Song of the Week #171

Song of the Week #167

Song of the Week #166

Song of the Week #165

Song of the Week #164

Check this out:

Song of the Week #162

One from Steffany Frizzell off the new Bethel album "Tides".  Yes, you should check it out.

Song of the Week #159

Song of the Week #158

Song of the Week #153

Song of the Week #114

Song of the Week #111

Here's a great song off their new album:



and here is a live clip...pretty hard to look away :)

Eight One Twelve

Eight is a number that represents new things. This eighth month, August, has always been one of my favorites because it shows signs of newness--school begins, cycles start over, signs of life everywhere.

I'm also very much about first things. You can help set the course and the tone for the future with the way you do the first things. With this being August 1st, you can help set the tone for the rest of your year (and for the new things that are in your heart) by making sure you put time and effort into the right things today. In plain English: don't worry as much about the time-consuming tasks and little things today. Focus on big picture, your future, and realigning your priorities to how they should be. Yours won't look exactly like mine, but here is where you should start:

1. Relationship with God
   
2. Family
3. Everything else

This is August 1^st, 2012 and this day will never happen again. Make the most of it by taking time to look at the big things. Asking tough questions and facing issues that you’ve avoided needs to happen. Your excuse of busyness needs to get buried.

Lord, steady my mind and heart and lead me to the things that You have for me. Let Your voice echo in my mind and heart so that I can hear You above all the noise...I want to hear Your voice and nothing else. Thanks for loving me. I love You. In Jesus Christ’s Name, Amen.

Song of the Week #88

Song of the Week #87

Start It Off Right

Happy New Year!! 2012 is gonna be amazing! We’re gonna see the Lord do some awesome things—and we get to be a part of it!

I’m a big believer in starting things off right; setting things in motion correctly from the start; setting a precedent. The first things you do are the things that resound and set the stage for the rest of the show. That’s why getting the most important things first is so critical.

So to start off your 2012, I encourage you to make the most of this first week. Write down the things that are of most value in your life. Then, write down all the things that you want to do/grow in/develop/mature in/work towards/see happen this year. If you’re feeling frisky, go ahead and rank them :)

Now that you have a list, it’s time to do something with it! During this first week of the year, do something to work towards each one of your goals. I’ll use myself as an example…my big priorities are my relationship with God, my family and friends, leading worship/stuff at church, music, and business. Some of the things I want to accomplish this year flow from that list of priorities:

mature in my faith
see more unity in the Body of Christ
start leading worship in more places
write more music
strengthen the relationships in my life that matter to me
get better musically

So in starting the year off right, it makes sense for me to do things this first week to work towards each of these goals. It looks something like this:

mature in my faith --> make time to pray and fast and hear what the Lord is saying to me

see more unity in the Body of Christ --> pray for unity, interact across boundaries, set up joint events, LOVE

start leading worship in more places --> contact people now for things going on all year long

write more music --> set aside time each week to write...even if inspiration isn’t necessarily hitting me

strengthen the relationships in my life that matter to me --> spend time, set up lunches, make calls

get better musically --> practice pushing myself vocally every week, find voice instructor

Set things in motion now that are going to affect the rest of your year. If you sow good things, then the harvest shall be good! Pray and see where the Lord leads you and press into the things He lays on your heart. He knows you better than you do because He made you. Maybe you should ask Him what He thinks about you ;)

And if you don’t know Jesus as your personal Savior yet, give your life to Him. There is nothing better. Jesus is the only Son of God; He died for your sins. You've not done anything so bad that He won't forgive you. If you believe on His death on a cross for your sins, His burial, and His resurrection from the grave; confess your sins and turn from them; and acknowledge Him as lord of your life, then you can have everlasting life in Heaven with the only true God. Start 2012 with the biggest and best decision you’ll ever make.

God bless you all and may many blessings flow your way this year through Our Lord Jesus Christ! Peace, love, and blessings through the magnificent Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Amen!

adam

Who You Are!!!

We have a 24-hour prayer service going on at my church right now. As I was there this morning, I prayed one thing that seemed to carry more weight in my heart than anything else. I prayed that God would prick the hearts of this generation and this nation so that they could feel again. I prayed that He would get rid of the apathy and that people would care about the desires, concerns, and passions of His heart—b/c He puts a new and clean heart in you when you accept His love.

I think that for people to accept God’s love and ask for Jesus Christ to cleanse them of their sins as they turn and repent from their old ways, they have to understand what God says about them, and to them. They have to understand who they are. So despite what you may have heard people tell you, the following things that are pulled straight from the Bible are the truth about who you are. These verses are phrased so that you can say them out loud and claim them over yourself. I challenge you to read each one of them out loud, one-by-one, and see what happens to your heart. This is what the Almighty God, Your Creator and Lover of Your Soul, says about you:

I am redeemed and forgiven by the grace of Christ.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace (Ephesians 1:7).

I am saved by faith in Christ, not by my works.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

I am chosen, holy, and blameless before God.
For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love (Ephesians 1:4).

I am a child of God.
But to all who have received him--those who believe in his name--he has given the right to become God's children … (John 1:12).

I have been chosen of God, and I am holy and beloved.
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience … (Colossians 3:12).

I have been accepted by Christ.
Receive one another, then, just as Christ also received you, to God's glory (Romans 15:7).

In Christ Jesus, I have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption … (1 Corinthians 1:30).

My old self was crucified with Christ, and I am no longer a slave to sin.
We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin (Romans 6:6).

My new self is righteous and holy.
… Put on the new man who has been created in God's image--in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth (Ephesians 4:24).

My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in me.
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? (1 Corinthians 6:19)

I am God’s workmanship created to produce good works.
For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them (Ephesians 2:10).

The peace of God guards my heart and mind.
And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7).

God supplies all my needs.
And my God will supply your every need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

This is who you are. God says so. There are a few links at the bottom of the page that have more to say on your identity in Christ (I copied most of the verses in this post from the first link). Check em out.

Most importantly, if you haven’t already, I urge you to ask Christ Jesus to come into your heart as your personal Lord and Savior. He is God's only Son who came into the earth to die to forgive us all of our sins. Through Christ we are reconnected and right with God. Accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior is as simple as believing in Him, and confessing your sins with your mouth. If you would like help with what to pray, you can follow this link, or ask me (adamkees@hotmail.com). There’s no better time than now. Tomorrow is promised to no one. I pray that you do it.

In Jesus Christ of Nazareth's Love,

adam


http://bible.org/article/who-does-god-say-i-am
http://branchofvine.blogspot.com/2007/06/what-god-says-about-me.html
http://www.nemontel.net/~word1/what_god_says_about_me.htm
http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/devotions/JennyTheJewel.aspx

Set the Tone

Hey guys! Happy New Year! I hope 2011 has already gotten off to a great start for you!

I’m betting a lot of you are resting up and hanging out today, watching some college football, or some movies. I just wanna encourage you to throw in a few things of substance today as well. Let today set the tone for the rest of your year --> whatever you are passionate about and plan on doing this year, go ahead and get your feet wet. I’ll use myself as an example.

My top priorities never change: 1. God, 2. my family. Thus, I have already had some Jesus time today, and already called up my family to talk to them for a bit. After those two things, my plate gets really jumbled up, and I juggle priorities depending on what I feel the Spirit is leading me to do, what I feel is most important for the particular season, and the urgency of certain tasks. Since today is January 1st, I am going to spend a little time on all the biggest things in my life. After I finish this blog, I’ve got a whole list of things I’m gonna spend a little time on b/c I’m wanting to set the year off right in all of the areas I’m passionate about… I’ll spend some time at the church, I’ll write some music, I’ll hang with friends, I’ll do some worship, I’ll hit the gym, and I’ll do some business things. I’m gonna do it all!

I hope you take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to set the tone for an entire year. Use the start of 2011 to reflect on the goodness of what God has already done, take a look at your life from a fresh perspective, reanalyze where your heart and your passions lie, reprioritize how you spend your time, reenergize as you let the love and joy and peace and power of the Holy Spirit flow all over you, and get yourself ready for big things to happen!

May the God of Heaven bless you all as you seek after Him and live out your passions according to His purposes and for His glory. In Jesus Christ of Nazareth’s holy lovely awesome and righteous mighty name, Amen!!!

Revelation

This is gonna be short and sweet today. I just want to say a little about revelation, and what it means to you.

Maybe you have heard “revelation” before and not known what people were talking about. It’s a pretty simple concept. I know you’ve had one of those “Aha!” moments in your life, right? Something clicks and it’s like a light goes off in your head. Basically, revelation is that kind of moment when related to spiritual matters.

When you have a revelatory experience, God shows you something. He may show you something altogether new, He may put a new spin on things, He may change your perspective, He may give you deeper insight or knowledge…He may do all sorts of cool things. This kind of experience keeps things fresh in your faith walk; it keeps things exciting. That’s why it is important to constantly seek and receive revelation from the Lord. When He is showing you things all of the time, your fire keeps burning brighter; your faith keeps increasing and there is a much smaller possibility of stagnation or burnout in your spiritual life.

To have this kind of experience, I would suggest two things: 1) Ask for it. God gives to those who ask (Luke 9:10-11). If you desire more of the Lord, let Him know, and He will be faithful to pour it out. 2) Put yourself in position to receive it. Yes, it seems that these blasts of revelation come at completely unforeseen times, but I think it also kind of functions in relation to how much you spread your net for it. Let me explain... If you pray for revelation and just sit around waiting on it, then it could very well come, BUT it may take a while, or not come that often, or not be as deep as you wanted it. However, if you dedicate yourself to reading the Word every day, or give yourself to prayer, or immerse yourself in reading church history, or set up meetings with spiritual leaders in your life, or spend time with those you respect spiritually who can speak wisdom and knowledge and guidance into your life, then I would say you are putting yourself in a better position to receive something.

When God is shining light into things you’ve never noticed or seen before, it will truly bring you to life. Lord, we just pray You pour it out. More and more. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.