God of All My Days

The next entry for my Blog is God of All My Days, which was written by Mark Hall and Jason Ingram. It was first released by Casting Crowns in 2016. A link to Casting Crowns singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

God of All My Days

I came to You with my heart in pieces
And found the God with healing in His hands
I turned to You, put everything behind me
And found the God who makes all things new
I looked to You, drowning in my questions
And found the God who holds all wisdom
And I trusted You and stepped out on the ocean
You caught my hand among the waves
‘Cause You’re the God of all my days

Each step I take
You make a way
And I will give You all my praise
My seasons change, You stay the same
You’re the God of all my days

I ran from You, I wandered in the shadows
And found a God who relentlessly pursues
I hid from You, haunted by my failure
And found the God whose grace still covers me
I fell on You when I was at my weakest
And found the God, the lifter of my head
And I’ve worshiped You
And felt You right beside me
You’re the reason that I sing
‘Cause You’re the God of all my days

Each step I take
You make a way
And I will give You all my praise
My seasons change, You stay the same
You’re the God of all my days

In my worry, God You are my stillness
In my searching, God You are my answers
In my blindness, God You are my vision
In my bondage, God You are my freedom
In my weakness, God You are my power
You’re the reason that I sing
‘Cause You’re the God of all my days

Each step I take
You make a way
And I will give You all my praise
My seasons change, You stay the same
You’re the God of all my days

In my blindness, God You are my vision
And in my bondage, God You are my freedom
All my days

Have you ever had one of those OOPS moments when you broke something and it seemingly shattered into a gazillion pieces? Maybe it was an antique, maybe a valuable piece of pottery, a special heirloom, or maybe just someone’s extra special coffee cup. How did you feel when this happened, knowing there was nothing you could do about what happened? This sort of thing happens to your heart as well. Maybe you feel as if life has dealt you a bad hand and no matter what you do, you just can’t seem to come out of that deep dark abyss. Perhaps you feel this way because of relationship issues, losing a loved one, family problems, job problems, or maybe addiction problems. You begin to feel as if your heart is never going to be whole again and that there will never be joy in your life again. I believe all of the above is the core of where this song begins.

The only way we can have a healed heart is to put our lives into the hands of Christ, since only he can heal our shattered heart and help us keep going. It is true we will still have those painful memories and the scars of life, but putting our hearts in his hands allows us to have hope for the future. We have a fresh start on the future as he forgives our past. He gives us something to look forward to; an eternity with him and all of our fellow believers. We all live a life of unanswered questions, we want to know why, when, how, what if…….. These questions are all part of our daily lives and we don’t have the answers, but the good news is that God knows the answers to all of our questions. Part of our daily prayers should be asking God questions about whatever is on our mind. Sometimes we get answers to some questions right away and other times God brings us peace until he is ready to answer our question. Only he has the wisdom we need and the ability to overcome our impatience, if we just completely rely on him. I realize this is easier said than done because of our human nature, but try putting all of your questions and anxieties in his hands and experience his love and his peace.

The writer describes us as being in an ocean and we are struggling just to survive. This ocean pounding with waves, represents the struggles of life and they tend to suck us down every single day. As we cry out to God, hold out our hand to God, and give him our life; he grabs our hand and pulls us out of the waves. All of a sudden our life on that daily stormy ocean shifts to life on a peaceful lake. The wavy days are still out there as we forget our way, but God will always be there to put us back on the calm waters if we just reach out to him. He is the God of all of our days and is with us every day of our life even when we are ignoring him and forgetting about him.

No matter where we are physically, mentally, or emotionally God is there with us to hold our hand and guide us down the right path. Only he knows the right path for us and only he can keep us on the path where we belong. Everyday, our lives change in some way as we experience new events that impact us. We also go through stages of life such as youth, marriage, children, grandchildren, retirement, loss of a loved one; yet God is there to help us through every phase of our life and the troubles we face each step along the way. We constantly change over the course of our life, but God never changes. We lose our focus and we lose our way, but God is always laser focused on our path and on our journey; he knows the future of each of us. As the writer states, we should praise him every step of the way.

We spend a lot of our lives just running away from God. We are ashamed because of the things we have done; we are ashamed of not praying as we should, and we feel weak if we can’t handle things on our own. There are times when we are so disappointed in ourselves and who we have become. What we fail to realize is that God has never turned his back on us and that he stays with us and keeps holding out his open arms to us; he never ever gives up on us and never holds our failures over our heads. He only asks that we love him and accept his son as our personal savior. As bad as we have been or as neglectful we have been in our relationship with God; his overwhelming love for us never changes. He is always there to help us lift our heads and look ahead to the future instead of the past, knowing that he will never leave us or forsake us. We worship God because he is the only one who never lets us down, who forgives and forgets all of our wrongdoings, and the only one who can give us eternal life. Have you ever sung a Christian song or hymn and all of sudden you can just feel the presence and love of God? I get chills just thinking about those times when I strongly sense the presence of my Lord, there is no other experience like it. Psalm 98:4-6 encourages to sing, “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn, shout for joy before the Lord, the King.” A lot of us may say we can’t sing, but keep in mind that it is the Lord who gave us our voice and our talents and all of our songs are music to him.

Take a close look at the last verse of the song which gives us examples of when we need God and what he gives us as we call out to him. If you listen to the song via the link below, listen with your heart as you are reminded of what God has for us. The list of what he gives can never be captured in a Blog, a book, a library or a song. He gives us peace, the answers we seek, light in the darkness, freedom from the bondage of the dark world, and power that we cannot begin to fully comprehend. Isaiah 40:31 reminds us of what God can do in our lives if we only let him: “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

He is not just the God of our past, our good days, and our bad days; he is God of all of our days from the day we were born and for eternity.

Click to Hear Casting Crowns Sing God of All My Days

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

I Can Only Imagine

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

I Can Only Imagine

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

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

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

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

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

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

         And David danced before the Lord with all his might.

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

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

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

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

Click Here to See MercyMe Perform I Can Only Imagine