Raw Material: Recent Episodes
Jennie Joy
Here, I post raw and unedited songs to Jesus. Sometimes it sounds messy and awkward, so eavesdrop only if it helps draw you into your own dialogue with the King of all Kings.
Christ, You Spoke to Us of Children W ZLOBIE LEZY 4.4.7.4.4.7.4.4.4.4.7 ("Infant Holy, Infant Lowly”)
Christ, you spoke to us of children: “Let the children come to me. Do not stop them, for the kingdom Is for little ones like these.” God, we grieve now as our nation Fails its moral obligation To receive the refugees.
Christ, you spoke of God’s intention: “Do not cause my children harm!” Yet we place them in detention, Far from loved ones, scared and worn. Children, huddled close together, Grieve for families that are severed; God of love, what have we done?
Christ, you taught us to give water And to help the ones who thirst. Yet in places near the border, We confess we’ve done our worst. Those who walk must now walk farther. We have made their journey harder; We dump water in the dirt.
God of immigrant and stranger, God who welcomes those in need, When your children are in danger, Will we love them or concede? May we not seek cheap forgiveness Till we dare to work for justice— Till your little ones are freed.
Biblical References: Isaiah 58; Matthew 19:14 18:6;25:31-46; James 2:14-26.
Tune: Polish melody Text: Copyright © 2019 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved.
Email: carolynshymns@gmail.com New Hymns: www.carolynshymns.com
Permisson is given for free use of this hymn
A pastoral sermon on family and sexuality from Pastor Henry Wright of Takoma Park Church.
More churches need to hear messages like this, bringing us back to the purpose of family - to display the image of God.
I appreciate the frankness, truth, and grace with which the pastor addresses these issues.
A little ditty that came into my mind recently when I read Psalm 46:1. Accompanied by my dulcimer.
The refrain of this song started running through my head as I was walking home this evening, so I picked up my guitar and just rocked with it. I sing about encountering the love of Jesus and being sent to tell others about the reality of this love... Please come! You are loved and welcomed onto this journey! The love train! Jesus is the conductor! YOU ARE LOVED! COME WITH US!
Jesus paid a price to love us. A high price. When I began to look at my suffering Savior, I began to be moved to a deeper level of love. His loving me meant paying the ultimate cost. Now, if He asks me to pay a small price to love another, how can I say no? He already led the way and set the example... and I can never out-give Jesus. If He invites me to join Him in giving generously for love, that is an honor because I get to draw into closer fellowship with Him. :) What joy! To be near Him... :)
Jesus, whatever You ask, please give me the grace to always say yes!
In confusion, we must choose to trust our Lord. He's kind. He's at work. He truly is... even when we cannot see it.
Hold tight, dear heart. Choose to believe and dare to rejoice.
It's going to be ok.
Because you belong to Jesus.
Jesus is the heart of everything. The universe and everything we see and experience only exists and is sustained because He sustains it. Wow. He is the center. If we could only grasp that... wow... pretty sure it would wreck us! All of the heavens focus their attention on Jesus in worship... I want my heart, life, and affections to be so captivated by our King!!!
Wow, Jesus... capture our hearts.
I am so hungry to know the Love of God. Not to know it - like know ABOUT it - but to KNOW it... experience it... rely upon it... make it part of me... love with His love - LOVE HIMSELF- instead of my weak love...
But His love looks painful sometimes. Yet, if that is Love, I want to know it. And I want that Love to sustain me in the difficult loving. :)
Sometimes I feel kinda floppy... like a baby bird. :) I make mistakes and look silly... I jump too quickly - before my wings can sustain me... but in even my failings, I hope to always worship Jesus. If it's possible, I'd like even my baby-bird foolishness to glorify my Lord.
I'm so glad You're gracious, Jesus. Despite my imperfection and weakness, would You please receive my floppy life songs as an attempt to express my love for You. :) Just give me a pure worshiper's heart. :) I love You!
Drawn into the love of God... oh, may we all be drawn into His love... and may we love Him as He loves us!
"Would you look at that? Would you look at that? Well, just look at it!"
Seriously. Gaze on Jesus. All things fall in place when our eyes are captivated by the One who upholds and sustains all things by His power. :)
An unfinished (and very unpolished) song about our Jesus who gave up the glory of heaven to live the life of a homeless man... all in love... for us.
The song should end with the realization that our gift back to Him should be a resting place. We give Him a dwelling inside of us! We give Him what He paid for in us... and He finds in us a home. :)
God created me. He dreamed of me. :) I was a dream in my Daddy's heart before He breathed my spirit into my mother's womb. So, there's gotta be something amazing that He has dreamed! I long to enter into His dream for my life.
I pray YOU realize that your best dream falls far short of His best dream for your life. Surrender yourself to Him, and enter His dream stream. :D Woohooooooo!
Jesus, let me do what only I can do for you. I would love to live out that dream you dreamed with me. :)
I want to worship Jesus as extravagantly as He will allow me to be with the little life He's given me. :) He is life, and He created mine. Every breath and all that I am and ever will be is what I want to give Him. :)
I never want to hold anything back from God. So, may my life be my worship lived out. A living sacrifice. :) A love gift to Jesus.
A song I sang during a rainstorm... thanking God for sending rain on the righteous and unrighteous alike... agreeing for the rain to fall - the literal rain and the rain of the spiritual water in thirsty lands.
A song whose lyrics just flowed out into my notebook one afternoon as I sat at a park. I started singing, and the melody came. Jesus is such a perfect Redeemer! He deserves every song to be sung for Him!!!
The refrain from this song started running through my head one morning as I prayed. It was during a season when Jesus was teaching me more about His perspective - about eternity - how time doesn't have a hold on Him. Though we are stuck in time, He is not, nor ever will be. Half of the stuff I was singing about don't even fully make sense to me yet - this eternity thing is still something I talk to Jesus about a lot. :) I just don't want to be stuck in a temporal perspective. I want His perspective - which is way beyond time. :) Yay!
I needed wisdom. So, in the spirit of James 1:5, I asked God for wisdom. Well, I started by asking for wisdom like Solomon had... haha... then Jesus reminded me that I had access to HIS wisdom. Good news! :)
As I was praying for some unsaved friends one afternoon, I grabbed hold of the truth that Jesus did not come to condemn us. He came to SAVE us. Jesus sat in heaven and looked down upon the earth. He saw everyone sinning and destroying one another - and He said to His Father, "I will go give my life that they may be saved from that sin which is destroying them." What a beautiful truth!
"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved." John 17:3
We cannot see things like God sees, unless He changes our perspective. I long to see what Jesus sees - to hear His voice - to share in His understanding from His vantage point. Jesus doesn't stress over things like we humans do. He is fully content in His godhood and sovereignty. I want to have the same certainty of His victory that He has. :) So, in this song, I ask for His perspective and welcome Him to speak light into my confusion. :)
Each day is an adventure when we walk with our Jesus. He is kind and His kindnesses meet us like kisses all through the day if we have eyes to see them. We can live each moment with the desire to know Him and to love Him more. This song was just a morning declaration to Jesus that I wanted to spend my whole day with Him. :) Everyday, baby! Everyday! :)
I began singing about the voice of God - how God spoke through the Bible - and the song became an invitation for all of us to enter intimate fellowship with God - an invitation for us all to know His voice and dialogue with Him. He paid for it! Now, let us enter into fellowship with Him!
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow Me." John 10:27
A song that came as I worshiped Jesus and prayed over a nation dear to my heart. Jesus is a mighty warrior who paid a high price in His own blood to redeem His bride from every tribe, people, and nation. He will receive the reward of His suffering. Human souls were the joy that was set before Him as He endured the cross! So, in this song, I agree with Jesus - He WILL have what He died for, and I want to join Him in His mighty love crusade - where He conquers hearts and defeats everything that stands against love!
You know what is amazing? The infiniteness of God – should I say, the “infinity” of God? – the fact that God has always been and will always be – that He was never created, but by Him and in Him and through Him all things exist and are maintained! Have you ever pondered all the yet undiscovered beauty contained in the vast eternal expanse of who God is?
I picked up my guitar (actually… my dad’s guitar) this evening just to sing a spontaneous song to God about the joy of eternally seeking Him. You can hear it here.
Please, friends and readers, never stop pursuing and exploring our eternal God. He is vast and expansive and so far beyond our understanding that we will never know Him exhaustively – but we can know Him truly.
And knowledge of God is eternal life. (John 17:3)