Please, God

This is yet another song I wrote in response to a sermon series one of my pastors did on ASKing. There are a few different ways I approach song-writing, and this one came first as the melody and first few lines of a verse... I figured out the guitar part later.

When thinking about what we should ask God for in worship, it seemed most obvious to me that we should ask that He be more greatly glorified on the earth. Our primary motivation in worship should be to make his "name and renown" the desire of our hearts (Isaiah 26:8).

James tells us that we have not because we ask not, and that when we do ask, we frequently ask with wrong motives and therefore receive nothing. But if we are firstly motivated by a humble desire for God's "name and renown," then our requests have a solid foundation.

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Please, God, build Your kingdom
Please, God, send Your rain
Hear, God, us Your children
Asking please, God, have Your way

We have not for we ask not
So we ask now
We are wretched, blind, and poor

Send Your Spirit, come down
And let every nation bow
For Your name and renown
We are asking, God
Holy Jesus we pray
Be exalted in our day
For Your glory and fame
We are asking God

Please, God, have a harvest
Have a people for your praise
Save, God, those in darkness
Teach our hearts to love Your grace

We have not
For we ask not
We ask now O God

One Thing I Ask

I wrote this song a few weeks ago. One of my pastors has been studying Psalm 27 lately and encouraged me to write a few songs for corporate worship based on some of its themes.

Having music ministry as a part of my job, I have appreciated the time and opportunity to grow as a song-writer. The vast majority of songs I have written in the past have come out of a very personal place of worship. Some of these songs have been suitable for a congregation (i.e. they have a melody that can be followed by most and lyrics that can be sung by different people in different seasons of life), but the original meditations that prompted these songs have been very personal in nature. I am now trying to learn how to come at song-writing from a different angle. Rather than just asking, "What am I learning?" I am asking the question, "What is my church learning?"

Interestingly enough, some of the songs I have introduced at church lately have been better received initially by fellow worshippers than they have been by my own soul. But as I continue to use these songs in worship, they grow on me, becoming more and more a sincere declaration of worship born out of my own personal experience. Only after sharing these songs with others do I learn to own them myself.

Anyway... this is one of those songs. I wasn't even the one to introduce it the first time it was led at my church; a very capable fellow worship leader did! I pray this song motivates worship and praise in your own heart.

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One thing I ask, this I would seek
That I might gaze upon Your beauty
One thing I want, this I desire
O just a tast of You and Your glory

Heaven rain down
Glory pour out

I am confident of this
I will see Your goodness
In the land of the living
In the land of the living

We Are Waiting

One of my pastors has been doing a sermon series over the past number of months on prayer and of the fundamental role ASKING should play in a Christian's prayer life. It has been an incredibly fruitful season for our church in which many individuals have experienced a revitalization of their prayer lives and intimacy with God (myself included).

About two months ago he preached specifically on the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead. But the point he stressed (or which came across most strongly to me) was the excruciating delay which Jesus allowed himself, once hearing the news, before traveling to see Lazarus and his family. The practical application for our lives is that we often find ourselves, like those who loved Lazarus, in a state of waiting which we are powerless to change. And yet God will accomplish something good in the end of it all. Even if Lazarus should die, Jesus will show himself to be the resurrection and the life. We can wait patiently and pray fervently... these two are not mutually exclusive.

So these thoughts are what prompted this song...

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We are waiting God for You to respond
We are asking in Your name
We will stand and knock 'till your kingdom comes
'Till the nations know Your praise

And O to hear You say the final "Amen"
When You renew us unto life without end
But even now we pray Your kingdom come down

Holy King of love reigning over us
Jesus You will come again
Let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven

We are waiting, we are waiting for You...
We are asking, we are asking for You...

This World Has Nothing For Me

A lot of songs I've been writing recently have been about the idea of being "crucified with Christ." What does it mean to be crucified with him, or to be crucified to the world? What does this look like? For me it has seemed to look like a gradually decreasing desire to find my life in this world or to fulfill myself here. This song is a very simple one, and most of the words are not my own, but taken almost directly from scriptures that have prompted this meditation (Galatians 2:20; 6:14; Philippians 1:21-24).

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This world has nothing for me
I am crucified with Christ
This world has nothing for me
Since that glorious day I died

My will it is to know him
My longing is to see his face
In waiting I will love him
Now to live is Christ, to die is gain

With Us

This is another old song... so far this blog has been mostly useful for sharing some old songs that didn't make it onto the CD I'm working on. Maybe I'll put some of these on future projects... not sure.

Anyway, I was meditating in the Psalms for a good number of months a couple of years ago, and this song came out of Psalm 46:

God is our refuge and strength, and ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kindgoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
...
"Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. (verses 1-7,10-11)

I needed to know that God would help "at break of day," and that there was a stream that could "make glad" one who was in distress [me].

Also, the words "Lord Almighty" are translated "Lord of Hosts" in other translations. I like the latter, as it speaks to me of a mighty God with a host of angel armies at his command, ready to fight for me.

But most of all, I needed to know that in the midst of my circumstances I could just "Be still" and know that my God was faithful, that his love was constant and unchanging, and that there was no circumstance that could rob me of the hope He offers in Jesus.

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Oceans roar, mountains quake
But here in You, I am saved
Kingdoms fall, nations rage
But You will come at break of day

You are an ever-present help
in times of trouble
Though all the earth is giving way
We will not fear

The Lord of Hosts is with us
He is the God of Jacob
And ever-faithful He has been
The Lord of Hosts is with us
He is a mighty fortress
And ever-faithful He has been

Though all the earth should shake
I will be still
Knowing that You remain
I will be still
Though all the nations rage
I will be still
'Cause You are my hope and strength
I will be still

He Is the Image

I wrote this song probably about a year and a half ago, and there isn't as much of a story behind it... but I was meditating in Colossians at the time, and this song came out of it. The lyrics are mainly inspired by the first chapter, specifically verses 15-20...

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. for God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blod, shed on the cross."

I also love to remind myself what Jesus' name means: God Saves. What a wonderful declaration to make in worship. Hence the last line of the chorus: "Forever we will love the God who saves." Glory! Hallelujah!

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He is the image of the, of the invisible God
He is the Word come in flesh
He is the resurrection, the way, the truth, the life and
The love of God manifest

He is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
Fully God, He bore our shame
He is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
Reconciled us through his pain
And forever we will love the God who saves

He is the man of sorrows, acquainted with our suff'ring
Obedient unto death
He is the humble, holy, exalted Lord of Glory
The firstborn up from the dead

Forever we will love You...

Love and Justice

I wrote this song a couple of months ago in response to a study that one of my pastors encouraged me to do on the connection between worship and justice, that is, the necessary integration of justice into the lives of those who claim to worship God. As Christians, we are called to live lives that are concerned with justice for those who are oppressed, and this should be the natural outflow and expression of our worship, especially as we consider the character of God, who's love and justice are displayed perfectly and simultaneously at the cross. In order to appreciate God's justice, however, I believe we need to first understand our own personal injustice against God and his justified indignation against our sin.

A couple of passages were in my mind as I wrote the lyrics for this song. The first was Isaiah 53, where it says that It was God's will to crush "him" (the coming messiah), and to lay upon "him" the iniquity of us all. This convinces me of how seriously God takes sin, and how justified He is in punishing it. Yet he chose to bear the punishment himself in Christ. This leads me to the second passage I had in mind... Luke 7:36-50, where Jesus is annointed by a "sinful" woman. This woman had a very real sense of her need for grace, and it is her acknowledgement of that need that leads her to worship Jesus, the source of that grace. Jesus goes on to tell a parable about two men who had different quantities of debt, both of which were forgiven by their master. When Jesus' audience is asked which one will love the master more, the obvious answer follows: "...the one who had the bigger debt cancelled." So in writing this song I wanted to own this truth and to personally ackowledge that I had a great debt cancelled at the cross. I wanted to say with Paul, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience." (1 Timothy 1:15-16) Hence the lyrics for the bridge: Mine was the greatest debt forgiven...

We must have a clear appreciation of the seriousness of our sin in order to appreciate God's forgiveness of it. But we must also take God seriously and understand that He cannot simply forget our sin...it must be punished for his holiness to hold legitimacy. But glory to God! He satisfied both his desire to love and his need to punish sin by bearing the punishment himself on the cross. So we see both God's hatred of sin (in crushing Jesus) and his extravagent forgiveness (in bearing our sin for us in Christ) displayed perfectly at the cross. I want this to always remain at the center of my worship, and to say with Paul, "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ..." (Galatians 6:14)

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Just One, You were crucified for us
O sinless savior You were beaten You were crushed
Unto death our God has loved us
Unto death which we deserved
Into life our God has called us
Into love forevermore

Here where love and justice meet
I will bow and kiss your feet
You who suffered violently, I love You
Here my sinless Savior dies
In three days I see Him rise
Now exalted in my eyes, I love You Lord

Mine was the greatest debt forgiven...