Musings

The Time has Come
Do you see the movement of sinners turning to repent?
Open your eyes for you’ve been gone too long
Away from this world that’s holding you down
Lift up your hands and come back to the only love You’ve known

Do you see the consuming fire ablaze in this place?
Open your heart and allow it to burn inside
Give an offering to the one who paid the greatest price
Lift up the name of the one who deserves your praise

bridge
For the time has come in which we no longer wait
There’s a movement of revival in this place
It requires your all, are you willing to give
Finally die so you may find that you can truly live?

chorus
Let your love flow uninhibited
Surrender all to the feet
Of the One whom we meet
In mercy at his throne
Receive his power without restraint
Go out to the nations to declare His name
For your time has come
Yes, the time has come
There’s a revival in this place

You see the spirit of the One
As the spirit flows through this place
A beauty untainted, pure
The movement of a sweet sweet song
As we surrender all
They come to His name


Quiet Strength
She moves uninhibited
An air of confidence and grace
Radiant with beauty
Her smiles fill the place
A gentle heart increasingly pure
Eyes lifted to the Lord
Every word off her tongue intentional
Filled with praise forevermore
All those around captured by her presence
For quiet strength is her song

In the Refiner’s fire
Consumed by only One
Clay in the Potter’s hands
Form begins to take shape
The layers of a petal pulled away
Revealing the blossom within
To fear the Lord
Is where one must begin
In the grip of grace
Singing praises all the day long
I evermore look to His face
For quiet strength will be my song.

One by One

From here
Right now
Your Cross
Carried out
One by one
They come to raise
Lift up Your name
In everlasting praise
See them gather, hear them sing
To join the cause of the One whom we see
And here it starts
And here it begins
The rushing of a pent-up flood
That brings sinners to repent
One by one they come
Gather in Your name
To take up Your cross
Leave behind their shame
One by one they come
Strip away burdens, leave them behind
Hearing Your call screaming "You are mine"
And one by one they come
Men who fear Your name
To take up Your cross
Carry it out to the land

And one by one
The tears fall down my face
As I remember what You revealed
Beautiful glimpses now reality
O Lord of prophecies
Who am I that You allow me to see?
One by one I offer these words
Give You all the glory!

Revival

Voices harmonizing
Single breath in song
Hymns of loudest praise
Offering as one
See the beauty in our hearts
Spirit of God in this place
All we have we bring
All we are we give
Sacrifice upon the altar
Die so we may live
Lay our lives down
For the sake of knowing our King
Yet still, we are called to more
To bring our everything
Countless souls wandering
Hidden from His face
Prone to wander, still they run
Rejecting the merciful grace
Will we come? Seek Your face?
Sacrifice all for Your praise?
O Spirit of God, move in this place
Revival bring glory to Your name!

Dwelling in Words

This is kind of an addendum to what I wrote earlier...that was rushed and hurried and so I'm wiping the slate clean and starting over.

"We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words." (1 Corinthians 2:6-13)

God's been teaching me today especially that words have no purpose if they are not edifying or positive in some way. Words shouldn't be spoken just to be spoken. So much of communication in this world is of a worldly spirit that can only further the flesh. Yet, as Christians, we have received the Holy Spirit in which all words should flow from. We speak in an edifying manner. I was presented with the stark contrast between conversations that contain this manner with the manner of worldly conversation in our study lounge this week. i had the choice to partake or not to partake in conversations occuring there. So often I did not. Who are we to think we have the right to blaspheme others? If we are speaking out of the Spirit, in words taught by the spirit, I know God's kingdom will be advanced in ways we never thought possible.

"My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer. You are the most excellent of men and your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed you forever." Psalm 45:1-5

I've been looking back to hymn writers and reading their words, finding that I crave what is being spoken for the hymns contain such purity and beauty, and I've been wondering why we don't see that more today, even with myself as a writer. In society today we have so many resources and means to communicate with the seemingly limitless media and freedom of expression we experience. Yet in this, I think this is where we have lost the purity and beauty of words. These aformentioned hymn writers wrote out of the fullness of the Spirit and it is through that power that those words still move people today. I think about how many books I've read over the years and thinking about how many I actually remember. Not many. Just because one has the ability and means to communicate does not mean one should. I think society gets too caught up in the “practice of communication” that we have lost sight of the “art of communication.” When one thinks about the word art, it implies something that has taken shape over time, with many iterations and deliberateness, intention and vision, that eventually comes out to be something that evokes emotion or opinion, and the best art is often one that challenges people to look at life in a different way or see newfound beauty or gain inspiration. Why shouldn’t communication be the same?

Do we ever sit in silence anymore? I found myself yesterday with a half hour of time before meeting some friends and I was searching for someone to talk to or something to do, when all I needed to do was be still. Out of this seamless praise flowed because it was the result of allowing the Holy Spirit to move. There's such a beauty in allowing our hearts to be stirred by a noble theme as we recite our verses for the King...

"She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue." Proverbs 31:26

God continues to refine me and in that He's been teaching me a lot about myself lately, things that perhaps I didn't think were relevant to the time I am in now. I'll only speak of one area here, and that is how I need to return back to my roots as an encourager. Back home I was known as the "sweet one" who was the one who everyone went to talk to about whatever needed to be shared, for God's given me the ability to listen and grace that goes along with it. God's changed me a lot this year, but there are things He has created me to be that I must not leave. I want to be a vessel of encouragement, for I don't think I've been doing that near my capacity at all. I want to be intentional with my words and things I say to others, in that they may contain wisdom and faithful instruction.

With all of this I am reminded of the conversations I have and treasure with my brothers and sisters in Christ for they are so edifying and God uses them so much. As we are real and open with one another we see the grace of God move through it. I see a glimpse of what meaningful communication is and should be...and I pray that it will become such that through our words hearts are lit on fire by the Holy Spirit, for the words of the Holy Spirit being spoken through us are piercing their hearts. And it is also my prayer that I will be intentional with my words, not speaking just to speak, but with purpose and intention behind it. Let "my lips be anointed with grace, since God has blessed me forever."

Delight

How good it is to delight in God...in His time, I will write more about what this has all entailed, but I wanted to share some powerful works from Gerhard Tersteegen, a 18th century poet/hymnist. These words express everything far better than I can.

Hidden in God’s Heart
How good it is, when weaned from all beside
With God alone the soul is satisfied,
deep hidden in his heart!
How good it is, redeemed, and washed, and shriven,
To dwell, a cloistered soul, with Christ in heaven
Joined, never more to part!

How good the heart’s still chamber thus to close
On all but God alone—
There in the sweetness of His love repose
His love unknown!
All else forever lost—forgotten all
That else can be;
In rapture undisturbed, O Lord, to fall
And worship Thee.

No place, no time, neath those eternal skies
How still, how sweet, and how surpassing fair
That solitude in glades of paradise
And, as in olden days, God walking there.
I hear His voice amidst the stillness blest
And care and fear are past
I lay me down within His arms to rest
From all my works at last.

How good it is when from the distant land
From lonely wanderings, and from weary ways
The soul hath reached at last the golden strand,
The Gates of Priase!
There, where the tide of endless love flows free
There, in the sweet and glad eternity
The still, unfading Now.
Ere yet the days and nght of earth are o’er,
Begun the day that is forever more—
Such rest art Thou!

Within the Holy Place
His priest am I, before Him day and night
Within His holy place
And death, and life, and all things dark and bright
I spread before His face.
Rejoicing with His joy, yet ever still,
For silence is my song
My work to bend beneath His blessed will
All day and all night long
Forever holding with Him converse sweet
Yet speechless, for my gladness is complete

The Royal Priesthood
The race of God’s anointed priests
Shall never pass away
Before His glorious face they stand
And serve Him night and day

Though reasons rave and unbelief
Flows on, a mighty flood
There are, and shall be until the end
The hidden priests of God

His chosen souls, their earthly dross
Consumed in sacred fire
To God’s own heart their hearts ascend
In the flame of deep desire
The incense of their worship fills
His temple’s holiest place
Their song with wonder fills the heavens
The glad new song of grace.

At the Foot of the Cross

Walking in the fields of green when something gleams
Taken aback I turn around and see
Your cross stretched out, fallen upon the ground

No longer in its full glory

Over the fence I climb, stretching to reach
The grace upon which I stumbled so greatly
Moved by love I was compelled
To take up Your cross once again

Lifting it up, glimpses of Simon of Cyrene
Appalled by the weight of which You bore
In the midst of excruciating pain
How was this cross carried that day?

Not by my own strength but Yours
The cross was lifted up from the floor
And crucified You were again
For me my sins You bore

Up in its full splendor, never have I been so moved
To hug the cross so dear to me
Looking to where Your ankles bound
To where Your pierced hands lay
To where Your head bowed
In the midst of excruciating pain
Love of the Father present still
At the foot of the cross I lay

Barbed wire pierced my hand
Like the nails You bore
A drop of blood, a single tear
At the price You paid
Ever still I stumbled upon a coil of wire
The crown of thorns You wore
What did You go through for me, my Dear Lord?

The fence broken through
Gates open wide
The door to heaven remains
A gift to those who accept the price He paid
Released from all bondage still
A free and released soul
In the presence of Our Dear Lord

Walking in the fields of green when something gleams
Taken aback I look up and see
The love of the Father, shining from the sky
The price He paid in all its full glory

Promises

I've been realizing something as of late in regards to words and mine never fully being able to praise God in the way He deserves. Last night in my Bible Study we talked about the Bible being the promises of God. As I read the Bible in this way last night, a new vitality was brought to my thirst for His word and what He speaks through it. Though I know God has given me a gift with words, I am so thankful that I can turn to His word and know it gives such an accurate representation of Him. I'm struck by the beauty of the Psalmnists, the words of wisdom from the prophets, the amazing testimonies by historians, and the encouragement and commands of Paul, John, and others. More and more my eyes are being open to His incredible promises, and it leaves me with a thirst like no other.

"Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 'I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you--the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you--every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood, never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.' And God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life" (Genesis 9:8-15).

"Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep the commands, decrees, and regulations he gave our fathers. And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his people Israel according to each day's need, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other. But your hearts myst be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time" (1 Kings 8:56-61).

"Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: my purpose will stand, and I will do all I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far off land, a man to fufill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do" (Isaiah 46:8-11).

Passionate

“Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart. They say, “the people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anabites there.’ Then I said to you, ‘do not be terrified, do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God is going before you and he will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place” (Deuteronomy 1:28-31).

How the Lord spoke to me through this passage this weekend. It’s interesting because as I go off to a new place or something unfamiliar, I find myself in fear for I don’t know what to expect, even if it’s just for a couple of days. I relate this back to what God has for me and realize that these little “weekends” are nothing compared to what He has in store for me. In the fear I feel, I want to cling to what is familiar and what I know. There are times when I find myself clinging to the little idea of home that I have left, to eventually find that really, I have no home anymore except for in Christ. This is the way it should be, however foreign the idea may be at the present. As Christians we are called to be strangers of this world and that resonates more and more in my life daily. So as I no longer belong to this world, I cling to Christ, my Lord, and there I find rest.

I learned about fear in two other ways this weekend as well. As I sat and talked with other girls this weekend at the retreat, over and over again I saw their heart to know God intimately and embrace who He has created them to be, yet fear has seemed to paralyze them from moving. I was so moved by this fact that I had the opportunity to get up and share this with the group of about 150 girls. I have been in that place where fear paralyzes you from moving closer to God, and it leaves one in the state of passivity. It is my heart’s cry that those He has called by name will hear His call and simply run to Him, leaving all fears behind. We can’t be so afraid and uncertain of the things God is doing and will do that we remain paralyzed; instead, we bring that fear to Him. Boldly we approach the throne with confidence. But, we approach. As the passage from Deuteronomy states, God goes before us and He fights for us, yet at the same time, He carries us in His arms. We have a remarkable God on our side! Will we allow Him to be that God in our lives? Will we fully realize that God has not given us a spirit of fear?

“The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to his forefathers, that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. Know therefore, that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations to those who love him and keep his commands” (Deuteronomy 7:7-9).

The last way I am learning about fear is true fear of the Lord. His power is so unbelievably great and honestly, the plans He has for me scare the heck out of me at times. For a long time I struggled with the fact of what it meant to truly fear the Lord. I thought that it seemed to be such a contradiction with what everything else said; such as God loves you, He wraps you in His arms, etc., etc., and then we are to fear Him? Why do we fear someone we love? I’m finally starting to realize that fearing is being in total reverence and awe of His power, knowing full well that He is God and will do whatever He wishes. It is the fear of Him that brings us to the foot of His throne, not away from Him.

“You hem me in-behind and before, You have laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain” (Psalm 139:5-6).
On somewhat of the opposite spectrum of fear, I find myself in a place I’ve never been before. Never before do I remember being so passionately in love with the Lord my God and having it consume me. He has brought me so far yet I know I haven’t seen anything yet and that is something I can’t comprehend. For how can my life be more blessed? How much closer to Him can I be? His thoughts are much too lofty for me! I am stunned and remain in this constant state of worship. After all that has happened over the last two weeks, I felt as if things were finally going to spill this weekend, all of my words and emotions and everything. I had a three hour block of time on Saturday in which I sat on a wooden suspension pedestrian bridge over the river in the midst of a redwood valley, just drinking in the sunshine. How sweet was that time, in which I could pour out my heart fully and uninhibitedly to Him…yet at the end I felt no more “spilt” than at the beginning. I’ve always been able to express myself and what is going on fully in words, and I’m now in the place where I can’t. I am experiencing what it is like to have life to the full, and in that, all this that dwells in my heart will always be brimming over. I pray that will never cease, because it is in this state that I remain in true, constant worship of Him! In the place where I am at a loss of words yet so full of praise that I never have enough time to fully praise Him. In the place where I can’t stop letting Him pour through me and teach me. In the place where a smile never leaves my face and I never cease to be moved by Him. In the place where I so beautifully see Him in every single moment. In the place where I know He has me in the grip of His hand and He has called me by name. In the place that I never want to leave because I want to remain in His presence all the days of my life!


This consummation that burns inside my heart
The flames ablaze, Your passion runneth over
I have never been so moved by You
So deep in love with You
And my heart can’t contain

This love song arising from my heart
This love song scripted in my soul
This love song from my lips depart
This love song that has captured me still

Crucified

The Lord Jesus Christ was sent to die
All may count their sins as loss
Nailed to a cross, He was crucified
Always in step with the Father's will
We live because of the sacrifice
Walking by the purpose that
The glory of God is man fully alive
Here I am...

Chorus
Be crucified in me
Be crucified through me
Waking me up so I can see
I am free, I am free
Your sacrifice allows me to be
Caught up in Your beauty
I am free, I am free
I am free

The cross testifies of grace
When we survey the splendor still
For one man died to take our place
An act of love difficult to comprehend
Overcoming the world of hate
In doing so He raises us up
On His promise He commands us to wait


I've wanted to write so much over the last few days but I simply haven't been able to because of lack of words. There are no words close to adequate enough to express what God is doing and thus my quiet. Coming from a writer like me, I think it says a lot when I can't even find the words to say. That's what God's doing and that's who He is. He's bigger, much bigger than anything anyone could ever say. And for now, I am going to drink it all in. In time I will write more. See the beauty of God, my friends. Allow Him to reveal Himself to You and then be astounded.