#bethel music
I raise a hallelujah, in the presence of my enemies
I raise a hallelujah, louder than the unbelief
I raise a hallelujah, my weapon is a melody
I raise a hallelujah, Heaven comes to fight for me
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I’m gonna sing, in the middle of the storm
Louder and louder, you’re gonna hear my praises roar
Up from the ashes, hope will arise
Death is defeated, the King is alive
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I raise a hallelujah, with everything inside of me
I raise a hallelujah, I will watch the darkness flee
I raise a hallelujah, in the middle of the mystery
I raise a hallelujah, fear you lost your hold on me
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Sing a little louder
In the presence of my enemies
Sing a little louder
Louder than the unbelief
Sing a little louder
My weapon is a melody
Sing a little louder
Heaven comes to fight for me
I raise a hallelujah
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Lord God come awaken love Come stir my soul to long for all You are I’m desperate just to have more of Your heart Come awaken love
‘Cause I live to love You Almighty God of love And my desire is to know you And give you all my heart
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His love is deep, His love is wide and it covers us
His love is fierce, His love is strong, it is furious
His love is sweet, His love is wild
And it’s waking hearts to life
The Father loves and sends His son
The Son lays down His life for all
He lavishes His love upon us
He calls us now, His sons and daughters
He’s reaching out
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I have come to this place in my life I’m full but I’ve not satisfied This longing to have more of You I can feel it my heart is convinced I’m thirsty my soul can’t be quenched You already know this but still Come and do whatever You want to I’m standing knee deep but I’m out where never been I feel You coming and I hear Your voice on the wind Would you come and tear down the boxes that I have tried to put You in Let love come teach me who You are again Take me back to the place where my heart was only about You And all I wanted was just to be with You Come and do whatever You want to Further and further my heart moves away from the shore Whatever it looks like, whatever may come I am Yours Further and further my heart moves away from the shore Whatever it looks like, whatever may come I am Yours Then You crash over me and I’ve lost control but I’m free I’m going under, I’m in over my head And You crash over me, I’m where You want me to be I’m going under, I’m in over my head Whether I sink, whether I swim It makes no difference when I’m beautifully in over my head Whether I sink, whether I swim It makes no difference when I’m beautifully in over my head I’m Beautifully in over my head I’m Beautifully in over my head.
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And we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If his grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about the way…
He loves us
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Your love is devoted like a ring of solid gold Like a vow that is tested like a covenant of old Your love is enduring through the winter rain And beyond the horizon with mercy for today Faithful You have been and faithful you will be You pledge yourself to me and it’s why I sing Your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lips Your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lips
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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 And I may be weak but Your Spirit’s strong in me My flesh may fail, but my God, You never will
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Raise a Hallelujah by Bethel Music
Happy Thanksgiving!
I forgot to mention how I completely feel the Holy Spirit’s presence when I’m with other gay Christians. Revoice had chosen what I thought was a fitting theme song for the weekend.
“Oh How Good” — KEITH GETTY, KRISTYN GETTY, ROSS HOLMES, AND STUART TOWNEND © 2012
Oh how good it is
When the family of God
Dwells together in spirit
In faith and unity.
This was a chosenfamily (if you will, from Grant Hartley’s talk) of God. We not only chose God, but we chose to come together in Christ and our united experiences as LGBT and SSA Christians.
Where the bonds of peace,
Of acceptance and love
Are the fruit of His presence
Here among us.
Hundreds of SSA Christians are simply not accepted at their churches. How beautiful it is to finally be in a place where He is present, and acceptancesurrounds us. This acceptance and love was what drew me to Christ, but it was also what I feared not having because of my sexual orientation. Tears from this.
CHORUS
So with one voice we’ll sing to the Lord
And with one heart we’ll live out His word
Till the whole earth sees
The Redeemer has come
For He dwells in the presence of His people.
This was the theme of the conference. We are singing to revoice what has been told to us by those who don’t understand. We are singing to our Redeemer and coming as we are.
Oh how good it is
On this journey we share
To rejoice with the happy
And weep with those who mourn.
I couldn’t help but rejoice with those who are making strides in their churches, and it deeply, deeply pained me to hear stories of oppression and misunderstanding by others. Simply hearing how Christians could simply could not come out because they were mistreated or ignored made my heart ache. (Double weeping on my part from this verse).
For the weak find strength
The afflicted find grace
When we offer the blessing
Of belonging.
Offering the blessing of belonging had a huge impact on individuals I met. A couple of them had never met another gay Christian before. I know how lonely it feels to be the only gay person in a church.
Reckless Love - Cory Asbury, Caleb Culver, Ran Jackson © 2017
I’ve sung this song dozens of times, but I never realized what it means for LGB Christians:
Oh, it chases me down, fights ‘til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
This to me represent’s Christ’s love for the marginalized. Roughly 4% of American adults identify as LGBT. Yet the church often forgets we exists. Christ’s love doesn’t just settle with “well, at least I have the majority.” He chases down and loves every single one of his sheep.
There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
No lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me
The shadow here for me was how dark the church feels when no one’s talking about LGBT people. It took me 8 years in church to finally hear a message on homosexuality. The lie that Jesus tore down was the lie that “you can’t be gay and be Christian.” My friends came from several churches who believed this lie, and I can’t stress enough how heartbroken I am when my friends hear this lie be preached over and over.
I’m not saying that these songs were written about LGBT people, but it’s so clear to me why and how God loves His LGBT children.
T R U S T // Remember that story of how Jesus calms the storm?
So, Jesus is out on the water with His disciples when a great windstorm arises and everyone starts to freak out - except Jesus. Jesus is casually SLEEPING through the whole thing - seemingly unaware of what is going on - until the disciples wake him up.
It says that he “awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.“ (Mark 4:39-40)
I’m sure the disciples were still trying to process what had just happened when Jesus turns to rebuke them asking why they were so afraid. He asks, "Have you no still no faith?”
Glancing over this story, I would always be “on Jesus’ side” and be thinking “Gosh, the disciples are so dumb - they have Jesus PHYSICALLY with them and they can’t even trust Him to calm a storm…”
But today as I was reading this story, I saw so much of myself in the disciples. It says in scripture that the “waves were breaking into the boat” and “the boat was already filling.” They weren’t just freaking out for no reason, over a small matter. Just looking at the circumstance, they had every right to be freaking out. They could’ve sunk and drowned.
But Jesus is not defined by the circumstances we face.
The fact of the matter is that Jesus, though sleeping, was NOT unaware. God is always in control of every aspect of every situation, no matter how WE may interpret the chaos of the situation. Even nature - the wind and the waves - bows down to before him. He always has and always will have full authority over our lives and this entire universe.
This omnipotent God - who loves us furiously and personally - longs for us to trust him.
He’s got it all under control. Just wait and see.
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