I want to drink God,
deep draughts of God.
I’m thirsty for God-alive.
Psalm 42
On your good days – do you think you can get by without thinking about God at all?
On your not-so-good days – do you cling to your pity and failures?
What about drinking down God?
You will always be satisfied and yet thirsty for oh so much more!
One of the best current or ever hymn writers in my opinion is Stuart Townend. Do all good things come from across the pond?
Most of the songs that the Getty’s sing are co-wrote or written completely by Stuart. And this hymn has been one dear to my husband as of late. I hope you enjoy it as well.
The stanza I chose from this hymn speaks of Christ’s work on the cross. And we boast in that. Even if it didn’t do anything for us in this life – Jesus would still be boast-worthy (1 Corinthians 15) but, it does so much for us in this life. We are welcomed into the presence of the Creator of the Universe by His Son and His work on the cross. We no longer have to be enslaved to a habit, a person, or a way of life because our Savior has risen from the grave. Glory! (One of the pastor’s I served with in Raleigh would always says this – I smile when I think of him saying this).
Live free today. Another newer praise hymn is We Speak to Nations by Israel Houghton – I love it.
One of the buzz words for the last decade has been community. And honestly, I still don’t think we get it right half the time- but that’s another story.
Community can be with anything. You can have community in your neighborhood, at your work place, with your facebook friends, over your enjoyment of coffee or wine or handcrafted beer. But true community can only be had by digging deep, suffering with, having one reality and that is in the Gospel.
Don Carson, one of my favorite authors and preachers, is also a hymn writer. My husband fills me in on all these things. I first sung one of his hymns while we were dating. Last night, my husband told me about this hymn, A Shocking Thing.
I hope you love it. And think about it when you next practice the Lord’s Supper – as it is a communion hymn for the church.
The first lines of they hymn remind me of the first verses in Philippians 2. I’m studying this letter of Paul with ladies from my church. Got to this portion this morning. How often we love and be in the church out of rivalry or conceit. Not out of love and unity. May the work of Christ on the cross guard our hearts and minds.
I yell out to my God, I yell with all my might,
I yell at the top of my lungs.
He listens.
Psalm 77:1 – the Message
Do you know and understand and realize and stake claim to the fact that the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE, the One who was before anything else ever came on the scene, the One who just spoke and everything came into existence – that God is the one who hears your prayers?
Shouldn’t that cause us to pray all the time – to seek him when we are troubled and scared and nervous and wondering what to do? He delights in us and desires us – and hears us!
And he would listen to us even if all we could muster up was a quiet whisper in the middle of the night.
Whenever October rolls around – you will always see pumpkins, and ghosts, and fall leaves.
But, you will also see Christmas lights, fake trees, snow globes, and wrapping paper. Even before Halloween and Thanksgiving, the stores are stockpiling for Christmas.
I have made it a habit not to play Christmas music until December first. There are two exceptions: Advent Songs by Sojourn and Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb. My two favorite cds get played often and throughout the year.
The first hymn that makes the list is one of my husband’s favorites – and I think its partly because it was one of his mentor’s favorites. And its a Christmas carol. Go figure. This link takes you to a devotional written by my husband’s mentor, on his last Christmas on earth. He now knows the beauty of the splendor of this King
Talks all about the incarnation. And you might think why is the incarnation so important? Well, Elyse talks about it in her book here and I highly recommend it. And Philippians chapter 2 talks about it – and how it is important for our every day life in the local church and in our homes.
Stanza three is my favorite because it talks of his ever-abiding presence in our lives and how that aids our sanctification. May you know the power of the Incarnation every day – not just during the Christmas season!
Thou who art love beyond all telling,
Saviour and King, we worship thee.
Emmanuel, within us dwelling,
Make us what thou wouldst have us be.
Thou who art love beyond all telling,
Saviour and King, we worship thee.
