Archives by: Gary Hoag

Take my life, make it clay

Shape this life in intricate ways

I want to be a child of faith
But what my heart wants most my body turns away

I push Your ways aside and wonder why I let pride decide every time

But I can’t wait to be free

From this life of mindless sin that compromises me

I know one day I will be

There is a victory that You’ve won for me

And when You come back again

I’ll be free



Turn my eyes to Your face
Let me draw from Your strength
And bathe in Your grace
Let me soar with wings to win this race
Let me have Your peace it’s not a hopeless chase
‘Cause I lose sight of all You have called me to be

And it takes so much to drop me to my knees

But I can’t wait to be free

From this life of mindless sin that compromises me

I know one day I will be

There is a victory that You’ve won for me

And when You come back again

I’ll be free

I know one day I will be
There is a victory that You’ve won for me
And when You come back again
I’ll be free

Take my life, make it clay
Shape this life in intricate ways
I want to be a child of faith
But what my heart wants most my body turns away…

But I know one day I’ll be free…

Jill Paquette: Free (Take My Life).
Check it out on iTunes.

Sometimes it feels like I’m watching from the outside
Sometimes it feels like I’m breathing but am I alive
I will keep searching for answers that aren’t here to find

All I know is I’m not home yet
This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus
This is not where I belong

So when the walls come falling down on me
And when I’m lost in the current of a raging sea
I have this blessed assurance holding me.

All I know is I’m not home yet
This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus
This is not where I belong

When the earth shakes I wanna be found in You
When the lights fade I wanna be found in You

All I know is I’m not home yet
This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus
This is not where I belong

Where I belong, where I belong
Where I belong, where I belong

Building 429: Where I Belong. YouTube Music Video:

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things



Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights 

Are what it takes to know You’re near?

What if trials of this life

Are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near

We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love

As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

And all the while You hear each desperate plea

And long that we’d have faith to believe

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights 

Are what it takes to know You’re near?

And what if trials of this life

Are Your mercies in disguise
When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart

That this is not, this is not our home

It’s not our home



Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears?


And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near?


What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst

This world can’t satisfy?
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights

Are Your mercies in disguise?

Laura Story: Blessings. YouTube Music Video:

So it all went wrong
I started singing that sad, sad song
So convinced that I was on my own
God I know
That You won’t leave
Guess I let it slip my memory
Fast as I could count to 1-2-3-forgetful me

Whoa, here I go again
Why do I forget You’re always faithful
Whoa, how many times have I seen
You give me just what I need
Whoa, here I go again
I forget You’re gonna work it out somehow
You’d think that I’d know by now

Well I’d like to learn to live by faith
As the flowers of the field must say
Worry doesn’t add a single day
Oh God I pray
You’ll help me see
When I’m looking at my history
All the ways You’ve taken care of me
I wanna believe but…

Whoa, here I go again
Why do I forget You’re always faithful
Whoa, how many times have I seen
You give me just what I need
Whoa, here I go again
I forget You’re gonna work it out somehow
You’d think that I’d know by now

That You are always in control
I should know by now
That You’re gonna work it out
But this shadow of a doubt won’t let me go-o-o-o

Here I go again
Why do I forget You’re always faithful
Whoa, how many times have I seen
You give me just what I need
Whoa, here I go again
I forget You’re gonna work it out somehow
You’re gonna work it out somehow
You’d think that I’d know by now

Josh Wilson: Know By Now. YouTube Music Video:

“Not so much out of necessity has gold become enviable by people as that with it most of them can provide for their pleasures.

There are three reasons for the love of money: pleasure-seeking, vainglory, and lack of faith. And more serious than the other two is lack of faith.

The hedonist loves money because with it he lives in luxury; the vain person because with it he can be praised; the person who lacks faith because he can hide it and keep it while in fear of hunger, or old age, or illness, or exile. He lays his hope on it rather than on God the maker and provider of the whole creation, even of the last and least of living things.

There are four kinds of people who acquire money, the three just mentioned and the financial administrator. Obviously only he acquires it for the right reason: so that he might never run short in relieving each one’s need.”

Maximus Confessor (c. 580-662) Christian monk, theologian, and scholar, in Maximus Confessor: Selected Writings, trans. by George C. Berthold (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1985) 63.

“Our basic problem with God is that we just do not trust him as we should. He who is infinite goodness deserves and requires our complete trust, but we do not always offer that kind of trust. We’d rather have something a bit more concrete to hold on to…”

David Altman in The Monastic Way by Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007) 71.

“We crave for spiritual security, or rather the feeling of security; real security is what God wants us to have and that can only be when we have let go of our own securities, which are illusory, and not rely on him alone.”

Ruth Burrows in To Believe in Jesus (London: Sheed and Ward, 1978) 95.

“…One of the best things that could happen to many believers would be for them to be led to give away, all at one time, a substantial part of their savings. That is, they should give a substantial part of their capital. Why? Because there is something about giving away a sizable percentage of one’s money—and, of course, the amount would vary entirely from one individual to another—that is spiritually invigorating. And there is seldom a case in which a large gift does not throw the Christian back on the Lord and increase the feeling that he is all-wonderful and that he is more than able to care for the one who trusts him. I have seen this happen in many instances. And I have never known a true Christian to be sorry for even the most sacrificial giving afterward.”
 
James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000), Theologian and Pastor, in Philippians (Grand Rapids: 1971) 290.

“The soul that journeys to God, but does not shake off its cares and quiet its appetites, is like one who drags a cart uphill.”

John of the Cross (1542-1591) in The Monastic Way by Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007) 197.

“…the way out of the frenzied pace of our culture involves both external and internal journeys. I simplified possessions and needs. I am committed to owning less, not accumulating more. I let go of all commitments and activities that did not support or fit in my life goals. Friendships are fewer but deeper and richer. Do we give ourselves permission to say ‘No’ — to self and to others? Do we live intentionally, making choices by our values and goals? Do we give away everything we haven’t used in the last six months?

I began literally to slow down. I am learning to be more mindful of what I am doing while I am doing it. I am not so scattered, with my mind drifting in so many directions. I am deepening the awareness of God’s presence throughout my day. I stop to breathe, take note of where I am and what I am doing, and notice the Spirit in the midst of my doing.”

Laura Swan, Spiritual Director, in The Monastic Way by Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007) 208-209.