2:30 am - "But, God ..."

At 2:30 this morning an aching knee awakened me, a reminder that my body is getting closer to its expiration date! In the darkness I began to think of the various crises of my lifetime. I remembered Mrs. Kirk’s 4^th grade classroom and the absurd Cold War era practice of leading children to shelter along the hallway walls, our knees drawn up to our chests, as if we were going to survive a nuclear attack. My brush with the Vietnam War returned to memory, registering for the draft in 1973, pondering my convictions about becoming a combatant; all moot when the war ended before I was called up. I thought about the birth of our first child, a difficult one, and the fear in the delivery room as he finally emerged, blue and lifeless. Oh the elation after what seemed a long time when he finally drew a breath and turned healthy color.  And, so it went for several minutes … memories times of economic stress, church conflicts, surgery, deaths of loved ones,  9/11, and now COVID.

 Struggle is the common human experience! The Bible explains this as the result of evil’s entry into Creation. Paul’s words are gripping - "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." (Romans 8:20-22, NIV)  We do what we can to manage the risk, to push the threats to the edge of life, but all – rich and poor, white and black, male and female – sooner or later come to know that life is fragile and beyond our control. Even more importantly, at the core of our being, especially as the years pass, we desire to know a life beyond accumulating wealth, enjoying momentary pleasure. Yes, we join with all Creation in longing for liberation from decay.  

In the middle of that waking dream, one of the most hopeful texts in the Scripture recurrently came to mind. It starts like this: “But God…”  What a divine conjunction. When I was lost, when life had no meaning, at moments that the future was hidden by darkness there is GOD, showing Himself to me.

Here is the full text, one that I love. "But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s special favor that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms—all because we are one with Christ Jesus. And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus. God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." (Ephesians 2:4-10, NLT)

Have you, by faith, received God’s mercy, the gift of His salvation?  In that moment, we move from death to life, stepping into the bright hope of eternal life, gaining a home in Heaven. God makes us His very own, inviting us to join Him in making this world new through faith even as we make our journey to our eternal home. All of those crises we experience become moments for faith, opportunities for us to let His love and life shine through us. 

We trust that we are not just random bits of life temporarily drifting through the universe, but that we are purposeful beings, held in the hand of our Creator. We discover this confidence - That neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,  neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8:38)

Have you experienced the divine intervention?  “But God …”

Here is a word from the Word. "In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God." (John 1:1, NLT) "But although the world was made through him, the world didn’t recognize him when he came." (John 1:10, NLT)  "But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God." (John 1:12, NLT)   Oh, the glorious freedom of the children of God.

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Living Hope

How great the chasm that lay between us
How high the mountain I could not climb
In desperation I turned to heaven
And spoke Your name into the night

Then through the darkness Your loving-kindness
Tore through the shadows of my soul
The work is finished the end is written
Jesus Christ my living hope

 Who could imagine so great a mercy
What heart could fathom such boundless grace
The God of ages stepped down from glory
To wear my sin and bear my shame

The cross has spoken I am forgiven
The King of kings calls me His own
Beautiful Savior I’m Yours forever
Jesus Christ my living hope

Hallelujah praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There’s salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ my living hope

Then came the morning that sealed the promise
Your buried body began to breathe
Out of the silence the Roaring Lion
Declared the grave has no claim on me

Jesus Yours is the victory
Jesus Christ my living hope

Oh God You are my living hope

 

Brian Johnson | Phil Wickham © 2017 Phil Wickham Music (Fair Trade Music Publishing

[c/o Essential Music Publishing LLC])

Sing My Songs (Fair Trade Music Publishing

CCLI License # 810055

 

Small god, small faith

 

Life is conducted these days, for the most part, on a first-name basis. On those rare occasions when someone introduces me as “Rev. Scott,” I quickly add, “just Jerry, please.” Informality has become the rule almost everywhere. Some miss the code that demanded differing kinds of clothing depending on the situation, but who even knows what it means to get dressed up for dinner these days? The dark suit and tie that once was the uniform for Sunday morning has given way to the short-sleeved shirt and jeans. The mystery that once cloaked people who held office has been stripped away and now leaders live under the unblinking stare of the TV camera, revealed as ordinary mortals which they always were. 

So, why am I talking about this? Has our informality invaded our relationship with God? Have we made Him too much like us, good theology lost to pop culture ideas about Who He is? 

Despite his wonderful acting skills, Morgan Freeman, who played “God” in two hit movies, Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty, is no substitute for the Holy One. Discomfort with patriarchal systems has caused many to abandon the Scripture’s revelation of God as Father. Others subconsciously take that word and God becomes, in their minds, an old, benevolent Grandpa. Equally troubling is the irreverent, meant to be funny, characterization of Him as “the Man upstairs.”  

Why does any of this matter? Am I just splitting hairs over words?  I think not.  Poor theology, failure to understand God as He reveals Himself, weakens faith to the point of its failure.  A small god gives us a small faith.

A story told by D. McCollough illustrates my point.  “When Lloyd C. Douglas, author of The Robe, was a university student, he lived in a boarding house. An elderly, retired music teacher, infirm and unable to leave the apartment, resided on the first floor. Douglas and the man had a ritual for the morning. He would come down the steps, open the old man’s door, and ask, “Well, what’s the good news?” The old man would pick up his tuning fork, tap it on the side of his wheelchair and say, “That’s middle C! It was middle C yesterday; it will be middle C tomorrow; it will be middle C a thousand years from now. The tenor upstairs sings flat, the piano across the hall is out of tune, but, my friend, THAT is middle C!” The old man had discovered one thing upon which he could depend, one constant reality in his life, one “still point in a turning world.” (The Trivialization of God, NavPress, 1995)

Moses, when commissioned to lead God’s people out of Egypt to the Promised Land, asked the Lord Who appeared to him in a burning bush, what to say when asked the source of his authority to act. “Who shall I tell them has sent me?”  "God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14, NIV)  Great wonder and amazing mystery is wrapped up in that phrase. God reveals Himself as Eternal and Self-existent, without first cause, without predecessor.

Isaiah, when called to preach to Judah’s corrupt society about the pending judgment, is given a vision.  It might seem weird to modern minds, but let the text speak. "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, 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. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:1-5, NIV)  God reveals Himself as HOLY – “wholly other, unique, not like anything created” to Isaiah. He also is Almighty – “Lord of Hosts” in some translations, a term that describes Him as awesomely powerful.  How does Isaiah respond?  Not with glee, to be sure. He trembles!

Few tremble at the mention of the Name of God. Awe and wonder are rare in our worship, personal and corporate.  Our familiarity with God has made us think of Him as less than powerful which has weakened our faith and brought us prayers with little aspiration of the revelation of His glory. Are we too often guilty of rushing into His presence, whether privately or in our church gatherings, to sing songs with half a heart, to hear sermons with half a mind, to pray only hopeful, but largely faithless prayers as we drift off to sleep? To attend to worship of the Creator of the Universe while thinking about the lesser things of our lives certainly must offend the GREAT I AM.  

He reveals that He can be known, through Christ who invites us to ‘boldly approach the Throne of grace,’ and through the Holy Spirit sent to live not just with us, but in us.  We should be ever so grateful that He is both immanent (here now in His creation) and transcendent (larger than time and place); our God who great and loving at the same moment. Great faith rests on the foundation of a great God, not of our making, but who is revealed to us through His wonderful works, through the Scripture, and in Christ Jesus, who came to show us the Father.   

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." (Colossians 1:15-20, NIV)

Christian friend, let’s not allow the informalities of life in 21st century America cause us to turn the “Great I AM” into the Divine Buddy.  I make no case for making God into a remote, unapproachable Deity. He is loving, good, and majestic Lord of great glory all at the same time!  Pray for a new revelation of His majesty. Learn to quiet your mind and your emotions before Him, making a place to know a part of Him left unknown by many.

The word from the Word - "Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be destroyed, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:28-29, NLT)

"Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! He is to be revered above all the gods.
The gods of other nations are merely idols, but the Lord made the heavens!
Honor and majesty surround him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. ...
Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor. Let all the earth tremble before him." (Psalm 96:4-6, 9 NLT)

________________

 Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;
Wean it from earth; through all its pulses move;
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art;
And make me love Thee as I ought to love.

I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies,
No sudden rending of the veil of clay,
No angel visitant, no opening skies;
But take the dimness of my soul away.

Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh;
Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear.
To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh,
Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.

Hast Thou not bid me love Thee, God and King?
All, all Thine own, soul, heart and strength and mind.
I see Thy cross; there teach my heart to cling:
O let me seek Thee, and O let me find!

Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,
One holy passion filling all my frame;
The kindling of the heaven descended Dove,
My heart an altar, and Thy love the flame. -- George Croly

Running on Empty?

 

The man arrived at the Denver airport late at night, tired and ready to be home in his own bed. It was an hour’s drive through a desolate stretch of Northern Colorado. A little blinking light on the dashboard signaled a problem – his car was almost out of fuel! Familiar with the road, he knew that gas was 20 miles away.  He felt the tension increase as he coasted down hills and drove in every way he knew to conserve fuel. Finally he coasted into the station, the car running on fumes.  He realized that his hands that were tightly gripping the steering wheel were sweaty. His shoulder muscles were in knots. As the fuel flowed into his car, he relaxed. When he got back into his car he heard his favorite music, music he hadn’t heard in the last 20 miles!  He looked up and around – to see bright moonlight reflecting off the snow caps of the Rocky Mountains just to the west.  A powerful lesson settled over his in those midnight moments – he had been so engulfed by the fear of running out of gas in the middle of nowhere, he had become deaf and blind to the beauty that surrounded him!  (as told by Dary Northrop) 

I love that story that I heard a fellow pastor tell at a conference a few years ago. It came back to me as I thought about the world we are currently living in. IF we lower our sights to the crisis of the moment and listen to the noise of the voices telling that hope is nearly gone, we will most certainly lose sight of the beauty that remains; friends that love, the people who are working hard along side of us, the faithfulness of our God. Jesus, the perfect God-Man, knew the temptation of the urgent which attempted to block engagement with the important. What did He do? He regularly took time to retreat, to pray, to be with His Father. Can we do anything less?

 Christian, we must not allow ourselves to run on empty. If we do, the fears, the tension, the anger so prevalent in the world around us will overwhelm us.  God has prepared renewal and refreshment for us. The words that the Lord spoke to Isaiah are not just poetry. "For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams." (Isaiah 44:3-4, NIV)  

Here is an invitation - “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare." (Isaiah 55:1-2, NIV)

 I write these words with tears in my eyes, sorrow for my own failures to take His grace and live in the flow of the Spirit and so sad for the millions of Christians who are losing sight of the goodness of the Lord in these troubled times. Let’s remember that whenever we take life into our own hands, when we do not balance work and worship, when we let ourselves be tricked into thinking “I have to do something, anything, right now, or all is lost,” we will become empty and desperate.

The songs around us will go unheard; the beauty of His blessings unseen. With Israel’s ancient pilgrims, let’s pray: "I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!" (Psalm 121:1-2, NLT)

Are you running on empty? Do what seems impossible- Stop! Wait! Look up!

 Pray, perhaps simple sentence prayers, “Lord, show me the way.” “Jesus, be my peace.” “Father, give me vision.”

Worship. Last night, feeling tense after a long meeting, I stood in the darkness on my front porch and listened to the night sounds of the woods. I took in the night sky and in those moments, I felt small, yet renewed in the wonder that the God of Creation knew MY name, MY needs.

Sabbath. God wove a principle of rest into His plan.  In Genesis, we are told that “He rested on the 7^th day.”  He concluded that His work was complete. We, too, need to take time, not just to play, but to pause the ordinary activities in order to give ourselves to those spiritual things that complete us.

 Running on empty? Lost sight of the goodness of life?  Here is a word from the Word.

"Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand." (Isaiah 41:10, NLT)  There is no need to run on empty because God promises Christians the fullness of the Spirit.  "So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts." (Ephesians 5:15-19, NLT)  In that fullness, desperation will be replaced with "life… more abundantly." (John 10:10, KJV)

_________

Take a few moments, right now, to pause.
Let this song lift you to worship!  The song is performed by
Heavens Mutambira & Amplified Praise

Holy Spirit (a beautiful song, a confession of our need)

 There's nothing worth more that will ever come close
No thing can compare You're our living hope
Your Presence

 I've tasted and seen of the sweetest of loves
Where my heart becomes free and my shame is undone
In Your Presence Lord

 Holy Spirit You are welcome here
Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere
Your glory God is what our hearts long for
To be overcome by Your Presence Lord

 Your Presence Lord
Your Presence
Oh God how we love Your Presence Lord

 Let us become more aware of Your Presence
Let us experience the glory of Your goodness (Lord) 

Bryan Torwalt | Katie Torwalt © 2011 Capitol CMG Genesis (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

Jesus Culture Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055

Take charge of those emotions

 

This stormy year, 2020, creates fertile conditions for us to become panicky, troubled, and reactionary. I readily admit that I can work myself into a worried state in a minute or less! Who has not asked, “What’s next?” and wondered about the future?  Christians, people who should be the most hopeful, tragically have fallen under the influence of the more radical voices, often spinning conspiracy theories, or defaulting to “End Times” speculation.

These are difficult times and the changes in our country are truly significant!  My intent today is not to minimize the troubling times, but to remind you of the principle that Paul gave to Timothy – "God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." (2 Timothy 1:7, NIV)

 It is just fine to wonder what is going to happen in the future. It folly to refuse to take appropriate caution (though it is hard to know what is right) to protect ourselves. For example, it is not faithless to wear a mask, to wash your hands more frequently, or to choose to limit your social contacts. Faith is not the refusal to admit that there are challenges to life and well-being. It is steady trust in the LORD that keeps us from reactions that are not aligned with His will and Word. Faithlessness is nakedly obvious in hateful attacks on those with who we disagree, when we demonize people of differing ethnicity or race, or when we choose to repeat baseless rumors inciting greater fear! People who do those things show they are controlled by fear, not faith.  

We have a daily choice – will we trust God to lead us into the future or allow an awful anxiety to drive us to desperation?   Faith grows when we admit that we cannot control the virus, the political scene, the social unrest, the things we perceive as threats to our future AND actively put our lives in the care of the One who is eternal.

 Dramatic events like those of the last few months, tend to raise our awareness of our faith or lack thereof.  When we feel spiritually adrift, the best responses are prayer – “Lord, I believe, help me overcome my fear!” – and meditation in Scripture truth – “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46.10)  Remember faith is not just a feeling of confidence or a surge of courage. Faith is a way of life that affects our most basic daily choices. "The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. … It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him." (Hebrews 11:6, The Message)

 There is a cartoon version of real faith that casues some Christians to act in ways that are ridiculous. This superficial kind of ‘faith’ tries to convince us that can control our health, our family, our world by saying the right words or “believing” enough. People who fall for this become like those little children who obviously are feeling the terror of the monster in the closet while they chant – “I’m not afraid, I’m not afraid,” in a tremulous voice. Real faith is quite capable of admitting to a sense of uncertainty, saying “I really don’t know how this will turn out, but … I trust the God Who secures my future.”

Here is a practical suggestion, a lesson from an ancient godly king in Jerusalem. Hezekiah was threatened by an army that had the ability to obliterate his little nation. Here’s what he did. "Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: “O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God." (2 Kings 19:14-16, NIV)  

Write down the things that you fear, the threats you perceive. Then, go and present your list to God! Do it like Hezekiah did, with true worship. In this you acknowledge that you are in His care. Receive the gift of peace that results from giving those fears to Him.

 Paul wrote to Christians who lived in a world where they were a tiny minority, completely powerless politically or economically. His words to them are important for you and me in our time!  This is the word from the Word that closes today’s thought. Let’s believe it, receive it, and live it. "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody." (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12, NIV)

________

Lord, give us a Quiet Confidence,
a willingness to trust and wait,
to hold onto hope,
to live with joy in each day.

May we not surrender to apathy,
nor demand life on our own terms.

Show us Your face,
keep us near to Your heart.
Whisper to us that You are Master, Savior, and Friend.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen

Love Renewed

A  picture of Bev and me sits on a side table in my living room, two kids in 1974 with love in their eyes. When I look at it, nostalgia takes over. “Wouldn’t it be great to relive that ‘first love’ of that Summer?”  Those were days when evening dates couldn’t come soon enough. (Remember we didn’t have 24/7 contact on cell phones and texts!)  We talked about everything and nothing – just ‘in love.’ 

From those days I can do a fast flyover of 41 years of marriage.  Like most couples, once we married life took on a kind of routine. Kids came, responsibilities increased. Ours was a solid and loving marriage but not perfect. Seasons came when life intruded, when we forgot to prioritize our relationship, and love was tested. Then came those last two years together when the foundations of life were put to the test. A love emerged unlike any we had known, even in that first Summer: a deep and profound “I trust you with my life” kind of love that was bright and beautiful in the middle of the darkness.

On this Monday morning, the Spirit asks me (and you) about our love for our God. Go with me to John’s words to the church of Ephesus, from the 2^nd chapter of the Revelation. “These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands  (Jesus Christ): I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love." (Revelation 2:1-4, NIV)  

Jesus’ complaint is that His bride has let responsibility diminish love. This church was doing good things, preached sound doctrine, and had stayed faithful in hard times, BUT they had lost the fire of their love.

I let this line shape my meditation, my prayers this morning. "I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love." (Revelation 2:4, NIV)  I encourage you to the same meditation.
Are you growing in your love for the Lord or have you settled for doing things for Him, keeping up the routines while losing the heart of it all?  

Jesus appeal to that church and to us is this: "Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first." (Revelation 2:5, NIV) Two verbs are His commands.

Remember!
Keep the memory of His saving grace alive. One of the shared practices of Christians from all ages, in every liturgical tradition, is Communion. Week by week, in our worship, we follow Jesus’ command to ‘eat this bread’ and ‘drink this cup.’ Why? We remember Him, going back to the foundation of our hope, that He came to us, God become human, the Bread of Life; and that He gave His very life to create a covenant, the assurance that we can know and be known of God. In the middle of the good things of your religion, do you remember Him, with devotion?

Repent! 
“Turn around and look me in the eyes,” Jesus says. In various ways we are reminded as Christians that our Lord seeks our fidelity. We cannot let our affections be stolen by other loves. There are so many things that can come between us, not all of them terrible or evil. Love of family, love of tradition, love of comfort … are just a few of those things that could replace Jesus at the center of life. He wants to own us, to be at the core of our affections – all other relationships secondary. Is He?  That isn’t a question that yields an easy answer for our hearts are quick to justify the loves that govern them.  If we find other ‘loves’ have come between us, the answer is to repent, to turn around and leave them to pursue Him.

 Jesus defines the love He desires from us. It goes beyond praise songs, beyond our emotions that are fickle.  Real love for Jesus, like any genuine affection, is demonstrated by priority of commitment. He says, “If you love me, you will obey what I command." (John 14:15, NIV)  "He who does not love me will not obey my teaching." (John 14:24, NIV) He warns that there will be people who stand at the Last Judgment claiming that He was their love, but He will say, “I never knew you!”  

 On this Monday morning, take some time to meditate, to reflect on how you love Him. Let’s be like Peter who saw some leaving Jesus when His words became difficult to accept. When asked if he would leave too, he says what I hope each of us can say. "Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You alone have the words that give eternal life." (John 6:68, NLT)

__________

One Thing Remains (Your Love Never Fails)

(worship with this song about His love)

 Higher than the mountains that I face
Stronger than the power of the grave
Constant in the trial and the change
One thing remains
One thing remains  

Your love never fails
It never gives up
Never runs out on me
Your love

On and on and on and on it goes
It overwhelms and satisfies my soul
And I never ever have to be afraid
One thing remains
One thing remains

 In death in life I'm confident and
Cover'd by the power of Your great love
My debt is paid there's nothing that
Can separate my heart from Your great love

 Brian Johnson | Christa Black Gifford | Jeremy Riddle © 2010 ChristaJoy Music Publishing (Admin. by Bethel Music Publishing)

Mercy / Vineyard Publishing (Admin. by Vineyard Music USA)

Bethel Music Publishing

CCLI License # 810055