My Savior, My God

It is surprising to think that anyone could possibly read the New Testament and believe that Christ
could save them, but then also believe that after receiving such forgiveness that they have the right
to reject His authority on their life. This has been a common misconception throughout the years
unfortunately. If we are totally honest we have to admit that we too are tempted to enjoy the delights
of a relationship with Christ while distancing ourselves from His overwhelming right to order our lives.
In short, we appreciate the forgiveness He offers but we still want personal autonomy.

The words of “My Savior, My God” remind us that Christ is both Savior and Lord. He forgives us, and
He claims ownership on our lives. We cannot accept His forgiveness and reject His authority. Those
who accept Christ’s forgiveness but reject His authority find life to be quite difficult. On the other hand,
those who seek to live under the authority of Christ without a personal relationship find it impossible.
This song places a needed emphasis on the unity of Christ as Savior and Christ as God.

It is because He “once died to be my savior” that He can forever more live “to be my King”. Don’t think
that you can choose one and deny the other. If God has transformed your life through the forgiveness
that comes from faith in Christ, then your desires should be daily moving you towards following Him in
obedience. This doesn’t mean you will be perfect, for even the best Christians throughout the history
of the church have failed to attain such status. Your calling is to be growing daily in obedience.

When we realize the depth of God’s grace and mercy it will be a small thing to submit our lives to Him
completely. As the reformer Martin Luther has stated, “God’s will is done when our will is broken”.
Luther wrote of Christ’s submission to God the Father and made a fitting contrast with our lives, “If
Christ had to surrender his will so that God’s will could be done, why do we poor, little worms want to
make such a fuss over our own wills?”

As you practice and rehearse this song think about God’s great claim on your life because of His work
demonstrated on the cross and through the empty tomb. Thank Him for being both your Savior and
your God.

Break Through

Read and reflect on Psalm 42

I don’t know if you have ever felt distanced from God as a believer. I have. There have been times
when it seems that I am not able to experience God in a way that I would like. Sometimes the
emotional high that comes from a large worship event or conference seems to quickly fade away
once the event is over. Sometimes it can be easy to wonder if such events really make a difference.
Do they?

To answer that question we must realize that God does use the spectacular gatherings when
believers come together to worship Him. If someone wanted to deny the power of God’s people
gathering for preaching and praise then they would have to rewrite the entire book of Acts, however,
Christianity is not just about such corporate meetings. If our faith is tied directly to “the next big event”
then we will never fully experience the depth of God’s sanctifying work in our hearts.

The song Break Through deals with the topic of going through the motions in our worship. If we are
going to truly become who God wants us to be then we must allow Him to “break through the pride
and the shame”. We must get to the place where we have “had enough of staying the same”. Have
you come to that place in your Christian walk yet? Are you ready to quit simply moving from one
youth retreat to another, from one camp to another, from one concert to another? Are you ready to be
transformed so your life is different in the “in-between” times when there isn’t a lot of excitement and
lights and a band and all the other stuff that sometimes distracts us from the depth of our own sin?

Are you ready to ask God to break through? Psalm 42 is a great place to start. The Psalmist
begins with a personal desire to grow closer to God in the opening of the chapter, which results
in his worship of God with the congregation, but in the second half of the Psalm he questions
God’s involvement in his life. I’m thankful that God allowed the writer of Psalm 42 to have such
transparency.

As you prepare for SonPower 2007 begin praying that God will break through the pride and the
fear in your life and move you to a point of being fully dependent upon him. Sometimes we become
dependent upon the emotions we experience in worship instead of being dependent on the God to
whom all praise is due. Make it your prayer that your focus and your foundation for service will be
God’s worthiness and nothing else.

You Are Incredible

Read and reflect on Psalm 44

“My dad can beat your dad up.” “My dad is tougher than your dad.” Have you ever said something to
that effect? Have you ever argued about whose dad was the strongest, or whose mom was the best?
Conversations like that take place on elementary school buses every day. As high school and junior
high students you probably don’t make such claims anymore. You demonstrate a much more civilized
form of argumentation. I know I do. I’ve moved from boasting about whose dad is the toughest to
making bold assertions about who will win American Idol. I have to admit that after the “Fro Patrol”
guy was voted off that I have lost some interest this season. I had him pegged for the top three. I
guess I’m not always right about who is the best.

There is one area in which I can boast with certainty. In fact it is the only area that I should truly boast
in, that is in the greatness of God. God is so worthy of our praise that we can never fully praise Him
enough. We will spend all of eternity declaring His worth. As Psalm 44:8 states, “In God we make our
boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever.” This is the goal of every Christian life – to
boast in God all day – forever.

John Piper has written volumes on the topic of making our only boast in life the cross of Christ. Piper
compares the boasting that comes from human pride and boasting in the Lord, “Pride diverts our
capacity for exultation from the galaxies of God’s glory to the gutters of our puny achievements.” It
is unfortunate that we are often content to boast in “puny achievements” instead of boasting in the
“galaxies of God’s glory.”

The lyrics from You are Incredible appropriately places the focus on bragging about God. As you
memorize the words of this song let them sink into the core of your existence. If we are to give God all
of our worship, as the song states, then we must believe that above all else, God is incredible!

You Never Let Go

Read and reflect on Psalm 23

The scene could not have been any more heart breaking as I walked up the gravel driveway. I
had accompanied my long-time mentor in ministry to make a difficult ministry visit. Half way up the
driveway sat the parked truck where the father of the family had just taken his own life. Directly
behind the vehicle stood a wife and her son sobbing on the front porch. After losing her oldest son
only a couple of weeks prior, she now faced the pain of losing her husband as well.

There is something chilling about contemplating the painfulness of life. Although life is filled with
so many joys, the difficulties cannot be avoided…even for Christians. As believers we do not find
comfort in a promise that we will never face adversity, but in that we will never face it alone. As my
mentor preached the funerals for both the son and the father, he could say with confidence that God
will never abandon the believer. Even in the darkness of death there is a light that shines brightly
because of our hope in God.

The Redmans have summarized the confidence that we experience as Christians in their song You
Never Let Go. As you work on this song, spend some time thanking God that even though life might
be challenging, we have the hope of abundant and eternal life through Christ. Thank Him that He
never lets go of us.

Everlasting God

Read and reflect on the following passages: Genesis 21:33, Psalm 90:2, Psalm 106:1, Jeremiah 31:3.

We live in a “throw-away” society. My wife and I are getting really good at throwing stuff away. With
twin boys our trash load has more than doubled. We throw out dirty diapers – lots of dirty diapers.
When I was a baby, according to my parents, it was normal to use cloth diapers. Diapers that you
actually kept – that you would wash off and put back on the baby’s….backside. I find this difficult to
imagine after some of the multi-colored movements that my boys have produced.

Another fitting illustration is the difference between handkerchiefs and tissue paper. People use to
actually keep their snot. No joke. They would blow their nose into something similar to a linen napkin,
and then fold it up and put it back in their pocket. If you happened to sneeze, they might take it back
out and offer it to you. How uncivilized.

We have become accustomed to temporary things. On a more serious note, even the things that we
thought would be more lasting, like our parents’ marriage, have even become temporary. In contrast
to our temporary, throw-away culture, God has remained constant. In fact, He alone can make this
claim. He has no beginning. He has no end. He never changes, and neither does His love for His
people. As you prepare to sing this song at SonPower take time to praise God for His constant love.

Acceptable

Read and reflect on Colossians 1:1-29

There is an old DC Talk song with the line, “We all want to be loved...tell me what’s wrong with that?”
The answer to that question is, of course, no - there is nothing wrong with wanting to be loved. In
fact, God has created us with the desire to love and to be loved. At our core we are a people longing
for acceptance. Think about it, everything we do on a daily basis is to some extent an attempt to be
accepted. We want to be accepted by those we go to school with, so what do we do? We try to look
our best - and smell our best too. That’s why the deoderant, perfume and cologne companies will
never go out of business. We want to be accepted by those we work with, so we push ourselves to
the limits to please our employers.
We do all want to be loved. We do all want to be accpeted. The real question, then, is not whether or
not we want such things, but ultimately - why do we want them. The reason is simple. God created
us for a relationship with Himself. God created us with a “God-shaped hole”, according to C.S. Lewis.
Our lives are empty apart from a relationship with our Creator God. That’s what we are made for.
Saint Augustine made the keen insight that “Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee; for Thou
hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” We are nothing
more than people-pleasing, acceptance addicts until we realize our total and complete acceptance in
Christ. C.S. Lewis described it this way in his book The Weight of Glory:

“These things-the beauty, the memory of our own past-are good images of what we really desire;
but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their
worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found,
the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”

As Lewis so powerfully illustrates in his writing, we all have a void in our hearts that makes us long to
be in relationship with our Creator. This longing is described in a beautiful way in Dennis and Nan’s
song Acceptable. We all want complete acceptance, and as believers we know that it can only be
found in Christ. All of the acceptance from men in the world is only the “echo of a tune we have not
heard” in comparison to the joys of knowing Christ. Because of His work as our substitue in dying for
our sins and through the resurrection, we are complete in Him. Let your praise be filled with gratitude
for His forgiveness and the confidence that comes from His acceptance.

In Christ Alone
By: Stuart Townend/Keith Getty

Identity. It’s who you are. It’s what defines you. Athlete. Emo. Nice. Mean. Musician. Smart.
Tall. Artist. Short. Goofy. Small. Large. Nerd. Loud. Quiet. Crazy. Real. Fake. Good. Bad. Old. Funny.
Rebel. Scared. Skater. Tough. Goth. Driven. Saint. Cool. Sinner. Daughter. Sister. Friendly. Brother.
Father. All of us can claim some of these titles, and certainly the world can (sometimes without our
permission) place them on us. But what is it that really defines who you are? What is your true
identity? Is it defined by external things like your clothes, your job, or your GPA? Perhaps not since
trends and occupations and grades (for me at least) are ever changing. Is it relationships that define
you? Your personality? What truly defines who you are?
I’ll answer that question with another question. What is the only thing in life that never changes
nor can ever change? God. That’s the answer. El Roi, the God who sees. He sees much more than
your hair color or your shoe brand…He sees into your soul. He sees who you are and says who you
are because HE MADE YOU. Does it matter how your friends define you? Maybe it does to you right
now, but they won’t be here forever. Does it matter how you define yourself? “I am ____?” Sure, but
even you will one day die and have to stand before God. And He’s not going to judge based on if you
were mean or nice, His standard of judgment is “Did you place your trust and faith and life in my son
Jesus?” “You are ____,” He will say. For the one who denies Christ now, the answer will be guilty, but
for the one who claims Him and loves Him now, the answer will be blameless. He will tell us who we
truly are. He will define us.
Blameless. Righteous. Holy. Good. Are these words that you as a believer would use to
define yourself? If I had to guess I would say probably not. So often we Christians claim the following
as our identity: “Brother I’m just a sinner saved by grace.” That is a lie my friends, one of the
Enemy’s favorites, and we believe it. You are not just a sinner. Here’s another one I hear a lot: “My
Righteousness is like filthy rags”, a distorted and incorrect statement. Yes friend, YOUR righteous
acts are filth (Isaiah 64:6), but not His. Not HIS.
In Christ. That is the phrase the Bible uses. Over 90 times to be exact. And that’s where your
identity is as a Christian. In Christ. So often we talk about where Jesus is…He is in us, and that is
right and true and good, but how little do we speak of where we are…In Christ. DO YOU KNOW
WHAT THAT MEANS FRIEND?! That means THAT is what El Rio sees! When God looks at you, He
sees Jesus! He no longer sees your filthy righteous acts but sees only one righteous, holy act…the
only act that grants us righteousness and forgiveness…the greatest act of all time…the cross of
Jesus Christ. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the
righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) The righteousness of God believer! You are righteous!
Now it’s time to take on God’s definition of who you are. NOW You are NOT a “just sinner saved
by grace”. You were, but NOW you are a SAINT! Believe it! Receive it! “Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) The old is
gone! Forever! The new is here! This is huge, so huge that it can and WILL forever change the way
we see ourselves and the way we live.
So how do you see yourself Christian? What’s your identity? Guilty? Defeated? Condemned?
Hear the word of the LORD today and listen to how HE sees you: “There is therefore now NO
CONDEMNATION for those of us who are in Christ Jesus!” (Romans 8:1) None. Zilch. Zippo.
He sees Jesus. He sees holy and He says “holy”; not because of any good thing you have done
(remember those are filth), but because of what Jesus did on the cross. And you did it with Him. O
yeah…forgot to mention that. Did you know that believer? Did you know that you died on that cross
with Him? Remember you are in Christ in everyway: in who He is and in what He has done. “I have
been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20) “Since you
died with Christ…” (Colossians 2:20) How about THAT for a sobering (and incredible) thought! You
(your old self) LITERALLY died on the cross with Jesus! The old man is GONE. DEAD. Crucified.
HA! And here’s one that even crazier! Are you ready for this? Ephesians 2 says, “God, who is rich
in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace
you have been saved.” We rose from the dead with Him! We are ALIVE in Him!!! Did you hear that
believer? Alive Praise God!
So what does this mean for your life? Um…what DOESN’T it mean for your life! Jesus has
defeated sin and death and that power lives in YOU! What? For real? Yes for real! You are alive
in Christ and now have the victory and the power to live the Christian life, the life that is impossible
apart from the saving work and the Dunamis power of the Holy Sprit. When you realize this truth,
the Christian life becomes less about sin maintenance and more about identity remembrance. It’s
WHO YOU ARE. It becomes less about doing and more about being. So next time you want to sin or
feel like you’re about to stumble and screw up, don’t try in YOUR strength to overcome. Just be. Be
who you are. Remember who you are and whose you are. “Consider yourselves to be dead to sin,
but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:11) When you want to cheat on a test, remember you
are dead to sin and you rose again with Jesus! When you want to lust, remember that old man died
on the cross with Christ. When you want to lie or do anything else that would displease the heart
of the Father, remember you are in the Son and the Son is in you, and you are better than those
things, dead to those things, and freed from those things! You have a new identity. Your name has
been changed! A new definition. You are righteous, holy, and blameless in His sight and nothing can
ever take that away. You are His! So be who you are Christian. Be who you truly and already are. Be
His. Be Holy. Be Righteous. Be Faithful. Good. Patient. Just. Strong. Love. Gentle. Kind. Joy. Hope.
Peace. Life. Jesus.

Read this passage of scripture and let the LORD speak to you today. Let it call out of you who
you really are…your truest identity and self…a son of the most High, a daughter of the King, a child of
God.

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ
is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you
died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you
also will appear with him in glory.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity,
lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used
to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things
as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other,
since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being
renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or
uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with
compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever
grievances you may have against one another.Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these
virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to
peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one
another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your
hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
-Colossians 3:1-17

Matt Papa, SDG

My Portion Forever
By: Matt Papa

Desire changes the world. It colors the way we view reality. Hitler’s greatest desire was to
annihilate the Jewish race. Millions died. In 1905, the Turks desired to get rid of the Armenians;
another genocide occurred. Mother Theresa desired and prized a life of servant-hood modeled after
Jesus. It would be nearly impossible to innumerate the number of Indian lives that were touched by
the love of God through that precious woman. In our day, Lou Engle desires to see abortion ended in
our country in this generation. He has mobilized thousands to fast and pray toward that end. Desire
can change anything, from entire populations to individual lives and even the lives of the unborn, for
both good and evil.
What if you took longer than two seconds and really searched your heart. What would you find
there? What is the greatest object of your desire? Write it down and keep it for a while. Later, come
back and examine it. See how it has impacted your life decisions. If your desire is for a boyfriend or
girlfriend, I assure you that you will do almost anything to bring about that desired result. You will, as
we all have, most assuredly make a fool of yourself at some point because of a relationship, but the
desire is so great and all consuming that it doesn’t really matter to you. Perhaps it is being excellent
at music or art or sports or science that drives you. If so, I’m confident that you will work for hours on
end to be the best that you can be. You will give your time and energy and money and attention to
accomplishing your goal. To sum it up, you will give your life to that which you desire.
David gives us a glimpse into his desire in Psalm 73:25-26 where he prays “Whom have I in
heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but
God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Oh, that our hearts would scream this with
the psalmist! Could we, in our materialistic, self-centered society of fashion, security, and greed, truly
say, “God, I desire no person and no created thing. The object of my desire is You and You alone! You
are everything to me, my portion forever”?
The truth is that David understood and practiced a life-changing truth. That truth is simply this:
We need God. Like we really and actually and literally NEED Him to survive, and we need Him more
than ANYTHING else in this world. Have you ever thought about that? David put it in really practical
terms for us in Psalm 63 while he was in the desert:
 “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

Imagine yourself in a desert. Right now. Close your eyes. Feel the sand, the dry heat, walking without
a shadow in sight. What would be something you desire and an imminent need for you right now?
WATER. Water would be the correct answer. You need water. But what does David cry out for? Read
the verse again. GOD. He cries out for God! He sees and knows that God is the greatest need He
has in this world! He knows that “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes out
of the mouth of God” (Duet 8:3). He needs God. Literally.
There is an innate desire in every person that calls out to be satisfied. That is, you are born
with a craving for something that cannot be sated by internal sources. You must search outside
yourself in order to see your desire fulfilled. And search you will, for desire leads to desperation and
desperation leads to action. Be warned: you will find something or someone to fulfill your desire, and
the enemy will lead you to everything except God. Beloved, do not be deceived; the longing that
David expressed in Psalm 73 is in your heart, too, and He alone can satisfy.
Remember, we view the world and our reality through the lens of desire. How will you view the
world? Will it be through the lens of a desire for the temporal pleasures of this world that will surely
pass away, or through the lens of a deep desire for Jesus who will remain forever?

“The hunger and thirst of your life that cannot be satisfied by anything in this world is the constant
beckoning of God to remember that you were made for another world. You were made for God.”
John Piper

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable
explanation is that I was made for another world.”
C.S. Lewis

So today, child who was made for God, I challenge you to channel your desire. Figure out
what is holding you back from desiring God as your sufficient portion and put it to death. Allow Jesus
to take His rightful place on the throne of your heart as the only One you desire. Give your life to
Him. He will never disappoint. Child, Christ is the only one who never changes and never fails. Your
Redeemer alone can and will sustain you when your flesh and heart fail.
I pray that these meek and lowly words will incite you to let desire lead you into desperation
for God. And may that desperation lead you to action. Bold action. Big action. Action that changes the
world for good and not evil…for His name’s sake, not your own.

Matt Papa, SDG

Made to Worship
By: Chris Tomlin

Made to worship. Do you buy it? If someone asked you what you were created for, how would
you respond? I mean really, how many of us would honestly say, “I was made to worship God?”
Maybe some, but the majority of us have a different idea of what we were made to do. Well the truth
is you were made to worship. Everybody worships. Whether you realize it or not or whether you are a
“spiritual” person or not, you worship. You worship what is most important you; what you value most.
That could be sports, myspace, or another person. Worshipping is the most natural thing in the world
for us as people, as natural as breathing. The question then becomes “what/who do I worship?” The
Bible says that God has “set eternity in the hearts of men” (Eccl. 3:11). So not only were we made to
worship, we were made to worship something beyond us, something bigger, something eternal. We
were made to worship God.
Let’s start out with figuring out what worship is all about. A very practical definition of worship
is: Seeing God for who He is, seeing me for who I am, and responding accordingly. The definition
of the Hebrew word for worship is to bow down, to depress, to prostrate oneself. These definitions,
working in conjunction with each other, help us see that worship starts out with revelation and ends in
response.
Think about a celebrity that you idolize. Whether it be a singer, a movie star, a comedian,
a preacher, or a maybe even a figurehead in the government you start out by recognizing that
this person is important. They are famous. They make me seem so small and insignificant. That
knowledge, or recognition, brings about a response in human beings. That explains why people get
so nervous and fidgety when they meet a celebrity. The response is one of being so impressed with a
person that we can hardly hold ourselves together in their presence!
Now let’s catapult ourselves into the most important application of this scenario. In the first
verse of “Made to Worship” we sing that before the day or light or the establishment of our galaxy
God, the Most High, gloriously stepped into our reality and penned the most enthralling love story of
all time. He wrote it not with ink and paper, but as a renowned artist with a masterpiece in mind, He
painted an intricate picture through His creation of all things (people included) that would scream His
intention to love and pursue relationship with mankind. The next verse recognizes and declares that
all we are and all we have is the free gift of God, not something we deserve or earn. As we awaken to
His gracious gift, we open our sleepy eyes to behold majesty and glory that are beyond all compare.
Our souls become inflamed with a greater picture of the person of Jesus Christ. Our hearts are filled
with wonder as we recognize how important He is.

That is seeing God for who He is.

The first half of the chorus challenges us to declare before God who we are. We are creatures
- that is created beings. You and I did not make ourselves, we are the workmanship of God. We were
created in Christ for the purpose of doing the good works He has already prepared for us (Eph 2:10).
Next, we are called to sacrificial love. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:
just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13.34). You and I, the created ones,
are to be about others and not ourselves. The very thing that defines me as a person should be love.
Finally, we are forgiven and free because of the finished work of the suffering Son, Jesus, on the
cross!! Forgiven and free!! (See Colossians 2:13-15 and 1 Peter 2:16).

That is seeing me for who I am.

The second half of the chorus and the bridge deal with our response to seeing God for who
He is and seeing me for who I am. Surrender and belief are essential responses to understanding
who we are in light of who God is. In Luke 19 during the triumphal entry of Jesus the whole multitude
of His disciples began to rejoice and praise God and declare His mighty works. Their response was
to bless the King of Kings. Jesus then made the statement that if they, the disciples, did not declare
His praise that surely the rocks would rise up to do so (vv. 37-40)! Psalm 19:1 says that the heavens
declare the glory of God and sky above proclaims his handiwork. One day, “at the name of Jesus
every knee [will] bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2.10-11). When we see God for who He
is and ourselves for who we are, we should come undone. He is far greater than any celebrity. FAR
greater. He is THE famous One. How could we even begin to hold ourselves together before El
Shaddai, El ‘Olam; The Almighty, Everlasting God? How could we do anything before Him, respond
in ANY other way except bow down…except bow our lives and all we are before Him in absolute
humility and complete surrender?

That is responding accordingly. That is worship.

Matt Papa, SDG

How Can I Keep From Singing

By: Chris Tomlin

Life is hard. There are so many difficult circumstances we face even day to day not to mention
terribly traumatic experiences that have happened in all of our lives. Events like 9/11, the Virginia
Tech shootings, and countless other injustices and sorrows can come crashing in sometimes in
our lives. How do we deal with these? How can we? There is an answer. The storms will come but
we must hold on. The darkest night will fall but we must lift our eyes. So what is this endless song
echoing in our soul? How do we, as children of God, live in and respond to a world that is replete with
pain and suffering, sin and sorrow and do it well? How do we react to God when all is not well in our
personal world?
Believe it or not, that isn’t a new question! That’s good news for us, right?! Listen to the
prophet Habakkuk’s complaint to God:

“O LORD, how long will I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you, “Violence!” and you will
not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and
violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law Is paralyzed, and justice never goes
forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.”
-Habakkuk 1:2-3

Does that sound like someone who is joyful and happy and pleased with life? No way! Habakkuk is
upset! He is angry. He is tired of the circumstances that surround him. He looks and sees nothing but
violence, perversion, injustice, and the wicked triumphing over the righteous and proceeds to tell the
LORD about it!! He has been interceding in prayer on behalf of these people because God told him
to, and in Habakkuk’s opinion- NOTHING is changing.
Can I get an, “AMEN!”? Church, how often is that our position in prayer to the Most High?
When we are not pleased with life’s condition we make our complaint to the LORD about how He
isn’t doing what He is supposed to do. We say with Habakkuk, “How LONG, O LORD…”, how much
longer are You not going to listen? We’ve all been there at some point. Everyone has become weary
in prayer and wondered, “God, where are You in all this?”
Now that we know that we truly can identify with this prophet from the Old Testament, let’s take
a little journey to the end of the book. Here we see Habakkuk’s final cry after he made his complaints
known to God, waited to hear the LORD (Hab. 2.1), and got His answers from the Most High (Hab.
1:5-11, 2:2-20). Our prophet declares, “O LORD, I have heard of Your fame, I have seen Your
deeds…” (Hab. 3:2). Habakkuk recognizes that El Shaddai, Almighty God, has been and IS working.
He goes on to proclaim the powerful works of God, such as measuring the earth, shaking the nations
with a mere look, splitting the earth wide open with channels of water, suspending the sun and
moon, and going out as a warrior for the salvation of His people! Finally, in the last verses, Habakkuk
REJOICES in the LORD! In the Hebrew, that word, rejoice, means to triumph, exult, or display joy.
Child of God that is the meaning behind this song!! Yes, the storms will come and dark night
will pursue us. We will have troubled times and see troubled times. We will lose our step. We will,
one day, breathe our last breath. YET we WILL rejoice in declaring, “Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and has become
my salvation” (Is. 12:2). We will sing His praise for we KNOW how amazing and incredible His love
is! Joy rises up in the soul of the saint with the knowledge that he or she is LOVED by the King of
Kings and the God of the universe! Joy…Endless and above circumstances. So, how then COULD
we possibly cease to sing His praise? The endless song in our soul is the song of salvation! It is the
song of the redeemed declaring that nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ! Not tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword (Rom. 8:35)! NOTHING can
separate us from His love (Rom. 8:39), He works ALL THINGS together for our good (Rom. 8:28),
and WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERERS THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US (Rom. 8:37)! Praise
God! O Sing Believer! Sing Church! Sing no matter what you face! Sing ‘till your tears turn to joy! Sing
until you teach your soul this TRUTH! Sing knowing and believing that when you walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, HE is with you (Psalm 23)! O Fear no evil! For SURELY goodness and
loving-kindness will follow you all the days of your life and YOU WILL DWELL IN THE HOUSE OF
GOD FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER AMEN!

Matt Papa, SDG

I can sing in the troubled times

Sing when I win
I can sing when I lose my step
And fall down again
I can sing ‘cause You pick me up
Sing ‘cause You’re there
I can sing ‘cause You hear me, Lord
When I call to You in prayer
I can sing with my last breath
Sing for I know
That I’ll sing with the angels
And the saints around the throne!

-Chris Tomlin, “How can I keep from singing”

O Praise Him
By: David Crowder

Everybody believes in angels. Not everyone believes in God, but for some reason pretty much
everyone believes in heavenly creatures that fly and are wear all white and do good things. Hollywood
believes in them, making movies like “Michael” (an angel who smokes cigarettes) and “Angels in
the Outfield”, where heavenly angels help the ones who play baseball in Anaheim, California win a
pennant. They are in all of our minds and in cartoons depicted as cute little cupids who happily flutter
from place to place, who stand on people’s left shoulder and tell them to do the right thing, and who
are friendly and safe and wear diapers. But these depictions, my friends, are terribly inaccurate and
insensible when we compare them against the Biblical and original depictions of what angels really
are.
Angels are intense. These guys LIVE in the presence and burning glory of Almighty GOD 24/7!
They kinda like get to hang out with the creator and the sustainer of the universe. That’s pretty cool, I
guess. These ministers and messengers of God live to sing His praises and do His bidding. They are
His posse. They worship and serve One by the name of “LORD of hosts”, and HE is called by that
name for a couple reasons. One, there are a lot of them, hosts of them, about 100 million of them to
be exact (Daniel 7:10). Two, these dudes are bad. Not as in evil (There are those too, who fell from
heaven in disobedience (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 12:7,9) but as in like they have swords and stuff (Numbers
22:31). They are literally an army waging war in the heavenly realm. I would think less along the lines
of “Michael” and more along the lines of “Braveheart”.

“And the LORD sent an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the leaders and officers in
the camp of the Assyrian king.”
-2 Chronicles 32:21

“He unleashed against them his hot anger, his wrath, indignation and hostility— a band of destroying
angels.”
-Psalm 78:49

Not too cute and cuddly are they? Some angels continually burn in God’s presence (Psalm 104:4),
some have faces of lightning (Daniel 10:6), and some look like lions and are completely covered with
eyes (Revelation 4:6-8). Not to mention every encounter that a human being has with an angel in the
Bible is the same…they fall on their face in sheer terror (Luke 1:12, 1:30, 2:9, etc.). I would venture to
say they probably don’t look too much like cupid.
Now that you know a little bit about angels, let’s look at a familiar passage of scripture and take
a fresh look at God and at worship.

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train
of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs (angels), each with six wings: With two wings
they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they
were calling to one another:
       “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
       the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with
smoke.”
-Isaiah 6:1-4

The first thing we see in this passage is an exalted King. Isaiah saw the LORD, and then he heard
an incredible sound coming from some unusual creatures. These are like some freaky, six-winged,
sci-fi angels or something! It says they were “calling to one another.” Have you ever been in a football
stadium where one side of the crowd starts a chant and then the other side finishes it? That’s what I
picture when I read this passage. Can you hear it? “Holy, Holy, Holy”, back and forth, calling to one
another, beautiful worship given to the King on the throne. But not only is it beautiful, it is LOUD. It
says that at the sound of their voices the whole place shook and was filled with smoke! That’s loud!
Remember, we’re not dealing with angels in the outfield, we’re talking about massive, mighty warriors
who have been working on their singing voices since the dawn of time. HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE
LORD ALMIGHTY; THE WHOLE EARTH IS FULL OF HIS GLORY. Can you hear it? Listen. Stand in
awe. Worship.
So you say, “Cool. Angels are big and scary and sing a lot and now instead of snuggling with
them I want to have nightmares about them (Thanks Matt). What the heck does that mean to me?”
I’ll tell you. Here’s what it means: Jesus didn’t die for the angels. Huh? That’s right. He didn’t die for
them, He died for fallen humanity. He died for you. The angels ceaselessly serve and sing to their
Maker, but not to their Father. They humbly praise their Lord but not their Savior. Unfallen angels do
not understand forgiveness, for they cannot for they know not sin. They do not understand salvation
because they have never experienced damnation. They do not understand adoption for they have
never been orphans. They do not understand freedom because they have always been free. They
cannot understand this Gospel of mercy we know or the full extent of God’s love though they jealously
look into these things (1 Peter 1:12).
You can. And You do. We do church! We understand! We have tasted and seen His goodness
and experienced the full extent of His loving-kindness and mercy! We know what it’s like to be
completely and utterly dead in our trespasses and sin and then made ALIVE in Christ (Ephesians 2)!
We know what’s it’s like to be lost and then be found; Amazing grace how sweet the sound! While
we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)! So here is the question I pose: HOW MUCH
LOUDER SHOULD OUR VOICES BE! HOW MUCH LOUDER THE PRAISE OF THE REDEEMED
THAN THAT OF THE ANGELS! We have been rescued! O let it shake the foundations of the earth
and let this world be filled with the smoke of His glory! Rise up Church! Bride of Christ: make His
praise Glorious (Psalm 66:1)! He is enthroned on our praises (Psalm 22:3), therefore let Him be high
and exalted with the lofty and LOUD praises of grateful and adoring hearts. Sing Church. Sing Loud.
But not your voices only. LIVE LOUD. He is worthy. He is holy.

“I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name
you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the
Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.”
-Ezekiel 36:23

Sing Holy, for He is Holy. He is enthroned on our praises.

Be Holy, for He is Holy. When He is holy in us, He is holy through us.

Matt Papa, SDG

Dancing Generation
By: Matt Redman

So what exactly are we singing about here? Is this song implying that we as Christians are
supposed to brush up on our “electric-slide”, perfect our “robot”, and bust a move when we get
together next Wednesday night? Well, sorry if this disappoints the attention hungry middle-schooler
out there, but I don’t think those were Matt’s intentions when he wrote the song. This song is
expressing way more than random dancing or useless screaming, but a natural and overwhelming
and LOUD response to who our INCREDIBLE God is and what INCREDIBLE things He has done in
us and for us. And the response (as we will see) MUST be natural, it MUST be overwhelming, and it
must and will be LOUD.
It is virtually impossible to dance and be unhappy. Go ahead. Try it. Right now. Like for real,
I’m not even playing. I know…there’s probably no music playing and the people around you will think
you’re a weirdo, but go for it. There…see? You’re smiling now aren’t you? Dancing is one of the
most, if not THE most, pure and poignant expressions of joy. So I wonder why it is that our worship
is so void and lacking of dancing sometimes? Perhaps it is because our worship is void and lacking
of joy sometimes, and that my friends, is unbiblical (wrong) worship. In Psalm 16:11 David says (to
God), “In Your presence is FULLNESS of joy.” FULLNESS of joy. Not just a little clapping every now
and then or tapping your toes a little, but FULLNESS of joy. Some might say, “Ok brother hold on
now, you’re getting a little too charismatic.” O really? Want a biblical example? How about 2 Samuel
chapter 6 where David (the king) danced with all his might before the LORD AND before his people
in the street. Danced. O yeah and by the way in case you didn’t know, David (the king) was almost
entirely naked at the time. Talk about undignified. Try that out next Wednesday night. This was the
KING people! But David was SO overjoyed that the ark of God was being brought back to its rightful
place that he exuded with joy and passion and worship to God! And He looked really foolish doing it.
Hear this truth today: It is IMPOSSIBLE to genuinely worship Jesus and look “cool” at the same time.
They are virtual opposites.
So what are you saying Matt? Are you saying that in order to truly worship God you have to
know how to break dance? Hardly. But think for just a moment about some of the most joyful times
of your life…Christmas morning as a kid, your first car guys, or girls how ‘bout your first kiss. These
are moments that make us want to shout and dance and do foolish things. My personal moment is
on Saturdays in the fall when the University of Georgia Bulldogs come prancing out that tunnel like
a bunch of wild animals. You would think I was on something. I look like a wild animal. Yelling at
the top of my lungs, hugging people I don’t even know…what’s gotten into me? So I have to pose
this question: Why are the most joyful and awe-inspiring moments of our lives outside the church?
Something isn’t right. Why do we shout louder for our favorite sports team than we do for Jesus Christ
and the kingdom and the glory of GOD? Sometimes we just need to shout for Jesus people! Look at
some of these biblical truths and COMMANDS:

Psalm 33:3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.

Psalm 47:1 Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.

Psalm 65:13 The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout
for joy and sing.

Psalm 66:1 Shout with joy to God, all the earth!

Psalm 71:23 My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you— I, whom you have redeemed.

Psalm 81:1 Sing for joy to God our strength; shout aloud to the God of Jacob!

Psalm 95:1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

Psalm 98:4 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music.

Psalm 100:1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

Somebody shout “AMEN”! A shout can be defined as a “loud cry expressing strong emotion and/or
calling attention”, and as we see in the scriptures, joy is a huge part of shouting. So hear this truth
today people of God: there is NOTHING in this world more worthy of emotion than Jesus Christ; there
is nothing in this world more worthy of attention than Jesus Christ. So why is there no joyful shouting?
WHY? Why are we shouting louder for the things of this world than the things of God? Perhaps it is
because we simply just don’t have any reason to.
So speaking of reasons, let’s cut to the chase Matt. Why dance? And why shout? And why call
a generation to be defined by these? There IS a reason people. There is. If you don’t get anything
else out of this today, get this: worship is response. It is overflow. If you read this devotion and just
start trying to dance more on Wednesday nights or screaming more often during your church service
to look cool or spiritual, then you have completely missed the boat here. More than a generation of
dancers or shouters, God is looking for and LONGING for a generation of responders (John 4:24).
Genuine responders. It is not the physical action (lifting your hands, dancing, etc.) that God requires
but a heart that responds to Him (Joel 2:13); that SEES HIM and responds to that vision (Isaiah 6).
Seeing God is where true worship MUST begin. If it begins with us or with anything else it is vain
and small. When we truly worship we don’t just lift our hands, we SEE a holy, magnificent God and
we lift our hands in response to Him. We don’t just bow on our knees, we SEE a just and righteous
King and we fall down in response. We don’t just dance, we SEE a God who is sovereign and we
dance despite difficulties and in the face of the future. We don’t just sing, we SEE glorious God who
sings over us and then we belt it. We don’t just live for God, we SEE a God who was crucified and
humiliated for our freedom, and so in VIEW of His mercy we offer our bodies a living sacrifice, our
lives, our ALL, wholly, holy and pleasing to Him (Romans 12:1) which is TRUE worship…more than
dancing or shouting or 10,000 songs could ever be.
So you’re looking for a reason? A reason to shout, to dance, to live for Jesus? Well here it is:
God invites you to see HIM today. To see the God of the universe. The God of Abraham, Issac, and
Jacob. The God of the Bible. The God of wonders…who spoke and it came to be, who suspends the
stars in the sky, whose glory is proclaimed in every sunset, who thought of giraffes, who dwells in
light unapproachable, and who has power and rule over all things. He invites us to see that He loves
us…that He cares about every detail of our lives, even the hair on our head. He invites us to see the
cross where Jesus shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sins and He invites us to the empty tomb
where He has risen again for our freedom! We are forgiven people! Hello?! We are free! For real!
HOW could we not respond?! HOW? O respond church! Overflow with joy and praise! Live lives of
worship! It is my prayer that our generation wouldn’t be defined by cool trends or music or myspace,
but O that we would be defined as fool’s for the sake of JESUS! Worshippers! Responders…people
SO wrapped up in who Jesus is, so overwhelmed by His greatness and His glory, so overcome by
His goodness and His grace, that literally the ONLY response possible is to completely overflow
and exude with love and passion and devotion and surrender and praise and joy and dancing and
shouting to our King and our God Jesus Christ! To Him be the glory forever.

Matt Papa, SDG

Practice NOW by overflowing and responding to these awesome truths! See God, and then
respond in the way the Holy Spirit leads you (give thanks, praise, etc.):

For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved
Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
-Colossians 1:13-14

Bless the LORD, O my soul,

And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion.
-Psalm 103:1-4

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;

You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
Psalm 30: 11-12