Mixed Tape Vol. I Track 3 - Overwhelmed

When you really start to pay attention to the mixture of words and sounds in worship songs, you’ll come to realize that songs emote many different feelings. Some songs emote adoration, some reflection, and then…there are response songs. These are songs that cause us to cry out to the Lord in response to what He’s done. Response songs often hold themes of submission or statements of an action that we’re going to take.

Song number 3 on my mix tape is definitely a response song.

There are so many things that I love about this song.
#1 It’s about God…Duh
#2 It’s by Big Daddy Weave <- One of my all time favorite bands…(Do you think I look like Mike Weaver?)
#3 It’s a cry out to the Lord from a state of being totally, inexplicably, undeniably, overwhelmed by Him.

In today’s world, it’s considered a sign of weakness to say that we’re overwhelmed by something.

If I tell my boss that I’m overwhelmed with my work load, he might tell me to get more organized.

If I’m overwhelmed by everything going on in my personal life, it signals to others that I am not in control.

If I’m overwhelmed by bills, one would say that I don’t have my finances under wraps.

Yet, being overwhelmed by God is an amazing place to be!
You read that right -- being overwhelmed by God is right where we need to be.

Sadly, we find that a better description of ourselves would often be “underwhelmed” by God. We go to church, maybe pop in for a Bible study, occasionally spend some time in the Word and say a couple of prayers. Yet we lament about how we can’t draw closer to God, and we’re “not sure” He’s even there. We praise Him when everything is going right, yet at the very moment of disappointment, frustration, or pain, we forsake His name.

What is wrong with us?!

We rarely allow ourselves to get to a point of being overwhelmed by God! Even though it’s in that overwhelmed state where we see His greatness, His power, His faithfulness!

Have you ever sat outside and just looked at God’s creation?
Have you ever listened to the sound of the wind as it rips through a canyon or rustles leaves on a tree?
Have you ever really thought about how your body functions?
Have you ever pondered the detail, beauty, and wonder of the earth circling around the sun? Did you realize that the earth is flying through space at 67,000 miles per hour while spinning at a rate of 1000 miles per hour while tilted at 23.5 degrees? Any change to these numbers and we wouldn’t have seasons, gravity, or even the ability to exist!
Have you ever meditated on the fact that God has seen and knows EVERYTHING that already has and will ever happen?

Have you ever sat in wonder of the fact that in spite of ALL of this, God loves YOU? And He wants to have a personal relationship with you…the very person sitting in front of this screen.

Psalm 8:3-9 says:
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen— Even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

When we pause and really take in what God is doing and has done -- when we consider His heavens and the work of His hands -- it’s easy to become overwhelmed with what God is doing.

The third song in my Mix-Tape is Overwhelmed by Big Daddy Weave.

The lyrics to this song have been the cry of my heart for a long time. I have shed tears listening to this song, my heart has been corrected by God while leading this song, and every time I hear this song I’m reminded that God has opened his arms to me, in spite of me. And that, my friends, is overwhelming.

Take a listen; you might have to play this one twice, but I encourage you to put everything else down, close your eyes, and prepare to be overwhelmed by our awesome and powerful God!

Love you all. See you next time.

CCLI #6219031
© 2011 Phil Wickham Music (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.); Seems Like Music (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.); Weave Country (Admin. by Word Entertainment, LLC); Word Music, LLC (Admin. by Word Entertainment, LLC)

Replayed with CCLI License CSPL0596

Jesus IS Here

We were at U-Turn for Christ a couple of weeks ago, and during worship I noticed there were a couple of crosses by the fireplace.  There was something written on one of them, and while I couldn’t make out the entire thing in my head, I could see that it said “Jesus” on the crossbar.  I then started to think about Jesus as a vandal.  He hung there on the cross once.  He isn’t there anymore.  And I just imagined Him writing on the cross in His own blood, “Jesus was here.”  We see it done all the time in different places as people leave their marks on the world for some small bit of recognition, but Jesus dying on the cross left a huge mark on the world.  Whether you choose to believe in Him as the Son of God or not, there is no denying that Jesus changed the world.  There are some who say Jesus never existed at all, and well, quite frankly, they are ignorant fools.  

I continued to dive down the rabbit hole and think about Jesus leaving the same mark in the tomb, “Jesus was here.”  He isn’t there anymore.  Death could not hold Him.  He is alive!  He is not on the cross, and He is not in the grave.  We spend time and money researching these things from an archaeological standpoint.  We buy consumer goods like necklaces and wall art to show people that we are Christians.  But Jesus isn’t on the cross anymore!  Don’t get me wrong here.  I’m not downplaying what happened on the cross.  The cross is the place where Jesus' sacrifice brought salvation to the world.  There is nothing insignificant about that.  The tomb is the place where the power of God through Jesus was on full display.  But anyone can wear a cross, have a Bible on his shelf, and call himself a Christian.  You can have those things, call yourself a Christian, and not live a single moment for Christ.  

If Jesus isn’t in those places today, then where is He?  There is the obvious answer that He is found throughout the Bible and will speak to us as we press in there, but there is an even more prevalent place where He is today.  

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” - Galatians 2:20

Christ is in us today.  Many Christians forsake the body of Christ. They either don’t come to church because it is "big money," or they come and go, just filling a seat that day.  Christians need fellowship with other Christians.  It is an amazing thing when like-minded and like-hearted (Jesus-filled) people come together.  

A few years ago, there was a Men's Breakfast that I was just stoked about as I drove home from it.  I was bumping some Jesus beats and just spending time with Him.  On the way home, I passed a dead raccoon on the side of the road.  I remember saying, “God, You are so awesome, You could bring that dead raccoon back to life!” Well, God promptly replied to me and said, “That is stupid; why would I do that?  I have already filled the church with people that have new life and with people who are dead needing new life.”  That day was sobering-- that sometimes we get focused on the wrong peripheral things instead of focusing on the things right in front of us.  The people around us in our lives-- at home, at work, at church-- they all need encouragement, and they all need to see the light from time to time.  If Christ is living in us, then we should be living in such a manner that people see that light.  

I love what it says in 1 John 3:16:

“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”

If love is Jesus, and Jesus lives in us, then why aren’t we a perfect image of love?  We should stop acting like Jesus was here and start showing people that Jesus IS here!  The Bible says that God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Himself all raised Jesus from the grave.  John chapter 1 tells us that Jesus was the One who created the world.  That is some serious power.  That power lives in us, and we walk around weak in the flesh.  It’s time to take hold of the power of Jesus in our lives and start living for Him and living for those around us.  If He can create the world, He can take hold of any situation and see you through it.  But you have to let go.  We have to take ourselves off the throne and put Jesus back in His rightful seat in our lives.  That way, we can stop acting like Jesus was here and get back to Jesus IS here.