grace – Song Dive

Me on Your Mind

The next entry for my Blog is Me on Your Mind, which was written by Matthew West, Jeff Pardo, and Anne Wilson. It was first released February 18, 2022. A link to Matthew West singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

I’ve read the words in red
How You leave the 99
To find the one missing
Feels like that was written
With me on Your mind

And the prodigal son who ran, leaving his home behind
The part where the father came running to meet him
Did You say that with me on Your mind?

Who am I that the King of the world
Would give one single thought about my broken heart?
Who am I that the God of all grace
Wipes the tears from my face and says, “Come as you are”?
You paid the price, You took the cross
You gave Your life and You did it all with me on Your mind (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
Me on Your mind (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)

Just knowing You’re mindful of me
Just knowing You call me Your child
It’s flooding my soul with unspeakable hope
Thank You, Lord, that it’s me on Your mind

I’ve read the words in red of a heavenly home on high
You’re preparing a place where the sorrow’s erased
And when I stand before You, I’ll find
All along, it was me on Your mind

Who am I that the King of the world
Would give one single thought about my broken heart?
And who am I that the God of all grace
Wipes the tears from my face and says, “Come as you are”?
You paid the price, You took the cross
You gave Your life and You did it all with me on Your mind (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
With me on Your mind (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)

Woah (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
It was me on Your mind

I believe we all have times in our life when we feel all alone and we often get down and out and feeling sorry for ourselves. Unfortunately, many people have this feeling way too many times and they lead very sad lives. Maybe our friends and our families try to encourage us, but they really don’t understand. The words of encouragement and friendly hugs and prayers may be there, but your heart is still hurting and sad. Some people, such as our Christian friends, may encourage us to read our bibles and read about the promises of God in hopes that it brings us out of our depression. Have you ever been in this situation before? If so; didn’t you feel completely hopeless? It seems even more distressing when you are in a group of people and everything in life seems perfect with them.

The writers of the song refer to the text in the bible that is written in red. These red letters are words that came from Jesus, the son of the almighty God. Not every bible has these letters, but the red-letter editions always put the words of Jesus in red. There is a story in the bible that Jesus shared in the book of Matthew 18:12-14, which tells us just how much Jesus loves us and views each of us as his children. “If a shepherd has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.” We are the lost sheep until we acknowledge Jesus as our savior and God as our father. No matter how far we wander away from God, he will be there with us. Yes, the 99 sheep are still as important to him as they have always been, but for that moment in time; he is focused on getting us into the flock and becoming part of his eternal family. When I reflect on the scripture above, it does seem as if I was the lost sheep Jesus came after and the red letters I had been reading were referring to me. It is so important to know that none of us are ever alone and we can never hide from the eyes of God.

The writers of the song also tell us about a family member who ran away from home with the dreams of getting everything he wanted in life. His father gave him his share of the inheritance and he went and squandered it all within a short time. This parable is found in the book of Luke 15:11-22, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. None of us are perfect, we all make mistakes every single day. We say things we don’t mean and do things we don’t really mean to do. God loves me when I hold him close to my heart and God still loves me when I wander away. So maybe this story fits all of us in some way.

The chorus of the song is so powerful as it describes how the king of this entire world with its billions of people, still loves me and watches out for me every single day. Why am I so special that he wipes the tears from my eyes, heals the hurts in my heart, and loves me unconditionally? It is because each of us are his children and no matter how bad we act, he loves us unconditionally. He allowed his only son to suffer a brutal death on the cross, so that we could spend eternity with him. He wants us to come to him as we are and find comfort in his love. I don’t know if I will ever be able to comprehend the depth of God’s love, but I do know he always has me on his mind and in his heart. One day I will join him in the heavenly home he has prepared just for me and he has a special home for everyone who accepts him as their father and Jesus as their savior. The day Jesus died, you and I were on his mind.

Click to Hear Matthew West Sing Me on Your Mind

Man on the Middle Cross

The next entry for my Blog is Man on the Middle Cross, which was written by AJ Pruis, Matt Jenkins, Matthew West, and Rhett Walker. It was first released July 21, 2023. A link to Rhett Walker singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

Heard the Preacher talking about three wood crosses
Up on a hill everyone to see
Two sinners on the outside couldn’t save themselves if they tried
All I could think is man that sounds like me

I’ve been the one on the left full of guilt and regret
Long gone on the wrong side of living
I’ve been the one on the right always looking for a fight thinking I could never be forgiving
I’m standing here today
Overwhelmed by grace cause I know who paid my cost
Thank God
for the man on the middle cross

He didn’t have to do it But for me it went thru it
A love like that I’ll never understand
Lord knows I don’t deserve it And I know I couldn’t earn it
Mercy rained down on this desperate man

The cross is where he went
But that ain’t where he stayed
He brought me back to life when He rose up out of that grave
Someday I’ll stand before him
See Jesus face to face
I’ll worship and adore him
For a life forever changed

Perhaps many of you reading this blog were not aware of the crosses that are spoken of in Christian religions, maybe some of you know about the cross Jesus died upon, and some of you may be familiar with the three crosses this song talks about. The bible does indeed tell us there were three crosses together, with Jesus being on the center cross and felons on the other two crosses. We find this in the book of Luke 23:33, “When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.” The mount where the crucifixion occurred was call Golgotha, which translates into the word skull from the Aramaic language. As the preacher was delivering the message that the song writer heard, maybe it was the first time the writer had really listened to the scripture about the crosses. So many times, we may be the same way, the message may be one we have been aware of for years, but we never allowed it to resonate in our life. I believe most people who are aware of Jesus are probably aware that he died on a cross, but have little awareness of the fact that two criminals were also crucified on either side of him. The good news is that Jesus came back to life after his death on the cross, but the two sinners on either side of him had no chance of returning to life on this earth,

Obviously, none of us are perfect and most, if not all of us, struggle to be the best person we can be every single day in our life. The writer of the song assigns backgrounds to each of the two people on either side of Jesus, the purpose is so he can help show all of us how we may fit into the scenario. How many times have you felt guilty about something? Maybe your guilt is from long ago or maybe it is from a few hours ago; but how does it make you feel inside? Sometimes I sit and reflect on the past and think about the things I should not have done and the people I may have hurt. As I do this reflection, I think it was very insensitive of me to say what I said or act the way I did. This is when we are similar to the person hanging on the cross on the left. We realize where we have failed in our life and finally recognize that the acceptance of Jesus as our Lord and savior is the only way to gain eternal life. We have come to the realization that we can never gain eternal life until we give our soul to Jesus.

Unfortunately, some of us are similar to the man on the other cross. We are bitter, vindictive, and only care about ourselves. In common vernacular, these types of people are recognized as hardened criminals who are unwilling to ever change. We go about our lives without even thinking about who we hurt. The hurt we inflict may be emotional, violent, physical, or destructive. The goal is to gain whatever we can without even considering the damage we cause along the way. We form the opinion that because we believe that no one loves us or cares for us anyway, why should be act any different. Our most secure prisons are most likely filled with people of this mentality. There are also many people roaming the streets today who have the same mindset of if I want it, I will take it and are willing to harm anyone who gets in their way. This is perhaps the mindset of the man on the cross on the other side of Jesus. We find the scripture about the two criminals in the book of Luke 23:39-43, “One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Regardless of which camp of people we fall into, God views us all as disobedient to him. He doesn’t evaluate us based on the wrongs/sins we have committed; he just knows that we have not accepted his son as our savior. He also knows we are walking through a world that we can’t control and that we feel all alone with no hope. All of us are on the first cross I mentioned above at all times and some of us cross over to the other cross if we wander too far away from where we should be. This takes us to the middle cross, where Jesus, the son of God, was hanging. He died on that cross and when he died that day, he gave us grace. Grace basically means that if we accept him as the son of God and his sacrifice for us, then all of the wrongs we have committed in our past and all of the wrongs we will commit in the future have been forgiven. God then views us as a perfect being and no longer sees the blemishes we gathered over a lifetime. This is basically what transpired with the criminal the writer depicted as being on the left side of the three crosses. It doesn’t mean we will be perfect in our actions and thoughts every day, but it does mean that we have an eternal life in front of us as we traverse the way to heaven.

Just imagine someone loving you so much that they would lay down their life for you. I can’t even begin to imagine what it will be like to finally see Jesus face to face and worship him and thank him for dying for me and coming back to life just to help me realize that he truly is the son of God. The cross couldn’t kill his spirit, the tomb could not contain his body, and nothing on earth could stop him from walking among his disciples three days after he came out of that tomb.

Which of the people on the cross would you most likely be if you were on Golgotha that fateful day? Would you be the one who believed in Christ or the one who rejected him? Now is probably a good time to do a self-assessment to determine the priorities in your life and where Christ fits. We will all face death one day, we just don’t know when. The good news is that we can decide today on which cross we would have hung long ago.

Click to Hear Rhett Walker Sing Man On The Middle Cross

How Can You Not

The next entry for my Blog is How Can You Not, which was written by Jeff Sojka, Leanna Crawford, and Jessie Parker Early. It was first published in 2022. A link to Leanna Crawford singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

How Can You Not

… I see the sun rise in the morning
And a million stars at night
I hear the birds, they can’t stop singing hallelujah
I see His goodness when I fall down
And it’s grace that picks me up
Every day, I can’t stop singing hallelujah

… How can you not see God
In every little thing, in every little moment?
How can you not feel loved?
How can you not? How can you not?
‘Cause He’s in the middle of
Every little thing and every little moment
How can you not see God?
How can you not? How can you not?

… I see the sunset and I wonder
If He paints it just for me
Nobody else could make a world so beautiful
How could I question His love when it’s everywhere I go
Wherever I look, I find another miracle

… Everything is evidence (ooh-ooh)
Showing me that You exist (oh-oh)
All creation singing hallelujah
Everything is evidence (oh, everything)
Showing me that You exist (He’s God)
All creation singing hallelujah

… How can you not see God
In every little thing, in every little moment?
How can you not feel loved? Hmm-mm
‘Cause He’s in the middle of
Every little thing and every little moment
How can you not see God?
How can you not? How can you not?

… Oh, how can you not see God (everything is evidence)
In every little thing, in every little moment? (Showing me that You exist)
How can you not feel loved? (All creation singing)
How can you not? How can you not? (Hallelujah)
‘Cause He’s in the middle of (everything is evidence)
Every little thing and every little moment (showing me that You exist)
How can you not see God? (All creation singing)
How can you not? How can you not?

Many people may ask, how do you know if there is a God if you can’t see him? I believe this song really takes on this challenge. Most of us have the opportunity to see a sunrise every morning. I understand we may not be up to see the majesty of a sunrise, but it still happens. Some of the most beautiful sunrises for me are those across the water or coming over the mountains. It also seems as if the birds even enjoy these sunrises; they seem to be singing more often and more loudly as a new day begins. I see more sunsets and they have just as much beauty as the sunrises. How many times have you stared up at a dark sky that is full of seemingly twinkling stars. My wife and I love to take trips away from the city lights and one of the benefits is we get to see those dazzling twinkling stars fill the sky.

How about the things that happen in your life that maybe you take for granted? You woke up yet another day. You wake up with a plan to do good and be faithful to God, perhaps every day; but then you quickly stumble and your plan fails once again. If you trust in God and believe in him, he is there to pick you up. He lifts you up, helps restore your confidence, and lets you go on your way again. He doesn’t ask anything of us, he doesn’t hold our mistakes against us; he just puts us on our feet yet once again. His grace and his unconditional never-ending love are with us always, as long as we have accepted his son as our personal savior. We should be singing his praises and thanking him every day.

Can someone truly believe that all of this just happens by accident, that the heavens just happened to come into existence in a spontaneous manner without a plan? That the sun and stars just magically appear? How can someone explain the powerful feeling of emotion and love that sometimes just hits us out of nowhere. There are times when I feel an inner strength that seemingly comes from nowhere. Some things are just hard to explain, such as how did I find the right woman to spend my life with? How can these people explain the wonder and majesty of the sun, the stars, the seas, and the natural wonders that are found across our world. Have you ever held a baby or small child who looked up at you and gave you that beautiful smile that only a little one can give? Nothing happens by accident. As the writer says, how can we not believe in God when we are surrounded by all of his marvelous creations, the people he brings into our lives, and the love that we feel deep inside of us. The writer emphasizes how can they not believe when they are standing in the middle of God’s creations every single day. The people who say they cannot feel and see the creations of God, are like people who are standing in the middle of a deep lake and wondering where the water is. People become so wrapped up in their own little self-made cocoon and miss out on everything God is offering them.

I personally love watching a sunset and I love the question posed by the writer, did God paint the sunset just for me? Some people may think that is a selfish view, but I think every sunset is beautiful and we all see different things in a sunset. Each of us may see different color variations and different cloud shapes, that is why God made all of us a little different. Although we may not all look or act the same, the beauty he creates amazes all of us. The difference is that many of us understand that we all came from God’s master plan as revealed in the bible and others see the beauty but don’t understand the master plan. The master plan is that God really wants all of us to spend eternity with him in heaven; after all, we are his children. Even though he gives us all of the beauties of this world and shows us his love, many of us fail to recognize him and his plan. All he asks of us is to accept his only son Jesus, who died on the cross for each of us, so that we could have eternal life with him. Almost everyone can admire the beautiful mountains, seas, skies, and have other people to love; but they are not willing to admit that we have one creator who created all of this as part of a master plan. He tells us that he has a plan in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

In the midst of all God has done and continues to do, how can you not believe in him?

Click to Hear Leanna Crawford Sing How Can You Not

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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Woman at the Well

The next entry for my Blog is Woman at the Well, which was written Jesse Reeves, Olivia Lane, and Steve Fee. It was first released in April 9, 2021. A link to Olivia Lane singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog. The link also includes a film clip from the TV Series “The Chosen.”

Woman at the Well

I heard a story from the Bible
When I was just a little girl
About a broken-hearted woman
Who met the Savior of the world

Thought it was just another story
One that the preacher man would read
But as I’m sitting here at home
Drinking red wine all alone
I think that woman might be me

‘Cause tonight I feel just like
The woman at the well
Wondering how someone could love me
When I can’t love myself
But You want me as I am and that sounds crazy
I guess maybe that’s why grace is so amazing

Staring at that empty bottle
I swear I caught a glimpse of Him
He met me right there at the bottom
And turned that wine to living water
And taught me how to love again

Yeah, tonight I feel just like
The woman at the well
Wondering how someone could love me
When I can’t love myself
But You want me as I am and that sounds crazy
I guess maybe that’s why grace is so amazing

It’s no longer just a story when I read it (when I read it)
‘Cause I’ve seen Him for myself and I believe it

Just like the story from the Bible
I heard when I was just a girl
I’m the broken-hearted woman
Who met the Savior of the world

This is a song that brought tears of sadness and tears of joy in my heart as I recalled the story in the bible, then listened to the words of this song, and then saw it come to life on TV when I watched an episode of The Chosen. It is amazing when you read the scripture, feel the pain of the woman at the well, the empathy of Jesus, followed by the great joy he has brought to this woman who has been living a life of hopelessness.

The bible has many passages that describe Jesus, the son of God and savior of the world, interacting with people and explaining who he is and his mission upon coming to earth. One of these passages, which is in the book of Matthew chapter 9, tells us about Jesus meeting with a woman at the well. This woman had a life that was in turmoil, she had already been through multiple marriages, and never seemed to find happiness. When you sit in church and hear these stories, they don’t always seem real because they are not necessarily hitting close to home. Even though the message is true, maybe it doesn’t seem to apply to us at the time and is someone else’s story, not yours or mine. We hear the message, perhaps we retain it, and then we go on with our lives.

As we journey down the road in our lives, we perhaps start struggling with seemingly everything going on in our life, and gradually our world starts falling apart. Maybe we are feeling alone and the deeper in despair we fall, we start believing there is no hope. In this song, the individual is sitting home all alone, drinking some wine, and dwelling on all of the times she has failed in her life. The realization comes that perhaps she is just like the woman at the well from the story she heard in church long ago; a totally messed up life with no escape in sight. Maybe she hasn’t gone through the same type of travails as the woman, but she feels she has failed in her decisions and has lost all hope as her despair rages on. She has trouble loving herself, so how could anyone else ever love her. Perhaps she, just as the woman at the well, has gone through multiple relationships, marriages, or failures in life. She feels as if she will never be loved again and that she is unworthy of love.

At just the right time, this example of Jesus’ love in the bible has finally grabbed the singer’s attention, she finally understands that Jesus accepts us just as we are. All he asks is that we accept him and the eternal life he offers each of us. He knows we will change once we accept him, but he doesn’t hold any of our past against us. We are told about his grace and forgiveness in Romans 4:7. “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight.”

As the singer sits there alone and looks down into the bottom of the empty wine bottle, she suddenly catches a fleeting glimpse of the face of Jesus. It sounds sort of odd to catch a glimpse of our savior in the bottom of a wine bottle, but it is his way of saying I am with you wherever you go and ready to pull you up when you are ready to leave your misery. It is so much easier when we finally understand that we don’t look up to find Jesus, we look beside us and to the outreached hand. He is ready to give us eternal life, that living water, whenever we are ready to accept his hand. We find this passage in John 4:13-14, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

I believe that all of us, at some point in our lives, have the hopeless feeling felt by the woman at the well. Some of the mistakes we made were our own fault, and some were probably caused by others. The woman at the well struggled with marriages and relationships, some of the issues were perhaps hers and some not. Whatever the situation, Jesus is not concerned about who is at fault. He doesn’t judge us by our past; his eyes are only focused on eternity. I hope you have partaken of the holy water.

Click to Hear Olivia Lane Sing Woman at the Well, Includes Film Clip from the TV Series – The Chosen

Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)

The next entry for my Blog is Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone), which was written by Giglio Louie. It was first released in 2006. A link to the Chris Tomlin singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog. The original version of Amazing Grace was written by John Newton in 1772.

Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)

Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind, but now I see

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

My chains are gone, I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love
Amazing grace

The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures

My chains are gone, I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love
Amazing grace

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbear to shine
But God, who called me here below
Will be forever mine, will be forever mine
You are forever mine

Think of a word or phrase that carries the most powerful impact on someone’s life. I know this might be a challenging request, since there are so many great words and phrases that positively impact us in a special or powerful way. The title of this song doesn’t necessarily stand out as the answer to my request, but when you look at the true meaning of grace; you will hopefully agree that this is one of the most powerful songs ever written. I believe that, deep inside, we all want to be better people. We want to be better for ourselves as well as for others. We want to be liked, loved, and embraced as we greet other people; but what happens when we do things wrong and people can’t seem to get past our mistakes and errors in judgement? Depending on what we may have said or what we have done, people will not let us into or back into their lives nor will they forgive or forget what we have done. We put ourselves in a situation where we live in regret and then start trying to avoid others. We are seemingly stuck with our past and this guilt becomes the chains that hold us back. We want to be free, but are unsure of how to break through our bondage and move forward in our lives.

Now, let’s look at the title of this song, the word to focus on is grace. In looking at this through the lens of Christianity, grace is defined as the unmerited favor of God. More simply put, it is a free gift of forgiveness and mercy regardless of what we have done in our lives. All God asks of us is to accept his son Jesus Christ as our personal savior, we then receive God’s forgiveness for every mistake we have made in our lives; past, present, and future. God’s grace is immediate. No matter what we have done in our life, God is willing to forgive us. People may or may not forgive our flaws, but God is the one who controls our eternity and the one who should be the most important being in our lives. We all make mistakes, some big and some small, and we may not be leading a good life. Maybe we got off track with our lives a long time ago and perhaps we consider ourselves as being bad or even wretched, but he loves us anyway and is willing to wrap his arms around even the most evil among us; all he asks is to put our future in his hands. As we accept God, we start seeing the life he wants us to lead and the person he wants us to become. We are no longer oblivious to our own wrongs and the wrongs of others around us. God instills in us the desire to be better and to see what needs to change in our lives. As we feel his love and his strength, we no longer have the same fear regarding what lies ahead in our lives because we know he is there to lead us, to guide us, to love us, and to pick us up when we fall.

As the chorus tells us, we have been set free from our past and present and now have hope for our future. We are no longer encumbered by the invisible chains that have held us back from who we can be. We can now live, love, and dream knowing that we will never be alone again and that we have a guaranteed eternal home. God sent his only son to die on the cross for us, so we could have the bondage of our past replaced by the promises of God! It is amazing to me that God gave up his son so each of us could have an eternal life with him. Jesus paid the price for us with his life, the ultimate sacrifice. God’s mercy wiped the slate clean of all wrongdoings we have had in our lives and has made us a new creation, with his promise of never-ending love. It may be a while before people we know overlook our past, but in God’s eyes we have no past, only a future.

God promises eternity for us and that we can have a rewarding life. It doesn’t mean we will have a perfect life, but we can have a life filled with hope knowing that we ultimately have an eternal heavenly home. In the book of John 14:1-3, we find this promise given by Jesus as he prepared to die on the cross for us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

One day this world, as we know it, will be no more, the writer describes it as the earth melting away like snow. The bible, in the book of Revelation, also tells us that the world will be replaced by a new world. The good news is that God has already reserved our space in heaven, once we have accepted his son as our personal savior. This is grace: the gift of eternal life.

Click to Hear Chris Tomlin Sing Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)

Fear is a Liar

The next entry for my Blog is Fear is a Liar, which was written by Jason Ingram, Jonathan Smith, and Zach Williams. It was first released January 19, 2018. A link to the Zach Williams singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

Fear is a Liar

When he told you you’re not good enough
When he told you you’re not right
When he told you you’re not strong enough
To put up a good fight
When he told you you’re not worthy
When he told you you’re not loved
When he told you you’re not beautiful
That you’ll never be enough

Fear, he is a liar
He will take your breath
Stop you in your steps
Fear, he is a liar
He will rob your rest
Steal your happiness
Cast your fear in the fire
‘Cause fear he is a liar

When he told you were troubled
You’ll forever be alone
When he told you Cause should run away
You’ll never find a home
When he told you you were dirty
And you should be ashamed
When he told you you could be the one
That grace could never change

Fear, he is a liar
He will take your breath
Stop you in your steps
Fear, he is a liar
He will rob your rest
Steal your happiness
Cast your fear in the fire
‘Cause fear he is a liar

Let Your fire fall and cast out all my fears
Let Your fire fall Your love is all I feel

Oh, let Your fire fall and cast out all my fears
Let Your fire fall Your love is all I feel

Oh, fear he is a liar
He will take your breath
Stop you in your steps
Fear he is a liar
He will rob your rest
Steal your happiness
Cast your fear in the fire
‘Cause fear he is a liar

‘Cause fear he is a liar

Do you ever feel as if you are in a deep dark hole with no way out? It seems as if there is some sort of roadblock in every direction. Eventually, we tend to lose our confidence and sometimes withdraw into ourselves and keep everyone else out of our lives. I believe this song does a good job of describing this situation. It is as if there is someone else inside our mind or body who is always telling us that we will never succeed in anything we do, we are just a total failure at everything. Are there times when you have felt as if you are were not good enough? Maybe you felt as if you were not good enough for someone else to love and are afraid to express your feelings to that special someone. This special person fell in love with someone else and you never even told them how you felt about them because you were afraid of rejection or ridicule. Everywhere we turn, we feel rejected and become afraid in every aspect of our lives. We are not as intelligent as others, we are not as beautiful as others, we begin to wonder why anyone would fall in love with us since we are not worthy of love and respect. Wow, this is really depressing and may not seem real but it really happens to many people. Maybe it leads to a life filled with “what ifs” or even worse, results in suicide.

Now that have I painted a gloomy picture; it is time to identify where these feelings come from; they are the results of fear. Satan, the devil, the evil one; is constantly whispering in our ear and getting into our heads. Satan’s goal is to disrupt and destroy our lives. The bible in 1 Peter 5:8 says, “the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” He can stop us dead in our tracks, he can destroy our confidence, and take away our hopes and dreams. The bad news is that Satan and his minions are always after us and lie to us about who we are. The more we listen to him, the deeper into the abyss we fall. As the chorus tells us, we need to take this fear of gloom and doom that he whispers in our ear and kick him out of our lives. He is a liar, a cheat, and a failure. He is the one that was not good enough to defeat the almighty God in the battle for heaven and was banished to this earth. All of these bad things you are thinking about yourself are a direct result of trusting in these voices as opposed to turning your heart and mind over to God.

The first verse depicts Satan, via fear, attacking our personal qualities. The next verse is how Satan tries to negate the possible actions of God in our lives. Not only does our view of our own self-image affect us emotionally, but it also impacts how we interact with other people. Since we are so afraid to engage with others due to our lack of confidence and self-esteem and fear of rejection, we resign ourselves to the feeling that we will always be alone and lonely. We wish we could run away from it all, but where can we run when there is no one who is willing to hold us and bring us peace? Our lives are ruined and worthless and we are convinced that we are sentenced to a life of shame and sadness. The even worse news is that we have the feeling there is absolutely nothing that even God can do for us; we are too far gone to be brought back to the light of hope.

The writers do a good job depicting how much impact fear and Satan have on our lives and some of you may believe this is your life today. The good news is that although we all may have many of the feelings portrayed in this song, we have a way out. The path from this darkness to the bright and shining light is accepting Jesus, the son of God, as your personal savior. God sent his son to die for all of us and to forgive all of the wrongs in our lives and guarantee us an eternal home with him. The song references grace; in the Christian bible, grace is defined as getting a gift we don’t deserve. A word also used frequently with the word grace is the word mercy. Mercy is not getting the punishment we deserve. When Jesus died for us, God essentially forgave us for everything we have ever done wrong and there will be no punishment from him. The only requirement is you must accept his son Jesus as your own personal savior. We are told this in the book of John 3:16-17, “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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” As you take this step, all of the wrongs in your life are forgiven by God and you have a father who loves you. Yes, we will still have our moments where we do things we shouldn’t, but he is always with us to offer us encouragement and forgiveness and to get us back on the right path.

As you get closer to God and farther away from the great deceiver, your life begins to change. You start to feel a love and comfort you have never felt before. Perhaps the greatest thing is the feeling that you are never alone. God made you as one of his creations and he made each of us as individuals. He loves us even more than we can even imagine. There is an old hymn, “In the Garden”, that talks about how God walks with us and talks with us and reminds us of how we belong to him. It is a song that can bring joy to your heart and reinforces the fact that we are never alone. As you realize that God is part of your life and that his love can never be taken away, you have a new hope in your life. It is almost as if you are able to see that bright sunshine on your face whenever you think of him. Every time you see a rainbow, you will remember that God gave us the rainbow as a promise of his love. If you are someone who has been losing the battle to the devil and now realize you have God’s power over him; go out and face your new world. A world filled with love, hope, friendship, and a bright new future. You will no longer be afraid to open your heart to friends, loved ones, that special someone, and you might start looking at new adventures in your life. If you have some time available, listen to the song I mentioned above or even take a look at my Blog entry for the song.

The devil and fear are absolutely the best liars, but God is love and offers us eternity and is with always with us. The book of Joshua 1:9 reminds us of God’s promise of faithfulness, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Click to Hear Zach Williams Sing Fear is a Liar

Tell Your Heart to Beat Again

The next entry for my Blog is Tell Your Heart to Beat Again, which was written by Bernie Herms, Matthew West, and Randy Phillips. The song was initially released January 8, 2016. A link to Danny Gokey performing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

Tell Your Heart to Beat Again

You’re shattered
Like you’ve never been before
The life you knew
In a thousand pieces on the floor
And words fall short in times like these
When this world drives you to your knees
You think you’re never gonna get back
To the you that used to be

Tell your heart to beat again
Close your eyes and breathe it in
Let the shadows fall away
Step into the light of grace
Yesterday’s a closing door
You don’t live there anymore
Say goodbye to where you’ve been
And tell your heart to beat again

Beginning
Just let that word wash over you
It’s alright now
Love’s healing hands have pulled you through
So get back up, take step one
Leave the darkness, feel the sun
‘Cause your story’s far from over
And your journey’s just begun

Let every heartbreak
And every scar
Be a picture that reminds you
Who has carried you this far
‘Cause love sees farther than you ever could
In this moment heaven’s working
Everything for your good

Oh, so tell your heart to beat again

This is a song about the loss of a loved one and suggestions on how to somewhat recover from that loss. Note that I do not even pretend to know how each of you are impacted by a significant loss such as this, I am just sharing my views. The singer of this song actually lost his wife at an early age and this is his story. Just imagine losing the one person in your life who you loved the most and who felt the same about you. Many of you have perhaps had to live through this situation already. As this happens, the world around you just shatters and comes crashing down in small pieces. There are no words that bring comfort and no embrace that can fill your empty and broken heart. At this point in time, you probably can’t even imagine making it through today, much less tomorrow. The whole weight of the world has suddenly fallen upon your shoulders as you crumble to your knees. One of the biggest challenges for us, is how do we rise out of the deep dark pit of loss and our intense feeling of loneliness? Our emotions are out of control and our desire to live seems to be fading away. We may have many friends who love us, but even their tears and their embraces bring us little hope.

Psalm 121:1-2 can provide us hope in these times of anguish. “I lift my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” I realize there is a period of grief we must all go through as we experience our loss, but there also comes a turning point as we start to open our eyes to life once again. The chorus of the song is delivered with such power and with a strong message of encouragement and direction. At some point, we need to realize that we must rise from our knees and take that first step into our changed future. We have to almost tell our lungs to breathe and our hearts to beat again; and we have to look to the light that only God can provide. He is there to give us strength and comfort and to take our hand as we begin our new journey. This strength may be felt through our prayers, our family, and our friends. I know that God listens to our prayers and I also believe that he brings the right people into our lives at the right time. The sooner we put God in control, the sooner we can start our new future. We will always have the past with us as a heartfelt memory, but we must go forward and not let the past dictate our future. The hardest part is taking that first step into your new future and driving your heart to beat again. In the book of Isaiah 41:13, we are told that God will help us when we are ready to move forward, “For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”

As we start our lives over, it is like a new beginning. We are starting over and starting to find our way out of the darkness. God has been with us every step of the journey through our darkness and loneliness, and he gives us his love as he prepares us for that first step. He is there to lead us, to guide us, and to love us. As we take our first steps into our new future; we start to leave the darkness and feel the bright sunlight shining on our face. It is a time of building a new future and beginning the next chapter in our lives. We have to learn to deal with the conversations around our loss, how we handle dinner invitations when we are now alone for the first time, how we go to events, and how we completely restructure our lives. Perhaps Matthew 6:34 gives us some of the best guidance regarding one day at a time, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” It is not only a new beginning for us, but also for those around us. It may be the first time we have paid attention to just how many people care about us and how they have been there supporting us during our deepest darkest hours.

Our heartbreak will never go away, but it doesn’t mean we can’t go on living. Our loss has taught us lessons about cherishing every moment of every day; take nothing for granted. Yes, we will have the scars of our loss forever, but we have also learned to keep walking forward no matter what life throws at us. Every moment of our past means even more and every memory is more precious than we could have ever imagined. We must look to the future and the path that God lays before us. We can have hope once again as God opens the new doors of our future and helps us close the doors of the past. We will never be alone, God tells us this in Matthew 28:20; “and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”

Maybe, as others hear about the scars on our heart and soul, we may be able to help them find their way and continue their story.

Click to Hear Danny Gokey Sing Tell My Heart to Beat Again

Amazing Grace

The next entry for my Blog is Amazing Grace, which was written by John Newton in 1772 and first published in 1779. A link to Celtic Woman performing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind but now I see

Was Grace that taught my heart to fear
And Grace, my fears relieved
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed

Through many dangers, toils and snares
We have already come
T’was Grace that brought us safe thus far
And Grace will lead us home

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see
This is perhaps one of the greatest and most renowned hymns ever written. It has been around for almost 250 years and my assumption is that it is in most Christian hymnals. Just the name of the song tells us a great story of what God did for all of us. When thinking about the meaning, it is definitely a sweet sound. I don’t think the word “amazing”, in this case, can be adequately described by words. God created us and when we went too far off track in our lives and actions, he sent his son to come and die for us. Some of the amazing aspects are that he sent a part of him to us from a heaven of perfection. He allowed his only son to suffer everyday as he was ridiculed and rejected. He let him be beaten. He let him die on the cross. And then he completed his plan by allowing Christ to rise from the dead and ascend into heaven. How amazing is that, that God loved us this much??? As wonderful as this is, God took one more step, he wiped our slate clean of all of our past, present, and future sins via his grace. We are/were so undeserving of his love, yet he loved us enough to make sure we have a home in eternity with him. God sacrificed his only son for all of mankind and the only thing God asks of us is that we accept his son as our personal savior. As we accept Christ, we become suddenly aware of the bright eternal future that God has prepared for us, our hidden destination has been completely revealed to us.

The sound of the word “Grace” should bring us to our knees since no one else can offer this gift to us. In the purest sense, grace is defined as when we get what we don’t deserve. In the context of Christianity, there is no word more powerful. We all have the exact same opportunity, despite our past. In the grand scheme of life, aren’t we all wretched in some way? Maybe it is our heart, our thoughts, or our actions; or perhaps just the way we view life. The word wretch, as defined in the old English, is associated with a banished person, someone despicable, or perhaps someone who seems perpetually unhappy. My personal view is that deep inside, most of us are unhappy in some way. Maybe our unhappiness stems from relationships, jobs, finances, or just general misfortune. When Christ was sent to die for us, he gave us the promise of a perfect eternity. It doesn’t mean we won’t experience negative challenges in our life, it just means that we will never face these alone and that every barrier put in front of us is very temporary when compared to eternity with him in heaven. With him, we no longer have to be wretched, we are no longer wandering around lost in our lives, and we no longer have to worry about what the ultimate future brings.

As we begin to understand grace, we come closer to understanding the heart of God and how he despises evil. When the bible refers to fear the Lord, it means to respect the Lord and his message for each of us. Proverbs 8:13 tells us, “To honor the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil ways and false words.” If we fear/respect the Lord, we will despise these same things; we will be transformed as opposed to conforming to the world around us. There is no doubt that we will be assailed by the world and its message every single day of our lives, but we can know that at the end of the day, God has been there to protect our soul from anything Satan and his groupies have thrown at us. The day we accepted Christ as our personal savior, is the day we received the full power of God’s love and protection. It was on this day that we became his forever and that all of our sins passed away.

Take a little time today, or maybe right now, to reflect on all of the trials you have had in your life, and how each of these helped to make you who you are. The song refers to these as dangers, toils, and snares; a pretty good description of life’s journey. What did you learn from each challenge and how each made you a stronger and better person? As a Christian, it is nice to know that God is with us every step of the way and that he forgives and forgets every mistake we make during our journey through life. This is what grace is all about, we can go through life unencumbered with guilt and shame if we just turn everything over to him. Just as he has been there with us in the past and present, he is still there to walk with us as we continue on the path to our eternal home. The grace that has been given to us will never fail us, no matter how far off track our journey will sometimes take us. With God’s love, the forgiveness we received by accepting Christ, and the power of grace; there is nothing that we have to fear and there is nothing that Satan can throw at us that we can’t overcome.

Isn’t grace truly amazing?

Click to Hear Celtic Woman Perform Amazing Grace