have your heart pruned by the One who knows best
Although I am bare and cold I know my season’s coming
And I will spring up in….in this faithfulness.

CHORUS:
With my roots deep in you
I will grow the branch that bares the fruit
And though I’m small I still will be standing in the storm.
Cause I am planted by the river
By your streams of living water
And I will grow up strong and beautiful all for your splendor Lord.

So with my arms stretched out I am swaying to your heartbeat.
I am growing with the sound of your voice calling
You are bringing out the beauty that you had put in me
For your joy and for your glory falling.

Pieces By Meredith Andrews

It's a complex puzzle you call your lifeIt's an uphill climb, it's a constant fightAnd it wears you downFeeling like you're alone, like you don't belongAnd you won't be loved if you don't measure upAnd you wear your scarsLike they're who you are
Give Him your wounds, your bruised and broken piecesAll your questions, all your secretsYou don't have to hide who you areYou belong to someone greaterThan all your past mistakes and failuresRested who He isHe knows how to make your pieces fit
He's the light on the road when you're lost in the darkAnd He won't run away if you show your heartWants you to believe itYou can taste that freedom
You are completely knownYou are completely lovedThis is where you belongistakes and failuresRest in who He is
Lately, I've been just been thinking about how much I suck and I realize how self-absorbed I am whenever I dwell in my mistakes, but I just couldn't help it. But today at church, the pastor was talking about the greatness of His power and how able He is to save us from our sins. No sin is too sinful for Him to redeem because He is THAT powerful. Along with talking about the His power, the pastor also talked about finding security in our identities in Christ. We're going through the book of Ephesians, and the pastor always mentions in every service how Paul mentions a lot of times in that book "in Him." And it's just this "not about God's creation, but God the creator" theme that keeps coming up in Paul's messages and in my life. So yeah, I may be messed up and broken into pieces, but He can make something beautiful out of me (made of broken pieces). He can fit them together and create a different and better me because He's that smart, and that powerful. Because He is so able, I can rest in Him. I don't have to worry about putting myself back together, because I can't, but He can and He will. 
Also, this album is reallllly good, ten times better than Believer. Her messages are always God or cross-centered. Here are some of her other songs and the lyrics...plus she sings well! :P 

Run For Your Life

"Run For Your Life" ~The Fray

I couldn't decide which Fray song to share cuz I've been putting on a couple of them on repeat hahaa, but I think this one wins out :]. I wouldn't consider this a praise song, but definitely a really encouraging song to chew on. It's just my interpretation, and it could be "right" or not, in an interpretive sense or spiritual sense too, if you any thoughts about it, comment :D!

17 years by her side
broke the same bread, wore the same clothes and you said,
We're sisters with nothing between
If one of us fall, the other will soon be following...

Both of you fell the same day,
you don't know why,  but one of you never woke up
and you lay your body down on the floor
desperate to hear her footsteps again
..but this house is on fire, and we need to go..

Woah, You don't have to go it alone, go it alone

Run for your life, my love
Run and you don't give up
with all that you are, all that you want
I will be close behind
Run for your life

She had a fire inside, and that terrified you
you swore you'd never lose your control
Baby, let yourself go, cuz part of you hides
and I know the hunger inside of you's strong
You can only hold back the river so long..

 Woah, You don't have to go it alone, go it alone

Run for your life, my love
Run and you don't give up
with all that you are, all that you want

Run for your life right now
and if you don't know how
I'll go back with you, take all that's true,
leave all that's burned behind
Run for your life

Woah, You don't have to go it alone...

I feel like there's so much I can say about this song. What I really enjoy about songs by the Fray is that their songs are like poems or abstract paintings, which at first glance can be simply pretty yet confusing, but when you sit and digest for a while, can bring about some really awesome reflections.

The story being painted here as it starts in the first verse is one of intense loss.. an incomparably close relationship ending prematurely.. The one sister who is left, perhaps wondering why this all happened and simply longing for a return to what was, but if she stays in her sorrow, she will surely be lost as well. (But this house is on fire, and we need to go..) It's so hard to let go of what's past. Perhaps this can represent our shame, guilt or pain--the relationships lost, the "what ifs," etc.

I interpret this song to say this: from all the pain and guilt that we experience, for the sake our lives, we gotta get out of that burning house. (Run for your life...) If we stayed in our guilt and pain, we will get consumed and burned up along with it. And the only chance at actual living is to leave it behind.

(You don't have to go it alone...I will be close behind...
And if you don't know how, I'll go back with you, take all that's true, leave all that's burned behind.)

But it's definitely scary to leave it all behind... but you are not alone. There are others who are running for their lives too; everyone experiences sorrow and shame that they need to leave behind. I can imagine this song being sung by a friend for me, reminding me that they'll be with me every step of the way. I think that's why I really like this song; I think it's meant to be an encouragement to us who are guilt- or pain-ridden, and it's meant for us to sing to our family and friends as well, for us to be there for each other when we really don't know how to get out of our burning homes.

[btw, I wanna congratulate you for reading this far, I am very long winded xD]

Perhaps this song is comparable to the verse in Hebrews 12:1-3
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

That's something this song may be missing, but I would like to add: our brokenness is what causes us run to Jesus. And where are we running to anyways? How would we save our lives? Only by "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith". I'm realizing that God doesn't necessarily want us to run from our brokenness, but to allow that brokenness to move us--make us RUN--to Him.

But I DO want to sing this kind of song for my brothers and sisters; that I'd be willing to run along with them, to go back to all the burned, and to stick close. Needless to say, I really like this song :].

Grace is Sufficient

 "Grace is Sufficient" ~Shane and Shane

Phew, we're getting a lot of Shanes on this blog lately, but its cuz God's allowed them to make some really encouraging songs! =]

It was right before one of my midterms, and I was really stressing out; I hadn't stressed out like this for a while about school. I tried studying the entire day before, and nothing was inputting. The couple of hours before the test, for the life of me, I couldn't study at all. No focus, just stressed, thinking about how I didn't want to take that midterm. I just couldn't wait for everything to be over. In my stress, I decided to listen to this song.
 
What are you gonna say to God 
When all you do is pray to God 
To take the thorn away, 
And all you hear Him say is... 

"My grace...My grace is sufficient."

...wow...

I get so anxious sometimes. About my future, about how other people see me, about whether I'm doing a terrible or great job in leadership... And in my cries out to God, if I can take my eyes off my pain for one brief moment, He has reminded me: "My grace is sufficient. Sufficient for your stress, sufficient for your shortcomings, even in how you want to honor me; my grace is sufficient." I want to remember that His grace is enough in every situation. In the second verse, the speaker of the song is about to share the gospel, and even in those moments, its His grace for anything to happen. Let me sing it when I wake up, when I go to sleep, when I'm stressed, when I'm happy: "God, Your grace is sufficient!"

2 Corinthians 12:8-10
⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

If you catch that line at the end, here's also the end of my midterm story. I took the test, and the world continued to turn. It didn't stop. Life continued, and in fact we got our test back, and the score was much higher than I had expected. Phewww... good job Tim! Continue life. Right?

What are you gonna say to God
When everything you prayed to God came your way
but you forgot to thank Him..
And all you hear Him say is: 

"My grace."

Sustaining me every single day, even when I don't realize it or when I'm so forgetful of Him. Man, thank God for everything He does, but most of all, praise You God for Your grace =).







 

Without You

Tim has good taste in music :) Shane and Shane are quite wonderful. I was looking at Your Love. God worked so much in me this weekend! He's just humbled me like a billion times....but it's so gooood! Ahhh!! Boys. -_- Touchy topic.... but the time has come. I'm weary about this topic, especially because I thought any crush is like no-no. It's succumbing to temptations of the flesh. I was prideful for thinking I'd never crush hard and give so much of my heart to the certain brother... I always thought that when the time came that I'd be attracted to a brother, I'd crush right. But God totally humbled me and said, Annie, you don't know what you're doing, but I do, so trust me. Okay, this all seems a bit vague, let me clarify :). I've been attracted to a brother for a while...at first, it was just a mild crush. It was just like, this brother would make a great husband, then I thought about it more and more. And it started to get out of hand! So embarrassing..... Especially because I wanted to deny the attraction. The more I did that, the more attracted to him I got -__- And then he filled my head. I was thinking about him more than God. Bad Annie! I know! I was, sigh, something I thought I'd never do, something I thought I was mature enough to not do, I was giving more and more of my heart to him. I didn't know what to do with these feelings! Were they wrong or not? Am I meant to like this brother? I prayed for understanding of these feelings. I told a sister about it and she honestly and boldly pointed out to me that me wanting to understand these feelings is me wanting to take control of these feelings. And obviously I wasn't handling my feelings so well. I am so embarrassed to admit this, but I even got jealous. -_______- So, solution: trust God = surrendering to Him = place my feelings into God's hands. After talking to this sister, I went back home and I found this song, and I kept praying it.


I can walk through the storm
I can walk by father when my sight is gone
just as long as you are here with me


Here I am calling out father
Can you hear me?
I don't want to go without you
Here I am, Can you talk a little louder,
I want to hear you
I don't want to move without you


This song, along with Your Love, helped me to depend on God, give my heart to Him. And then, I stopped trying to deny the feelings, trying to understand them, and control them. I let myself have the feelings. I got less scared, which let me love that brother even if the love would not be returned, and even if it might be a mistake because God would be by me. And I just focused on loving God completely (like Jesus tells us to in the Sermon on the Mount), and loving that brother with His love as a result of loving God.

And then, I learned: he's dating! So saddd. It hurts! But, the weird thing is, I'm not crushed. God totally knows what he was doing. I'm glad that that sister told me that she was dating him, AFTER a couple of days, because if that did not happen, I wouldn't have filled more of my heart with God, and I wouldn't have been able to handle the fact. Me not crumbling proves to me: God loves me because God protected me by making Him my first and greatest love. That's what I get for trusting God :) This is pretty cool. I guess this is what it means to rejoice in the Lord. For He is near, and we don't need to be anxious of anything. But if in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, we present our requests to God, then the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Jesus Christ. (Phil 4:4-7) :) :) :) He's doing that now... He's so good to me. He's so good to me.

Conclusion: God should just create one gender to simplify things for us! but then we'd never love Him more without going through these things. Okay, I guess it's okay for God to create two genders....
I'm glad that I had this crush on him, because it's drawing me closer to God. God knows what He's doing... LOL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eun34_2EmaQ

Hostage of Peace

This blog needs some lovin' =]. "Hostage of Peace" ~Tenth Avenue North I just like this song so much, I have to share it :]. I've only recently gotten into this song, but its a really great song. I love this metaphor of a war, and that we're held hostage. Arrested, held against our will. I want to be captivated by His grace. If we're fighting, let it be for Your kingdom If we're violent, let it be against ourselves Come arrest us with Your affection Give us freedom, make our need our only declaration! I really like that last line of the bridge. A lot of times, I don't want to declare my need.. I declare when I'm strong. Maybe I'll boast in my weakness even sometimes, but I'm still "strong" in a sense where I'm OK with my weakness.. but to boast in your need? I wonder what that's gonna look like.. Hopefully we'll see =]. God, I need you. That is all, and I will be satisfied in that. Take me hostage.