CD Review: It Is Time (Barry Rowland & Deliverance)
Barry Rowland & Deliverance is a group that hasn’t really hit me yet, but I’m not sure why. I think that the older I get, the more I appreciate unique arrangements and lyrics. That said, if you like traditional southern gospel music, you may like this group. And I will add that the song Help Me Make It is worth the price of the CD.
Seven of the ten songs were written by Kyla Rowland. They are Delivered Again, He Can’t Follow Me Home, Hold Your Ground, The Ark, God Will Take Care of It All, It Is Time, and There Rose a Lamb.
Other songs are Redemption Draweth Nigh (by Gordon Jensen), How Long (by Johnny Minick), and Help Me Make It (by Vonda Easley).
Are You Ready to Die?
And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:24).
How easy it is in today’s society to declare, “I am a Christian,” but how hard it can be to walk the walk sometimes. “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die,” said Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I expect many people are as afraid to die to their flesh as they are for their flesh to die.
This evening, my Walk of Repentance Bible study focused on Galatians 5:16-26. So much is contained in those eleven verses which start with, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (v. 16, emphasis added). It goes on to list the lusts of the flesh versus the fruits of the Spirit. It’s sobering to compare the two lists and ask yourself, “In which category do I exhibit the most traits?” When you compare yourself with others, it’s easy to feel good about yourself but, when you look into the mirror of God’s Word, that is when you see what you are really like without His Spirit. It is not a pretty sight.
One of the things Steve Gallagher mentioned in this study was, “If we attempt to obey the Law outside of the Spirit, we will soon find ourselves becoming hard-hearted, self-righteous, and contemptuous of others.” So the answer is not just doing good. Therefore, the question is, How do I become filled with the Spirit?
This is not something one can conjure or “will” into existence. Instead, you must surrender every part of yourself to Christ. You must turn off the entertainment and spend more time with Him. You must study His Word to learn what He desires of you, and then do it. Let Christ chip away every bit of stone around your heart so that His Spirit can fill in the gaps. As this happens, your desires will change so that you want to do the right things for the right reasons.
As I mentioned in the beginning, dying to self is not an easy process, but this death is the only one that will bring everlasting life.
Reflecting Once Again
I turn another year older tomorrow which brings with it some reflecting. Why am I here? Now that I have quite possibly lived over half of my life, have I accomplished anything significant? Earlier today, I was counseling someone who has similar questions. She didn’t put it in so many words, but she is struggling to find meaning in this thing we call life.
I expect that most people, at some point, have these questions and, when focused on too much, they can lead to discouragement and depression. The best thing to do at times like these is to think about what you do know. To whom have you been an encouragement? How many people love you? Are there at least little things that God has done at just the right moment to remind you that you are loved and that He has a purpose for your life? These are the things that you must hold on to.
No matter how old you get, you should never stop learning and growing and drawing ever closer to your Savior. The moment you cease doing that, you will begin a downward spiral, from which you may have a hard time pulling yourself out. It doesn’t matter if you are 21 or 81; you were placed on this earth for a purpose, and it is never too late to begin fulfilling that purpose. I am so thankful that God’s mercies really are new every morning. When we blow it, we can go to Him in repentance and start anew. I pray that this coming year finds me more willing to do that and less willing to fritter my time away with things that are meaningless.
CD Review: Turn the Page (Misty Freeman)
This is my favorite CD from Misty Freeman thus far. The only negative thing I have to say about it is that there are only six songs but the songs are comprised of good lyrics and arrangments, so you will not feel let down. You will just have to listen to it more often. 🙂
New Beginnings is a song that everyone should hear. Life is too short to hold grudges, compare yourself with others, be too serious, etc.
A Day in the Life of Jesus talks about the things Jesus did on a daily basis: healing people, walking on water, forgiving.
“The time that you spent here on earth is The best Sermon I ever heard.” A thought-provoking song. Something we should all aspire to have said about us.
Too Fast is a song that every parent can relate too. Enjoy your children while they are little. This stage will be over way too soon.
The other songs on this CD are: Garden of Grace and When God Speaks.
Thoughts on Spiritual Gifts
Not long ago, someone told me that I am the only female blogger they read. That is humbling. Many times, I don’t know if anyone really cares what is on my heart but I know that everything happens for a reason and, if God is teaching me something, He very well might want to teach someone else that same thing.
My whole life, I have struggled to know what my gifts are. When I read Scripture, it seems like God gave everyone at least one, but some are harder to find. I come from a talented family. Some are musical; some are writers; some are conference speakers; some are designers. Out of that, the closest category I fall into is a writer, but I am not very prolific at that. I’m beginning to think that the important thing is not recognizing one’s own gifts but being willing to be used by God however He chooses to use you and believe that He will bring those gifts to the forefront as you follow Him.
I think the majority of people would like to be recognized for their gifts, and I am no exception, but if you are doing things to be seen of men, that is not pleasing to God. He is the only One that we should be overly worried about pleasing. Sure, we want to do a good job and not irritate those around us but the goal in that should also be love for God and for others.
If you find that you are overly focused on yourself and what you can’t do or the things you’re not good at, I want to encourage you to change that focus. Begin to ask God how you can better serve others. You may find gifts you never knew you had simply by following Him.
What Do You Need?
I am working to greatly limit the word “need” from my vocabulary. Many things that I find myself saying I need are really not necessities in the strictest sense of the word. I have a lot of things that I think I need. And some may be necessary for my comfort. But they are not really necessary to sustain my life.
When I was growing up, my favorite Bible verse was Philippians 4:19: “But my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus.” I still love the thought of that, but I think sometimes I inadvertently change the word “needs” to “wants.” Yet nowhere does Yahweh say that He will grant my selfish desires.
I am constantly learning what it means to surrender, to give up my will and embrace His will. This is probably the hardest part of Christianity since we are born selfish and proud. But God desires to strip those things away and teach us to rely on Him for everything. The fact is that “All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.”
As you go through this coming week, I challenge you to pay attention to how many times you say, “I need ______.” You may find that you don’t say this as often as I do, but you may notice that you say it a lot. If the latter is true, learn to say instead, “I would like __________.” You will probably find that your needs are not as great as you thought they were.
Are You Starving?
As I was doing my Bible study last evening, Romans 1:28 jumped out at me:
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.
Matthew 5: 6 says:
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
If you are not hungering and thirsting for God and His righteousness, if you do not long for it as though you were starving, may I submit that you may very easily fall into the category of those who do not like to retain God in their knowledge? These people are “filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness,” among other things (Romans 1:29). If you are reading this, I’m guessing you would not put yourself into one of those categories, but if you are not actively seeking God, spending time with Him, studying His Word, you may very easily find yourself falling into an alternate lifestyle and then wondering how you got there.
In Matthew 12:30, Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me.” You cannot serve God and the world. I see so many who act like they can have all this and Jesus too, but we serve a jealous God. He wants our full devotion. He does not want to compete with the plethora of entertainment that we have today.
D.L. Moody is quoted as saying:
The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.
If you never have time to read God’s Word or spend quality time in prayer, I challenge you to examine your heart and ask yourself why. I understand there are busy days and busy seasons, but there should not be busy lifestyles that keep us from doing the most important things. Most of us do not forget to eat or drink, at least not usually the whole day. If you have time to do that, you can find time for God. Download a Bible app and read while you eat if you need to, but make sure that you are getting God’s Word into your heart so that you don’t sin against Him (Psalm 119:11).
This hit me in a new way last night, and I am asking God for help to make the time to draw near to Him, to continually learn of Him, to listen to Him. If you and I are too busy to do those things, we are simply too busy.
CD Review: They Don’t Know (The Kingsmen)
“When it seems you’ve fallen prey in a hungry lion’s den, He’ll keep the lions hungry and deliver you again.” I love those lyrics penned by Regina Walden. This is just one of the songs on The Kingsmen’s latest CD.
God Calls it Grace is an encouraging ballad sung by Joshua Horrell.
The Evidence I Need goes with Romans 1:20, which talks about how even creation proves that there is a God. Between that and the work He has done in my life, I don’t need anything else to prove to me that God is real.
I’ll Sail Away Yonder takes me back to the Kingsmen of the 1980s.
Bob Sellers sings the sobering Cost of the Cross. I don’t think we can ever think too much about what our salvation cost Jesus.
I don’t know what it is about Sandy Knight’s songs but they always catch my attention. Don’t Underestimate God’s Grace is no exception. Another great song.
Other songs include They Don’t Know (What the Lord Can Do); Hear the Word of the Lord; Let Go and Hold Fast; Fade to Black; and Legacy.
In an age of progression, I am happy that the Kingsmen stick to their roots. Their lyrics have gotten better over the years but their sound stays very much the same.
Embrace Your Season
This morning, I looked out my window to see the first sign of spring that we get here in Michigan: the green leaves of daffodils poking through a hard, desolate ground amidst dead grass and brown leaves. Spring is my favorite time of year as dreary days disappear and the sun begins to shine once again.
Seasons of life are not much different than seasons of the world. There is “a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:2-8).
If you are like me, there are some seasons that you love, and others … not so much. But we must learn to be content and even joyful regardless of the season we find ourselves in.
You may be in a dark season. Maybe life seems bleak and hopeless, and you have reached the depths of despair. You may wonder if God cares. We really do see through a glass darkly, but there will come a day when everything will become crystal clear. Like daffodils that are determined to break through that cold, hard ground, so we too must keep living and growing, even when we want to give up.
One day, the toil of our lives will be over, and our deeds and attitudes evaluated. Will you be found faithful or lacking in your daily walk with Him?
Don’t Forget Others
When one is going through a trial, it’s easy to forget that others too are going through trials. I admit that I fall into this, where I am so focused on what I am going through that I don’t always think to ask how others are doing. This is a major problem.
As the Body of Christ, we are to exhort and encourage each other. We are to treat others as better than ourselves. When hard times come into our lives, we have a choice: wallow in self-pity or reach out to others. It’s not wrong to share your struggles and ask for prayer. I do that a lot myself. But it is important that our trials do not consume us and become our identities.
I know so many people who are dealing with illness, have lost family members, have financial struggles, etc. It is encouraging to see them strive to be overcomers in the midst of their circumstances, and yet it is also understanding when they admit that they are struggling. These same people will ask prayer for others who are going through hard times. That is the love of God and of others flowing through them.
As you go through life and deal with the joys and the hardships, don’t forget to reach out to others and intercede for those whom God places in your life. I’m sure others are doing the same for you.
