Another wonderful song by Casting Crowns. Listen to the lyrics and watch the beautiful pictures.
Psalm 103:11-12: "For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our rebellious acts as far away from us as the EAST IS FROM THE WEST"
Saturday, July 28, 2007
East to West
Thanks Keith Green, Rich Mullins and Jack Frost
Hey!
Today, July 28, 25 years ago a young man named Keith Gordon Green died in a plane crash along with two of his small children and some of their friends. Keith Green was only 29 when he died. He was only a Christian for nine years, and he only released five Christian albums, but yet I challenge anyone to find anybody who has made a stronger impact on the Christian music scene. I came in contact with Keith Green's music when I was 14-15 years of age, and I was hooked immediately. Sure the style of some of his music was a bit out-of-date already in the mid-90's, but you couldn't help but being touched by the passion of his piano playing and the intensity in his voice. Keith challenged the Church to be real. To start practising what we preach. To obey God when he calls. Sure some of what Keith said were over-statements (God doesn't say to his children "If you can't come to me every day then don't bother coming at all"), but Keith was so passionate to show that being a child of God was and is serious business. God is not a happy Teddy Bear or a Santa Claus figure. God is living and alive and God loves passionately and desires passionately to know us and spend time with us. Keith understood this and spend every moment he was awake eating the Word of God and telling others about Christ.
But make no mistake, Keith knew the love of God. Keith was a man that made mistakes and stood on people's feet from time to time (don't we all?), but he had an all-or-nothing, no compromises-faith that shook the world and still does. I warmly recommend "No Compromise" - the story of Keith Green and the two double albums "The Ministry Years" volume 1 and 2. You will never be the same again, if you listen to the message of these songs and of Keith's writings! Wikipedia has made this article about Keith: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Green
Keith, I'm very much looking forward to meeting you in person and attend one of your concerts on the new earth! See you:-)
RICH MULLINS - an honest ragamuffin
Another one of my musical heroes (I basically have three: Keith Green, Rich Mullins and Casting Crowns) is also dead. His name was Rich Mullins. I don't know the story of Rich Mullins as well as I know Keith's. And I don't like as many as his songs as much. But I absolutely love The Jesus Record. A little album which contains two CD's. The first CD is a recording made in a small church with just Rich, a guitar and an old tape recorder, where he recorded the songs that were gonna be made into the album The Jesus Record. He never finished the project since he died in a car crash in 1997 at the age of 42. But his band, the Ragamuffins, alongside a group of Rich's Christian singers' friends decided to sing the songs and make it into an album as a tribute to Rich and to God! A wonderful, honest collection of songs. Rich was honest to the core. No pretending. I love the story of how the song "Hold me Jesus" came about. Rich and a friend were in a motel room during a tour around the States, and Rich was tempted to watch pornography on the cable tv. He was waiting for his friend to fall asleep so he himself could give into this temptation, but his friend kept waking up. After a while Rich sat down and wrote this song instead of watching pornography - praise God:
Well, sometimes my life
Just don't make sense at all
When the mountains look so big
And my faith just seems so small
CHORUS:
So hold me Jesus, 'cause I'm shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won't You be my Prince of Peace
And I wake up in the night and feel the dark
It's so hot inside my soul
I swear there must be blisters on my heart
CHORUS
Surrender don't come natural to me
I'd rather fight You for something
I don't really want
Than to take what You give that I need
And I've beat my head against so many walls
Now I'm falling down, I'm falling on my knees
And this Salvation Army band
Is playing this hymn
And Your grace rings out so deep
It makes my resistance seem so thin
CHORUS
You have been King of my glory
Won't You be my Prince of Peace
Much more about Rich Mullins here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Mullins
JACK FROST - living in the Father's Embrace
Just a little while ago the father of three children and the husband of Trisha Frost died battling cancer. Jack Frost was the man behind Shiloh Place (www.shilohplace.org) and the author of the wonderful book "Experiencing the Father's Embrace". I came in contact with Jack Frost's teaching while in Malaysia doing a three month Bible School with Youth With A Mission. I was part of a small mens' group and we watched some of Jack Frost's teaching about living in the light and experiencing the Father's embrace on DVD. The teaching about living in the light (based on 1. John chapter 1) challenged me in deep and meaningful ways and helped me come to the point where I decided to tell Jeannette (my wife whom I was engaged to back then) EVERYTHING there was to know about me, the good, the bad and the really ugly..! It was hard and painful, but it was worth it. It set our marriage of to a wonderful start and we have continued walking in the light ever since. We have chosen to be painfully honest with each other and truly know each other and forgive and love each other.
I'm eternally grateful to Jack Frost and God for helping me see these truths.
So....this was a little blog about some men who have inspired, challenged and blessed me. I hope and pray that I will continue to encounter men and women like these. They are beacons of hope, love and peace in a troublesome world.
God bless!
Torben - what type of people, living or dead, have inspired you dear readers in your Christian walk??
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
What you truly believe
It keeps getting clearer and clearer to me that most of our confessions of faith mean very little. In fact I see more and more how the only confession that truly means anything is the one you make when the door is closed and you're all alone with your thoughts.
That's where the rubber meets the road. That's where you see what you truly believe. And that's where Satan attacks you. That's where he'll question whether you truly believe or not.
Satan is not intimidated or impressed with your big confessions of God's love at church, with your friends, on your blog or wherever, if only he can keep you from truly believing that you're loved by God just the way you are!
To know that you're God's Beloved is the biggest revelation anybody can receive. And it's the revelation that Satan fears the most.
If you - when the door is closed and you're all alone with your thoughts know that you know that you know that you're LOVED just the way you are, not the way you should be, could've been or will be and that God will love you just the same whether you sit in a couch and eat potato chips until you die or you travel the world and share the Gospel of Christ until you die - then you know the peace of God! Then you know your standing before God! And then Satan is terrified of you. Then he knows that you know that it's not about your power, but it's about Christ living in you! And nothing scares Satan more than God's children who truly know that they are loved.
Do you know that for yourself? Or are you still trying to earn God's love? Are you in ministry to impress God or other people? Or do you serve God because the "love of Christ compels you" as Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 5, 14. Or to update Paul's words a little bit: "I serve God because I simply can't help myself" Paul knew he was loved. Therefore he was free to serve and give.
If you serve God for any other reason than that....you're serving under the law not under grace!
So what do you believe when the door is closed and you're all alone with your thoughts?
God bless you as you ask him to reveal his love for you! It's only through revelation that we can know that we are loved just the way we are!
Torben
That's where the rubber meets the road. That's where you see what you truly believe. And that's where Satan attacks you. That's where he'll question whether you truly believe or not.
Satan is not intimidated or impressed with your big confessions of God's love at church, with your friends, on your blog or wherever, if only he can keep you from truly believing that you're loved by God just the way you are!
To know that you're God's Beloved is the biggest revelation anybody can receive. And it's the revelation that Satan fears the most.
If you - when the door is closed and you're all alone with your thoughts know that you know that you know that you're LOVED just the way you are, not the way you should be, could've been or will be and that God will love you just the same whether you sit in a couch and eat potato chips until you die or you travel the world and share the Gospel of Christ until you die - then you know the peace of God! Then you know your standing before God! And then Satan is terrified of you. Then he knows that you know that it's not about your power, but it's about Christ living in you! And nothing scares Satan more than God's children who truly know that they are loved.
Do you know that for yourself? Or are you still trying to earn God's love? Are you in ministry to impress God or other people? Or do you serve God because the "love of Christ compels you" as Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 5, 14. Or to update Paul's words a little bit: "I serve God because I simply can't help myself" Paul knew he was loved. Therefore he was free to serve and give.
If you serve God for any other reason than that....you're serving under the law not under grace!
So what do you believe when the door is closed and you're all alone with your thoughts?
God bless you as you ask him to reveal his love for you! It's only through revelation that we can know that we are loved just the way we are!
Torben
Monday, July 23, 2007
Too many pigeons...
We really do have quite a lot of pigeons running around everywhere here in Kiev. This might be the way to get rid of them?:-)
Saturday, July 14, 2007
God's song over his children
Foolish heart, looks like we're here again.
Same old game of plastic smile,
Don't let anybody in.
Hiding my heartache,
Will this glass house break?
How much will it take before I'm empty?
Do I let it show?
Does anybody know?
CHORUS:
But You see the real me.
Hiding in my skin, broken from within.
Unveil me completely.
I'm loosening my grasp,
There's no need to mask my frailty
Cause You see the real me.
Painted on, life is behind a mask,
Self-inflicted circus clown.
I'm tired of the song and dance,
Living a charade, always on parade.
What a mess I've made of my existence.
But You love me even now
And still I see somehow...
CHORUS
Wonderful, beautiful is what You see
When You look at me.
You're turning the tattered fabric of my life
Into a perfect tapestry.
Oh, I just wanna be me,
I wanna be me.
CHORUS
and You love me just as I am.
wonderful, beautiful is what You see
when You look at me.
"The Real Me" by Natalie Grant - what a wonderful and true song! God knows the real me, and he loves me just the way I am not the way I could be, should be, or will be! Just the way I am today! I'm God's delight!
Same old game of plastic smile,
Don't let anybody in.
Hiding my heartache,
Will this glass house break?
How much will it take before I'm empty?
Do I let it show?
Does anybody know?
CHORUS:
But You see the real me.
Hiding in my skin, broken from within.
Unveil me completely.
I'm loosening my grasp,
There's no need to mask my frailty
Cause You see the real me.
Painted on, life is behind a mask,
Self-inflicted circus clown.
I'm tired of the song and dance,
Living a charade, always on parade.
What a mess I've made of my existence.
But You love me even now
And still I see somehow...
CHORUS
Wonderful, beautiful is what You see
When You look at me.
You're turning the tattered fabric of my life
Into a perfect tapestry.
Oh, I just wanna be me,
I wanna be me.
CHORUS
and You love me just as I am.
wonderful, beautiful is what You see
when You look at me.
"The Real Me" by Natalie Grant - what a wonderful and true song! God knows the real me, and he loves me just the way I am not the way I could be, should be, or will be! Just the way I am today! I'm God's delight!
Voice Of Truth - Casting Crowns
There are many voices in my life. But I will choose to listen to and believe the Voice of Truth - Jesus, the Son of God living in me and through me!
When words are not enough
Dear readers!
Jeannette and I came back to Kiev a bit more than a week ago from a wonderful month in England where we did a four-week-seminar centered around Identity In Christ.
The key verse for the four weeks was Galatians 2:20 where Paul writes: "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of Godwho loved me and gave himself for me". An exchange took place on the Cross. Christ died, I died with him, Christ gave me his life, and I gave him my life. Christ lives in me!
What a wonder!
We spend four weeks trying to unpack this wonder, well-knowing that it's only the revelation of God through the Holy Spirit that can make this truth come alive and become my reality.
I came to the seminar with many questions and much fear. I left the seminar with a new sense of hope, and a sense of hope that'll last because it's rooted in God and his never-changing word.
I can't really explain what happened in me during the seminar. I cried, I questioned, I celebrated, I thought, I rejoiced, I shared, I symphatized with the other participants, I grew! I guess I don't really want to explain too much at this point, it's something sacred between my Father in heaven and me.
But I have a new sense and a renewed faith that tells me that when the door is closed and I'm all alone with my thoughts I know that I know that I know that GOD LOVES ME JUST THE WAY I AM!!
You can't get a bigger revelation. God loves me just the way I am. Jesus' disciple John refers to himself as "the disciple Jesus loved". That was his identity. His identity wasn't in being an apostle, a teacher, a leader, a church father, or anything else. He was the one Jesus loved.
My identity is not in my performance, my achievements, my successes, my failures, my gifts - "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so" is the highest truth. And that's what I'll allow to be my identity. Christ in me the hope of glory!
I could say much more, but I won't. Many truths in my heart are new. They need time to grow and develop. I need time to rest in God and rest in what he has done for me and who he is in me. I want to embrace a road of brokenness, because that's where the ABUNDANT life that Jesus promised is! My dictionary tells me that broken(ness) means: having been fractured or damaged and no longer in one piece or in working order. That's who I am in front of God. I'm broken and not in working order. For many years I thought that I was in working order, but I just needed God to replace my batteries. But that's not the truth. I need God for everything. Psalm 40:17: "I am poor and needy, may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer". There are many tears on the road of brokenness, and few choose to go there. But Jesus says: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" (Matthew 5:3-4). I'm on a journey with God, and I don't know what's ahead of me, but it's okay. I will continue to surrender my felt right to be in control and let God be God and me be me!
There is hope! Lots of hope!
Praise God!
Torben
Jeannette and I came back to Kiev a bit more than a week ago from a wonderful month in England where we did a four-week-seminar centered around Identity In Christ.
The key verse for the four weeks was Galatians 2:20 where Paul writes: "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of Godwho loved me and gave himself for me". An exchange took place on the Cross. Christ died, I died with him, Christ gave me his life, and I gave him my life. Christ lives in me!
What a wonder!
We spend four weeks trying to unpack this wonder, well-knowing that it's only the revelation of God through the Holy Spirit that can make this truth come alive and become my reality.
I came to the seminar with many questions and much fear. I left the seminar with a new sense of hope, and a sense of hope that'll last because it's rooted in God and his never-changing word.
I can't really explain what happened in me during the seminar. I cried, I questioned, I celebrated, I thought, I rejoiced, I shared, I symphatized with the other participants, I grew! I guess I don't really want to explain too much at this point, it's something sacred between my Father in heaven and me.
But I have a new sense and a renewed faith that tells me that when the door is closed and I'm all alone with my thoughts I know that I know that I know that GOD LOVES ME JUST THE WAY I AM!!
You can't get a bigger revelation. God loves me just the way I am. Jesus' disciple John refers to himself as "the disciple Jesus loved". That was his identity. His identity wasn't in being an apostle, a teacher, a leader, a church father, or anything else. He was the one Jesus loved.
My identity is not in my performance, my achievements, my successes, my failures, my gifts - "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so" is the highest truth. And that's what I'll allow to be my identity. Christ in me the hope of glory!
I could say much more, but I won't. Many truths in my heart are new. They need time to grow and develop. I need time to rest in God and rest in what he has done for me and who he is in me. I want to embrace a road of brokenness, because that's where the ABUNDANT life that Jesus promised is! My dictionary tells me that broken(ness) means: having been fractured or damaged and no longer in one piece or in working order. That's who I am in front of God. I'm broken and not in working order. For many years I thought that I was in working order, but I just needed God to replace my batteries. But that's not the truth. I need God for everything. Psalm 40:17: "I am poor and needy, may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer". There are many tears on the road of brokenness, and few choose to go there. But Jesus says: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" (Matthew 5:3-4). I'm on a journey with God, and I don't know what's ahead of me, but it's okay. I will continue to surrender my felt right to be in control and let God be God and me be me!
There is hope! Lots of hope!
Praise God!
Torben
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