No Matter What You’ve Done

This next song was written by Ryan Stevenson, Bryan Fowler, and Jonathan Smith.  It was first released in 2018.  A link to Ryan Stevenson performing the song is at the bottom of this Blog entry.  Bart Millard of Mercy Me is on background vocals.

No Matter What

 A lot of us grew up believing
At any moment we could lose it all
And at the drop of a hat
God might turn His back and move on
A lot of us feel like we blew it
Thinking that we’re just too far gone
But I want you to know
There’s still a hope for you now

No matter what you’ve done
You can’t erase His love
Nothing can change it
You’re not separated
No matter what

 There’s never been a better time to get honest
There’s never been a better time to get clean
So come as you are
Run to the cross and be free
Oh, be free

No matter what you’ve done
You can’t erase His love
Nothing can change it
You’re not separated
No matter where you run
He’s always holding on
You’re still a daughter, you’re still a son
No matter what

 I don’t know what you’ve been taught
Don’t know what you’ve been told
All I know is my God
Will never let go of you, no
And I don’t know what you’ve seen
Don’t know what you’ve been through
All I know is my God
Will never let go of you
He’ll never let go!
He’ll never, never, never let you go

No matter what you’ve done
You can’t erase His love
Nothing can change it
You’re not separated
No matter where you run
He’s always holding on
You’re still a daughter, you’re still a son
No matter what

You’re still a daughter, you’re still a son!
No matter what

 

As children and perhaps in our adult years, many of us may believe or have believed that if we were not good enough, we would not go to heaven.  We have always heard that all of the bad people go to hell and good people go to heaven.  This could create a lot of anxiety for us and I know that I did something bad every day of my life.  Some wonder if the bad things they did could keep them from heaven.  One could also wonder if there are maybe degrees of bad and that some bad acts might still allow us to barely make it through the pearly gates and others would find out they would not make it in at all.  Just how much tolerance does God have for us and at what point have we missed the opportunity to spend eternity with him.   How many excuses does he allow from us?  There are many people who give up on God and many do so because they believe he has given up on them.  The good news is there is still hope for everyone.

John 3:16 tells us: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  This verse is essentially telling us that God was willing to send his only son to die for us so we could still come to heaven.  God knows we are not perfect and that each of us has done bad things in our lives, all he asks of us is that we accept Jesus as our Lord and savior and we are guaranteed to spend eternity with him.  In addition to this verse, we are told in Ephesians 2:8, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.  With these two promises, we are told it is never too late to turn to Jesus and it doesn’t matter what we have done.  Isn’t this an awesome opportunity for each of us?  We have the promise of eternal life with Jesus if we only accept and believe in him as our savior.  Once we do this, all of our sins are forgiven and erased forever; God will never turn his back on us.

It is always difficult to admit the mistakes we have made; we are worried about what others will think about us.  If God is forgiving us for everything we have done, don’t you think it would be a great feeling of relief to just confess all of the bad things we have done in our lives to him?  He already knows everything we have done, but by confessing; we become free of the burden of carrying those mistakes.   The mistakes, or sins, died on the cross with Jesus; so, turn now to God and completely open your hearts to him.  Feel the love and the freedom that only he has the power to give.  Think about how great it would feel to be truly free, and the fact that you will never be separated from God again.  The battles ahead and the regrets of the past will still be there, but now you can know you are not alone and that your future home is there waiting for you.  We become his sons and his daughters for eternity.  Wow!

We have all had different experiences in our lives and we have been taught many different things through our interactions with others.  We come from different backgrounds and have walked different paths, but the one thing we have in common is that we have a God who loves us, is committed to us, and will never ever let us go once we have given ourselves to him.  His love for us will never change even though we will continue to change every day of our lives.  He will be with us on every path we take for the remainder of our days.    We will always be his sons and daughters.

No matter where you stand in your relationship with God, it is never to late to turn to him and accept his unfailing love and his forgiveness.

Click to Hear Ryan Stevenson Sing No Matter What You’ve Done

I Can Only Imagine

The next song for my Blog was written by Bart Millard and first released in 1999. A link to MercyMe performing the song is at the bottom of this Blog entry.

I Can Only Imagine

I can only imagine what it will be like
When I walk, by your side
I can only imagine what my eyes will see
When you face is before me
I can only imagine
I can only imagine
Surrounded by You glory
What will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus
Or in awe of You be still
Will I stand in your presence
Or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah
Will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine
I can only imagine
I can only imagine when that day comes
When I find myself standing in the Son
I can only imagine when all I would do is forever
Forever worship You
I can only imagine
I can only imagine
Surrounded by Your glory
What will my heart feel
Will I dance for You, Jesus
Or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in your presence
Or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah
Will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine
I can only imagine hey ya ah
Surrounded by Your glory
What will my heart feel
Will I dance for You, Jesus
Or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in Your presence
Or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah
Will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine
I can only imagine hey ya ah
I can only imagine yeah yeah
I can only imagine
I can only imagine ey ey ey
I can only imagine
I can only imagine when all I will do
Is forever, forever worship You
I can only imagine

Knowing what you know today about Jesus, can you imagine what it would be like to be one of the disciples? They had the opportunity to spend almost every day for three years with him. At that point in time, perhaps they didn’t fully understand everything that we understand today. I don’t believe they started getting the true feeling of who Jesus was until he not only rose from the dead, but re-appeared to all of them. They also were able to see him ascending into heaven forty days after he rose from the grave. They were so blessed to spend that time with him and to see him as a man who lived with them, see him as the son of God, and see him rise into heaven to await our final coming home.

We sometimes struggle with our faith and perhaps envy the disciples who were with Jesus. Our challenge is that even though we can’t physically see Jesus, we must trust in his promise of eternity with him. It is during these questioning times that we must focus on what Hebrews 11:1 tells us:
Now faith is the assurance that what we hope for will come about and the certainty that what we cannot see exists.

We have to trust in his word and know that we are no different from the people who were with Jesus. Yes, they walked with Jesus, but they also saw him leave. From that point forward, they, like us, had to have strong faith since that is what we have to hang onto every single day as the world via Satan and his dominions try to take it away from us.

Now I want to take a look at this song with the above narrative in mind. We have accepted Christ as our Lord and savior and have faith in his words and his promises. The time to enter our eternal home is now upon us, we can’t wait to meet him face to face. What will it be like? Perhaps Jesus comes up beside us as we enter our heavenly home and then walks along the path with us, maybe there is a brief silence as reality sinks in. We are probably a little scared as we turn to face him for the first time and look into his eyes. In those eyes, we will only see love and compassion as we have never known; coming from someone who only sees us as one of God’s perfect creations. For the first time, we realize what unfailing love really means. Indeed, we can only imagine what that will be like.

We will be surrounded by his glory, which I perceive to be a visual view of love that radiates from the inside. This love overcomes everything in its path and it will almost be as if we are surrounded by brightness and radiance we have never known, since we have always lived in a dark world of sin. It will also be the first time we have been surrounded by the perfection that only Christ can bring. How will we react? As humans, we probably expect our hearts to be racing, we may feel as if we are having trouble breathing, and our bodies just seem locked in place. As this feeling passes, maybe our dancing will start; perhaps we will dance our hearts out as David did. We are told in II Samuel 6:14

         And David danced before the Lord with all his might.

Notice it doesn’t say that David did a little swaying to the music or a gentle waltz, he danced as hard as he could. Maybe we will be like David or maybe we will be in such awe being in the presence of our savior that we simply fall to our knees or perhaps fall completely prostrate in worship. We have lived for this moment all of our lives, to be at the feet of Jesus. We are told many places in the scripture to sing praises to the Lord, sing out his holy name, and lift up our voices to him. Isaiah 12:1-6 is a good example of how we should praise our Lord.

         “Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name;
         make known among the nations what he has done,
         and proclaim that his name is exalted.
         5 Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things;
         let this be known to all the world.
         6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
         for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”
         We know that is what we are supposed to do, but will we be able to even                speak in his presence; much less sing?

I am not sure how we can prepare for the day we first come face to face with Jesus, I believe each of us will respond differently based on the unique individual we are and that God created. As we stand there in the midst of heaven surrounded by love, our hearts will be filled with love, thankfulness, and praise we have never known in our human bodies. We will have the desire to worship our Lord at all times. We won’t have any trouble singing his praises, singing to him, joining in with the angels; our lives will begin anew. How great will it be to just be able to talk to Jesus face to face?

What a day that will be, when we meet our savior face to face, and join those loved ones who made it there before us. We remember the day they left us and the tears that we shed and now the tears of sadness are replaced with tears of joy. I can share all of my thoughts on this song and suggest how we may react as we arrive at our eternal home, but the reality is, I can only imagine.

Click Here to See MercyMe Perform I Can Only Imagine