ChristianDance

Freedom begins when you hand it over. Greg Rider Farrell doesn’t dress up his past. In “All Of My Sins,” he describes a younger man gripped by whiskey, cocaine, and “scandalous women” who “became my new disease.” He felt “so far down the road” that rescue seemed impossible. Then His voice broke through: “Oh Son, give me all your sins.” Have you ever believed that you were too far gone? Greg did. He writes, “It’s hard to climb the mountain when you can’t leave your past behind.” Guilt and shame did most of the talking, and Greg kept listening. Then he gave his life to Christ. That surrender to Christ broke the grip of his addictions and set him free. That same invitation is for you, too. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God doesn’t forgive grudgingly. Christ already paid the price, so your honest confession meets a settled answer. What does that look like for you today? Name the thi...

You can ask God the hard questions. Dan Read doesn’t tiptoe around hard questions. His song, “My Side”, opens with a whole bunch of questions: “Where is the rudder that keeps me afloat?” “Where is the anchor when I know I shouldn’t go?” “Where is the sail that guides me home?” Have you ever asked God something that blunt? Dan also admits what he can’t see. “I don’t know what the future holds.” “I don’t know why we hurt sometimes.” No tidy answers follow. Every one of these questions lands in the same place: “I look to the heavens.” Notice what he does with his doubt. He lifts it instead of hiding it. The writer of the book of Hebrews (we don’t know who the author was) gives that habit a solid footing: “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.” In other words, waves still roll, and our Anchor holds anyway. The song makes this personal. Dan sings that he has “heard stories about the peace that you bring” and heard of God’s power in the songs we sing. But seeing it ...

Does God’s silence mean God’s absence? Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus that Lazarus was sick. Jesus stayed where He was for two more days, and in the meantime Lazarus passed away. Alex Young and Friends wrote “Martha’s Song” from inside that silence. The song was written at the request of a friend, and inspired by John chapter 11. The first line of the song sets the tone: “In my little world, from my point of view, it can seem like God isn’t coming through.” Have you ever prayed hard and heard nothing back? The lyrics name things like “chronic pain” and “crippling grief.” No neat answer follows, only a question: “What if our sorrow, what if our suffering are part of Your purpose, part of Your story?” Jesus answers that question in John 11:4: “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” He did not stay away because He didn’t care. He walked to Bethany and stood at the tomb. “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). He we...

God’s love lifts you out of the low light. Have you ever sat in the quiet and heard your worries louder than ever? Zyrius knows that place. The first verse of his song, “Your Love”, begins with the line: “I’ve been drifting in the low light, trying just to find my way,” and the echoes “won’t just fade away.” Most of us have been there at least once in our lives. The song leaves these low lights behind: “I feel your light all over me, like a wave across the sea.”  Zyrius wanted to combine an emotional message with an uplifting, groovy sound that encourages people while still being something they can enjoy in their everyday lives. The chorus melody was so catchy that it became the guitar and synth hook in the drop. Zyrius shares: “I loved it so much that I knew I had to keep it going into the drop.” David knew the kind of rescue that is described in this song. He wrote, “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps sec...

What if your scribbles matter more than masterpieces? Picture a Crayola box holding 8.3 million crayons. Jae Jin does, and he sees us in that picture: every shade different, every one needed, every line counts. Years of making art taught him something surprising: “the expert brushstrokes of Picasso may not necessarily move someone more than the stream-of-consciousness scribbles of crayons done by a 5-year-old.” So why do so many people stop drawing? “Crayons” by Jae Jin opens with someone “settling a score with the world” using “a fistful of crayons, instead of a sword.” Then comes the hard part: “the moment I sense that they see me is the moment I run out the door.” Is that urge familiar? Being seen can feel pretty risky, so you hide the colors you were given. Notice how something small can trigger something big… “The moment I chose to see You was the moment I was moving ahead.” Read that again… who changes first? Not the world. The artist, once he looks up at God. The same applie...

Jesus meets your failure with mercy, not rejection. Peter once promised that he’d never leave. And before a rooster crowed, he’d denied Jesus three times. Have you ever failed at the very thing you swore you’d never fail at? David Bollmann’s third single, “You Know That I Love You”, begins with a promise much like Peter’s: “Others may deny You, I won’t.” The song draws on John 21, where the risen Jesus meets Peter on a beach. He doesn’t scold Peter. He asks him one question, three times over, and Peter, hurt but honest, answers: “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Peter brings no excuses and no résumé. Only his (imperfect) love, offered with empty hands. The lyrics echo that same longing: “There’s gotta be something I can give You, some cross I can bear too.” We too may feel the desire to repay Jesus for what He has done. But can we? Never! He holds us and will “never cast a stone.” So what do we bring? The truth. Tell Jesus, as honestly as you can, where you faile...

Your worship today echoes eternity. Ezra Worship Initiative trains young worship leaders through a ten-week, seminary-based internship. Their songwriters learn Scripture first and melody second. You can hear this in their latest release, “King Of All Nations,” a song written for congregations to sing. The song opens as a prayer: “May Your Name be proclaimed in all creation.” Who does the proclaiming? The Church does. The second verse asks God to “send Your Church to go and tell the gospel story,” which puts all who sing this right inside the request. Who on your street has never heard His name from you? Then the chorus lifts the roof: “All the honor, voices lifted to the King.” Worship here is not a performance. It is sung as a community, young and old, a multigenerational voice of praise. The bridge looks ahead. “All will come, and all will bow.” John saw the same moment: “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, stan...