In the past week, I've rediscovered an old favorite song. The lyrics speak to my heart in a profound way and they are perfectly delivered by the strong and gifted vocal talent of Mac Powell of the band Third Day
The song begs, "Please, take from me my life, when I don't have the strength to give it away to You, Jesus." Such makes perfect sense to the soul who is weary from the battle. The lyrics actually refer to one who has strayed from the faith and my mind first went to thoughts of someone overcome by the consequences of their own sin.
But as my soul began to sing along, I realized that for me the plea is just as strong when a believer takes on their world striving to do battle for the Lord instead of in the name of the Lord.
It seems inevitable that I find myself hopelessly exhausted when I try to be God's weapon instead of His instrument. Somewhat like a renegade stallion, I have to be reigned in and focused... trained.
Though I love to think in images, at some point the images have to translate to literal steps or actions. Interestingly, the song played on my way to work out. I realized that, for me, physical strength and endurance training is key to acquiring the mental and spiritual strength to give my life to Jesus. It is not the only key, but it is a golden one.
Brian from the Daily Audio Bible said that he and his daughter finally came up with the "t-shirt" for their ministry... "the journey is the destination." Somehow that parallels with training of any kind as we never reach the status of "trained" and though I gain strength - the profundity of this powerful song will always have resonance in my heart.
So today I pray: Please take from me my life, when I don't have the strength to give it away to You, Jesus!
2 comments:
Now I have that song stuck in my head! It is one of my favorites, too, and I had forgotten about it. I love the power of music! I was singing at the top of my lungs to "How Great is Our God" this afternoon while looking at the glory of the mountains. I have to remember to use the inspiration as motivation or it is really just noise, though!
P.S. I made a mistake in my earlier comment that I had to fix!
March 13, 2009 8
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