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Brian Doerkson wrote this back in 1994… a simple song of declaration, desperation, adoration, worship, love and more

More than oxygen, I need Your love
More than life-giving food the hungry dream of
More than an eloquent word depends on the tongue
More than a passionate song needs to be sung

More than a word could ever say
More than a song could ever convey
I need You more than all of these things
Father, I need You more

More than magnet and steel are drawn to unite
More than poets love words to rhyme as they write
More than the comforting warmth of sun in the spring
More than the eagle loves wind under its wings

More than a blazing fire on a winter’s night
More than the tall evergreens reach for the light
More than the pounding waves long for the shore
More than these gifts You give, I love You more

Copyright © 1994 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing

It’s a tough time right now – there are a lot of things we/I am struggling with right now and it’s difficult to always find God or to feel His direction, will and purpose. Whilst playing the guitar this evening and having a bit of a personal worship session, this song sprung into my mind once more. I’ve not played it for years on end and not listened to, or sung, it for nearly as long and yet it entered my mind with such a resounding crash it was plain that God was dropping a (not-so-subtle) hint and it also echoed the cries of my soul right now.

On Sunday we had David Ring speak at Kingsgate. David is a mid-50s preacher from Nashville who also happens to have cerebal palsy. Not a minor variant that is barely noticable but a major, life-effecting, variant that has shaped his whole life. Look him up on YouTube, please, and catch some of what we experienced on Sunday. It was a humbling, heart-warming, challenging, encouraging, amazing and blessed testimony that he shared with us including the very simple, but life-challenging, line of “I have cerebal palsy – what’s your problem?”

I’ve tried to hold on to the inspiration that he gave to us – but unfortunately it’s not that easy for too many reasons to list here and so I’ve still found myself struggling a lot and feeling quite down and trapped. This song sums up for me what my heart is crying out now… More than a word could ever say, I need You MORE than all of these things…

Please pray for us at the moment. It’s a time that is proving testing and difficult but we know that God has it all under control – it’s just remembering that when I feel the darkness swamp my mind.

More than oxygen, I need Your love. More than life-giving food the hungry dream of….. Father, I need you MORE!

Who is Jesus? Do you know Him?

We’ve just started a new series at Church looking at “Jesus: Close up”, an ideal subject for the build up to Easter (my favourite time of year!) and the sermon this Sunday was looking into “Who is Jesus?” [you can download here!]

It’s not necessarily as straight-forward to answer as you may first think because there is just so much to who He is and even though I’ve grown up knowing about Him, I still learnt a fair bit from the session and it was really good having a refresher session on areas I probably havbe taken for granted.

Dave Smith (and Karen) has just returned from a mini-sabbatical and really seems fired up in a new way following visits to many churches around the world and there is a passion that fills all he says which makes the talks even more powerful. There seems to be a real sense that we are entering the “second chapter” of the churches history and that there is something big on the horizon.

At the end of the sermon we were shown a video clip which I have since found on YouTube and have put here for your enjoyment 🙂

Have a listen, enjoy, be blessed… and be challenged!

P.S. Hope you’ve noticed the new Worship Videos on the right-hand side? This is a playlist I’ve made on YouTube and will change every now and then.

Keeping going

When life is tough, or thoughts are darkened by fears and pressures…

How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?

How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD,
for he has been good to me.

That’s Psalm 13 (from the New International Version of the Bible) and I heard this as the basis of a song yesterday and was blown away by the words as they really were so honest and true, whilst also being a challenge to keep on rejoicing and praising.

One missing thing…

Driving into work with music playing, as always, and I started praying again (I do this fairly regularly – but not as much as I should do it must be said!) and really felt a gentle nudge about my personal relationship with God.

If you recall from my previous entries here – the big thing about me coming back to God was the realisation that I needed an intimate, on-to-one, faith and not just a corporate experience.

The past few weeks have been chaos, me and Mrs H are still worn out and barely seem to have enough energy to climb out of the sofa and walk up the stairs to bed at night… and during this I’ve let my personal time with God falter and get pushed out of the way. “I’m too tired”, “Got no energy” or the classic “If I close my eyes to pray I’ll be snoring in 30 seconds” seem to have become a ridiculous part of my lingo these days and I’m actually noticing the effects this is having – I’m finding myself slipping into “old-ways” of thinking about people or situations and even mentally responding in a way I used to do, and that had changed in drastic ways.

As with any relationship of any kind be it working, friendship, business, parental or intimate – my faith requires a commitment from myself and an effort in maintaining it.

It’s not easy as the intangible can easily be pushed out to make way for the tangible and it can often be too late before we realise how detrimental that can be. Thankfully I’ve been given a nudge to make me realise what I’ve been doing so now I can rectify it!

The other thing that struck me during this revealing time is that I miss Worship. “But wait”, I hear you say, “Don’t you have a time of worship on a Sunday” – well, yes we do but I’d classify most of it as Praise and although I really do enjoy it and love the songs we sing and the atmosphere etc, and even though I do meet with God during it, I miss the more intimate style of worship in many ways.

It’s kinda difficult to explain fully what I mean – but when we visited Trent Vineyard the other week, the worship there felt more intimate, even though there were a similar number of people present. The songs that were sung, the way it was led and the way that there was time left for the songs to soak in and for people to receive during the worship felt soooo refreshing.

Don’t get me wrong – I *love* KingsGate and love the worship there…. but if you compare a Hillsongs CD (which is pretty much how the worship at our Church operates) to a Vineyard UK CD (such as Holy or Hungry) you can feel a difference in where it leads you. It’s all about God but both have an equal place and a balance is what I need.

I guess I need to find time – no, MAKE time!! – to worship at home, pray and study Gods word and get that intimate worship as part of my life… but I also can see that visits to my parents are going to be, in part, about giving and receiving that more intimate style of corporate worship.

29 hours… 3 events… sleep not included

Wow. Simply put… WOW! That one word sums up this weekend pretty well. Of course, another word for the weekend would be “Chaos” or maybe even “Whirlwind” – then there is “MAD”. I’m not complaining – don’t get me wrong – it was a totally stunningly awesome weekend that I 110% loved and don’t regret in any way!

We always knew the weekend was going to be a mad but I don’t think any of us fully appreciated just how much of a rush it would be. So, beginning at the beginning of the weekend as it’s probably the only way I’ll get my thoughts together, here goes an update of life with the Hartleys (and not just us 5)

>> WARNING << This blog post is HUGE! Get a cup of Coffee/Tea before reading it!

Continue reading “29 hours… 3 events… sleep not included”