You Make All Things New

one of the most powerful scenes in the movie the Passion of the Christ is when Jesus is carrying the cross, bruised and beaten, blood dripping from the crown of thorns pushed into his head. He collapses in fatigue and weakness, the weight of the cross bearing over him. His mother Mary comes running over in panic, and Jesus calms His mother with these simple words "See mother, I make all things new." (Rev 21:5) it's amazing that Jesus would say such thing. in the eyes of the world, how could a man like this make anything new? just look at Him! He can't even stand! He's about to be crucified!
the beautiful paradox of the gospel is that a man beaten to a pulp would overcome the weight of sin and pain of the world on the cross, only to turn it all around, to make all things new. He did it so that on the days when we feel at our worst--our most ugly, sinful, depressed, hopeless, and broken moments, the days where the accusations to our left and right tells us we've failed and it's all useless, He breaks forth with a resounding "I make all things new" and we can trade in our ashes for beauty, our sorrow for joy, or sin for righteousness.
Jesus, You make all things new. You are so able. help me to trust in You.

to know You

it's funny how so often we find ourselves in a place we don't want to be, only to find out that we're here so that He can do a beautiful work in our heart. we try so hard to run away from these places yet we end up back where we started, the very place we don't want to be.
what if i stopped trying to run away? what if i finally came into agreement with His leading, and understood that the very place where He placed me is where i need to be after all?
what if i actually believed that He knows better, that here is where i will finally learn to be content with nothing but Him? to be stripped of all things until He is all I have? that out of my heart will spring forth a passion for Jesus that would abound still more and more? is that not the cry that resonates within my soul? is He not answering that at this very moment?
i pray that my heart would learn to be still, and wait for His kind, tender heart to cover me like a blanket.
Jesus, teach me to pray. teach me to talk to you in every circumstance, in the exciting ones and the more boring, difficult ones. for talking to you only when i feel like it would really be like spiritual selfishness. may you increase, and may i decrease.

selah

Hear my cry, O God,
    listen to my prayer;
 from the end of the earth I call to you
    when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
    that is higher than I,

for you have been my refuge,
    a strong tower against the enemy.

 Let me dwell in your tent forever!
    Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! Selah
 For you, O God, have heard my vows;
    you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

Prolong the life of the king;
    may his years endure to all generations!
 May he be enthroned forever before God;
    appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him!

 So will I ever sing praises to your name,
    as I perform my vows day after day.

Psalm 61

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

for the sake of the world

is it weird to believe that God actually enjoys dwelling among His own people? as we pray and as we worship, we don't just blindly direct our words of praise and adoration somewhere a million miles away somewhere in the heavens, hoping someone would hear it. no, not one word falls to the ground void. in fact, it travels to the throne room of God and reaches His ears, for He is waiting to come down and inhabit that activity.
oh, that i would be found expectant to see His kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYZVpjQ5bAg&sns=tw

 God, for the sake of the world, burn like a fire in me. for the sake of my own soul, burn. Oh God, for the sake of the souls around me, burn. for the sake of my city, this nation, and this world, burn. let it be contagious.

so faithful, so kind

i love songs that proclaim who Jesus is--His characteristics, emotions, personality. the more i study His emotions towards me, the more i'm reminded what He is like. the more i know who He is, the more i love Him. the more i love Him, the more the trivial, temporary things of a self-centered world grow dim, and get lost in the eternity of an unchanging beautiful, faithful, tender, and kind God.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svuaVpC_iBM

hebrews 12

we were the joy set before Jesus when He endured the cross. as He was whipped, spat on, and jeered, He thought of us. as the nails were drove into His arms and legs, He thought of only one thing, the day that He would be able to spend eternity with you and me, His beloved. (john 17:24). the only thing that got Him through the pain was the joy at the sight of our face.

today, when i endure my cross, i think about His face. through the days of trial and tribulation, and the pain of denying myself, my sin, and emotions, i think about Him. through the struggles of life, the daily grind, and the days where i just want to quit, one thing gets me through--the thought of His face as He thought about me as He endured the weight of sin on His shoulders on that cross. that face sustains me when i can no longer sustain myself. His face is enough.

and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. for the joy set before him he endured the cross...consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VR84tYTlCA

it's a miracle

that after all these years, i'm still here, and i'm still reaching for You;
it's a miracle that i'm still in love. i love because You loved me first.
it's a miracle that my heart still burns, and i'm still lovesick. my heart continues to ache for Your return.

it's the testimony of Your leadership, God. for you to keep me won over in love til the end.

tribute to cory asbury

hey cory,
we've never met before, but for some reason it feels like we've been friends for a long time. in fact, sometimes it feels like i really know you (in a very non-weird way). maybe it's because of the way you open your heart when you lead. over the past 4 years, i've caught a glimpse of the way you love Jesus, and it's been ever so encouraging. i love how you're so fun and joyful in your worship, even a bit silly. it makes me want to love Him more.
over these past few years, i've spent more time worshipping with you on the webstream than i spend with a lot of my friends. it's sad to watch you go, because for some reason i had always expected that you'd be there, on that stage, leading worship, singing jesus lover of my soul, or for the past year, set a fire. you've been a part of my life in many a good seasons and more difficult ones. i've cried during your sets, fallen asleep, and have zoned out quite a few times. however, even though you sing the same songs all the time, there's a freshness about each set, and about each time you open your heart up to Him. you've taught me that our relationship with Jesus isn't found in the flashy spiritual highs, but it's in the mundane of life, the daily seeking, the daily reaching, the daily opening up of our heart to touch His heart and to be touched by Him. you've taught me that History is made in secret, the place where we sing our hearts out when no one's watching but One. it's in that place where our heart becomes a 24/7 prayer room, ablaze with worship. let incense arise!
here's just a few of my favorite sets that have forever changed me:

faithful to the end


  do you know the way you move me
 

my soul sings


shekinah glory


cory, it was hard watching your last set. though there's other great worship leaders at IHOP, it's just not going to be the same. no one else can dance to 'cant get enough of your presence' the way you do. i know this post is a bit silly but i just wanted to say thank you. thank you for choosing to love Him above all else. thank you for showing me what a life wholly surrendered looks like. i can't wait to be friends with you when i get to heaven and sings songs to King Jesus for ever and ever!

reminders

there are some moments that i need to stop and remind myself--i am not my own. my mind, my affections belong to Jesus. my career, my gifts, and talents belong to Him. my hopes, dreams, desires, and purpose belong to Him. my future, my time, and my thoughts belong to Him. and whenever things don't feel right, again, i remind myself--my emotions belong to Him, and would He help set my mind right.

You would think that giving so much of oneself away would be robbing ourselves of what we as humans take pride in--our identity and the core of our uniqueness and human beings. we've been taught to choose a name we want to make for ourselves, so that we could stand out, and make a difference in this world. but the more i give away, the more i find myself content with being nothing more than a part of something greater than all that i ever could've become on my own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjLnW2YOBPw

for from You are all things, and to You are all things

feeling free

tonight, i'm just feeling really free. i went running with joanne today and it was a blast. it felt so good to run around at an empty high school track and be as silly as we could. it felt so free to know that no matter how silly i was, she wouldn't judge me and she'd still love me.
tonight, i'm learning how to be free in my relationship with Jesus. not free in the sense that i can do whatever i want, but free in knowing that He accepts me just the way i am. He still loves me. now, instead of always feeling like i fall short, i can rest assured that no matter what i do, He still loves me. where i am lacking, His grace abounds more. i can now love Him back, secure and confident in His acceptance of me, not from a place of fear or performance. He loves me!

set apart

 ¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹ Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
 ²⁰ That, however, is not the way of life you learned ²¹ when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. ²² You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Eph 4:17-24

Refiner's fire
my heart's one desire
is to be holy
set apart for you Lord
i choose to be, holy
set apart for you, my Master
ready to do Your will

happy new year!

some things never change. His love is good. His love is perfect. His love is strong. He is altogether lovely, and i've only scraped the surface.
here's to 2012, and to a journey of seeing Him better, only so i can't help but keep my eyes stuck on His Magnificence.

¹¹ One thing God has spoken, 
   two things I have heard: 
“Power belongs to you, God, 
 ¹² and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”