Hymns from the Dungeon

Hope-bound faith is when you boast of what God can do

even if the world’s been throwing its bombs at you.

 

The Sun Always Shines

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
 even there your hand will guide me, 
    your right hand will hold me fast.
 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

Psalms 139:7-12

God is always there – even when life gets rough.

 

No Matter What

When you ask God to give you what you want and He grants it,

Do you worship and give your fulfilled desire back to Him?

When you ask God to give you what you want and He doesn’t grant it,

Do you still worship Him, knowing He has something greater in store for you?

 

Salvation’s End

“…you are a chosen people… that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” — 1 Peter 2:9

You are chosen. 

Billions of people in the world, and you are chosen.

Chosen to be blessed, chosen to be loved, chosen to be saved.

Out of nothingness and insignificance, you were made important and relevant.

You play the starring role in the greatest rags-to-riches movie ever told in the universe.

But the story does not end there; your life story does not stop at salvation. No.

You were chosen for one ultimate purpose – worship.

 

Your salvation is not for yourself, but for God! 

You are given the greatest honor of being chosen with the specific purpose of worshiping Him!

If worship is not the ultimate purpose of your salvation, then you are missing the best part of being saved!

Worship is the place of abundant blessings, richest fellowships, and incomparable fulfillment!

 

You were bought with the highest price for a reason.

Praise Him – daily, honestly, passionately.

That is true salvation’s end.

 

“We are saved to worship God. All that Christ has done for us in the past and all that He is doing now leads to this one end.”

— A.W. Tozer

 

God-Centered Worship

“The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble.” — Psalm 99:1

Our worship, though directed towards God, is always self-centered.

From the moment we first cried as babies to the complaints we have today, it has always been about us.

But it is not about what God has done in our lives more than what God has done period.

God-centered worship delights in the victories of God, the diseases healed by God, the lives touched by God,

the failures forgiven by God – even if they’re not our victories, our diseases, our lives, or our failures.

“If we rejoice that He reigns, even when His reign makes us tremble, we can know: 

God is the center of our worship.”

 

Awesomely Simple and Simply Awesome

You can limit Him by thinking He can never work in spectacular ways.

But you can also limit Him by thinking that only the spectacular is meaningful.

—Joshua Harris, Dug Down Deep

 

I Need No Stage

“I long to accomplish a great and noble task,

but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”

— Helen Keller

People today aim very big with big-time evangelistic concerts and showbiz conferences.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with such events.

However, God is glorified as a simple man accepts a beggar into his home as much as a singer leads 10,000 people in worship.

Let’s not forget that simple acts of service in humility are beautiful events in themselves.