With Everything!

Open our eyes
To see the things that make Your heart cry
To be the church that You would desire
Your light to be seen

VERSE 2:

Break down our pride
And all the walls we’ve built up inside
Our earthly crowns and all our desires
We lay at Your feet

PRE CHORUS:

Let hope rise
And darkness tremble
In Your holy light
That every eye will see
Jesus our God
Great and mighty to be praised

VERSE 3:

God of all days
Glorious in all of Your ways
Oh the majesty the wonder and grace
In the light of Your Name

CHORUS:

With everything
With everything
We will shout for Your glory
With everything
With everything
We will shout forth Your praise

CHORUS 2:

Our hearts they cry
Be glorified
Be lifted high above all names
For You our King
With everything
We will shout forth Your praise

-Hillsong

This is one of my favorite worship songs. You should just hear it when hundreds of students at Biola sing it together. It's funny, but my favorite part is actually the part without words. At one point in the song the words are used up and everyone simply sings "Oh, oh, oh" all together. I love it as we are no longer singing about one specific thing, but with all our breath and all we are, we just sing to God.

Can you imagine what life would be like if we gave everything to God? I know I can't... I'm always wondering practically how to give everything, so I can't imagine what a life wholly dedicated would look like. Of course we have great examples of dedicated Christians. But what would our thought life be like? Would we be praying unceasingly? Would we always be praising or contemplating God? How would we deal with issues differently? Would we have a new motivation for virtue and using our time wisely to serve God? How different would we be from the culture, our friends and family? Would it be insanely easy once we gave everything, or the hardest thing ever?

Everything... it sounds too idealistic. Yet, as Christians, we look forward to this. I can't wait for the day when we stand in front of the throne of God and can do nothing else but worship! No more distractions. No more temptations. It'll be me and my Abba!

Revelation 4

¹After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." ²At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. ³And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. ⁴Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. ⁵From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, ⁶and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: ⁷ the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. ⁸And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!"

⁹And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
¹¹"Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created."

One last song that I've been thinking about lately. This one is "The Motions" by Matthew West.

This might hurt
It’s not safe
But I know that I’ve gotta make a change
I don’t care
If I break
At least I’ll be feeling something
‘Cause just ok
Is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything?
Instead of going through the motions

No regrets
Not this time
I’m gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love
Make me whole
I think I’m finally feeling something

Take me all the way