Tag: despair

Goodness of God

The next entry for my Blog is Goodness of God, which was written by Ben Fielding, Brian Johnson, Edward Martin Cash, Jason Ingram, and Jenn Johnson.  It was first released January 4, 2019.  A link to CeCe Winans singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

I love You, Lord
For Your mercy never fails me
All my days, I’ve been held in Your hands
From the moment that I wake up
Until I lay my head
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God

‘Cause all my life You have been faithful
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God

I love Your voice
You have led me through the fire
In darkest night You are close like no other
I’ve known You as a Father
I’ve known You as a Friend
And I have lived in the goodness of God, yeah

‘Cause all my life You have been faithful, oh yes You have
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God

Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me
Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me

With my life laid down, I surrendered now
I give You everything, oh Lord
Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me
Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me (oh yeah, oh yeah)
Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me
With my life laid down, I surrendered now
I give You everything
Your goodness is running after, it keeps running after meAnd all my life You have been faithful
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I’m gonna sing of the goodness of God
I’m gonna sing

All my life You have been faithful
(All of my life You’ve been faithful)
All my life You have been so, so good
(So good with every breath)
every breath that I am able
(Every breath I’m able)
I will sing (I’m gonna sing)
Of the goodness (of the goodness of God, yes I am)
I’m gonna sing of the goodness of God
Oh, I’m gonna sing of the goodness of God

I would like for you to stop for a minute and think about the very first line in this song, “I love you Lord.”  Have you really taken time to tell God how much you love him and thank him for all he has done for you, your family, and your friends?  I strongly believe most of us spend a lot more time asking things of God as opposed to thanking him for every blessing of every day.  I would like for you to take some time right now to think about why you love someone and make sure that God gets that same amount love if not more.

Love is such a powerful word, but we don’t always stop to think about what it means.  This song does a great job telling us what God is doing every day in our lives and how he runs after us because he loves us and never gives up on us.  Wherever we go, he is there with us.  Whenever we try to run from him, he runs beside us.  Whenever we try to hide, he finds us.  Whenever we feel like we cannot fight any longer and fall to our knees in despair, he is there to join us in the battles of life.  When we are lonely and feel unloved, his arms are wrapped around us.  As you think about these things and remember how he kept you safe, how can you not love God?  God’s mercy, his unending forgiveness, is there to bring us peace; regardless of the mistakes we have made in our lives or the times we have ignored him.

Not only is God with us at all times, his hand is always extended to us so we never have to walk alone, no matter the challenges we are facing.  It doesn’t matter where we are, where we have been, or where we are going; his love surrounds us.   Think about all of the challenges in life you have faced.  Now, think about how you survived those challenges.  You survived because God was there with you the entire time and had his arms wrapped around you, you just didn’t realize it.  In our greatest moments of hopelessness, despair, and darkness;  God was always there to lead us back into the light.  The song writers state how they love the voice of God.  Some may say I have never heard the voice of God.  Is his voice a booming sound that wakes us up and brings us back to reality?  In our times of despair, we may feel as if we need a loud voice to bring us out of our despair.  The reality is that if we have accepted God’s son Jesus as our personal savior, the holy spirit dwells within us and is our internal communication link with God, we find this in the book of John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”  All we have to do is open our hearts and minds to God and we will be able to hear that still small voice.  It is that voice that helps to calm the storms of life we face, and bring us an inner peace as we fight our battles.  The Holy Spirit is with us from the day we accept Jesus until the day our life on earth is no more.  This is what the goodness of God is all about, he loves us unconditionally and sees no fault in any of us who have accepted him and his son.

I love the line in the song, “your goodness is running after, it’s running after me.”  Most of us probably have the tendency to believe that we have to reach out to God and get his attention before he can help us.  The reality is he is trying to get our attention to keep us out of the situations we get into, but we tend to ignore him until we are in complete desperation.  In effect, he is trying to head off the issues ahead of us, but we don’t take the time to ask for or listen to his guidance.  We seem to prefer to proceed with doing things we shouldn’t do instead of listening to that still small voice that is reaching out to us.  He is always faithful to us, even when we are unfaithful to him.  In some ways it is like parenting.  As a parent, I want to watch out for my children and try to keep them out of trouble, but there is only so much I can do when my children don’t listen.  Even when my children disobey me and choose their own paths, I still love them as much as I always have.  We find commitments of God’s eternal faithfulness to us throughout the bible and here are just a couple of the many passages of scripture.  Psalm 108:4 “For Your mercy is great above the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.”   Psalm 117:2 “For His merciful kindness is great toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.” 

Since God has been there with us every step of every day, isn’t it time for us to praise him with every breath we take and time to sing of his mercy and his grace?  It is time to stop running away from God, it is time to fall into the security of his promises and his love.  Are you one of the people who have continued to run from God?  If so, isn’t it time for you to quit running away and accept his son as your savior?

 Select to hear CeCe Winans Sing the  Goodness of God

Love Lifted Me

The next entry for my BLOG is Love Lifted Me, a well-known hymn written by James Rowe in 1912.  The melody is by Howard E. Smith.  A link to Alan Jackson singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

Love Lifted Me

I was sinking deep in sin
Far from the peaceful shore
Very deeply stained within
Sinking to rise no more
But the Master of the sea
Heard my despairing cry
From the waters lifted me
Now safe am I

Love lifted me
Love lifted me
When nothing else could help
Love lifted me
Love lifted me
Love lifted me
When nothing else could help
Love lifted me

All my heart to Him I give
Ever to Him I’ll cling
In His blessed presence live
Ever His praises sing
Love so mighty and so true
Merits my soul’s best songs
Faithful loving service too
To Him belongs

Love lifted me
Love lifted me
When nothing else could help
Love lifted me
Love lifted me
Love lifted me
When nothing else could help
Love lifted me

Souls in danger look above
Jesus completely saves
He will lift you by His love
Out of the angry waves
He’s the Master of the sea
Billows His will obey
He your Savior wants to be
Be saved today

Have you ever been out on a boat or ship and went so far out that you could no longer see any land?  This can be a very frightening situation for most people, especially if the wind starts blowing harder and waves start getting higher.  No matter how intensely we look, the shoreline is nowhere to be seen.  Sometimes our life feels as if we are a long way from that peaceful shore, even though we are standing on dry land.  It still feels as if we are either swimming around in circles or just stuck in the mud.  We all get caught up in life and we gradually get overwhelmed with everything going on around us.  Eventually we lose sight of that solid ground and peaceful shore

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Our life has become quicksand and the more we struggle, the more we sink.  The real problem is that the quicksand in our life is actually made up of the poor choices we have made over the years.  These poor choices, accumulated over time, gradually lead us to a sense of hopelessness.  We lose all inner peace and can no longer see the peaceful shore that we struggle so hard to find.  As we continue to struggle, sink, and drift farther from that shore; we realize there is a master of life and the sea.  The master always hears our cries, but waits for us to reach out to him from our heart.  Why does he wait?   He waits because we have not reached out to him.  We have a tendency to ignore the master until a time of desperation and despair.  In spite of us neglecting him day in and day out, he is still there to answer our call.  Our master is Jesus Christ, the son of God.  He alone can calm the seas we are drowning in as well as our own internal strife and pain.  We have a tendency to ignore him when things are good and then yell for him or at him when things are bad.  He still loves us unconditionally in spite of how we treat him.  He is the only one who can truly lift us up.  He alone can give us eternal life, he alone can bring us happiness in a dark dark world, and he alone has that unconditional love.  Not only do we have his love, but our faith in him secures our eternal home.

The way to make him the master of your life is to give him your heart.  By giving him your heart, you put him above all else in life.  Your family and friends are important and you should love them dearly, but the only way you can have eternal life is to make Jesus number one and accept him as your personal savior.  Giving your heart to him and making him first, does not diminish your love for your family in any way.  In fact, if you really love your family and friends; you will tell them about Jesus and how all of you can spend eternity together instead of just the few short years we have on earth.  Never lose sight of his love and you will feel his presence wherever you are.  You will also feel his presence and guidance in every step you take and every decision you make.  His love is powerful and everlasting, he is eternal, and there is nothing that can defeat him.  The song tells us to sing his praises from deep inside and that we should sing songs to him of love and praise.  He doesn’t care which song you sing, which book you sing from, or from where you are singing; he just wants you to sing with joy from your heart.  As you think about what God has done in your life and how he can pull you out of the deepest ocean of darkness, doesn’t he deserve our faithfulness?  Who else can do what he does for us?

The song references our soul being in danger as the angry waves of life take their toll on us.  Is your soul in danger; how do you know?  We all make our choices, if we accept Christ as our personal savior then we have a guarantee of eternal life with him in heaven.  If we do not accept him, which by default means we reject him, then we spend eternity with the devil in hell.  So we have the choice and we choose where we want to spend eternity.  Jesus in the master who wants us to spend eternity with him.  He is the one who controls the wind and the waves, nothing can stand up to him.

In the book of Mark 4:34-41, we find the story of how Jesus calmed the storm when his disciples were afraid their boat was going to capsize.  Although this was something that I believe occurred, I also believe this is the same situation we face as we fight the battles in life.  We become overwhelmed and fail to put our faith in the only one who can take us out of the darkness.  “That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.  A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?  He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.  He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”  They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

He wants you to be saved today, to give your soul to him, don’t wait until it is too late. 

Click to Hear Alan Jackson Sing Love Lifted Me

Red Letters

The next entry for my Blog is Red Letters, which was written by David Crowder and Ed Cash.  It was first released in September 19, 2018.  A link to Crowder singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

Red Letters


There I was on death row
Guilty in the first degree
Son of God hanging on a hill
Hell was my destiny

The crowd was shouting crucify
Could’ve come from these lips of mine
The dirty shame was killing me
It would take a miracle to wash me clean

Then I read the red letters
And the ground began to shake
The prison walls started falling
And I became a free man that day

Felt like lightning hit my veins
My dead heart began to beat
Breath of God filled my lungs
And the Holy Ghost awakened me
Yeah, the Holy Ghost awakened me

When I read the red letters
And the ground began to shake
The prison walls started falling
And I became a free man that day

For God so loved the whole wide world
Sent His only Son to die for me
Arms spread wide for the whole wide world
His arms spread wide where mine should be
Jesus changed my destiny

Thank You, God, for red letters
When the ground began to shake
The grace of God started falling
And I became a free man that day
The prison walls started falling
And I am a free man today

The title of this song is kind of interesting, especially without context.  Probably most of the Christian bibles bought today have the standard black print, but there are bibles you can buy that show all of the words of Jesus in red. 

Have you ever thought about the fact that without Jesus coming and dying on the cross, it would be extremely difficult to get into heaven?  Before the coming of Christ and his death, people could still have the promise of heaven, but it required a lot more work and dedication.  The people had to make sacrifices on a regular basis; since there was no bible the people had to go to the temples just to hear God’s word and his promises that were made over the thousands of years since the time of creation.  So many people had no hope because they felt as if they had failed God and they did not know where to turn.  It is true there were great leaders and that God’s word and promises had been passed down for thousands of years; but that isn’t the same as hearing from those who saw and touched the hand of God’s only son.

All of the above is basically a lead into the song.  Imagine that you were sitting home reading your bible, even though you were not a Christian and dreamed you were teleported back in time; to the time of Jesus walking around the streets of Jerusalem.  As you look up on that mount called Calvary, you start to realize the things you had done wrong all your life.  You see the stories you had heard at church suddenly come true.  The savior, who you have maybe heard about in church or read about in your bible, is hanging on the cross.  You had heard about him and his teachings and you had heard people talking about how he was just another false prophet, but you suddenly realize you were one of them.  In the process, you have become yet another conspirator contributing to the death of God’s only son.  For this, you are guilty of murder and should be behind bars.  You were so caught up in the actions of the crowd that you may have been one of the ones yelling to crucify him.  Shame takes its toll on you and you begin to believe there is no hope for you; how could there be since your own rejection of Christ contributed to him dying on the cross.

As you take the time to reflect on the above, it starts to hurt deep inside when you begin to understand that you have rejected the love of Christ all of your life and perhaps led others to do the same.  Suddenly you come out of your nightmarish dream and your bible is still in your lap, but it suddenly has new meaning as you see the words of Christ written in red letters. It is almost as if the words are jumping off the page at you.  You are suddenly aware that you have been in a walled prison your entire life, constrained by your own words and actions.  As the reality of the life Christ is offering in those red letters sinks in, your world crumbles and you finally understand that Christ died for you so you could spend eternity with him.  There is no wall of sin separating you from him any longer and you are no longer burdened by your past.  You are finally a free man, your shackles of sin, guilt, and despair have been taken away.  As you begin to let the fact that Jesus erased all of your sins sink in, it is as if you have been given a brand new start in life.  It is true that the memories and pain of your past may never go away, but Jesus forgives all of our past and gives us a future.  Jesus never focuses on who we were, he only looks at who we will become.  All you had to do was accept him as your personal savior.  You have now taken your first breath of true freedom and clean slate in the eyes of Jesus.

John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  Can you imagine giving up your own son for a world full of sinners and unbelievers?  I agree that it should have been us stretching our arms and dying on that cross, we are the sinners; not Jesus.  But God loved us so much that he gave the only perfect being we will ever know to die in agony on the cross.  It took the perfect to die to enable the imperfect to gain eternal life.  With his death, our future can be changed forever; all we have to do is accept his sacrifice.   Thanks to God’s grace and his willingness to forgive every wrong we have committed or are yet to commit; we will spend eternity with Jesus.

Have you ever closely looked for the red letters, the words of Jesus in your bible?

Click to Hear Crowder Perform Red Letters

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