Yesterday I posted about a couple of my favorite songs with lyrics that paint amazing images.  I want to stay there for another post.  Actually I want to stay on one specific song for this post.  I’m gonna go back to the song How He Loves.

As you may have read yesterday, the lyrics are beautiful.  This song to me is just an amazing picture of the way that my God loves me.  At least that was until today.  Today as I was writing out the chords and lyrics to this song getting ready for this up coming Sunday, I stumbled onto a video on YouTube of the author of How He Loves, John Mark McMillan.  I didn’t even really know what I was clicking on until I started reading the description as he started talking.  He is leading worship at some sort of conference and telling the story of the song.  For those of you that like the song or have heard it or sing it in church, this is absolutely worth watching.  I haven’t wanted to get the song out of my head and I can’t think about it like I did before, just as another great worship song.  The video is a little long, but for all you worship leaders out there (and for everyone else for that matter) I think it is definitely a must see!

He is jealous for me 
Love’s like a hurricane, I am a tree bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy 
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory 
And I realize just how beautiful You are and how great Your affections are for me.
We are His portion and He is our prize, 
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes 
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking 
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest 
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way He loves us

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chx6s3qXKt4]

Are we that willing to serve our God?

As the church many times we miss the point of the music in our experiences.  I am not claiming that for all churches or that I am not guilty of this because I would be severely wrong in many cases.  But what is really the point in singing songs together while reading the words off the screen?  Do we do it because we like the songs?  Do we do it out of habit?  Do we do it because it makes us feel good?  Is it because the music is good?  Do we do it out of tradition?  What is it?  I mean if you think about it, as a friend of mine put it, it’s really a weird thing to come together and sing like that.  We really don’t do that very often outside of church.  I think that a lot of the time we just lose our focus (assuming it was directed in the right place to start with is a big jump but I hope that happens).  Our mind goes to things like the music is too loud, I don’t know this song so I will just tune out, I don’t have a good voice so I don’t sing, I don’t want people around me to hear me, etc.  But our main problem isn’t what is good or bad with the music or what we like or don’t like, but where our focus is.

When we are worried about any range of little things our focus is no longer where it should be.  We have now shifted to focusing on ourselves.  What do I want?  What do I like?  What if they hear me?  What if blah, blah, blah?  Our little world is now revolving around us and not where it should be.  If our focus is in the right direction, on God, then we stop thinking about what our neighbor thinks of our harmonizing or how we never really learned the words to this song and we starting realizing that God just wants our worship.  He wants our hearts.  When we are truly worshiping with our hearts it doesn’t matter if we know the words to the song.  It doesn’t matter if there are words to the song.  It doesn’t matter what the people next to us smell like, look like or sing like.  The ONLY thing that matters is that God knows we are just releasing everything to Him and expressing our hearts in a musical form!

My prayer for our church is that we learn that worship is more than singing songs.  I hope that we can see that this time of worship music, whether long or short, is a time for us to escape our crazy selfish lives and give all that we have to our Daddy.  I want the people there on Sundays and our staff and me and my band to see this time as a time to focus on He who created us and loves us and gives up everything for us.  It is a time to reflect on how very big our God is and how everything is done because He alone allows it.  It is a time to celebrate how awesome our God is and the things that He has done.  I pray that everyone from the grandparents to the musicians to the ushers understands that music is just a gift and a creative vessel in which we can easily glorify our God.

So sing your hearts out!  Clap and shout!  Rip up that solo!  Harmonize like the Beach Boys!  But do it all for Him.  Let’s stop singing just to sing.  Let’s really make it worship from our hearts.

I have a lot on my mind as of late and I really covet your prayers.  I am in new and uncharted waters for me and I’m trying to learn how to deal with them.  

Sunday we sang a couple songs that really hit me.  Yes, I picked the songs, but I didn’t realize at the time that it would be exactly what I needed to do.  We sang about surrendering everything to Christ.  Pretty easy to sing and talk about, but not as easy to do.  Maybe that’s just a testament to my faith.  I have had to put a lot of trust and faith in God the past few years through some rough stuff, but He has always come through for me.  You would think that would be example enough for me to keep my mind from being anxious about things, but apparently I’m human.  This morning as I’m trying to lead people in worship through music, I realized that I was not giving everything over to Christ.  I am still trying to do it on my own.  Don’t get me wrong, I still pray about things, but I think I am still not letting go completely.  That’s what I need to do.  Let go.  

This leads me to the other song that really hit me.  The song Everything Glorious.  The whole point of the song is realizing that He is sooooo much bigger than all of this (whatever this may be for you).  When we finally give everything over to Him, He turns it all in to good.  He turns everything into good for the glory of God.  That’s not always an easy subject to grasp considering that we are human and all struggle with some self-centered thoughts now and again (or more often).

I know that He can and will.  I just have to trust Him and give everything over to Him and let Him do it.  I need to hand it off and step out of the way.  Pray for that.