"I don’t need a lot of things, I can get by with nothing. Of all the blessings life can bring, I’ve always needed something. But I’ve got all I want, when it comes to loving you. You’re my only reason, You’re my only truth.
I need you like water, like breath, like rain. I need you like mercy fom heaven’s gate. There’s a freedom in your arms that carries me through. I need you. You’re the hope that moves me to courage again. You’re the love that rescues me when the cold winds rage and it’s so amazing, ’cause that’s just how you are and I can’t turn back now, ’cause you’ve brought me too far.
I thought of this song last night while thinking about what to write for this week's message. The theme is "Thirsting for God" as we continue on our series of Prayer. When I thought about the lyrics, I thought they made perfect sense with what we should be thinking and wanting in our everyday lives - to be "needing You". You for me, means needing God. Insert "God" wherever it says "You" in the song, and you'll see what I mean. It's pretty powerful. "I need God like water, like breath, like rain. There is a freedom in God's arms that carries me through. I need God." WOW! To understand and recognize that need, to know that God should be what we are thirsting for when we are dry and parched. When our stomachs and our souls are empty. Let God quench your thirst. Let Him fill you up with His glory. Let Him be the piece that is missing from your puzzled life...
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Go to God first
"Dear Lord, I don't know why I'm coming to you now, but there is no other hope in my life, and I thought maybe if I talked to You, You might hear my pleas of help and do something to change my life. I've gotten myself into a lot of trouble, Lord, and I don't know what to do. My children are angry with me, my spouse wants a divorce, our house is near foreclosure, and I just don't know what to do with my life. I think I'm going to lose my job and then what will I do? We can barely support ourselves today with 2 incomes, much less 1. Lord, help me. I don't know how to do this prayer thing, but I'm asking for Your help now. Please, I beg of you, help me..."
Have you found yourself or know of someone, that turns to God as a last resort? Instead of going to Him first, they think they can handle everything by themselves and work out their problems on their own. That's just NOT the case! God is there for us anytime we call. He may not always answer you with words you want to hear, or at the moment you think you need it most, but He will answer you. He hears your cries for help. He hears your despair, feels your joy and collects your tears. Don't go to God when all the chips are down, GO TO GOD FIRST and share with Him all your feelings - happiness and sorrow, RIGHT NOW. Don't wait, don't hold back. God should be the first priority in your life, not the last resort.
Have you found yourself or know of someone, that turns to God as a last resort? Instead of going to Him first, they think they can handle everything by themselves and work out their problems on their own. That's just NOT the case! God is there for us anytime we call. He may not always answer you with words you want to hear, or at the moment you think you need it most, but He will answer you. He hears your cries for help. He hears your despair, feels your joy and collects your tears. Don't go to God when all the chips are down, GO TO GOD FIRST and share with Him all your feelings - happiness and sorrow, RIGHT NOW. Don't wait, don't hold back. God should be the first priority in your life, not the last resort.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Amazing Grace
Ten Amazing Facts about Amazing Grace
1) The words were written by a reformed British slave trader turned Anglican minister, John Newton, who wrote it to accompany a New Year’s Day church service in 1773.
2) Amazing Grace is the most covered song in history. Over 3200 different recordings exist.
3) The tune we now associate with Amazing Grace wasn’t matched to the words until 1835 in William Walker’s Southern Harmony. Until then it was set to a variety of tunes.
4) The final stanza—‘When we’ve been there ten thousand years’—was added by Edwin Othello Excell in 1909 and was taken from another hymn.
5) Amazing Grace is considered to be the anthem of the Cherokee Nation because the song was sung on the Trail of Tears during 1838-39.
6) The first gospel recording of Amazing Grace was made in 1926 by Rev. H. R. Tomlin.
7) Most of the recordings of Amazing Grace have been made since Judy Collins had a surprise pop hit with the song in 1971.
8) A survey of British teenagers in the mid-1970s found that the majority thought that Amazing Grace was a love song about a girl named Grace.
9) The popular bagpipe version recorded by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards was based on the hit version by Judy Collins and was only added to an album as an afterthought. Later released as a single, it became a huge international hit.
10) Amazing Grace was sung as the funerals of Richard Nixon, Sonny Bono, Barry Goldwater, Joe DiMaggio and John Kennedy Jr.
This is Amazing Grace Sunday and on this day, we are reminded to:
** praise God for the abolition of the slave trade 200 years ago
** pray for the remaining work of racial healing and equality
** pledge to free the men, women, and children still enslaved today
1) The words were written by a reformed British slave trader turned Anglican minister, John Newton, who wrote it to accompany a New Year’s Day church service in 1773.
2) Amazing Grace is the most covered song in history. Over 3200 different recordings exist.
3) The tune we now associate with Amazing Grace wasn’t matched to the words until 1835 in William Walker’s Southern Harmony. Until then it was set to a variety of tunes.
4) The final stanza—‘When we’ve been there ten thousand years’—was added by Edwin Othello Excell in 1909 and was taken from another hymn.
5) Amazing Grace is considered to be the anthem of the Cherokee Nation because the song was sung on the Trail of Tears during 1838-39.
6) The first gospel recording of Amazing Grace was made in 1926 by Rev. H. R. Tomlin.
7) Most of the recordings of Amazing Grace have been made since Judy Collins had a surprise pop hit with the song in 1971.
8) A survey of British teenagers in the mid-1970s found that the majority thought that Amazing Grace was a love song about a girl named Grace.
9) The popular bagpipe version recorded by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards was based on the hit version by Judy Collins and was only added to an album as an afterthought. Later released as a single, it became a huge international hit.
10) Amazing Grace was sung as the funerals of Richard Nixon, Sonny Bono, Barry Goldwater, Joe DiMaggio and John Kennedy Jr.
This is Amazing Grace Sunday and on this day, we are reminded to:
** praise God for the abolition of the slave trade 200 years ago
** pray for the remaining work of racial healing and equality
** pledge to free the men, women, and children still enslaved today
Thursday, February 8, 2007
It's all about LOVE
How many LOVE letters have you received in your life? How many LOVE letters have you written? Have you ever received a letter from God? Have you felt His presence surrounding you when you're feeling down? Have you felt His arms wrap around you in the highlights of your life, saying, "You are Worthy of this and so much more"? Have you sat down to read His word, and feel the LOVE in the words that are before you? Do you know that God LOVES you? Do you know how much God LOVES you? Do you know that you are WORTHY of God's LOVE every day of your life? When you're feeling down, take a moment to tell yourself that God LOVES you and you are WORTHY of His LOVE and grace. Your life has WORTH, your LOVE has meaning, and giving yourself to God is such a small thing to do to show your LOVE for HIM.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Service with a smile
"SERVICE with a smile." I'll never forget those words when I started my first "real job" working at Burger King. Whenever you were on the front counter, running the registers, it was always "SERVICE with a smile." Well, I smiled alright! I smiled until my cheeks hurt! I smiled when customers were yelling at me that it was taking too long and their fries were cold! I smiled when I was handing food out the drive-thru window and my hands were freezing from the cold and snow that was ever-present in good old Bradford, PA. I smiled when I had to wash dishes, and clean tables, and empty garbages. I smiled day in and day out. I was the epitome of "SERVICE WITH A SMILE." Today, I try and carry that sentiment with me as I SERVE the Lord and those around me. When I answer the phone, I hope the people can hear my smile instead of the frustration I might be feeling because I'm having a bad day. When I'm waiting patiently in the 20 items or less line at Wal-Mart, and the customer in front of me has a full cart, I hope that the cashier can see that I am smiling to help make their mood a little lighter. I hope that as I am a SERVANT in my daily life, whether in church or at work, or just getting groceries, that people know that my heart is full of love and that my smile is real and meant for them...
Thursday, January 4, 2007
To-do list
Things to do today (in no particular order):
1) Clean house
2) Take down Christmas decorations
3) Eat
4) Shower/get dressed
5) Go to the mall and return/exchange Christmas gifts
6) Go to Wal-Mart for puppy food, milk, etc.
7) Prepare Sunday School lesson
8) Prepare media for Contemporary Service tomorrow!
9) Pray
10) Spend time with family
Look familiar? What was your to-do list for today? Do you make a new to-do list each day, or do you just add to the one from the day before and hope that today's the day you'll get it all done? When you make a to-do list, do you list it by order of importance, or just a random order of things you'd like to get done? My to-do lists are generally random, because I can't PRIORITIZE everything I'd like to get done - they're all PRIORITIES for me at this point! However, my first and foremost PRIORITY should be my time spent with God. Whether it be through reading the Bible, or a devotional, or just a book that puts me in a better place emotionally and spiritually. That should come first EVERY DAY no matter what else I have going on.
This year, if you aren't already putting God first in your life every day, make it your New Year's Resolution to do so. And keep it! So often we make resolutions that are meaningless, and we know they will never happen. Make it your goal for this year to make God your #1 PRIORITY and see how everything else falls into place.
1) Clean house
2) Take down Christmas decorations
3) Eat
4) Shower/get dressed
5) Go to the mall and return/exchange Christmas gifts
6) Go to Wal-Mart for puppy food, milk, etc.
7) Prepare Sunday School lesson
8) Prepare media for Contemporary Service tomorrow!
9) Pray
10) Spend time with family
Look familiar? What was your to-do list for today? Do you make a new to-do list each day, or do you just add to the one from the day before and hope that today's the day you'll get it all done? When you make a to-do list, do you list it by order of importance, or just a random order of things you'd like to get done? My to-do lists are generally random, because I can't PRIORITIZE everything I'd like to get done - they're all PRIORITIES for me at this point! However, my first and foremost PRIORITY should be my time spent with God. Whether it be through reading the Bible, or a devotional, or just a book that puts me in a better place emotionally and spiritually. That should come first EVERY DAY no matter what else I have going on.
This year, if you aren't already putting God first in your life every day, make it your New Year's Resolution to do so. And keep it! So often we make resolutions that are meaningless, and we know they will never happen. Make it your goal for this year to make God your #1 PRIORITY and see how everything else falls into place.
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