Give Me Faith

So, I posted the video for the song "Give Me Faith" by Elevation Worship in yesterday's Monday Music post, but today I want to share the lyrics with you. It is so simple and yet so powerful. In church Sunday, we sang it, and yesterday I bought Elevation Worship's album on iTunes and have been listening to it non-stop since. The lyrics to this song have been the epitome of my prayers this week, so far. So much has been swarming my thoughts lately, I want to try and get some writing done and posted this week, I'll try.
-taye

Here are the lyrics . . . I challenge you to dive into them and lift the words up to God as your prayer today.

Give Me Faith

  I need You to soften my heart

To break me apart

I need You to open my eyes

To see that You’re shaping my life

All I am, I surrender

 

Give me faith to trust what You say

That You’re good and Your love is great

I’m broken inside, I give You my life

I need You to soften my heart

To break me apart

I need You pierce through the dark

And cleanse every part of me

 

I may be weak

But Your Spirit’s strong in me

My flesh may fail

My God You never will

I may be weak

But Your Spirit's strong in me

My flesh may fail

But my God You never will



Monday Music

I really need to write a legit post sometime soon. I'll get on that this week. Here's some music for your Monday!
-taye

New favorite song

"I may be weak, but Your Spirit's strong in me. My flesh may fail, but my God, You never will."

Passion :)

Last week was a Taylor Swift week. I cannot wait until July 10th!

Monday Music

I love Tenth Avenue North, and "Times" is definitely one of my favorites . . . it's such a great reminder of God's unconditional love for us

Florence + the Machine has such an intense feel . . . one of my contemporary pieces for recital this year is to this song

Christy Nockels’ voice is so so so beautiful. Plus I love this song from Passion.

You Make Me New

Senioritis is starting to kick in . . . big time. Plus, lately there has been SO much on my mind, and I have got to let some of it out.
-taye


You are making me new

One thing that has been continually on my mind lately is myself. Not in a selfish, I-think-about-myself-all-the-time way, but in a critical, judgemental way. I am so weak, I am so sinful, I am nothing . . . especially compared to Christ and His glory and strength and power. But the problem lately has been that I have not been comparing myself to only Him, I have been comparing myself to other people AND Him, and I still fall short.

"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, My power is made perfect in weakness.' "
2 Corinthians 12:9

Also, I have really been struggling with my thoughts being consumed by what I want, and it has been difficult to accept the fact that what I want may not be what God wants for me. But I think to myself, "Why would God give me this desire for something if He is not going to give it to me?" But God does not always work that way. I may have desires that He will not give me so that in spite of what I want, I learn to give up my desires for what He wants for me. I am just not there yet, though. It is a constant struggle.

I see all this -- all these faults and flaws in myself, and I see them as negative things. Some of them may be negative things that need to be changed, but there are also there for me to see that I am not perfect, and cannot be perfect, but that God is perfect and I can always find perfection and faithfulness in Him. I can constantly turn to Him and find strength and stability and rely on Him without worry, for He is faithful and He loves me.

Monday Music

Today I'm resting in God's faithfulness, I've just kind of been struggling with having continuous joy this weekend and especially today. But He is faithful, even when I am so unfaithful. I'm resting in His promises. Here is some music for your Monday!
-taye

I love Debussy.

Listening to this song takes my mind back to January when I was at Passion . . .

I cannot wait until Passion 2012!

I love Taylor Swift . . . plus she has a pretty cool name.

Not Good Enough

Today is such a beautiful day. I woke up in the best mood today, I don't know why. I love when God surprises me with joy. Here are some notes from the sermon at church this morning where, Frank, my church's youth minister preached.
-taye


Not Good Enough?

I do not know about you, but a lot of times I feel so inadequate. I feel like I am not nearly good enough to be used by God for anything successfully. The truth is, that I am not good enough, but God is beyond good enough to use me, even in my unworthy, weak state, for great things for His kingdom.

What are some thoughts we tend to think?

• I do not know enough
• I am not good enough
• I have made too many mistakes

But if you look in the Bible, Jesus never picked the "good" people, He never picked those who seemed "the most likely to succeed." He picked the ordinary, common, lowly, unthinkable people to accomplish His great purposes.

". . . Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips. . ."
Isaiah 6:5

If you think that you have messed up big time, and that God cannot use you, think again. God can and wants to use those who have really messed up big. Just look in the Old Testament:

• Moses murdered someone
• Abraham lied to people
• Paul killed Christians
• Rahab was a prostitute
• David committed adultery
• Jonah ran away from God

. . . and the list could go on and on. God used each of those people for His glory.

What if you are unsure of yourself and your gifts and abilities, what if you simply doubt what you can do? God still desires to use you.

"But Moses said to the Lord, 'Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since You have spoken to Your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.' "
Exodus 4:10

Wherever you feel inadequate today, could be your area of comfort tomorrow, because God does not call the prepared, but He prepares the called.

"Then the Lord said to him, 'Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.' " 
Exodus 4:11-12

But what if others say that you are not good enough; that you will never measure up or that it is impossible for you to ever do great things? God wants to prove them wrong; He wants to use you.

"But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.' "
1 Samuel 16:7

Do not wait for the approval of man, if God has called you, simply go.

"For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ."
Galatians 1:10

So take heart, even though you are not good enough, because God, who is the One who calls you is beyond good enough.

Friday Photos

I love picnik.com. . . it encourages my tendency to procrastinate way too much, but I love it. Over the past year or so, I've doing doing a ton of picnik editing, my camera is terrible, so the picture I edit aren't mine, but one day soon, if I ever save up enough money, I hope to get a decent camera and then edit my own pictures. Here are some past photos I've done.
-taye

P.S. If you want a picture done, you can contact me via facebook or email { taylor_ellen13@hotmail.com } and send me a picture and words you want on it. 

All My Fountains...

I got my Passion CD on Tuesday, and I've been listening to it non-stop since. My favorite song is "All My Fountains" sung by Chris Tomlin. Here are some thoughts.
-taye


...Are in YOU

"All My Fountains" - Chris Tomlin
This dry and desert land
I tell myself keep walking on
Hear something up ahead
Water falling like a song
An everlasting stream
Your river carries me home
Let it flow, Let It flow
Open the heavens
Come Living Water
All my fountains, are in You
Strong like a river
Your love is running through
All my fountains, are in You
A flood for my soul
A well that never will run dry
I've rambled on my own
Never believing I would find
An everlasting stream
Your river carries me home
Let it flow, Let It flow


Open the heavens
Come Living Water
All my fountains, are in You
Strong like a river
Your love is running through
All my fountains, are in You
Rain down on us
Rain down on us Lord
Rain down on us
Rain down on us Lord
Rain down on us
Rain down on us Lord
Rain down on us
Rain down on us Lord

Open the heavens
Come Living Water
All my fountains, are in You
Strong like a river
Your love is running through
All my fountains, are in You

This song is such a great reminder that God provides. That all my fountains come from Him, and Him alone.

"And my God will supply every need..."
Philippians 4:19 ESV

God does not leave His children to provide for themselves, He instead takes the initiative to provide their every need.

"...God provides..."
1 Peter 4:11 NIV

"...He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy."
Acts 14:17

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."
Matthew 7:7

Many people read Matthew 7:7 and get this view of God as the Genie in Aladdin. But that is not what Jesus was going for when He spoke those words. God always provides our needs, not necessarily our wants. There is a big difference.

Need-- a necessity; a state the requires supply or relief

Want-- that which is not possessed, but desired for pleasure
(Definition acquired from Webster's 1928 dictionary, http://1828.mshaffer.com/)

You can see the huge difference between the two; God will provide our needs, but not always our wants. Our needs come from a sole source. As human beings, we need food and air to live. Our wants come from our hearts and our appetites. The desires of our hearts are not always pure and good, which is reason enough why God does not always give us our wants.

"...and God is faithful...He will also provide..."
1 Corinthians 10:13

"For with You is the fountain of life, in Your light we see light."
Psalm 36:9

"...all my fountains are in You."
Psalm 87:7

Monday Music

Here's some more awesome music to end your Monday!
-taye

I love Ellie Goulding...plus the British accent makes everything better

This is in honor of me wishing I were at the Hillsong concert tonight

This song was stuck in my head all last week, and then we sang it at church Sunday, I love when God does things like that.

David Crowder is amazing...this song radiates Christ!



No one had the strength...

This week has been a little bit crazy. Dance is pretty intense right now, working on all of our recital pieces that need to get done. School is ridiculous too. I'm ready to graduate already. I have a rough draft of a research paper due tomorrow morning, and I'm only half finished with it, but of course I choose to procrastinate by writing a blog post instead. However, tonight's post will be short because I do need to finish it, and I'd also like to get some sleep tonight.
-taye


No one had the strength

This semester, one of my best friends and I have been helping out at our church's middle school ministry on Sunday nights. We eat, fellowship, have choir, and read the Word. Lately we have been digging into the gospel of Mark, and tonight we discussed the first twenty verses of Mark 5...here are a few amazing things that I got out of it.

"They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before Him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, 'What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.' For He was saying to him, 'Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!' And Jesus asked him, 'What is your name?' He replied, 'My name is Legion, for we are many.' And he begged Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, 'Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.' So He gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out, and entered the pigs, and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea.


"The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged Him that he might be with Him. And He did not permit him but said to him, 'Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.' And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled."
Mark 5:1-20 ESV

After reading the passage tonight, one of the middle school girls pointed out that God showed mercy--even to the demons. He is so incredibly merciful, that demons, who to me seem to be like Satan's minions, received mercy from God.

Also, at the end of verse four, it says that "no one had the strength to subdue him." No human possessed the strength to subdue the demon-possessed man, and yet God stepped in and so easily released the man of the demons. Not only did He free the man, but He drove the demons- who asked permission- to the pigs, who then killed themselves. This is such a wonderful example of God's amazing strength; and how even when our weak strength as humans fails, God's strength is so much greater and stronger than us.

Also, after our youth pastor emphasized that the man was living among the tombs--where the dead are, I realized that, when we are in a place where we are spiritually dead, living among the dead, and no where near life, that He does not just wait for us to get our act together, after all, the dead cannot raise themselves back to life! No, instead, God comes to the place where we are dead and cast out our death from us, bringing us to life again.