Lyrical Friday - Beg

Happy Friday! As of lately, the Lord has been reminding me of the good ol' days. The days when my salvation was fresh and passion filled. The days when I welcomed the Lord's consuming fire to burn in my life. He took me back to the days when all I had was my first love and not religion. 
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We can so easily become accustomed to the Christian "agenda": read the word for x amount of time, pray the right prayer, sing a song and do a good deed. I can't remember how to do life without this agenda. And so I question myself, and I question you: If this agenda was taken from us, what would we have left?
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Beg by Shane and Shane has caused me to beg God to move and break through in my life. I pray that it would be our love for God, for more of Him that would draw us to His Word. I pray that it would be our love for God that would bring us to our knees in prayer. I pray that it would be our love for God that would cause us to live a life of worship. I pray that it would be our love for God that would lead us in obedience as we serve Him and His people. I beg God to move and break through in your life like never before.

I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. Ezekiel 36:26-27
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Beg, Shane and Shane 

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Here I am
One more day of not
Loving Him the way He asks
In fact my heart is singing praises to the things
that make me feel alright

So I’m sinking fast like a stone heart should
And on the way down
I’ve done what I could
To try and try to turn this stone to flesh

I’m haunted by my God
Who has the right to ask me
What by the nature of my rebellion
I cannot give.

So I beg for you to move
I beg for you to move
I beg for you to break through

So here I am
Got my deeds for the day
All my cute little words about
How I am saved
Am I saved?

Could I love you with my mouth like a church kid should
At the end of the day
My words get burned as wood
Oh, but I was good.

These songs are noise
In your ears
A clanging drum
You want my love

Lyrical Friday - Before the Throne

Before the Throne, Shane and Shane


Before the throne of God above
I have a strong, a perfect plea:
A great High Priest, whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.

My name is graven on his hands,
My name is written on his heart;
I know that while in heaven he stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look, and see him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because a sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Praise the One,
Risen Son of God!

Behold him there, the risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace!

One in himself, I cannot die
My soul is purchased by his blood
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ, my Savior and my God
With Christ, my Savior and my God

Lyrical Friday & 30 Days of Love

Happy Friday!
Today marks a new beginning. Nothing big or outrageous, but a new day, a new me.

Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies
never cease.
Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
Lamentations 3:21-23

The past 30 days have been riveting as the Lord called me to fast alongside Muslims and pray for them during their holy month of Ramadan. It has been an absorbing yet fascinating time in prayer and self sacrifice for the sake of love and salvation. As Christians we are called to love. We don't choose who to love, we are to love without reservations and without discrimination. Despite what we watch on tv, what we hear and what we have experienced as Americans there is absolute truth that outweighs the negative when relating to Muslims. Jesus died a horrible death in order that NO ONE should perish. And he arose, that we ALL may be free from bondage. Jesus died for you, for me and for Muslims as well. That truth breaks my heart. If Christ submitted himself to such a cruel death for Muslims, why am I not praying for them to come to the light? Why am I not on my knees crying out for salvation?

What I have learned through this experience, more now than in the years past, is that on our own effort we can not love with a selfless love. We can only love when we abide, commune, and spend time with God, who is love. My heart has enterwined with the Lord's and I have a deeply rooted love for Muslims that is ever growing. In light of this amazing experience I also realized how wonderful God has been and continues to be. The veil in my life has been torn. I am free to boldly go before God's throne of grace. As broken as I am for God's lost sheep, I am also overflowing with joy. When I look back to the days, when like a Muslim, I was blinded from knowing the glory of the Lord, I can't help but to break out in song. I rejoice in His goodness, His mercy and grace. When I think about the Lord, how he saved me, how he raised me, how he healed me- oh, thank you Jesus! I can only pray that Jews, Muslims, Buddhist and all of God's lost sheep would return to Him and experience the abundant life found only in God, through Christ Jesus.

If you are a Christian reading this, let this song be one that is unceasingly present upon your heart and mind. The faithfulness of God's love is without a doubt in my mind the fuel that keeps me going. And, if you aren't a Christian reading this, what are you waiting for? God loves you, He desires nothing more than to bless you and liberate you from the dead end pleasures this world has to offer you. Return to your Maker.

When I think about the Lord, Shane and Shane


30 Days is an admirable organization I have grown to love, support and join forces with. I encourage you to check out their website: 30 Days and get involved. Be wise as serpents and gentle as doves* when being a witness of Christ to anyone. Season every word with love and not condemnation. Be not ignorant but Spirit filled. "If it doesn't point to Jesus, what's the point?" says my friend George Cuevas.

*Matthew 10:16

Lyrical Friday - Burn Us Up

Good Friday Everyone! When Lyrical Friday was inspired by a midweek service where the message was delivered by the worship band through songs. Today's song is straight out of the Bible. Read the book of Daniel and have your world rocked. Enjoy today's song and if you don't know the story get your Bible open and read it.

God bless YOU!!!

Burn Us Up, Shane and Shane