Lyrics from "HeavyHandedPraise"
1. Touch YouOne night in the winter of 2004 I found myself alone in one of my favorite places to spend some quality "Me and Jesus time" which is often alone on the ski lift heading back up the mountain at night. For years Jesus and I have skied together! And while I was talking to Him, I began to pray for a member of my family who doesn't yet know the Lord. In my prayer I prayed "Lord I pray that they would come to know You, to touch You and hear You and obey You" and this chorus came out of that prayer. But as I reflected on that prayer, I realized that I not only wanted that type of relationship with Christ for others to have, but to have for myself as well. So often we look at what it means to TRULY follow Christ and we are afraid to...because we know it means the death of our sinful lives, but in reality, we will never feel truly alive until we crucify that sinful flesh and find our true life in His Spirit. Philippians 3:10
I have never felt so alive in death, As I do now through Your life Lord 2. Praise the Lord
Our all church retreat is always held mid-September up in the NC mountains. And during the fall of 2004 it happened to coincide with Hurricane Ivan. So as I'm driving up the winding NC mountain roads, the rain and wind is whipping the church bus and branches are falling all around me, and I was feeling the raw power of the Lord... But in the midst of it all, I realized that even at its wildest time, God's creation is praising Him with all it's got... shouldn't we as His church have the same attitude in all we do... shouldn't we do the same?" We must remember that even at the most horrific moment in Christ's life as He hung from the Cross, it was His act of worship to His Father, His life was His service of praise. In all that we say and do, let it be praise to our Father in Heaven. Colossians 3:17 and Psalm 69
When I look up at the mountains 3. Jesus in meThis is probably one of my favorite worship songs and in reality it's just a simple prayer. I never want the world to say "look at him, he's so great!" My life prayer is that the world would not see me but would see Jesus and give Him the glory and honor. After all, it's all about Jesus, not all about me. Matt. 5:16)
Break my heart that I may hear you 4. Come What May
I debated on giving the whole story behind this song and since I'm a fairly "what you see is what you get person..." here goes. I had been working for a church, serving their students and leading them in worship. And one night a senior member of the ministerial staff burst into our time of worship/praise and proceeded to take our projector and break me down in front of all my students. He wasn't a fan of new worship styles and proceeded to let me know that in front of everyone, calling me every name in the book. I was devastated. You'd think that stuff only happens in the secular workplace, but satan has just as good a foothold in the Church as anywhere else. And to attack a young pastor in the infancy of his ministry is the ideal time to disillusion him and draw him away from the service. I went home that night completely broken, ready to give up on ever working for a church again. I took my guitar into the garage and through tears began to sing this song as if I had known it all my life. It started out as a dirge almost, a slow mournful tune, but the more I played it I realized that the Lord had given me a defiant song of victory to be shouted to enemies of the Church everywhere. "Come what May I WILL NOT stop praising You Lord." Jesus promised not a life of physical blessings but a life of trials if we are to truly follow Him. But He also said "Take Heart...I have overcome the world! John 16:33
Let the mountains crumble to the sea 5. Taste and See (Let us Praise Him)I love Psalm 34. Its David's challenge to anyone who is scared to fully commit to the Lord, scared to turn over everything to Him... "Come taste and see, that the Lord is good INDEED." David over and over again boasts in the Lord's unfailing and righteous love... and just think, David was saying this hundreds of years before Christ's death on the Cross and his wonderful Resurrection! We have even more to boast about Christ with, just as St. Paul says... "I will boast only in the Lord!" 2 Corinthians 10:17
Jesus is now Jesus is here 6. Lord Most HighSo often we approach the Lord from one of two extremes. Either we see Him as unknowable, unapproachable and just basically scary or distant. Or, He's just our holy homeboy that we can be totally flippant with. I wanted to bring home however what the Word tells us about the Lord. Yes He is knowable, gracious, merciful and our Friend. But He is also the Lord whom when Isaiah saw Him, was surrounded by angels shouting "HOLY HOLY HOLY IS THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY!" We must realize that He is a Both/And God, bigger than any box we would try to confine Him to, and He can be intimately known, but deserves our fear and respect all at the same time. Psalm 7
Wonderful, mysterious 7. Take Your ThroneIf you can imagine that within your heart there is a throne room and someone is seated on that throne, ruling your daily life and guiding your every move. So often in my own life when I do a "reality check" I find that it is me not Christ on the throne and I must repent and ask Him again to resume His reign on the throne of my life. Do a reality check on yourself...Who sits on the throne in your own life? Colossians 1:15-23/Psalm 95:6 -- This is a fun one to praise Jesus with
We give thanks to You Lord for Your Faithfulness 8. You are the WayIn life, everything goes back to the Cross and Resurrection. Meditate on Christ’s death and think about what He did for us all. Now pour that reality into a world and even churches that have been fooled into thinking that there is some other way of salvation other than through Jesus Christ Alone. Some things in life never change, death, taxes, the fact that only southerners know how to make sweet tea and that Jesus is the ONLY way to God the Father. John 14:6-8
Your hands pierced for me 9. Seeking You FirstA few years ago, Danielle and I were in a really tough spot financially. We had covenanted to live on just my income so that she could stay at home with our two daughters, a decision that we knew that the Lord would honor. But as months went by with a new baby and bills that never quit, we began to slip into debt. Debt can be like a leech just draining your every thought and moment. I began to seek the Lord’s counsel on how to get out, how to make it. Matthew 6 began to mean so much to me and the Lord stretched my faith as He constantly provided for our family and helped us climb out and onto the other side. I wouldn’t trade those hardships for anything in the world. I realized that all I need is found in Jesus Christ alone. Cling to Matthew 6...make it your own testimony of God’s faithfulness
Your body is my bread, Your blood is my wine 10. Sacrifice for YouI don’t know about y’all, but I’m a sinner and I can pretty well resonate with St. Paul when he proclaims to be one of the worst. But at the same time, Paul’s tenacity to serve Christ despite his propensity to mess up inspires me deeply. To know how sinful I am and that I struggle daily with temptation, and that I’m not alone in this struggle made me want to write a song for the Church so that we could all cry out to Christ and seek to serve Him with all that we are. We don’t just want to say, "Jesus we’re sinners, what can we do?" But to boldly claim our role as the Bride of Christ to give our all for Him and to mirror what Paul passionately wrote in Romans 12.
Jesus, You are my Lord 11. Wrap me in Your LoveThis is simply a song of healing. So often people walk into a worship service and they are so wounded and hurt, that all they are looking for is just a healing touch from the Lord. And Praise Jesus! Healing is found in His presence! I wrote the chorus years ago while counseling a student who was being forced into an abortion by her parents. Her hurt and tears and struggle made me ache inside for what she was going through, and it made me realize how much Christ must hurt for us when we are wounded. Years later serving at my church in NC, I began counseling another student who because of parental neglect and emotional scars had resorted to self-inflicting wounds to combat the broken-heartedness. I went back and found the old chorus and wrote verses to it and "Wrap" was born, as a song proclaiming the healing power found in Jesus. Luke 6:19
I know there is healing in the blood of the lamb 12. Love you MoreOn Ashe Wednesday of 2004, the pastors from our church all went to see "The Passion". My experience wasn’t like those I had seen on the news...as I sat there and watched the re-enactment of Christ’s suffering for me, an unmistakable smile mingled with tears stretched across my face. Once the movie was over, we all left in silence, no one spoke, we got into our cars and left. I drove straight back to my office at church and wrote this song in about 10 minutes. Seeing Christ’s gift to me just makes me love Him more.
A wooden Cross, A far cry from a throne, 13. How BeautifulOnce again, I constantly feel led to take worship back to Christ’s gift of life through His death on the Cross and also reflecting on Christ’s interactions with people all throughout the Gospels. Isn’t is mind blowing, how He beautifully restored lives, redeemed the lost and ultimately atoned for our sin? It brings what Paul says in Romans 5:6-11 more into focus for me.
How beautiful, How beautiful 14. Wake the Dawn (Psalm 57)One evening I was reading Eugene Peterson’s translation of the Bible as found in "The Message" and I happened to be in the Psalms. I came across Psalm 108 which held the phrase "Every cloud’s a flag to Your faithfulness." And I thought "That is powerful stuff." So I went back to its sister psalm, Psalm 57 and began to meditate on Sunday morning worship services and how so often folks are half asleep as they are stumbling to their pews, and I thought... "David would want to say something about that!" So inspired by Psalm 57 and 108, I wrote a praise song reflecting what our attitudes should be like when we are blessed to enter each day, fresh and anew, abounding in God’s grace and love, mimicking David’s heart for the Lord.
The deeper I fall in Your Love Oh God 15. The AnthemComing to work for the Reformed Church has been such an eye opening experience for someone who grew up Baptist. The richness of the Creeds, the celebration of the Orthodox Historical faith and the confessions that are such a part of worship have poked and prodded my heart in ways that have caused me to desire to delve deeper into the richness of the early church and its history. Part of that rich tradition is the Heidelberg Catechism, which each youth is asked to learn a portion of while being discipled here at Corinth. "The Anthem" is loosely based on the first question of the Catechism, and is meant to be what its title suggests...a unifying song of praise and intent. Singing out as a Body of Believers that we are here to tell you what we believe and what we stand for, and how we desire the Lord to use our lives to accomplish His will in the world. If anyone asks me "What do you believe, what do you stand for?" I’d say, go check out the lyrics to "The Anthem", that’s it in a nutshell.
My only comfort in this life, is knowing I belong to Christ, |
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Paul Cummings Praise
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