challenges of life – Song Dive

Give Thanks

The next entry for my Blog is Give Thanks, which was written by Henry Smith and was first published in 1978. A link to Janella Salvador singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

Give Thanks

Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son

Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son

And now let the weak say, “I am strong”
Let the poor say, “I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us”

And now let the weak say, “I am strong”
Let the poor say, “I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us”

Give thanks with a grateful heart (with a grateful heart)
Give thanks to the Holy One (to the Holy One)
Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son

Give thanks with a grateful heart (with a grateful heart)
Give thanks to the Holy One (to the Holy One)
Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son

And now let the weak say, “I am strong”
Let the poor say, “I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us”

And now let the weak say, “I am strong”
Let the poor say, “I am rich (I am rich)
Because of what the Lord has done for us”
Give thanks

Many times, over the course of my life, I find myself asking God for answers and solutions to my needs. I may need help with some issues at home, I may need help with my job, I may be having some family issues, and sometimes it seems as if I am living in quicksand and that every step takes me deeper in the pit. Do you sometimes have these days or periods of time in your life? God is there to hear our requests and to bring us hope and peace. He is there to comfort us as we traverse the challenging path of life. Isn’t it great to have someone such as God to talk to, someone who will listen to us twenty-four hours a day seven days a week?

Think about all of those times God has been there for you; and now think about all of the times you thanked him for what he has done. Did you find out that you do a lot more requesting than you do thanking and praising? A key question for you is, are you having a one-way conversation with God? In other words, are you thanking God every day for the things he has done for you? I believe that most of us spend more time asking God than we do thanking him. This song is reminding us to give thanks everyday for the things God has done or is doing in our lives. We should always be grateful for everything he has done and we should thank him from our heart, not just from our lips. He alone is holy and he alone gave up his only son, Jesus, so that each and every one of us could have eternal life if we accept the sacrifice God made for us.

I have watched young children as they opened presents and witnessed the joy that the present brings. Our hearts should be filled with that same joy and gratefulness as we talk to God every day. It will probably take some time to get in a routine, but try to communicate with God everyday and not only tell him your needs, but thank him for everything you have in your life. In the book 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18, we find the following guidance, “Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

As you strengthen your relationship and communication with God, you become a much stronger person. With his strength, you are able to overcome anything this life throws your way. We may not have a lot of money, but God will provide all that we need if we follow his guidance and put our trust in him. What can be greater than eternal life with our heavenly father and savior? We will also spend eternity with our friends and family who accepted Christ, what a glorious reunion that will be! You learn that God is always there reaching out his hand to guide you, to pick you up when you fall, and to carry you when you believe you can’t take another step. God promises that he will never abandon us, this scripture is found in the book of Deuteronomy 31:6, “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”

As we begin to realize each day how much God has done for us, we become more grateful of his love. We become stronger as we begin to understand that we never stand alone as we fight through life. We become richer because we now understand we have been given the greatest reward ever, eternal life.

Have you thanked God today for all he has done for you?

Click to See Janella Salvador Perform Give Thanks

Hymn of Heaven

The next entry for my Blog is Hymn of Heaven, which was written Brian Johnson, Phil Wickham, Bill Johnson, and Chris Davenport. It was first released June 25, 2021. A link to Phil Wickham singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

Hymn of Heaven

How I long to breathe the air of Heaven

Where pain is gone and mercy fills the streets
To look upon the One who bled to save me
And walk with Him for all eternity

There will be a day when all will bow before Him
There will be a day when death will be no more
Standing face to face with He who died and rose again
Holy, holy is the Lord

And every prayer we prayed in desperation
The songs of faith we sang through doubt and fear
In the end, we’ll see that it was worth it
When He returns to wipe away our tears

Oh, there will be a day when all will bow before Him
There will be a day when death will be no more
Standing face to face with He who died and rose again
Holy, holy is the Lord

And on that day, we join the resurrection
And stand beside the heroes of the faith
With one voice, a thousand generations
Sing, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain”

And on that day, we join the resurrection
And stand beside the heroes of the faith
With one voice, a thousand generations
Sing, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain”
“Forever He shall reign”

So let it be today we shout the hymn of Heaven
With angels and the saints, we raise a mighty roar
Glory to our God who gave us life beyond the grave
Holy, holy is the Lord

Holy, holy is the Lord
Holy, holy is the Lord

Many times, I have heard people say, that person is such a breath of fresh air; meaning the person brings light into a challenging situation. The writer of this song starts by saying they long for the breath of fresh air that only heaven can bring. No matter how good or bad things are for us today, heaven will far surpass all of our hopes and dreams. It is a place where there is no pain or sorrow and everywhere we look is perfection. We get to spend time with Jesus, who is the one who died for us so we could spend forever with him. That day will come when we will bow down to him in reverence as well as thankfulness for what he did for us. Some of the greatest things in heaven, other than time with our savior, will be that there will be no more death, no more sadness, no more suffering, no more tears of sadness, and we will be reunited with friends and family who had accepted Christ and passed on before us. Every time we experience this joy, we will be thanking Jesus for dying for us and reuniting us with our loved ones.

It is challenging to talk about anything after thinking about the above, it all will be so so wonderful. The problem is that we let the challenges of our life take over our daily thoughts again and again. It all seems to be an act of desperation. Part of the problem is that we do no pray enough, which leads us to forget about God and his role in our lives. We are told in 1^st Thessalonians 5:16-17, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”. We need to thank God for everything he has done for us in our lives. We should also pray for the needs of our families, our friends, our enemies, our country, and the entire world. All of these are God’s creations, he put all of us here. We sometimes give up hope after praying for so long, it is almost as if our desperate pleas are not being heard. We maybe go to church and sing the songs of glory, and hear the strong message of God’s promises. I love to listen to songs about Jesus and faith on the radio and I sing my heart out. After I leave the church building and after I get out of my car, I seem to lose some of that joy I was just experiencing; I let life take away my joy. As the song says, it will all be worth our pain, our suffering, and our frustration with life. The day will come when Jesus, the one who died for us, will wipe away all of our tears and fill our hearts with joy as we begin life in our new home. We are told this in the book of Revelation 21:4, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” This promise is for those who have accepted Jesus as their personal savior.

The day that Jesus comes in the clouds, the people who have accepted him will rise into heaven to join all others who accepted him and died before us. We will be part of the resurrection of millions of others. We will all of a sudden be side by side with some of the greatest people of faith who ever lived. Many of these will be people we have read about in our bibles, others will be some of the great leaders of faith that came after the time of Jesus, and most will be people who are regular everyday people who accepted Christ as their personal savior. We will be standing with people who might have lived since mankind was first created, all of the God’s faithful will be together for the first time. This entire gathering of the saved, which will be larger than we could ever imagine, will start singing Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Jesus, the sacrificial lamb, finally gets to hear all of his family sing praises to him and the father.

Wow, I am not sure I can even imagine the billions of voices from people of all eras of time and representing the entire earth singing at one time. The angels will be also be joining in as the music reaches a crescendo that we ever thought possible. What better way to honor our savior, who is the definition of holiness. Holy, holy is the Lord indeed.

Click to See Phil Wickham Perform Hymn of Heaven

Count Your Blessings

The next entry for my Blog is Count Your Blessings which was written by Johnson Oatman in 1897 with the music written by Edwin O. Excell. It is a staple song in most Christian hymnals. A link to the song being performed is at the bottom of the Blog.

Count Your Blessings

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Refrain:
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God has done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings—*money cannot buy [*wealth can never buy]
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

As I write this entry in March, 2020; the world is struggling with the COVID-19 virus. We are seeing countries shut their borders, cities confine people to their homes, schools closing, travel being suspended, the stock markets in shambles, and most of us are probably wondering how this will all turn out. Some of our questions are: will I get the virus, when will it all end, how will I ultimately be impacted physically, emotionally, and financially. As I thought about a song that best seems to show an understanding of a life/world filled with troubles and what it looks like on the other side; this song, Count Your Blessings, came to mind. Even though the song was written in 1897, it is still relevant today and the troubles we are facing.

As we listen to the news and surf the internet, we only hear about what could happen as we face this global pandemic. We are definitely in a very tempestuous time filled with fear as well as selfishness. We are frustrated and discouraged as our grocery stores all have empty shelves, as we are all looking for the same life necessities. We see people coming out of the stores with more supplies than they could ever utilize, while we are hoping to get enough to survive for the next few days or a couple of weeks. So, we become extremely frustrated as we come up empty in our search and see others hoarding the things we need. As we become more frustrated, irritated, and discouraged; we start focusing on the what-ifs and fall into the glass is half-empty mindset. What we really need to focus on is how blessed we are and what will ultimately happen to us as believers. As we start to become swallowed up by the worries of life, we need to stop the worrying and start thanking God for what we do have, how he has blessed us, and what eternity looks like. Keep in mind that our life on earth is just a blip in the eternal life Jesus has given to us. Many of us share some of the same blessings, and each of us will have unique blessings. As you count your blessings, think about things such as jobs, housing, food, significant others, children, friends, possessions, health, eternal life, and these are just high-level categories for you to think about as you focus on your blessings. As the song says, I truly think you will be very surprised at what God has done!

Outside of the current time of fear from the pandemic, do you just feel worn down and beaten by the world on a daily basis? I know that each of us face our own challenges every single day in some aspect of our life. These trials ultimately become a burdensome worry that saps our strength, drags us down, and negatively impacts all of those around us. The song refers to these as our cross, the one we end up carrying every day. Jesus also carried a cross, the only difference is that the cross he carried was for each of us. Our cross is basically our challenges in life, whereas the cross of Jesus represented all of our burdens and our sins for every day of our life. He carried that cross long ago so that we could forever give our burdens to him. I realize it is easy to say to give our burdens to Jesus, but isn’t that what he told us to do and isn’t that why he died for each of us who accept him as our Lord and Savior? Consider all that he has done for us and has promised us and it will make the burdens much lighter. In Matthew 11:28 we find God’s promise, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” I do understand this is easier said than done, but we will make a lot more progress by trying than we will by worrying and trying to bear the burdens alone.

As you have thought about your challenges as well as the peace that God offers us, know that God can handle whatever confronts us, whether it is a small challenge or a completely overwhelming challenge. He ultimately overcomes our challenges by giving us the strength, hope, wisdom, and support we need; and many times, he turns those challenges into blessings. In Psalm 103:1-5, we find where David is helping us all to realize who God is and that he is always there to pick us up: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” We serve a mighty God who meets our every need and gives us more blessings than we can ever count; in fact, it would be difficult to count all of the blessings he gives us in a single day. See if you can write down every blessing, large or small, that you have received in the past 24 hours.

In closing this entry for the week, I want to ask you a question. With everything going in the world today, including the pandemic, are you living a life of fear or a life knowing that God is control?

Click to Hear Count Your Blessings

Lord, I Need You

The next entry for my Blog is Lord, I Need You, which was written by Christy Nockels, Daniel Carson, Jesse Reeves, Kristian Stanfill, and Matt Maher. It was first released in 2013. A link to the Matt Maher performing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

Lord, I Need You

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
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
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

In this song, we hear the story of someone who realizes they cannot handle life alone. I believe these are people who have heard the word, know that Jesus is always waiting for them to take his hand, but have waited as long as they could before coming to the saving grace of Jesus. The son of God is always with us and waiting patiently for us, and in this case, we have someone who has finally bowed down to Jesus and confessed from the heart that without him, they will only have a life of hopelessness and failure. Notice that I said from the heart and not from the mind since the heart is who we really are. As they bow their heads in complete surrender and put their lives in the hands of Jesus, they finally find the rest and peace they have been seeking for all of their life. For too long they have tried to make their way or find their way; but have now realized that Christ is the only one who can lead them, guide them, and walk beside them every minute of every day.

As the song says, we all need Jesus every hour of our lives. There is never a time when we do not need the guidance that only he can bring. He alone can make us perfect in the eyes of God and fill us with his righteousness. He has removed all sin from us via his death and resurrection and God now views us as his sinless children. Through him, we can stand against Satan and the evils and temptations of our world. As we are told in Psalm 23:4, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” All of our lives, we constantly give into the pressures of temptations that come from family, friends, our jobs, society, media, and the world in general. But the good news is that the love of Christ is stronger and deeper than anything the world can throw at us. In the deepest darkest pit that we may fall into, the light of Christ’s love and power will still shine through the darkness. Without the grace and mercy of Christ, we would never be free; with his mercy and grace, we will never be owned by the world again. It is true that we will continue to sin and make mistakes, but we will not be a slave to sin once we have become a child of God.

The song challenges us to lift up our voice, our song, to our Lord and Savior whenever we face temptation. We need to do this as soon as we recognize the temptation and call on Jesus to give us the strength and wisdom to stand strong. Our bodies may not fare well in the battles we face, but no one can defeat our spirit when we are walking with Jesus. Keep in mind that our physical life is only temporary, but our spiritual home is forever. Jesus is the only way to eternal life and will be there for us to lean on whenever we call upon his name. He alone is our permanent hope and a friend who will never let us down. Psalm 104:33 tells us “I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.” Notice that this verse does not delineate between the good and bad times in our life, it just says to always sing as long as you live.

Is Jesus your first option, or your last; if your last, why? The sooner you lay your trials and challenges at the feet of Jesus, the sooner you can find that inner peace that only Jesus can bring. The inner peace lets you know that no matter how big the battles are, you will never be fighting alone. Just as Jesus resurrected Lazarus from the dead, as told in John 11, he can resurrect your spiritual life and give you the strength to take on the world.

Click to Hear Matt Maher Sing Lord, I Need You

You’ll Never Walk Alone

The next entry for my Blog is You’ll Never Walk Alone which was written by Oscar Hammerstein II and composed by Richard Rodgers for the musical Carousel, which was initially released in 1945. A link to David Phelps performing the song is at the bottom of the Blog. This song has a special meaning to me. I had a Sunday School teacher at a church in Birmingham, AL who died in a plane crash and left a wife and three young children behind. I was in a youth choir at the time and we sang this song at the church after his passing. I selected the performance of the song by David Phelps, because I felt it needed the emotion he provides in his version.

You’ll Never Walk Alone

When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark
At the end of a storm
There’s a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone

We all face difficult times in our lives. I had been fortunate in that, up until a few years ago, I had not faced some of the challenges so many people face. My storms of life started in 2016 when I lost my dad and this was just the beginning. In 2017 I lost my sister, 2018 I lost my mom, and in 2019 I came within a few hours of death as a result of contracting an almost fatal illness after a missions trip to India. My wife had severe back problems in 2019 and my daughter had an eye stroke in each eye. Most of you have probably had experiences similar to the above or even worse. God never promised us a life filled with roses and rainbows, but he did promise us two very important things we should never forget. The first is the promise of eternal life upon acceptance of his son, and the second is that he will never leave us.

As we stumble through these storms of life, we see only the darkness and we doubt whether or not we can even take another step; wondering where that next step will take us. We try to push forward and we do so with our heads down and feel we have completely lost our way. I believe that people who take their own lives reach this point, because they believe they have no hope; they can’t fight the pain or loneliness any longer. For those of us who have accepted Christ and believe his promises, we should never reach this point; we must try to remember that we are never alone. We should hold our head up and know that God will take us through this latest challenge. Even though it seems as if we are encountering the darkest of days, God is there to bring his light that can pierce any darkness. I can’t help but remember the lines from the Footprints in the Sand poem, which is scripture based, when the Lord said “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you, never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

As we take God’s hand, he will lead us through the storm and we will see the bright and shining sun that lights our sky and hear the beautiful songs of the birds that he created. He does this to not only fulfill his promise, but to show us that every storm will pass and the sun will eventually overcome the darkness. As we face the howling winds and the pouring rain that bring us to a point of desperation, we must remember to not give up on our hopes and dreams of tomorrow as well as what eternity has in store for us. God is faithful and he will fulfill all of his promises. If we face the gloom ahead with hope, taking God’s hand, and hold our heads up; we will never walk alone. Romans 8:38-39 tells us we will never be alone, For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Next time you feel alone in the darkness, take God’s hand which is always reaching out to you.

Click to See David Phelps Perform You’ll Never Walk Alone