Song Break Down- Never Gone

"Never Gone" by Colton Dixon is one of my favorite songs. When I first heard the song on K-Love, I was going through a hard time at school with my grades, and the song was a reminder that God was there with me through that time in my life, and that he is still with me to this day. I really liked the use of a metaphor with the kid in the dark, and our faith. The first verses goes, "Lights off, a shot in the dark/We get lost when we’re playing a part/We lay blame like we know what’s best/It’s a shame…" There have been many times in my life where I would want God to step in and "turn on the lights" so that I could see every thing that was going on, and know that every thing was going to be fine, and it is a shame that I don't trust God fully like I say that I do. But God does have a reason for not immediately turning on the lights. If he was going to turn on the lights every time that we needed him, then how would our faith grow. I actually found a great verse on what faith is. In Hebrews 11:1 it says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Faith is believing in what we do not see. It is by our faith that we believe in the fact that God is always with us. The chorus of the song goes, "I’m still standing here/No I didn’t disappear/Now the lights are on/See I was never gone/I let go of your hand/To help you understand/With you all along/Oh, I was never gone." The chorus is talking from God's perspective on how he never left us. We can't see Him, but it is by our faith that we know that he is there. It is by our faith, that we know that his son died for us on that cross, and that he rose three days later. It is by our faith that we know that the Holy Spirit was sent to be with us and to help strengthen us.  Now I was reading Hebrews 11, and I found that the whole section talks about faith. As I was reading it I found a theme, and it was the use of the words "by faith." Every time that the author would talk about a new person, he wouldn't talk about their actions as much as he would talk about their faith, and them believing in what they could not see. It talked about Abraham's faith in God when he went to go sacrifice his son. It talked about Noah's faith when he built an ark, even though it didn't look light a flood was going to happen.  It talked about Moses faith when God helped him part the red sea. But my question is, "What about your faith?" We all reach points in our life, when we can't find an explanation for what is going on, or the world seems like it is out to get us. Do you have the faith to believe that God is still there even in the darkness, like the song talks about? Do you have faith that God has a plan for your life, like he had a plan for Abraham's, Noah's, and Moses's life? Do you have that faith? These trials that we face aren't there for nothing. They are there to help us grow in our faith. James 1:2-4 says, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." The more that your faith is tested, the more that God leaves the lights off, that is what allows us to grow, so that our faith may become steadfast through any situation. With a steadfast faith, we will be able to do the will that God has for us, and we can go knowing that we have everything we need through our faith. So this week, I challenge you to go through the trials in your life, not asking for God to rush in and turn on the lights, but that your faith may grow to know that he is there.  Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you so much for not always stepping in and turning on the lights. I pray that as I grow through the trials of my life that my faith can grow so that I can be steadfast in any situation Thank you for always being there even when I can't feel you. Thank you. Amen.

Song Break Down- Anchor

This week I am going to write about "Anchor" by Colton Dixon. The song is great in getting it's message across that we all need an anchor to hold us through the storm. And a cool thing about this song is that it fits perfectly with Hebrews 6:19a which goes, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul firm and secure." I don't know if that was Colton's intention to get the song to match so well with the verse or not.
In the first part of Hebrews 6:19a it talks about having hope. There is a line the song that specifically relates to hope. "This is my only hope/ that you'll never let me go." The hope in the verse is talking about having hope in something that is secure, like the anchor. In the song, it talks about how our only hope is that God will hold you and never let go of you. The use of the word "only" makes me think that up until this point you have tried other things to keep you in your place during the storm, but they let you keep floating and they didn't help. God is the only one who can hold us strong through the storm when we place our hope in him.
The next part talks about the anchor. Before I can go any father, I think it is important to think about what an anchor does. An anchor is something that you drop in the water to keep a ship in one place. The anchor is buried in the ground from the weight, and it is unmovable. If you think about God as our anchor, he is something that is unchanging, and he is there to keep you in place. He is always there for you and he is something you can always depend on and put your hope in.
The last part talks about the soul that is anchored. Like the ship, you need something to hold your soul in place, or else you can float away and crash into objects that will harm you. I love the bridge of the song which is "Save our soul, save our soul, save our soul." over and over again. It is a cry out to God that we do need an anchor, and we need the anchor to save us from the danger up ahead.
In the verse and in the song we can see how when we place our hope in God as our anchor, he is going to hold us through the storm. He is the one who is going to keep us from hitting dangerous objects or completely falling over a waterfall.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you so much for being our anchor through the storm. I place my hope in you first because I know that you will be there, secure and firm. Thank you for this song as a reminder that we always have someone to hold us through the storm. Amen.

Anchor Lyric Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0v2ewdh4Hs

Song Break Down - Right Here

I haven't heard of Ashes Remain before, but they kept coming up on my Pandora, and then I found a video that I loved that was to their song. I am actually going to write about the song that was used in the video, "Right Here." When I first heard this song, I couldn't help but get emotional because it speaks so much truth in it. The song “Right Here” talks about that no matter how much your life is changing, God’s love is always constant and he is always by your side.

The first verse of the song sets up nicely that we all struggle in life. We break down and cry because of the scars and the brokenness. We become fearful for we don’t know what is up ahead of us. The first verse goes: “I can see every tear you've cried / like an ocean in your eyes / All the pain and the scars have left you cold / I can see all the fears you face / through a storm that never goes away / Don’t believe all the lies that you’ve been told” God sees the pain you are going through, and he understands it because he was here on Earth and he dealt with pain, betrayal, you name it, he faced it. He understands all the pain that you are going through, and he can see all the hurt that the storm is creating for you. This happen suddenly and our lives can change in an instant and God understands that and the pain that comes with it.

The second verse, however, shows us God’s love for us. The last line of the second verse is “Let me love you when you come undone.” God wants to love you, and the song describes some of the ways he demonstrates his love: “I will show you the way back home / never leave you all alone / I will stay until the morning comes / I’ll show you how to live again / and heal the brokenness within” He wants to guide you back home. He wants to stay with you until the storm clears. He wants you to live your life, and not be chained to the brokenness. He is willing and waiting to do all this for you, but you have to let him. I know that it is difficult when everything else is changing to put you trust in God, but no matter the situation, he still wants to love on you.

Now the chorus is my favorite part. “I’ll be right here now / to hold you when the sky falls down / I will always / be the One who took your place / When the rain falls / I won’t let go / I’ll be right here” I love it because there is so much truth in there and there is verses in the Bible to back it up. My favorite part is “I will always / be the One who took your place” because he is the only one who can take your sins away, which is what he did on the cross. John 19:30 says, “When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” When Jesus died, all you sins were taken from you. Jesus said that it is finished, because he took away all your sins, and replaced it with his love which is never changing. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” God always loves you, and there is nothing that can change his love for it is always constant. And finally Hebrews 13:5b says, “For he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” God love is never changing, and he is never leaving your side. The words “right here” have a connotation of being in closeness to an object. By God being “right here” he is close to you, and he is never going to leave that closeness, no matter how much your life changes or how far you try to push him away.  

God loves you, and he wants to love you through the storms in your life. There is a line in the bridge that I love: “reach for my hand.” You have the choice to take God’s love or not, but know that all you have to do is reach out to him, for he is right there ready to love on you. 

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for always being right beside me during the storms in my life. I know that I can always reach out to you and you will be there. Thank you for you constant love and forgiveness. Amen. 

Audio Video
Right Here

Song Break Down - Limitless - Not Enough Time

One of the other high ranking limitations from the questioned that I asked was not enough time. I know that all of us at some point in our lives, wished we had more time. Many of us want more than 24 hours in a day, and if you are in high school, you probably stay up until the early hours of the morning to do homework.
I have a question for you though. How much time do you spend on social media like Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so on? For me I spend a ton of time on Youtube. I love to watch videos, and I find that when I am on a computer, I need to be listening to something, and it is often Youtube. But let me tell you, that I have wasted a ton of precious time on Youtube, when I should have been doing homework. I know that all of us has one thing that we choose to spend most of our time on, while avoiding what we need to be doing. Just think about how much we can get done if we didn't get distracted for long periods of time on social media.
Now some people may be reading thinking that you can't give up social media, and I'm not asking you to give it up completely. Just try one day this week to go a couple hours without getting distracted by social media. I have gone a couples hours this week without Youtube, and OMG did I get a lot done.  Just try it once this week and notice the difference that it makes. And if you are still thinking that it is to hard for you, remember that we "can do everything through him who strengthens me.(Philippians 4:13)" God can help you to manage your time so that it isn't a limitation, if you will turn to him.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you so much for social media, but please help me to manage my time on it so that I may do my schoolwork, and other tasks that I need to get done. Amen. 

Song Break Down - Limitless - Too Shy

For me, one of my biggest limitation is being too shy. Growing up I was very outgoing, but then middle school happened and I cut everyone off, and I am petrified now to talk to anyone really that is outside of my super tight friend group. But as high school has gone on, I have tried to break out of my own little shy bubble, and talk to people. I don't mind performing or giving a class presentation, but when it comes to starting a conversation either with people I know and don't know, I clam up. At the Christian club at school, one of the things we focus on is spreading the Word of God. Now if you were to come up to me and ask me a question about my faith, I will more than gladly share my faith and who God is with. But when it comes to starting a conversation, it is difficult for me, and starting one about my faith mortifies me. I have tried to start a conversation with people who I don't know well about my faith, and they all end in train wreak. So one day, I was praying about this, and I asked God what can I do. He reveled to me that I should begin small and work from there. So for me, the first step would be going up to people, and asking them a simple question and having a small discussion. So I thought that since I love "Limitless", why not ask people what their own limitations are. So I wrote down a piece of paper six limitations, three from the actual song, "Limitless," and three that I created, and I asked people what their biggest limitation is from the list.

My goal for this was to ask 50 people their limitations, and I was going to do this during lunch a week before the Limitless post, which would be last week. That did not happen. I kept putting of asking people, and putting it off, because I was scared. I know that I am limitless, and I believe it, I was just scared to do it.  So Friday roles around, a day before I post about "Limitless," and I had only ask three people, one who was my brother and two close friends. I had an off period Friday, so I planned to have a date with God, and I was so prepared for that with my study Bible, and some study tools, and it would be an hour and a half with just God. Well, as I was planning for this, I thought why don't I do this in the cafeteria. The cafeteria will allow me to spread out, and I won't be tempted by computers, and just watching Youtube for the whole time. I debated where I would study the whole period before my off, and I didn't know why, but I wanted to go the cafeteria that day. Well, I get to the cafeteria and there are some people there hanging out or doing homework. So I chose my corner of the cafeteria, get out my bible and start reading. But I was so distracted, because I knew that I still have to ask people their limitations, otherwise I couldn't have anything to really write about. In my heart I felt God telling me to do it right then, but my brain was fighting it so hard, throwing every excuse at me. But finally I just got up without thinking and walked to a girl by herself, and in my softest voice asked her what her greatest limitation was from the list. After she answered, I went to the next table and so on, each time I asked gaining confidence in myself, and actually started conversing with some of the people. When I had asked everyone in the cafeteria at that time, I sat down and counted the tallies and I had asked and received answers from over 50 people. At that point all I could do was thank God because he had helped me do it, and it proved to me that Philippians 4:13 is true when it says, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." God called me to do it during my off period, and I listened to him and he gave me strength to go up and talk to people, and how I felt afterwards was incredible. I knew that God was there the whole time, and for the first time in a long time, I not only believed that I was limitless, but I actually acted on it, for my shyness isn't a limitation. Below are results of the answers to people's limitations, as well as somethings that I observed that were really cool.

Results:
Too Shy-18
Too Average-2
Not Enough Time-12
Not Enough Money-15
Too Young-2
Not Smart Enough-5

Observations:
-When I asked a small group, they would answer, but then they would talk about each other's answers. I remember that one guy said that he wasn't smart enough, and his friends at his table disagreed with him, and they told him how smart he was, and they encouraged him. I saw this on multiple occasions and I enjoyed that encouragement that was giving by friends.
-One girl looked at the list, and the first thing she said was "too shy," but then she said that she had overcome that limitation, so she said another one, and she was set afterwards on overcoming that limitation too.
-Too shy was on the first one on the list, and some people were too shy to their limitation out loud, they would just say the first one.
-Being too shy had the highest results, and it just shocked me to know that I am not the only shy one at my school, that there are other people who are also shy.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for always being with me. Please help me overcome the limitations in my way Lord. Amen

Song Break Down - Limitless

I am just going to start off by saying that “Limitless” is my favorite song off Anchor and probably my favorite song Colton has written. I just love the way the song is written, as well as the message that is in it.

The song starts off by just listing a bunch of limitations. “Too young, too old/Too shy, too bold/Too average/To make a difference/The world's too big/And you're too small/If you try to fly/You're gonna fall” Now I thought that it is weird to start of a song like that because, the listener immediately is thinking of all of their limitations. The first time that I actually heard this song, I heard the first verse, and then for the rest of the song that was all I thought about. It took me a couple of times of listening to actually hear the rest of the song. But I think that the first verse is placed correctly in the song, for it lays the foundation for the rest of the song. It gets in your head where exactly you stand with your limitations, and then the song builds from there the fact that you are limitless. I mean it is easy to feel limitless when you are in a good mood, but it is maintaining that belief through the bad times, and through your flaws, that is what is important.

The second verse in this song counters the idea of the first verse by listing things that aren’t a limitation. “No more impossible/So much far too difficult/We know that our God is greater/Oh wake up you dreamers/Become a believers/This is who we are” Just take a minute and think about what we can do if we actually believe that we are limitless. What would change in your life, if you live as if nothing was impossible or too difficult. What would happen if you woke up each and every day and believed that you were limitless. I bet a lot will change in all of our lives.

Now reading about that fact that we are limitless is nice, but we need to know where this is coming from. There is a couple lines in the chorus that explain where our limitless comes from perfectly. “The power of love/Alive in us” I feel that one of the most forgotten pieces of our faith is the power of the Holy Spirit who is with us. After Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit down to us to be our helper. The Holy Spirit is always with us. John 14:26 says, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” This verse calls the Holy Spirit our helper, as well as a teacher and guide for us while we are hear on earth. Our Heavenly Father sent the Holy Spirit down to be with us, each and every one of us. The God of the impossible is here with us in the Spirit, and with his help we can overcome any limitations. Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” This verse fits perfectly with this song, because it talks about overcoming all of our limitations through God and the Holy Spirit who is with us. That is where our limitless comes from, and that is what we need to place our hope in everyday.

The bridge is my favorite part of this song, because it is like an anthem that we can sing about the

 power of the Spirit and how we truly are limitless. “Doubt sees a mountain, no way around it/Faith sees a victory, no doubt about it/Fear sees a/ceiling, hope sees the stars/Love be the light inside of our hearts” I have actually had the first part of the bridge up on my chalk board wall, first during the beginning of the school year, and then now. There was a period where that did not grace my wall, and there was a difference in my attitude and in my faith, because all my doubts and limitations began to overtake me, and I wasn't reminded of God's power in me. When we truly believe that we are limitless, then God is able to work amazing things in our life.

 I am also going to be doing other posts that talk about overcoming some limitations to help inspire you so keep checking in today for new posts!

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for sending your Holy Spirit down to be with us, and to help us. I know that I am Limitless through you, and I pray that you will help me act upon this knowledge. Thank you for your love for me, even while I was still a sinner. Amen.

Song Break Down - Walk on the Waves/ Through All of It/ Back to Life

So this is the last week of this series. For the second to last post, I am going to do a collaboration of three songs, and I know that it is kinda long, and I apologize for that now. There are so many good songs off of Colton Dixon's albums, that it is hard for me choose just eight to write about, so I encourage you to listen to all of the other songs that I am not going to cover. But as I was deciding on what songs I should write about. I noticed a theme in some of the songs that actually fits pretty well with the story of Jesus walking on the water. So in the story, the disciples are out on a boat and there is a huge storm. Then they look out and they see what they thought was a ghost, but it was Jesus walking on the waves towards them. Peter then asked Jesus that if it was really Him, then Jesus should ask Peter to come to him.

This is where I am going to start. Matthew 14:29 says, "'Come,' he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the waves and came towards Jesus" So in this one verse, we see Jesus calling to Peter, and we see Peter have incredible faith as he steps out of the boat and onto the waves, where he is walking towards Jesus. Now there is a song called "Walk on the Waves," that touches on what this verse is saying. "Listen close, He's calling your name/Saying walk on the waves/Walk on the waves/You've gotta fight the tide/It's do or die today." This is the end of the first verse leading into the chorus. It starts off by saying that God is calling out for you. In the story, Jesus is calling out to Peter to come to him. God is calling out to you to step out of your "boat" or comfort zone, and to trust Him and walk on the waves. The song continues on to talk about how you need to step out in faith today. In the story, it doesn't say that Peter thought about what he should do and then got out of the boat, but that as soon as Jesus called, he got out of the boat. The same needs to happen with us. If we are called by God to walk on the waves, we need to immediately go like Peter. We can't wait for later because later may be too late.

The next verse in the story goes, "But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!'" So we now see Peter as he is walking on the waves, lose his faith in Jesus and he begins to sink into the water. For many of us who are able to step out of the boat and onto the waves, we face doubt in who God is and we beginning to sink as well, just like Peter. Colton has a song called, "Through All of It," that talks about the up's and down's in our faith. "I have won and I have lost/I got it right sometimes/But sometimes I did not/Life's been a journey/I've seen joy, I've seen regret/Oh and You have been my God/Through all of it" This song is admitting that we struggle everyday in our faith. There are day's where we can walk on the waves, and walk with the faith in what God can do. But there are day's where we do step out of the boat, and we lose faith and we sink. The thing to remember is that God is still God through anything that may be happening in our life. What I love from this verse in the story, is Peter calling out to the Lord to save him. Peter, was sinking, yet he still recognized that God was still there and that he had the capability to save him.  God is there through everything, and he is there for you even when we start to lose faith.

The last verse that I'm going to look at is verse 31 which goes, "Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. 'You of little faith,' he said, 'why did you doubt?'"  This is Jesus saving Peter from the storm, and asking him why he doubted God's power as he was walking on the waves. One of the last song's on Anchor is a song called "Back to Life" and the second verse goes, "You showed up in the nick of time/I didn't think I'd survive/Now my heart is beating/You, everything points to You/I could try to save myself but it's no use/Without You I'm sinking." There is a connection between the song and the verse, because it shows how God will step in a save you. Jesus immediately stepped in and saved Peter, and he is there to save you when you are sinking, and to help get your heart beating and back on fire for God. Now the end of the story is Jesus asking Peter, why did he doubt God, and he is asking you that every time that you lose faith in God. I feel like just because we can't see God, we start to panic and we try to do things our way. The reason why I love this song, is because it talks about the fact that we can't do it on our own and without God we a sinking, just like Peter who lost faith, and Jesus stepped in and he was the one who saved Peter.

Now I know that I have covered a lot, and I know that it may be hard to visualize how you can implement this in your life. So I'm going to see if I can't break it down using an example from my life, and it is the story behind why I started to do this particular Song Break Down series. So one of the colleges that I am applying to is Colorado Christian University. I was invited for a couple of days to a scholarship competition for a full tuition scholarship. Originally I wasn't going to go because I didn't have the time to get everything around that was needed to send in. But I was in my room one day, and I didn't know why but I felt God telling me to sign up for the competition, and I did. But in the weeks leading up to the preview, I started to doubt that decisions, because I would be missing two days of school, and my finals weren't so good, so I needed to be there for school, and at one point, I regretted signing up. I had the faith to step out and sign up, but right now I was doubting that choice so much, and my life was slowly falling to pieces. But one day in the car on the way home from school, and K-Love was just playing in the background, and I heard the add for the Colton Dixon concert that was going to be at CCU, but that day, I actually heard the date, and it was the same date as the competition, and I started to freak out. I was sitting at a red light, and the guy next to me probably thought that I was crazy, but I was so excited for this news. So I went to the competition, and the concert, and you would not believe how much my faith grew in the short time of the concert. I got my life back on track and I fell in love with God again, and I realized that God wanted me to sign up for the competition so that I could go to the concert so that way I can find my faith and my love for God all over again. God pulled me out from the waves that were drowning me and set me on dry ground that night. That is why I decided to do this song break down, and why my post are longer than normal, because it was these songs, that I connected to God and I found what it means to be a believer. So trust me, when God is calling you to step out of the boat, have faith in Him, because there is good that will come out from having that kind of faith. 

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you so much for always being there to save me when it feels like I am sinking, and that you always step in at the right time. I pray that I will have the faith it takes to step out of my safe little boat, and to walk on the waves, and walk towards you. I know that you have amazing things planed for my life, and I need to have faith that you have everything under control. Thank you. Amen.

Song Break Down - Never Gone

"Never Gone" by Colton Dixon is one of my favorite songs. When I first heard the song on K-Love, I was going through a hard time at school with my grades, and the song was a reminder that God was there with me through that time in my life, and that he is still with me to this day. I really liked the use of a metaphor with the kid in the dark, and our faith. The first verses goes, "Lights off, a shot in the dark/We get lost when we’re playing a part/We lay blame like we know what’s best/It’s a shame…" There have been many times in my life where I would want God to step in and "turn on the lights" so that I could see every thing that was going on, and know that every thing was going to be fine, and it is a shame that I don't trust God fully like I say that I do. But God does have a reason for not immediately turning on the lights. If he was going to turn on the lights every time that we needed him, then how would our faith grow. I actually found a great verse on what faith is. In Hebrews 11:1 it says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Faith is believing in what we do not see. It is by our faith that we believe in the fact that God is always with us. The chorus of the song goes, "I’m still standing here/No I didn’t disappear/Now the lights are on/See I was never gone/I let go of your hand/To help you understand/With you all along/Oh, I was never gone." The chorus is talking from God's perspective on how he never left us. We can't see Him, but it is by our faith that we know that he is there. It is by our faith, that we know that his son died for us on that cross, and that he rose three days later. It is by our faith that we know that the Holy Spirit was sent to be with us and to help strengthen us.  Now I was reading Hebrews 11, and I found that the whole section talks about faith. As I was reading it I found a theme, and it was the use of the words "by faith." Every time that the author would talk about a new person, he wouldn't talk about their actions as much as he would talk about their faith, and them believing in what they could not see. It talked about Abraham's faith in God when he went to go sacrifice his son. It talked about Noah's faith when he built an ark, even though it didn't look light a flood was going to happen.  It talked about Moses faith when God helped him part the red sea. But my question is, "What about your faith?" We all reach points in our life, when we can't find an explanation for what is going on, or the world seems like it is out to get us. Do you have the faith to believe that God is still there even in the darkness, like the song talks about? Do you have faith that God has a plan for your life, like he had a plan for Abraham's, Noah's, and Moses's life? Do you have that faith? These trials that we face aren't there for nothing. They are there to help us grow in our faith. James 1:2-4 says, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." The more that your faith is tested, the more that God leaves the lights off, that is what allows us to grow, so that our faith may become steadfast through any situation. With a steadfast faith, we will be able to do the will that God has for us, and we can go knowing that we have everything we need through our faith. So this week, I challenge you to go through the trials in your life, not asking for God to rush in and turn on the lights, but that your faith may grow to know that he is there.  Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you so much for not always stepping in and turning on the lights. I pray that as I grow through the trials of my life that my faith can grow so that I can be steadfast in any situation Thank you for always being there even when I can't feel you. Thank you. Amen. Never Gone Music Video Story Behind the Song

Song Break Down - You Are

Today I going to talk about one of the first songs that I heard of Colton Dixon's. I heard "You Are" on K-Love, and while I didn't immediately fall in love with the song, I did really enjoy the bridge. For those who don't know the bridge it goes, "If I had no voice, if I had no tongue/I would dance for You like the rising sun/And when that day comes and I see Your face/I will shout Your endless, glorious praise" I loved the bridge so much because it gets into the heart of worship. Worship is more than just singing in service once a week. Psalms 177:1-2 says, " Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!" These verses talks about just praising the Lord for all He has done. It doesn't say that you have to sing, but you can dance, or get on your knees, or just stand in awe of who He is. The second part of the bridge talks about how joyous it will be when we do finally reach Heaven, with no more pain, or suffering, but just the glory of God remains. That is something that is to be worshipped, and not just a kind of worship that you do because you have to, but a kind of worship that is truly you connecting with God, and giving Him the glory. If you did watch Colton on American Idol, season 11, then you know that for one of his performances, he sang "Everything" by Lifehouse. If you saw that performance, then you saw how much the song meant to Colton, and how he wasn't singing to win, but he was singing to worship God.

In an interview after American Idol, he was describing what it was like to sing that song, and there is something that he said that I really connected with, which goes, "I (Colton) was in worship. I wasn't singing to them or anyone in the audience. It was total connection between me and God on stage, especially that last time I sang it. The world was completely shut off, and that's the way it is suppose to be." The last sentence is the one that sticks out to me the most. I find that often times in worship, we tend to get sidetracked easily. You worry about what the person sitting next you is doing, or what you need to do to fit in, or you're on your phone texting a friend. We are often doing anything but worship, but when you can connect with just God, it is something different. I don't know if you have experienced anything like that, but I encourage all of you to take a chance next time you worship, and forget about the world around you, and focus on God who He is, whether that is through singing, or dancing or falling to your knees.

I'm not going to go into much detail about the rest of the song, but if you listen to it, you can recognize a theme throughout. The song is just a worship song praising who God is. There is a video on Youtube where Colton is talking about the song, and he can explain it much better than I could, because he wrote the song. I pray that you will take a time to check out all the videos below, because they are so powerful in their message.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you so much for dying for me on the cross, and being everything that I am not. Thank you for always being there and never leaving me. Thank you for the grace and mercy that is new every day. Thank you for your love Lord, and I want to thank you for knowing your plan for my life, and for giving me what is the best for me at this moment in time. Thank you for the artists, and the songs that you allow them to write. Thank you for the worship band at my church. Thank you for knowing how I learn the best, and using that to help me grow in my faith. Thank you for all you have done, and being the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Amen.

Videos

Story Behind the Song

You Are - Live on K-Love

Colton Performing "Every Thing" on Idol

Interview After Idol

Song Break Down - Rise

So this wasn't originally going to be the song that I would write about today, but after the activity in English, I could not do this song. We are reading Howards End by E.M. Forster in English, and the big theme from the book is about connection. The activity in class was coming up with different ways that we connect with people in different situations. "Rise" to me is a song all about connecting to people, either people who hurt you, or who are there to help, and connecting with God. 

The first verse of the song, talks about the pain that you experience when you have had a failed connection. "What happened to your life/It's more than makeup staining your eyes/You wanna be in a better place/Say you don't wanna live this way/All alone." I hear the first verse and I see someone in a corner trying to hide from the outside world because they had been hurt by it so much. I know that all of us who go through pain that we pray that God will take away. The thing is that in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and sin entered the world. It is because of sin, that we go through pain, and heartache, and broken trust. That is why it says that in Heaven that there would be no pain because there is no sin. But while we are on Earth we will experience pain, and from that pain it may be hard to make a connection with people outside your little bubble, for you are afraid of getting hurt again. But let me say that living like that is a bad way to live. I was hurt when my best friend moved away, and I cut the world off from me. Now I'm living with the consequences. I don't like walking up to people to start conversations, and I'm not the person to put her input in during a group conversation. I am even afraid to email or text people, even though I may never know what they think of what I wrote, I am still afraid that they will write back and insult me based off of what I said. But "Rise" doesn't end with verse one.

Verse two really talks about overcoming that pain that you have felt. "So hard to watch you bleed/Your fragile heart ripped at the seams/You gotta try to help me understand/But first you're gonna have to let me in/No, you're not alone." This verse is so amazing in it's message. As Christians, we are to make up one body, a body that is to be there to help you. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." As brothers and sisters in Christ we are there to encourage one another, but to do that we need to open up and be honest about the pain in our lives. I remember that when I first started going to leadership Bible study, I would have to write on the top of each study, "Speak, people care to hear what you have to say," and for those who think I'm joking I'm not. I was so shy and I didn't want to speak, but after a couple weeks of writing that down, I started to speak more and more, and now I look forward to the Bible studies, and I now I have a group of people to encourage me, all because I let them in, and I shared my pain with them. There are people out there who want to connect with you. You will still feel pain because of the sin, but know that you are not alone. 

Another cool part in this song is the chorus. "When your heart is cold/And when you feel you're letting go/You can rise above the world below/Rise tonight, tonight." now the chorus is talking about how you can rise above all the pain through  connecting with God. You now have the support from other Christians, but now you have to believe that God is waiting for you to connect to with Him. John 16:33 says, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." When Jesus died upon the cross for our sins, he overcame the world. This verse fits perfectly with this song, because you see the pain from sin, but the song also talks about how God overcame the world, and that is there to give you peace in your storms, and to help you rise above the problems that you are facing. You just have to trust him. You are never alone in your struggles, for you have God, and you have people out there who want to connect with you to help you. The bridge of the song talks about when you rise above the storm in your life. I would go into detail, but I think that it is written so beautifully that it doesn't need to be explained. So I leave you with the bridge to "Rise."

There's a light, a hope in your eyes

Like a star burning in the sky

There's a fire you can't hide tonight, oh

Dear Heavenly Father,

I know that in this world that I am going to face trials, and pain. Help me to believe that you have overcome the world. Thank you for putting the people in my life that want to help me, and I pray that I will be able to connect with them so that I won’t be alone in my pain. Thank you for being there through every storm, and through all the pain. Amen. 

Colton Dixon "Rise"

Song Break Down - Love Has Come For Me

This song is off of Colton Dixon's first album, A Messenger. I love this song because of the message that it talks about. This song is all about surrendering yourself and letting God take over. The chorus of this song goes, "This is where I end/ And this is where You start/ And everything I needed/ Is everything You are/ Love has come for me/ Oh, love has come for me" I love how in the beginning of the chorus how it talks about God starting from where you are. By humbling yourself before God, and letting Him take control of your life, he is able to do amazing things with your life. James 4:10 says, "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you." God can do incredible things with those who submit themselves to God, and they let him take control right from where they are. You don't have to get your life in order before you surrender to God. God wants you just as you are now.

I also love the end of the bridge of this song. For those who haven't heard the song, the song builds up through the bridge, and then the music drops out and there are these two lines that goes, "I'm never gonna get it all together/ So, what's left to do but surrender?" These two lines are a realization that we can't do this on our own and that we need God to step in, so we have to surrender. It is a very basic statement, but there is so much power and truth behind it. By having the music drop out, it puts emphasis on the important of these two lines, and the importance of surrendering to God. 

Now the question is, how do we surrender in our lives. It is cool to talk about the concept of surrender, but it is hard to put in practice. Well I want you to think of one thing that is stressing you out right now. For me it is physics, because I have a test coming up, and I don't fully understand the material. Once you have that situation in your mind, take time right now to pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, 

I am stressed about _________. I surrender it to you, and I pray that you will take me as I am. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." I believe that you have a plan for all that I am going through, and that you only have my best interest at heart. Please take me as I am and use me for your plans that you have Lord. Thank you for your love that is new everyday Lord. Amen.

A prayer like this may be something that we pray often, maybe several times again, because it is easy to let the things of this world take control of us. All God want is for you to surrender so that he may show you the plans he has for you, and to help you be who God made you to be.

Love Has Come For Me Lyrics

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gost6DQyrU

Song Break Down - Our Time Is Now pt2

Now if I can be transparent for a minute. I know that when I do these Song Break Downs that I tend to go in depth, more than my normal posts, and my post are really long. Well as a critique from my mom, who reads every one of my posts, she is not a big fan of this series, because it is so academic. I am in the advance English class at my school, and I love to take text or a song, and break it down to it's elements and extract meaning from it, and then write a paper on it. I find that to be fun, but I am realizing that it may not be fun to other people. My last post completely confused my mom and brother, because of how deep it went, and they are both intelligent people. So if it confused them, I know that it probably confused some of my other readers. My mom said that I need to take what I learned, or what I write about and connect it back to life, to take it from the abstract and place it in the concrete. I can easily say that we need to trust God, but unless I give examples, I'm just talking in ideals, and ideals are hard to implement in life. So I am going to try to bring what I learn from ideals and how it can be applied to life in my posts, especially in my Song Break Downs. I would normally do it in the same post, but I needed the extra post to write about what my mom talked to me about, or else the part one would be really long.

The whole last post talked about how it is our time. But it is hard to see how that will play out in our life. So I have complied a list to help you get thinking, and trust me there is more out there than just what I have listed. 

OUR TIME IS NOW TO....

-read the Bible to get to know our rock.

-believe in the fact that God is always with us, and that his love is new everyday.

-believe that God sent the Holy Spirit to helps us and to intercede on our behalf. 

-go into the halls of our schools, with a heart that is on fire for God.

-stand up for what we believe when our faith comes into question.

-share the gospel in our schools, no matter what the consequences are.

-stop judging who God can save, and who he can't save.

-put everything into our work, as if we are working for God and not man.

-turn away from temptation.

-ask God to free us from the chains that are holding us down.

-believe that God is the master of overcoming the impossible.

-be a light to a dark world through our actions and words.

-claim that we believe in the one true God, and that we will follow Him where ever He may lead us. 

-love our enemies, and to pray for those who hate us.

-pray for the people who are in need. 

-volunteer our time helping the less fortunate.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for being a rock for me to lean on, and thank you for your love that completes me. I pray that I will start now and that I won't stop loving you, and sharing your love with the world. Lord, I want my heart to be on fire for you, and I want to follow you and not the things of this world. I need you strength to help me get through the difficult times in my life, but I know that you are always with me, and that you are my refuge and my shield. I pray that you will use me to share your love to a broken world, whether that be in my school or in my community. Thank you for your renewed love everyday Lord. Thank you. Amen. 

Song Break Down - Our Time Is Now pt1

The second song that I am going to look at from Colton Dixon is "Our Time is Now" which is off his second album, Anchor. This is a real upbeat song, and one that is fun to dance to. The song starts of with a focus on the how if we chase after the world that we will never be satisfied. "Are you tired of the life/ That leaves us begging for more?/ We got our heads in the clouds/ But our feet on the floor/ We tend to chase everything/ That ends up leaving us dry" You can tell that from the verse, that when we fall in love with the things of this world, that we actually end up filling empty inside, and there are verses in the bible that can back that up. 1 John 2:15-17 says, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." It is the love of the God that will ever make us fell complete, but because we live in the world it is so easy to fall to the patterns of the world. Any desires that you have that aren't from God, but are from you, are from this world, and it says in the Bible that the world desires are only here to steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10) The thing is that the world is going to pass away, that one day there will be no earth, but God and his desires and his love last forever. 

From the verse we have a good lead in to the chorus, which goes, "So raise your first high/ This is the first night/ The beginning of forever/ So let the old die/ Cause there is new life/ Forever start tonight/ Our time is now." I find the chorus to be really empowering. The chorus reminds me of Romans 12:2 which says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the remaining of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing, and perfect will." The chorus talks about our new life that we have in Jesus Christ. Now for many of us who has believed in God for a while knows how easy it is for us to put God on our to-do list, and not take the time to really get to know him, and many of us fall into the desires of this world. We need our minds to be renewed everyday to remind us that God loves us, and that his mercies are new everyday, so that we will be able to do the will that he has for our life. It doesn't matter if this is you have just received Jesus, or if you have known him for years, we all can start from where we as RIGHT NOW and decide that we no longer want to live a passive life, that is controlled by the world, but a life that is on fire for God.

The second verse is the opposite of the first verse. The first verse talks about a life that is living in the world, where the second verse talks about a life that is lived in God. "It only takes one second/ To turn it around/ We got our minds made up/ Let's put our stake in the ground/ All the pain, all the shame/ Have you had enough of it?/ Are you ready for the change?"  The second verse is talking about taking a stand in God, and the change that it will bring. This reminded me of Psalms 18:2 which goes, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." When we place our trust in God, and not of the things of the world, we then have a place to take refuge, who is going to be a shield for you, and who is your salvation. He is there for you. you no longer have to fell empty or incomplete, but you can feel God's love everyday. That is why I love the question at the end of the second verse. When you place your trust in God, your world will begin to change, not rapidly, but it will change for the better. You will see things in a new light, and though it won't take you struggles away, it will give you an immovable rock to lean on. 

Around this time I would finish my post and put a pray at the end, but I broke this into two parts because, I got some critique form my mom on Wednesday, that I want to address, and I want to change how I end my posts.  So part two is going to post right after this one, and I encourage you to read it. 

Song Break Down- Dare to Believe

So I am starting another Song Break Down series. I'm going to do eight songs, one song per post, and all the songs will be from Colton Dixon. The first song that I'm going to break down is "Dare to Believe." This is one of the songs off his newest album, Anchor.

As I was reading the lyrics, I found something interesting in the verses.

The first verse goes "I was just a kid when I heard about the stories/ Of the prophets, teachers/ Priests, kings, and queens/ Of water turned to wine/ How You brought the dead to life/ They were more than words/ They were truth to me.
We get older, life gets harder/ We grow farther away/ And lose the faith we fought so hard to keep"

The second verse goes, "If you were just some carpenter from nowhere/ An ordinary man with ordinary news/ Then we would not be here/ Still claiming You all these years/ We believe the stories/ Because they're true

Some might call me crazy/ But I'm no fool"

Now the interesting thing that I found in the verses are use of the pronouns of "I" and "We." In the first verse, majority of it uses the "I" pronoun, with using "We" at the end. In the second verse, that is flipped. Majority of the verse talks with the pronoun "We" with "I" being used towards the end. I find the use of pronouns as a reflection of our personal relationship with God. If you grew up in a Christian home, we tend to have our own relationship, and we believe what the Bible tells us. The thing is that you grow older, and you find a group where you fit in and your faith might be challenged as collectively your group moves farther and farther away from God. I feel like many of us at some point in our lives move away from God, but yet we still go to church. It is just that you don't believe what is being taught. But while you are going to those group functions, something finally clicks and you have a renewed faith, and then you have a strong faith that you believe in. I see this as being a cycle, of you or I, and the We. If what I said confused you, I hope the diagram below helps.

Now that just talks about how you fit in to your relationship with God. But we are missing a part, and that is where God fits into this. Well the bridge of the song is dedicated just to God. The bridge goes, "You are the Son of God/You lived and died for us/You're here and You are still alive" In these three lines, you can find so much truth, and you can see the foundation of what faith is. 1 John 4:15 says, "If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God," which affirms the first line, "You are the Son of God" from the bridge. To affirm the second line look at John 11:25 which goes, "Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live." For the last line of the bridge proof can be found in 1 Corinthians  15:20, which says, "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep." God is alive, and he is with us, and he loves us. Just as the bridge brings the whole song together, God is the one in our lives that holds us together. God is in the middle of the circle for Matthew 6:33a says, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." This cycle is one that we will fall into during the course of our lives, but we needed to remember that you need to keep your eyes focused towards God. There are times when God might be blurry to us sometimes, but eventually he will come back into focus. This is easier to do some days than others, but God should come first no matter what stage in life, or in the cycle you are in. 

Colton Dixon "Dare To Believe" on youtube

Song Break Down Songs

I know that I didn't put a video link for any of the songs I talked about. Here they are now.

Things Are Looking Up
Video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=89puZ3_ejIc
Studio Session
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BGl1UvgP-A

Try
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXoZLPSw8U8
Dancing With the Stars Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJWupNGOYXk

Don't Forget Where You Belong
Audio
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LXzCtPQVVA

Easy Love
Studio Session
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb-zu9Bg5O8

Song Break Down- Easy Love

This is going to be my last post for this series. The song I chose is "Easy Love" by R5. This is also off their new EP, and like their song "Things Are Looking Up" from Wednesday, I really love this song. This one is going to be different from the others because I am just going to focus on the chorus of the song, which goes:

Lovin' you ain't easy
Nothin' ever is
But I will keep on fightin'
For a love like this
You know I wouldn't have it
Any other way
Even when times get tough
I don't want no easy love

Many of believers fall into this trap that one we follow Jesus, that our lives will get easier. The exact opposite happens though. Our lives get harder when we follow Jesus. Matthew 16:24 says, "Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." If you are truly following Jesus, then you will stop living for your own will and desires and you will live for his. For all of us that is hard to do because we can’t see the future, so we don’t know what is to come, and as a result we want everything now. Another part of following Jesus is being persecuted. I know that I have talked about this before, but it is a huge part of a Christian life. If you are truly living out the love that Jesus has for you, then you will be persecuted. 2 Timothy 3:12 says, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” There are people in the world who are dying because of their faith, and it is not easy to give up your life for something that you can’t even see. But take heart in that fact that your persecution won’t go unnoticed. Matthew 5:10 says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The persecution that you face down here, will equate to a great reward in Heaven. You will be rewarded for the hard work that you put in, and your faithfulness even when things did get hard.
Following Jesus is hard. If loving Jesus was easy, then everyone one would do it, and there would be no real faith, because there would be no persecution. If loving Jesus was easy, we as humans wouldn’t grow to our full potential in Jesus. If loving Jesus was easy, than a relationship between Jesus and us would only be a weak little bond, because we wouldn’t have to rely on him as much or at all. Sure it may be hard to follow Jesus, but for “I wouldn't have it any other way,” because have a love that is difficult is what is needed for us to grow closer to God.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for your love that is renewed daily. I know by following you, my life will be difficult, but without the challenges, I can’t build a strong relationship with you. Thank for all the struggles we face, and thank you for every time we get persecuted because we know that we are truly loving you. For nothing in this life will be easy, but with you by our sides nothing is impossible. Amen.