Love Can...

What can move a mountain from the place where it stands?
What can calm the greatest fear with a Touch from it's Hand?
What can turn an enemy to a brother and a friend?
There is only one thing I know
Love Can
Love Can

What can bring a miracle in a moment of need?
What can reach a fallen soul and put him back on his feet?
What can say that nothing is beyond it's hands?
There is only one thing I know
Yes I know

That only love can heal your broken heart
When it's all said and done
And you've had enough
Only love can bring you off of your knees
And back on your feet

What can build a bridge between a Holy God and a sinful man?
I know there's only one thing only love can
What can help a lost soul find his way back home again?
There is only one thing I know
Yes, I know
Yes, I know

That only love can heal your broken heart
When it's all said and done
And you've had enough
Only love can bring you off of your knees
And back on your feet

Only love can move a mountain
Only love can heal the broken
Only love can move a mountain
Only love can heal the broken
Only love can move a mountain
Only love can heal the broken

--lyrics by DecembeRadio

Psalm Six...

O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,
nor discipline me in your wrath.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.
My soul also is greatly troubled.
But you, O Lord—how long?

Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;
save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who will give you praise?

I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
My eye wastes away because of grief;
it grows weak because of all my foes.

Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
The Lord has heard my plea;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

Word: “troubled”

Phrase: “the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping”

Call: “The Lord has heard my plea, the Lord accepts my prayer” There are many things in life that I tend to question “why?” Things that just don’t seem to make any sense and leave me in a pool of confusion. But what an encouragement that I have a God who desires to have a relationship with me and wants me to come to Him with my questions, worries, and fears! He hears me, and He comforts me.

Psalm Five...

Give ear to my words, O Lord;
consider my groaning.
Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray.
O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
You destroy those who speak lies;
the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
in the fear of you.
Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make your way straight before me.

For there is no truth in their mouth;
their inmost self is destruction;
their throat is an open grave;
they flatter with their tongue.
Make them bear their guilt, O God;
let them fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.

But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may exult in you.
For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
you cover him with favor as with a shield.

word: “refuge”
phrase: “Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness”
call: “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.” So many times in my life I have been lead astray, hurt by promises that could not be kept, stepped on by someone’s words, and left in pieces when someone walked out. But what an encouragement to know that evil cannot dwell with the Lord! God will never leave me hurt or broken. He loves with a steadfast, unfailing love that will never end. How could I not rejoice and sing for joy? :)

Falling...

Father it remains to me a mystery
Why You still love me
When You see the bad in me
You show me mercy
You show me grace
You call me Your own

Day by day I'm finding out, just a little more
Just exactly what the journey is for
It is to love You, hold You, touch You,
to call You my own, my own

And I trade treasure, I trade fame, just to hear You speak my name
I've been touched by You and I will never be the same
I will never be the same for

I am falling more and more in love with You my King
My heart sings a song that even angels cannot sing

Father it remains to me a mystery
Why You still love me, when You see the bad in me
You show me mercy
You show me grace
And You call me Your own

Day by day I'm finding out, just a little more
Just exactly what this journey is for
It is to love You, hold You, touch You, to call You my own, my own

And I trade treasure, I trade fame,
just to hear You speak my name
I've been touched by You and I will never be the same
I will never be the same for

I am falling more and more in love with You my King
My heart sings a song that even angels cannot sing

--song by Pocket Full of Rocks

Give Me Jesus...

In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
Give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus.
You can have all this world,
Just give me Jesus.

When I am alone,
When I am alone,
When I am alone,
Give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus.
You can have all this world,
Just give me Jesus.

When I come to die,
When I come to die,
When I come to die,
Give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus.
You can have all this world,
Just give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus.
You can have all this world,
You can have all this world,
You can have all this world,
Just give me Jesus.

--song by Jeremy Camp

Hallelujah...

Close my eyes
Falling on my knees
The hope that’s inside
An overwhelming peace

As time’s slowing down
Your soft spoken words
On my heart left a stain
Though no one’s around
And everything’s broken
Your beauty remains
And I realize the reason You came

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Shedding a tear
The taste becomes stale
‘Cause this is why I’m here
The scar of a nail

Heaven has the pleasure of having You here
Nothing can measure the love that You share
Angels sing welcome home
Welcome home

And this is what I’ll sing for You
And this is what I’ll sing for You
Oh

--lyrics by Krystal Meyers

Psalm Four...

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have given me relief when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.

Be angry, and do not sin;
ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the Lord.

There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
You have put more joy in my heart
than they have when their grain and wine abound.

In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

word: “joy”
phrase(s): “the LORD hears when I call to Him”
"put your trust in the LORD”
call: “for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety” We have a deep confidence in God to be our protector and guide when we call out to Him in our times of need.

For My Love...

Walk towards me
I want to hear
The heavens singing over you
When you breathe
And look at me
I want to be captured by you

Gaze into my eyes
And let me know you’d fight
Thousands, for my love
Slip your hand in mine
Ask me to dance with you tonight
Just ask me for my love

I want to hide
What’s deep in my eyes
I’m scared to be known by you
But when I turn my head
And see you there
I want to be pursued

A dream I won’t wake from
A story that will never end
The ground your feet walk on
Let me be there, let me be there

--lyrics by Bethany Dillon

Psalm Three...

O Lord, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
many are saying of my soul,
there is no salvation for him in God. Selah

But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
I cried aloud to the Lord,
and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah

I lay down and slept;
I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.
I will not be afraid of many thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.

Arise, O Lord!
Save me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.

Salvation belongs to the Lord;
your blessing be on your people! Selah

Word: “sustained”

Phrase: “Salvation belongs to the LORD” (It’s only acquired through Him!!)

Call: “But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the LORD, and He answered me from His holy hill.” This phrase expresses a deep trust in God. We trust in Him to always be there for us even in the hardest and darkest times of life—He will help us make it through.

Psalm One...

"Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish."

The following are the elements of this Chapter in Psalms that stuck out to me:

Word: "Blessed"
Phrase: "...for the Lord knows the way of the righteous"
Call: "But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night"...before having a growing closeness with God, one must consider their attitude toward the law of God. A righteous man is someone who loves the law of God. The righteous person grows by an obedient response to the scriptures, which express the will of God. Spending time in scripture is an extremely important aspect to one's Christian walk with Christ.

Everything...

Find Me Here
Speak To Me
I want to feel you
I need to hear you
You are the light
That's leading me
To the place where I find peace again.

You are the strength, that keeps me walking.
You are the hope, that keeps me trusting.
You are the light to my soul.
You are my purpose...you're everything.

How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

You calm the storms, and you give me rest.
You hold me in your hands, you won't let me fall.
You steal my heart, and you take my breath away.
Would you take me in? Take me deeper now?

How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
And how can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

Cause you're all I want, You're all I need
You're everything,everything
You're all I want your all I need
You're everything, everything.
You're all I want you're all I need.
You're everything, everything
You're all I want you're all I need, you're everything, everything.

And How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

--lyrics by Lifehouse

I absolutely love the words to this song. There is an extremely moving youtube video to this song that I highly recommend watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyheJ480LYA

Verse...

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." -Luke 9:23-24

--Camp Omega theme verse for summer '08

Gone...

I'm leaving tomorrow morning for my summer mission field in Waterville, Minnesota where I'll be a camp counselor at Camp Omega. I'll be back, and the blog will resume after August 22. Have a great summer!! :)

Take Up Your Cross...

Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'
-Matthew 16:24

Jesus' words were unmistakable--and brutal--to His disciples. They knew what crosses were. No, they weren't silver charms worn on necklaces. They weren't the designs in tattoo parlors. The cross was an instrument of execution, one of the most violent and horrible ever invented by evil men. I can imagine the disciples gasping when Jesus uttered those words. If we fully comprehend them, well will gasp, too.
But before we get to the cross, let's understand some things. Jesus begins this statement with a tiny but important word: if. He doesn't take it for granted that you and I will be willing to follow Him along His path of radical obedience to the Father. Jesus is no bully. He doesn't try to get us to pack our bags for a guilt trip. No, He simply offers that path with all its hardships and joys, and says, "If you want the greatest adventure life has to offer, here's what the ticket will cost you." Quite frankly, the vast majority of Christians look at the brochure and say, "No thanks. The price is too high. I'll settle for something else." Only a few are willing to say, "Yes, Jesus. I want to go wherever you go." Fewer still stay on board for the whole journey. Jesus makes the offer, and He leads each of us in deciding what we want to do. The question isn't "Do you do what you want to do?" but "Do you do what He wants you to do?" In this lies the opportunity to die.
A few months later, the disciples understood what Jesus meant. At that time, the perfect Son of God, the sinless messiah, willingly "endured the cross, scorning its shame" (Heb. 12:2) in obedience to the Father. He prayed so hard that blood vessels in his forehead burst from the strain. Drops of blood fell on the ground where he agonized with his Father about dying such a horrible death. But His commitment to obey the Father was greater than His desire for comfort and approval. So He went to the cross.
That's what it means for you and me, too: to obey God no matter what He asks us to do and no matter how much we don't want to do it. On a daily basis, we are to say "Yes!" to God by:

• Valuing what God says is important, and blowing off the things that aren't
• Being loyal to the Father at all costs because He is worth of our love
• Obeying Him wherever, whenever, and however He leads

So "taking up our crosses" means to value God above all else, to serve instead of demand our rights, and to be humble instead of proud--to the point of death.
The rewards are great, but so is the cost. It costs us everything. Like the hymn says, "I surrender all," not "I surrender 10%." No one will tell you that it's an easy road. Jesus himself faced hardship on the cross. He wept. He sweat. He asked his friends to pray. The result of his obedience was that God is exalted above all and Christ became the way for you and I to be forgiven. You and I will face excruciating moments, too, when it seems like God is asking too much and nobody is there for us. Those are the most painful, and the most important, times in our journey. We will feel alone, but we aren't. God is with us, and He has not forsaken us, especially in those times of need.
[taken from A Call To Die by David Nasser]

Footprints In The Sand...

So I know that this poem isn't one that hasn't been heard multiple times before. Odds are one has heard or read the poem at least once in their lifetime. But for me, this poem was one of those things where I had read it as a child being that it was printed on a magnet on our refrigerator, but the reality of what it spoke of didn't come to me until I read it again when I was older. So often, especially in the hardest times of our lives we feel as though God is no longer in control of us and that He's slowly letting us slip away from His grasp. But we're wrong. It's in those very times where He is closest :)
--

"One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was
walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the
sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he
noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one
belonging to him, and the other to the Lord. When
the last scene of his life flashed before him, he
looked back at the footprints in the sand. He
noticed that many times along the path of his life
there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed
that it happened at the very lowest and saddest
times in his life. This really bothered him and he
questioned the Lord about it. "Lord, You said that
once I decided to follow you, You'd walk with me all
the way. But I have noticed that during the most
troublesome times in my life, there is only one set
of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed
you most you would leave me." The Lord replied,
"My son, My precious child, I love you and I would
never leave you. During your times of trial and
suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it
was then that I Carried You." "
--Mary Stevenson