Chapel

As some of you probably know from reading Facebook, I led chapel this past Wednesday. On Monday, Joyce asked me if I would be able to fill in as the main speaker and I said I would. I've been singing with our mini-worship band each week and that has been great! Usually we sing a few songs and then a visiting pastor will give a short message. Basically it's just a mini-church service every Wednesday morning at school. It's good when I can understand what the (more often than not) Ghanaian pastor is talking about, which, unfortunately, isn't that often. Anyway, something that I feel like God has been putting on my heart lately is to really think about and learn what the songs we sing mean. So often we sing songs but don't think about the meaning behind them. "Do I really mean what I'm singing?" The thought hardly ever crosses our minds. Or maybe you're different from me and think about it constantly - awesome! I never used to think about it until someone else brought it to my attention. I just thought I'd try to turn what I talked about into a blog post for you guys to read and hopefully encourage you! How I did it was to talk about the song then sing it, then talk about another and sing it, etc.

The first song we went through was "Every Move I Make." A pretty standard worship song, I think. Here are the lyrics:

Every move I make, I make in You
You make me move, Jesus
Every breath I take, I breathe in You

Every step I take, I take in You
You are my way, Jesus
Every breath I take, I breathe in You

Waves of mercy, waves of grace
Everywhere I look I see Your face
Your love has captured me
Oh my God, this love
How can it be?

It's upbeat, it's catchy, it's hard not to sing along. But how often have you thought about what it really means? Does Jesus really guide your every step and every breath? As I was thinking through these lyrics and what they mean, I think God laid on my heart that this song is really about surrender. Surrender to God and the leading of his Holy Spirit in my life. I know, it sounds deep for such a simple song but hear me out. Is it true that every move you make, every breath you take, and every step you take is for and because of Jesus? Are you really leading your life in such a way that everything you do is for Jesus and HIS glory? I definitely am not all the time - DEFINITELY not. I'm human. I fall. I make mistakes. Even though I can't say that this song is true of me all the time, every second of every day, I'm still going to sing this song out loud because it's a desire I have in my heart. I WANT this to be true of my life - I want Jesus to lead my every move, breath, and step. I want my whole life to be surrendered to Jesus Christ. And over the past several weeks He's been patiently teaching me how to do just that. Now, you might ask yourself two questions: #1 How do you surrender your life to Jesus? #2 Why SHOULD you surrender your life to Him?

Let's tackle that second question first.

Some scripture... Genesis 1:1, 27-31

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth... So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plan on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of all the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move on the ground - everything that has the breath of life in it - I give every green plant for food." And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning - the sixth day.

God MADE us. Specifically. Uniquely. HE made us. No matter what you think about how that happened - evolution, six literal days of creation, something else entirely. Right now, that's not the point. The point is that God did it. He did it and he did it however he wanted. Don't you think that deserves some respect? Some surrender? In these verses we see that God blessed Adam and Eve and gave them rule over all the animals and plants. But what happened a little bit later in the story? THEY messed it up by eating that apple from the tree. Adam and Eve had one single rule to follow and they broke up. Adam and Eve messed up - but who fixed it? It wasn't Adam and Eve. God fixed it by sending his only son to die an excruciating death on the cross. Did you know that the word excruciating was invented to describe dying on a cross? That's how horrendous and unexplainable death on a cross was - they had to invent a word to describe it. We don't have to pay for the sin of Adam and Eve or our own sins that we commit every day because God loved us enough to send his only son to die for us on the cross.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

God LOVED the world. It started with the love of God for us sinners. God loved us so God gave us his Son. If we believe in him then we will receive eternal life with God and his Son in heaven. God loved, God gave, we believe, we receive. Notice that it's God initiated! Our salvation and eternal destination depends on our response to the love God already demonstrated to us through the death of his holy Son on the cross.

Psalm 103:8-12
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

God does not treat us as our sins deserve. He has removed our transgressions, our sins, away from us as far as the east is from the west. Because he first LOVED us!

Still need another reason for why we SHOULD surrender our lives to God?

Psalm 18:30-36
As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord's word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him. For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You make your saving help my shield, and your right hand sustains me; your help has made me great. You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way.

We should surrender our live to God because he is worthy! "His way is perfect." He will keep us strong and lead us in the way we should go... if you ask Him.


Okay, back to the first question: HOW do we surrender our lives to God? Well, this is something I'm still learning. God has been trying to teach me this in the past few weeks - complete and total surrender. In my limited experience, I think the answer to "how" is through prayer. Talking to God and thanking Jesus for his sacrifice on my and your behalf. Asking the Holy Spirit to convict you of sin in your and my life and how you and I should get rid of it. Talk to God about your day - just stay connected. Talk to God about your problems instead of gossiping about it with someone else. Talk to God about anything and everything. Acknowledge his authority over your life. Just talk to him and believe that he will keep his promises.

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

If you earnestly and honestly seek him - God won't ignore you, he will reward you. But don't expect those rewards to be immediate or the way YOU think they should be. We can't put God into our little box and say, "Okay, I prayed this way and you didn't respond the way I wanted so I'm not going to pray anymore, God you must not really care about me." God doesn't work on your time schedule or always in the way that you want. Would God really be GOD if you could control him or put him in your own little box?

If you just don't know what to pray... pray scripture.

Psalm 51:10-12
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.



Now, even if the words of this song "Every Move I Make" don't describe you right this second - if the words describe a desire you have of how you want to live your life or maybe even how you think you should live your life... sing it out!

Every move I make, I make in You
You make me move, Jesus
Every breath I take, I breathe in You

Every step I take, I take in You
You are my way, Jesus
Every breath I take, I breathe in You

Waves of mercy, waves of grace
Everywhere I look I see Your face
Your love has captured me
Oh my God, this love
How can it be?

This post is pretty long so I think maybe I'll do this in installments since I talked about 4 songs...

Come back again!

:-)