Posted February 8th, 2007
The person and work of the Holy Spirit is often minimized or misunderstood in many reformed circles. While many of us may believe that the Holy Spirit is not giving the miraculous gifts of the New Testament to the church today, we must not live and worship as if the Holy Spirit is not at work in us in experientially. God calls us to joyful, Christ-centered worship, and without the Spirit we have no hope of replacing our empty, self-seeking loves with genuine affection for Jesus. The prayer “The Spirit’s Work” from the Valley of Vision (a book of puritan prayers) beautifully describes a biblical view of the ministry of the Spirit and how it relates to our affections and experience of the Christian life. Our chief prayer for the filling of the Spirit must not be that we would experience uncontrolled emotions or that He would give us spiritual gifts. Rather, our chief prayer to the Spirit must be that He would “direct us to the cross” and “put Jesus on display” that our worship would be cross-centered and not Spirit-centered.
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Posted June 1st, 2006
All believers should be able to identify with the heart cry of this song. Have you ever felt like your mind was spinning amidst a thousand thoughts? When you retire to your prayer closet do you find it hard to suppress the onslaught of worries that constantly barrage your mind? The long list of to dos and responsibilities you have each day? Take heart believer, that the Lord is able to conquer even your craziness and replace it with a peace that surpasses comprehension (Philippians 4:7) . God has the power to draw us away from ourselves to Himself with one sovereign word. That is the essence of true worship - turning away from our preoccupation with self.
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Posted January 10th, 2006
This song should resonate in the hearts of anyone who has been born again longer than 30 seconds. One of the most besetting and annoying sins that believers deal with is that of being distracted, both in mind and heart from our true love, the Lord Jesus. The mind is one of the primary battlefields of the Christian life. We are commanded to "rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thess 5:16-18) and to set our minds only on things that are pure and lovely (Philippians 4:8). All too often we spend time and energy thinking of "the passing things of earth" (as Toplady describes them). We desperately want to be removed from all the noise and strife of life, particularly in private devotions. May this song be our prayer in our quiet times with the Lord.
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Posted July 11th, 2003
"I Will Follow You" is a great song of dedication. The desire of the believer's heart is to faithfully serve his Lord all the days of this life - and then on into eternity in His heavenly kingdom. This song has an original chorus that focuses our attention on the great theme of serving God not simply because He commands it but because He is also our friend.
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Posted July 10th, 2003
This beautiful hymn expresses our desire as believers to give all of who we are to gain all of who Christ is, dying to self and living for Christ. Whether it is our time, our body, love, voice, money, will, or heart - we offer ourselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1) to worship the God who gave us these things to begin with.
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Posted July 10th, 2003
These powerful and touching lyrics describe the fact that our one true joy is in God himself. All else - earthly pleasure - is a joy that fades, a treasure that fails, ceaseless longings and vain desires. As we sing, we celebrate that God replaces these empty pursuits with His peace - the peace of knowing that we have been forgiven. May we obey the Lord's command to seek Him first. (Matthew 6:33)
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Posted July 9th, 2003
It has been my experience that it is hard to find good songs that express a desire for zeal in evangelism. If you are looking for this kind of song, look no further! Originally written as more of a solo performance piece, we think that it's singable at certain tempos and with certain congregations.
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