Sweetly Broken, Wholly Surrendered

Another song that's been on my heart lately is "Sweetly Broken" by Jeremy Riddle. I love this song so much...as simple as it is. (Before we get into this I just want to encourage you to ask yourself the questions that I ask in this note. It might be difficult to do, but I want to stretch you and hopefully the way you look at your life, at least a little bit. And also, don't be afraid to share what you think as well. A discussion would be great. I don't have to be the only one talking here.) The first line in that song is easy to relate with, "To the cross I look." It's easy for us to look to the cross during times of hardship. We look to God asking for his help or guidance. This is what I used to do, and still do on occasion. We shoot out those quick little prayers, "God I need your help. Amen." or "God I pray for so and so with this problem. Amen." Honestly, these are my favorite kind of prayers because they are so easy to just get out of my mind in an instant and they hardly take up any of my day. But the next line is a little harder to relate to, especially in today's world, "To the cross I cling." How many of us cling to the cross? How many of us cling to the cross on a daily basis? Not because we have problems on a daily basis or our life sucks on a daily basis. But because we realize we are so messed up without a savior, without the one who died and saved us, that we need to cling to what he did and his promises for our lives. I know this is something that gets repeated a lot and we all agree and then we go on living our lives. But I want to know when we will stop agreeing, and start living like we agree. Is Jesus the person we cling to? Is he #1? The chorus of this song is my favorite:"At the cross you beckon me, you draw me gently to my knees and I am, lost for words, so lost in love I'm sweetly broken, wholly surrendered." So the first song I talked about is about how God loves us. "Oh how he loves us." Now how do we respond to that love? What are we doing with that love? Are we just using it and using it? Or are we giving it back too? Out of reverance and out of gratitude and love for God we need to be on our knees; not physically but spiritually. I don't care if you physically get on your knees, but I do care about people getting on their knees spiritually. Is your life submissive to God? Is your whole life kneeling before him and saying, "God I am drawn to you, so much so that I can't even speak." It's easy to be lost in love from God, the hard part is being broken before him, and wholly surrendered. Let me ask you guys this. Is it possible to be wholly surrendered to God? Is it possible to have every area of your life given over to God? And if it's not possible to be wholly surrendered then why even try? Honestly, I'm not sure if it's possible. I think when we have those experiences with God, when we experience God in whatever ways we have and will, we have a moment where we are completely surrendered to him. We can do nothing but give our whole life to him completely in those moments. But what happens when that moment is over? When the time comes to move on to something else? We lose that moment with God and we take back control of our lives. I've done this so many times. I would go to camp or to church and experience God and be encouraged in my faith for him and be like, "God all I am is yours, I love you." And then that would end and I would go home and I would sin when I would get home...and I knew EXACTLY what I was doing......how do we take that moment, those moments in our lives where we experience God, and make them last a lifetime?! How can we experience God and be surrendered to Him on a day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute basis?! How do we not only look to the cross, but cling to it with everything that we are?! Like I said before, it's more than a feeling. It is the process of taking each situation as it comes and asking ourselves, how can I honor God with the decision I'm about to make? It's nice to feel loved, but are we willing to show that love back by the choices we make? Are we willing to show that we are completely surrendered to him by honoring him in everything that we do? I don't have it right, I don't honor him with everything that I do, but I'm going to try to the best of my ability. Who's with me?

Oh How He Loves Us

This song by John McMillian called "How He Loves" has really been on my heart lately. Just with conversations that I've had with people and seeing the hurt and the pain that people experience on a daily basis shows me just how much people need to hear that God loves us. But how do we have faith in a God when bad things are happening? How can we have faith? Faith is believing without knowing 100% that what we believe is true or right. Can we ever know 100% that Christianity is based 100% on fact? I don't think so. But that's what makes faith so hard for people is that it's never 100%. But then again can we base any belief on 100% fact? No. I was talking with a friend tonight about faith and what it means to have faith. Honestly I don't base my belief on the facts of the Bible. I go to the Bible to learn more about my God and my savior. I go to the Bible to prevent myself from straying from what the Bible says is truth. I don't base my belief on the accuracy of the Bible. I go to the Bible to learn how God used this earth and it's people to do his will. I go to the Bible to make my faith that much deeper and intelligent. I don't base my belief on the messages or teachers that I hear speak on the word of God. I hear these messages to learn more about my faith and I usually leave saying, "Wow, what an awesome God I serve." No, the only thing that I've based my belief on, the one thing that makes me believe without a doubt is the experiences I've had with God. It's the times that God has met me here on this tiny planet; here, wherever I was standing or sitting; here, in the depths of my heart and my soul, where God has said to me "You are mine, you are my child and I will never let you go." This is what I base my belief on. It's more than a feeling you guys. I have all the confidence in the world that what I believe is true because God has shown me in my heart that he is real. Because God has shown me, like that song says, "He is jealous for me." This song resonates with me so much. And I want to encourage you guys just to spend some time with God listening to this song; listening to the words without distractions, without people, or worries. Just you and God. Oh how he loves us.