Rita Springer - ‘You Said’
You said
Ask and you will receive whatever you need
You said
Pray and I’ll hear from heaven and I’ll heal your landYou said
The glory will fill the earth … like water … the seas
You said
Lift up your eyes
The harvest is here
The kingdom is nearYou said
Ask and I’ll give the nations to you
Oh Lord
That’s the cry of my heart
Distant shores and the islands will see Your light
As it rises on us
Godstock 2006 was awesome - all glory to God! There was plenty of rock and pop music - as thousands came together to worship the Lord - the one who created us and has given us life and a reason to live. Check out our Flickr photo album for pics from earlier today. Audio and video highlights will be coming soon…
A few years ago, I gave away almost everything I owned in an attempt to find a simpler life. I found to my surpise, that I could live a very full life with just a few basics.
Most recently, I have found that the same principle applies beautifully to my spiritual life. Simply put - I am attempting to fulfill only two requirements of God: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This to me is true spiritual simplicity, for in fulfilling these two commands, I am certain that I will be fulfilling all of the others as well.
In practice, I have committed myself to please God as much as possible, no matter who or what stands against me. I also committed to love my brother, no matter what personal like or dislikes are violated in the process, whether spiritual or otherwise. I choose to do these things because I have seen God glorified more often by acts of obedience and love than by any acts of compromise or criticism.
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I hope that as you listen to these songs that you will find the strength to stand up, the encouragement to push on and the power to change. Let us decrease so that He may increase. Let us simplify and give Him room. Let us join together to build a strong, simple house of love, where He can dwell in all His glory.
- Margaret Becker
It was actually very odd when I was writing ‘Escape’. It was the first song that I had ever written that I didn’t feel it applied to me at the time. I thought I was writing it for my sister, and that was part of it… but Jesus knew what was about to happen in my life in the coming months. There is a line in Escape that says ‘Escape this tragedy’. I have never really been through a tragedy until recently. On 8/12/06 my dear friend and guitarist, Matthew Hallmark, died in a car wreck on his way home from a show. I can not explain to you the sorrow I felt in the coming weeks. Two nights after the accident I went to my myspace site and heard ‘Escape’ begin to play. I listened to it over and over as tears went unceasing. This song now meant the world to me and I knew that God was asking me to escape to His arms and begin again. In the song it says finish what began. I believe that many of us have gone through things that we can’t handle on our own. Tragedies that without Christ’s help would stop us from continuing on. The biggest tragedy though would be not experiencing the love of Christ at all. Thankfully Matt knew Jesus and I will see him again in Heaven! My prayer is that for each person that listens to Escape they will begin to be restored to the fullness that Christ has for them! Though many trials face me I WILL be whole again! - Eowyn
Only you can do what you were created and called to do.
It’s exhilarating to see someone influencing and impacting people with their own specific brand of passion and personality. Nothing saddens me more than meeting someone who is desperately trying to mold themselves into the image of someone they look up to and admire. We are all unique beings. There are people that I look up to, but if I try to cram myself into the mold with which they were formed, I’ll never fit, and my soul will be uncomfortable, pained, and eventually desolate. I am gravely disappointed in most of the television channels that are marketed to children and pre-teens in this country. Program after program is peppered with repeated characters, attitudes and philosophies. It’s as if they are purposefully trying to create a culture of people devoid of original thought or imagination. It’s a simple, yet very effective ideology that is daily shoved down the throats of young people: talk like this, sing like this, dance like this, and you will be accepted and validated. God created each and every one of us with a one of a kind existence and destiny. Only you can sing it, speak it, live it, and fulfill it. - Alisa Childers
Anything other than the truth is a lie. How many realities can there be? Only one - the true reality. For us as believers, we know the truth. For God has revealed truth to us in His word, creation, and in Jesus Christ. What are we going to do with that knowledge? Are we going to let people continue to believe a lie? Or will we share life-giving truth? The late Dr. Francis Schaeffer addressed this in this prophetic speech* given back in 1982 as he talks about the dangers of a false view of reality. We must be salt and light - to preserve and to show the way - otherwise the world will fall victim to the deception of a false view of reality - one that harms us, taking us further than we ever thought we’d go - eventually leading to death. The alternative to a worldview where our rights come from a Creator God - is not just a secular society, but a society that has no protection from the dangers of a fallen world. If our rights come from man, they can be taken away.
MP3 Audio from the speech:
Here are some important points that he made that we as believers need to think deeply about:
How much do you believe this is true?
Why are you a Christian?
Are you a Christian for some lesser reason or are you a Christian because you know this is the truth of reality?
How much do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?
* Audio of Dr. Francis Schaeffer courtesy of Dr. D. James Kennedy and Coral Ridge Ministries
