O Lord God,

Teach me to know that grace precedes,
accompanies, and follows my salvation,
that it sustains the redeemed soul,
that not one link of its chain can ever break.

From Calvary’s cross wave upon wave of grace
reaches me,
deals with my sin,
washes me clean,
renews my heart,
strengthens my will,
draws out my affection,
kindles a flame in my soul,
rules throughout my inner man,
consecrates my every thought, word, work,
teaches me Thy immeasurable love.

How great are my privileges in Christ Jesus!

Without Him I stand far off, a stranger, an outcast;
in Him I draw near and touch His kingly sceptre.

Without Him I dare not lift up my guilty eyes;
in Him I gaze upon my Father-God and Friend.

Without Him I hide my lips in trembling shame;
in Him I open my mouth in petition and praise.

Without Him all is wrath and consuming fire;
in Him is all love, and the repose of my soul.

Without Him is gaping hell below me, and eternal anguish;
in Him its gates are barred to me by His precious blood.

Without Him darkness spreads its horrors in front;
in Him an eternity of glory is my boundless horizon.

Without Him all within me is terror and dismay,
in Him every accusation is charmed into joy and peace.

Without Him all things external call for my condemnation;
in Him they minister to my comfort,
and are to be enjoyed with thanksgiving.

Praise be to Thee for grace,
and for the unspeakable gift of Jesus.

- Valley of Vision

I'll take my cold, cold heart
I'll take my unrenewed mind
I'll take Your Word in my hand
And I'll give You time, to come and melt me

I can't even love You unless You call my name
I can't even worship unless You anoint my heart, God
I can't even want You unless You want me first
Come fan the flame, oh oh come fan the flame yeah

Do what only You can do - Come fan the flame
Do what only You can do - Come fan the flame
Do what only You can do - Come fan the flame
Do what only You can do

Just let my heart be alive
Let me be living deep, deep on the inside
Come fan the flame hey, hey yeah

Do what only You can do - Come fan the flame
Do what only You can do - Come fan the flame
Do what only You can do - Come fan the flame
Do what only You can do

Just let my heart be alive
Let me be living deep, deep on the inside
Come fan the flame hey hey yeah
Come! la la la la

eating eating eating

"..man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." 

Deuteronomy 8:3

sit and listen to Him and you will find that you cannot live without hearing His voice.

It's a Happy Day

“When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine."

Ezekiel 16:8

"And He is full of grace. Ah! had He not been, I should never have been saved. He drew me when I struggled to escape from His grace; and when at last I came all trembling like a condemned culprit to His mercy-seat, He said, Thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee: be of good cheer.' 

And He is full of truth. True have His promises been; not one has failed. I bear witness that never servant had such a master as I have; never brother such a kinsman as He has been to me; never spouse such a husband as Christ has been to my soul; never sinner a better Saviour; never mourner a better comforter than Christ hath been to my spirit. I want none beside Him. In life He is my life, and in death He shall be the death of death; in poverty Christ is my riches; in sickness He makes my bed; in darkness He is my star, and in brightness He is my sun; He is the manna of the camp in the wilderness, and He shall be the new corn of the host when they come to Canaan. 

Jesus is to me all grace and no wrath, all truth and no falsehood: and of truth and grace He is full, infinitely full. My soul, this night, bless with all thy might the only Begotten.'"

-charles spurgeon

learning the secret

“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11–13).

learning to labor.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Matthew 11:28-29

To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.


1 Corinthians 4:11-13


Wow, Jesus. Reveal the depth of who You are.

I'm a Christian. I'm Sorry.

If you're God's child you need to know that no dark thing in you is a surprise to the One lived, died and rose to be your Savior.

- Paul David Tripp

Marriage

We give You the Highest Praise when we need You.

The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
Zephaniah 3:17

I want to know more

I hear the trouble is coming for me death is at my doorway
Fear says Imma perish but that ain't what my Lord say
He said I ain't guilty though I still ain't have my court date
Tasted and I've seen even though it's just a forte
I don't know what they feeling I don't know what they thinking
But my soul's invincible like Mario when he blinking
They see me full of joy like "I don't know what he drinking?"
Cup is full of living water bro I sip it and thank Him
Yessir may not win grammy or get another stellar
But I get rewards from my Lord there ain't nothing better
I may not jot again I may not sell a milli
But I've been purchased by my king He's forever with me
So what they talking bout no they can't knock me down
Yessir I do feel pain but Jesus got me now
That's why I'm making noise that's why I'm running hard
That's why I go gorilla spitting monkey bars

Partner now you know I'm good to go
Pressure creates diamonds and fire refines the gold
Ain't nothing on this planet that satisfies my soul
I'm living for tomorrow today is out of control for sho
I'm good take all my money
I'm good here come the pain
I'm good ya they can kill me
I'm good to die is gain
I'm good I ain't insane yet we don't feel any pain
I'm the same you can't take us out the game
Cause homie we good


I done been through the fire I survived all the floods
And them writers is with me they all covered in blood
Drag my name through the mud they can hate they can gossip
But my passion for Jesus they ain't never go'n stop me
I was dead I guess that made me better than I ever was
Look at me I'm good partner I'm on my forever buzz
If everything I have is taken I can take it
They say I never make it I know the person who made it
My life is hidden in Him so when I die I gain
And Jesus really be walking with me so how I'm lame?
My life is full of pain problems and such
But I'm focused on forever in eternity's touch
While the world try to fight me Pharisees try to stone me
I am Tebow in the fourth quarter they can't hold me
Ya the Lord is my coach got me off in the zone
Tell my mama that I'm good when he carry me home

Partner now you know I'm good to go
Pressure creates diamonds and fire refines the gold
Ain't nothing on this planet that satisfies my soul
I'm living for tomorrow today is out of control for sho
I'm good take all my money
I'm good here come the pain
I'm good ya they can kill me
I'm good to die is gain
I'm good I ain't insane yet we don't feel any pain
I'm the same you can't take us out the game
Cause homie we good


Hey man we been beat down we been persecuted beat down and mocked but that ain't go'n stop us. No sir. We good. We know where our eternal resting place is at! Hey trip talk to em man.

I know that Imma suffer that will only make me tougher
Death is just a doorway to take me to my faithful lover
The lover of my soul is with me you can save me brother
But you can never knock me down and take me under bring the thunder
Let the storms come to hunt us and hurt us
They can't take our Lord from us bro we got us a verdict Not Guilty
He's with us and He stays present He never leaves me
He even gives me stage presence

Partner now you know I'm good to go
Pressure creates diamonds and fire refines the gold
Ain't nothing on this planet that satisfies my soul
I'm living for tomorrow today is out of control for sho
I'm good take all my money
I'm good here come the pain
I'm good ya they can kill me
I'm good to die is gain
I'm good I ain't insane yet we don't feel any pain
I'm the same you can't take us out the game
Cause homie we good

“The hard-won lesson I’ve learned in marriage, something I’m very grateful for knowing now, is that there are some things in my wife’s heart and some struggles she faces in life that I cannot fix. It doesn’t matter how romantic I am; it doesn’t matter how loving I am; it doesn’t matter how many flowers I send, or if I write her poetry, or if I clean the kitchen, or if I take the kids and let her go have girl time — I am powerless to fix Lauren. (And she’s powerless to fix me.) Doing all those things to minister to her are right and good, but there are things in my girl that I can’t fix, things that are between her and the Lord.” (66)


“It is easy to see that you and I have been created to worship. We’re flat-out desperate for it. From sports fanaticism to celebrity tabloids to all the other strange sorts of voyeurisms now normative in our culture, we evidence that we were created to look at something beyond ourselves and marvel at it, desire it, like it with zeal, and love it with affection. Our thoughts, our desires, and our behaviors are always oriented around something, which means we are always worshiping — ascribing worth to — something. If it’s not God, we are engaging in idolatry. But either way, there is no way to turn the worship switch in our hearts off.” (103)


“No change of job, no increased income, no new home, no new electronic device, or no new spouse is going to make things better inside of you.” (118)


“No matter what our job is, we view it not as our purpose in life but rather as where God has sovereignly placed us for the purpose of making Christ known and his name great. If you are a teacher, if you are a politician, if you are a businessman, if you are in agriculture, if you are in construction, if you are in technology, if you are in the arts, then you should not be saying, ‘I need to find my life’s purpose in this work,’ but rather, ‘I need to bring God’s purpose to this work.’” (149)


“The marker of those who understand the gospel of Jesus Christ is that, when they stumble and fall, when they screw up, they run to God and not from him, because they clearly understand that their acceptance before God is not predicated upon their behavior but on the righteous life of Jesus Christ and his sacrificial death.” (211)


“Grace-driven effort is violent. It is aggressive. The person who understands the gospel understands that, as a new creation, his spiritual nature is in opposition to sin now, and he seeks not just to weaken sin in his life but to outright destroy it. Out of love for Jesus, he wants sin starved to death, and he will hunt and pursue the death of every sin in his heart until he has achieved success. This is a very different pursuit than simply wanting to be good. It is the result of having transferred one’s affections to Jesus. When God’s love takes hold of us, it powerfully pushes out our own love for other gods and frees our love to flow back to him in true worship. And when we love God, we obey him. The moralist doesn’t operate that way. While true obedience is a result of love, moralistic legalism assumes it works the other way around, that love results from obedience.” (217–218)


matt chandler - explicit gospel

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. John 6:63

When I speak forth what really goes on in my mind to Abba...
When I speak forth how I really feel about people around me to Abba...
When I speak forth the pride I really feel about myself to Abba...
When I speak forth the angst and the frustrations and the anger I feel every day to Abba...

I realize only one thing...

“There is actually nothing good about me, besides Jesus Christ.”

I declare that I can't do it.
I declare that I want to let Him do it, and He can.