Maranatha Singers – Song Dive

The next entry for my Blog is I Love You Lord, which was written by Laurie Klein and released in 1976. A link to The Maranatha Singers performing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

I Love You Lord

I love you, Lord
And I lift my voice
To worship You
Oh, my soul, rejoice!

Take joy my King
In what You hear
Let it be a sweet, sweet sound
In Your ear

This is a song that gets into my head and into my heart and fills my heart with joy and brings me comfort. It is just a simple chorus with a powerful meaning. It is a good song to use when starting a bible study, small group, etc.; anywhere people are gathered in his name. Try to take the time to listen to the song and open your heart to its message.

I love you Lord. How many times have you said this with your lips, but it didn’t come from your heart? There are a large number of definitions for love and I looked at a few of them. As I pondered my question about love, I came to the opinion that each of us has our own definition of love. As you think of your own personal meaning, let it come from your heart and not from books, movies, social media, TV, etc. It doesn’t really matter how the word is defined elsewhere, how does your heart define love when it comes to your relationship with Christ? The bible tells us in Mark 14:30-31, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” This clearly tell us that love is giving our all to God and that our love should come from our deepest being, and not be just spoken words. Note that Jesus commands us to love and that there is no greater commandment. In John 14:15, Jesus tells Peter, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” If we love the Lord in the way he has commanded us to do, we will put him first in all facets of our life. Notice that we are told to love the Lord, we are given an absolute directive.

As we praise God and thank him for all he has done, is doing, and will do in our lives; we should unashamedly raise our voices. It doesn’t mean just singing loudly in church or raising our hands in praise, it means we should not be ashamed of the gospel and God’s promises and all people should know that we love our Lord from the depths of our soul and praise him for everything. In addition to praising God and giving him thanks, we should also worship him. To worship is to honor God for who he is and submit ourselves humbly to him; it is to acknowledge that he is the almighty God who made us and has prepared a heavenly home for us. There is no person or being other than God who is worthy of our worship. Music and praise are a part of what God expects us to do, and it is something we probably do when we go to church or pray; but worshipping him with a humble heart is what he deserves the most from each of us. As we fully open our hearts and worship him, we feel a greater joy and peace that only he can provide. This makes us want to rejoice and sing his praises from the mountain tops.

God loves us, sent his son to die for us, and I am of the opinion he wants to hear from us all the time. I believe our prayers, praises, and worship bring joy to his heart. It shows that although we are not perfect, we love him and realize that there would be no us, there would be no hope, and there would be promise of tomorrow without him. In 1st Thessalonians 5:17, we are told to “Pray without ceasing”; this means that God wants to commune with us and hear our praises as well as hear our needs at any time day or night. We want him to know that we are glad we are his children and that there is no better life than a life with him. I am sure he looks forward to hearing the melodious sound of the voices of his children. If you have children, you know they have good days and bad days, but we still want to hear their voices and know that they are ok; because we love them. Think about the times when you go long periods of time when you don’t hear from a child or loved one, how does it make you feel? At least God always knows what is happening in our lives, but he also wants to feel our love and hear our voices.

Have you reached out to God today?

Click to Hear the Maranatha Singers sing I Love You Lord

The next song for my Blog is a song that was written in 1982 by Kelly Willard. A link to the Maranatha Singers performing the song is at the bottom of this Blog entry.

Make Me a Servant

Make me a servant,
Humble and meek,
Lord, let me lift up those who are weak,
And may the prayer of my heart always be
Make me a servant,
Make me a servant,
Make me a servant, today

This is basically a simple chorus, but I believe the words of this song get lost in today’s world, even in our churches. It seems as if every time I turn on the TV, go to the internet, or go to social media; I am overwhelmed with the news of athletes and entertainers seeking more money than they will ever need or politicians fighting for personal gain instead of truly supporting the needs of the country. I hear of people who do whatever it takes to become the best, or perhaps spend their entire lives focusing on the next higher position in their job. I suppose it all boils down to, it is the “all about me” attitude. Don’t get me wrong, I think everyone should always do the best they can and that we should do what is necessary to support our families, our friends, and others that have needs.

The question I have for you today is, are you a servant, or are you the one who has to always be in control of everything? Being a servant of God basically means you are willing to do whatever he asks of you. It is always putting others first instead of yourself. In Philippians 2:6-8, we find out how Jesus was a servant for us, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross.”

Just imagine, the very son of God became a man and became a servant to all of us. He carried the power of his father, but he willingly gave up everything for us. He obeyed his father because of his love for him and for us. Jesus came to earth to save us, to meet our needs, heal our sickness, give us hope, encourage us, to let us know we are never alone, to be a leader for us, and the list goes on. He wants us to do the same thing for others in need. We need to be meek, mild, respectful, humble, and encouraging to others. He expects us to be there for others as they need help; to take off the “me” hat and put others first. Many believe meek to mean someone who can be taken advantage of or run over, but it incorporates the attributes mentioned above as well as teachable, patient under suffering, and willing to share the gospel as directed by Christ. This doesn’t mean we are weak or unwilling to fight for what is right, it merely means we have the desire to do what God has told us to do in his word. The song spells out the qualities of a servant and also asks that God make us a servant. Perhaps the greatest thing we can ever become is a true servant to God and others. As a servant, we lift up others and make them strong

We find another example of Jesus being a servant in John 13:12-17, these are the verses that Jesus delivers his message of being a servant after he washes the feet of his disciples, When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

In the above scripture, we are shown that we can be both a leader and a servant. The key attribute of the leader Jesus describes is that the leader leads based on the needs of the followers and not to be in the role for self-edification, power, or control. The best leader is going to be one who has the qualities of a servant and who wants to lead others based on direction from God. Imagine the King of Kings on his hands and knees washing your filthy feet that have been in sandals walking on dirt streets all day. Yet he did this cleansing without complaint and to show that even he was not too good to be the servant that God expects all of us to be.

Have you ever asked God to make you a servant and meant it with all of your heart?

Click to Hear Kelly Willard and The Maranatha Singers Perform Make Me a Servant