Category Archives: Sing-Along Scriptures

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10/14/2010

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The Whirlpool and the Eagle

I was reading through 2 Samuel the other day when I stumbled upon something pretty amazing. I found that the passage looked strangely familiar. I started to speculate that David wrote two Psalms that are nearly identical. Then I flipped through a few more chapters in my Bible and realized that they were identical. The words recorded in 2 Samuel 22 are the same words that are penned in Psalm 18. I didn’t realize that until just the other day.

God wouldn’t put something in the Bible twice for no reason, so I think it’s safe to assume that this is a picture He really wants us to understand. Maybe you should read it for yourself because you might see something other than what I do, but for me, all I see when I read this chapter is an eagle.

One time, when I was walking through a really difficult circumstance in my life, I had this reoccurring vision (that felt like a nightmare when I was wide awake) about a whirlpool and an eagle. I was drowning in the whirlpool, but trying to grab hold of this eagle that was soaring above the waves. The vision made absolutely no sense… until I stumbled upon Psalm 18. This particular Psalm talks about God being a refuge when the floods of destruction are sweeping over you. As I read this Psalm, I remembered my whirlpool, then I read the words, “he soared on the wings of the wind.” I don’t know that I’ve ever had a passage of Scripture take my breath away like that verse did.  The eagle in the vision that I kept reaching out for was Jesus. That one passage of Scripture that is repeated twice in the Bible told me the end of my vision:

“He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
       he drew me out of deep waters.” -Psalm 18:16

And suddenly there was a safety from the storm that was raging around me. I suddenly felt myself being lifted from this pit of despair. I found freedom in that verse.

God wrote it twice because He wanted His children to see it. He wrote it twice so that I’m twice as likely to be reminded. He wrote it twice so that I’m half as likely to forget. What is He saying twice to you?

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10/08/2010

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The Breaking

The day I received my brand new Bible, I flipped the pages open to Genesis 6 so I could underline a passage that I remembered as the first passage I had ever read from the NLT translation: “The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart.” (Genesis 6:5-6)

Now that may sound like a strange verse to want to underline, but I guess I’m just fascinated by the idea that we are capable of breaking God’s heart. I hadn’t really thought about it until I read this interesting fantasy series about a world that had been created alongside earth, but didn’t fall in Adam and Eve’s rebellion. One conversation between two characters  really resonated in my heart. This wise dwarf is explaining the fall of man to the newly crowned king. The young king wants to know if Adam and Eve’s sin is what broke the Most High’s heart. “Nay,” the wizened, old dwarf replies, “this is what started the breaking.”

This is what started the breaking – meaning God’s tender, fragile heart has suffered more than once. Meaning His heart has been broken repeatedly since that moment. Meaning I’m guilty for some of the pain experienced by the Most High.

I think that if we are going to experience a loving, intimate relationship with God, we have to realize that we are capable of breaking His heart – just as we are capable of breaking the heart of a human being. No, God is not human, but since we were made in His image, we humans possess many of His qualities – such as a heart that feels both joy and pain.

Think about this: your heart can only be broken by someone you’ve entrusted with it. God has entrusted you with His heart. He has given you the ability to hurt Him because He thinks you are worth the risk. If that doesn’t move you, I don’t know what will. The thing that breaks my heart is that I know I am the person described in Genesis 6:5. I know I’ve thought and done some things that are consistently and totally evil. In reflection of all this, I wrote this poem:

One single tree, one simple command;

they acted like they didn’t hear it.

One bite of the fruit was a knife in your soul

and already, they knew they were drifting.

So this is what broke the Most High’s heart?

Nay, only what started the breaking.

Every day it is broken again

as Your Word remains ignored.

To say that I’m sorry seems insufficient

when I know that I’ll fail You again.

I’m tired of hurting You, of hurting myself.

When will there be an end to

The Breaking?

 

From the Breaking of Your heart to the Breaking of my chains.

Set me free from this trap I’ve fallen into.

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10/01/2010

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An Undivided Heart

God created mankind to be with Him, but we turn away from Him time and time again. I think it’s about time our “60 seconds” come. I think it’s about time we wake up and realize how intricately our hearts are connected to His. And I think it’s way past time that we realize that all our wants can never fulfill the void that eats away at our soul. God’s love is the only thing we truly need. It’s time we come to understand that with our whole hearts.

Scripture is full of stories of people who have turned away from God much like I have. At one point in time, when the people of Israel were in exile, God sent the prophet Ezekiel to comfort them with this promise:

“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws. They will be My people, and I will be their God.” -Ezekeil 11:19-20

I believe that God is tryng to do the same thing for us today. Accept the undivided heart that He offers you. And while it is okay to have wants, you must first be content with the only thing you truly need. And that is an undivided heart that beats in perfect rhythm with His.

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09/24/2010

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A God Who Loves

Christianity is the only religion that is centered around a God who loves. Maybe the thought that a God who created the heavens and the earth and everything in it is too much for people to handle. I’ll admit that it can be pretty mind-boggling at times, but I’ve learned to accept it. I figure that if God loves me as much as the Bible says He does,  He probably wants me to accept His love. How would you feel if someone never accepted the love you extended to them?

Before I ever learned to dance with Jesus, I witnessed another person’s dance with Him. Some friends of my family (a married couple portraying Jesus and His bride) were going to dance for their church, and I was able to watch them practice. I guess my heart has always secretly longed for this dancing relationship with God because I was enraptured by the beauty and romance of this dance. In the end, they were asked to re-choreograph their dance because it was “too intimate” to be performed in church. Too intimate? Jesus is very intimate. Ephesians 5 talks about how marriage is a picture of Christ and the church. Could God explain Himself as being any more intimate? Traces of His romantic love are scattered throughout the Scripture. It could take me all day to pull out every reference regarding God’s immensely intimate love for us, but I’ll leave you with this one thought from Hosea 2:19-20:

I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.

Those are God’s words – His promise to us. Maybe that promise doesn’t capture your heart like it does mine.  Maybe you aren’t moved by verse 15 where God says we will call Him “my husband.” And maybe your heart won’t leap when you browse down to verse 23 where God says He will show love to the one He called “Not my loved one.” Maybe your heart isn’t stirred by the fact that God has called you “His people,” but I know that mine sure is. And sometimes it makes me feel like dancing.

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09/17/2010

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A Time To…

I think the one thing that is most harmful to single women who hope to be married one day is that horrible word called “timing.” We rush into unhealthy relationships because we don’t want to wait, or because we think we are ready, when in truth, we are not. I’ve come to learn that even good things can be bad things when done in the wrong timing.

I recently finished the book Lies Young Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and Dannah Gresh. Aside from revealing some hurtful lies in a candid, compassionate manner, this book made me question something I had never really thought about before. Nancy and Dannah surmised that the tree that caused mankind’s downfall was probably meant for good… if Adam and Eve would have waited for God’s timing to enjoy the fruit. But they didn’t wait. And instead of enjoying the blessing that could have been, mankind was faced with a terrible curse. That my friend, is what is happening to us. We’re rushing ahead of God’s timing and turning relationships (which are a good thing) into a bad thing.

Ecclesiastes chapter 3 tells us that there is a time for everything – a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance… and so on. There is a time to be in a relationship and there is a time to embrace singleness. Don’t rush God’s timing. Don’t think that He is wrong. It may just be that He has a blessing beyond imagination waiting just around the corner. One day it will be time to dance with your husband, but until that day, enjoy the freedom of dancing to your own rhythm.

No matter what else may be eluding your grasp, there is one thing that never goes out of season… Now is the time to live.

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09/10/2010

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The Still, Small Voice

Recognizing God’s Voice is something most of us tend to struggle with. “How do I know it’s God and not just my own thoughts?” we wonder. Sometimes that is an easy question to answer. I know I’ve heard God’s Voice before because there is no way I would have just thought the thing that came to my mind. Other times, it is harder to distinguish whether the desire in your heart is your own will or what God is calling you toward. When it comes to distinguishing God’s Voice in the Bible, my thoughts instantly turn to the story in 1 Kings 19.

In this story, God tells Elijah to go stand on a mountain and wait for God to pass by. So Elijah waits on the mountain. While he is waiting, a strong wind sweeps through the mountains and shatters the rocks, but God wasn’t in the wind. So Elijah waits until an earthquake shakes the mountain on which he was standing, but God was not in the earthquake. As Elijah waits there came a fire, but God was not in the fire. But after the wind, and the earthquake, and the fire are gone, Elijah hears a still, small Voice… and it was the Lord speaking to him.

Elijah was waiting to hear God’s Voice in all these huge things. That’s where we naturally would expect God to be, but He wasn’t in the wind, or the earthquake, or the fire (although He has been known to appear in all of those things before). God spoke to Elijah in a still, small Voice. God speaks to you in a still, small Voice. Are you prepared to hear Him? Is your heart open to receive Him?

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09/03/2010

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I Will Be With You

When I think of the changes life brings and making Jesus home even in the midst of the turmoil, my thoughts immediately turn to Moses and the burning bush in Exodus 3. It’s probably one of my favorite Bible stories. I love the way God just shows up and confronts Moses, and I love seeing this great saint struggle with his calling. It makes me realize that I am not the only one who sometimes doesn’t like where God is leading me. It makes me wonder if maybe there is hope for me and my stubbornness. After all, look at what God did with Moses.

Here’s Moses. He has fled the country of his birth and is living in the desert with a foreign people. Suddenly, God appears on the scene in the form of a burning bush. Moses is a little curious as to how the bush is on fire but not burning up, so he goes over to check it out. God calls his name, reveals his great plan for Moses’ life, and commands him to go where He has destined.

If I were Moses, I would be a little concerned too. He begins an argument with God that lasts over halfway through chapter four. Only after exhausting every excuse (which God is easily able to combat) does Moses venture back to Egypt to save his people. And while Moses argued long and hard, I gave in after God’s first answer. Moses said, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you.”

That promise has carried me through most of my life.

“God, who am I that You would ask me to organize a conference for the girls in my youth group?”

And God said, “I will be with you.”

“God, who am I that I can move 450 miles away from everything I’ve ever known to work with the missions organization I’ve supported since I was a child?”

And God said, “I will be with you.”

“Who am I that I can write a book, take it along to some writer’s conference, and present it to a publisher?”

And God said, “I will be with you.”

It’s the promise that keeps me alive. No matter how old I get, no matter how far I travel from the place I was born and raised, God will go with me. He will be the home that I had thought I left behind.

You may be asking God, “Who am I…?” Rest assured that God will always answer, “I will be with you.”

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08/27/2010

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God-Breathed Dreams

The words God speaks to the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5 have always touched my heart. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Before I was even born, God had me all figured out. He knew the things about me that I have only begun to realize. He knew the things about you, too. From the very beginning, He placed dreams in your heart and allowed them to grow along with you. So here’s the question: Dreams God breathed into my soul before I was even conceived, or this guy I recently met and fancy myself in love with? I think I’ll stick with the God-breathed dreams.

God appointed me to write. He purposed for me to share my heart with young women across the globe who desperately need to hear His truth. If someone tries to pull me away from that calling, he isn’t even worth my time.

Some things weren’t meant to be. Some dreams simply don’t line up. There is no worse fate than unrealized or abandoned dreams. So I’m not going to spend my life chasing after someone else’s dreams; I’m too busy walking in the ones God placed on my heart from the beginning of eternity.

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08/20/2010

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Dance With the Joyful

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful.” -Jeremiah 31:3-4

I love the last four words of that verse. Dance with the joyful. God’s love is so deep, so true, so wonderful that I cannot help but dance. Sometimes I get so excited about something God is stirring in me that I literally have to twirl in a circle. The joy of the Lord can be overwhelming at times. I feel like this verse is God’s permission for me to allow the emotions He stirs in my heart to flow out in the form of dancing. If King David (who was considered a man after God’s own heart) worshiped God by dancing around the streets in his underwear… Well, I’ll keep my clothes on, but I may get a little wild at times.

I mean, just look at that verse again. “I have loved you with an everlasting love…” Am I the only one who gets excited about that? Just think of the excitement and romance of dance. It’s intimate, enticing and beautiful. Something that evokes that much passion is surely meant for the glory of God. The promise this scripture contains should evoke enough emotion to make anyone dance – even those who may not be naturally graceful, namely me. Though I’ve developed a little grace over the passing years, I’m not meant for the spotlight. All I know is that God has placed a song in my heart to which my feet cannot help but move.  Don’t suppress the song that is playing deep within the recesses of your soul. Don’t be afraid to let it loose and get a little wild. Even if it is only behind closed doors, don’t be afraid to release a little shout. Dance with the joyful for the glory of your King.

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08/13/2010

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Till It Overflows…

Your dreams were not meant for someone else to fulfill, therefore you must choose to live them. Dreams do not come true without some form of action being taken. (Cinderella had to go to the ball, Belle had to take her father’s place in the beast’s castle, Ariel had to give up her voice.) These fairytale characters physically did things during the time leading up to meeting Prince Charming. God did not give you life so you could spend it waiting. In fact, Jesus came to push you into a form of action. Check it out:

“The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).” – John 10:10

I chose the Amplified version because I really like how it ends there – till it overflows. Is your life so full of joy and adventure and excitement that you literally feel as if it is overflowing? Continue reading →