Tag: song

Christian Music Appreciation: The Heart of Worship

Christian Music Appreciation: The Heart of Worship

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To truly connect to God and His Son Jesus (our Lord and Savior), one must have a genuine heart of worship and deep faith. In this piece, let me discuss with you the beautiful and holy Christian worship song The Heart of Worship (written by Matt Redman) which was part of the album Intimacy.

We start with these two YouTube videos.

Below are the lyrics for your reference.

+++++

When the music fades

All is stripped away

And I simply come

Longing just to bring

Something that’s of worth

That will bless your heart

I’ll bring you more than a song

For a song in itself

Is not what you have required

You search much deeper within

Through the way things appear

You’re looking into my heart

–

I’m coming back to the heart of worship

And it’s all about you,

It’s all about you, Jesus

I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it

When it’s all about you,

It’s all about you, Jesus

–

King of endless worth

No one could express

How much you deserve

Though I’m weak and poor

All I have is yours

Every single breath

I’ll bring you more than a song

For a song in itself

Is not what you have required

You search much deeper within

Through the way things appear

You’re looking into my heart

–

I’m coming back to the heart of worship

And it’s all about you,

It’s all about you, Jesus

I’m sorry, lord, for the thing I’ve made it

And it’s all about you,

It’s all about you, Jesus

–

I’m coming back to the heart of worship,

And it’s all about you,

It’s all about you, Jesus

I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it

And it’s all about you,

It’s all about you, Jesus

–

It’s all about you

It’s all about you

It’s all about you

It’s all about you

It’s all about you

It’s all about you

–

It’s all about you

It’s all about you

It’s all about you

It’s all about you

–

I’m coming back to the heart of worship

And it’s all about you,

It’s all about you, Jesus

I’m sorry, lord, for the thing I’ve made it

And it’s all about you,

It’s all about you, Jesus

+++++

Clearly faith is meant to be done by the heart and not by the mind. There are verses in the Holy Bible about the heart of worship. Here are some for your reflection and enlightenment.

I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And I will glorify Your name forevermore. 

(Psalm 86: 12)

speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

(Ephesians 5: 19-20)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 

(Colossians 16: 3)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 

(Proverbs 3: 5)

 

And Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ (Matthew 22: 37)

Going back to The Heart of Worship, in my view the song emphasizes a person’s return to the Lord Jesus Christ with the will to worship Him. Lines like I’m coming back to the heart of worship, And it’s all about you, It’s all about you, Jesus, make this clear. It also acknowledges that the Lord looks into a person’s heart to determine if it is a heart of worship or not. In other words, there is no hiding on the part of people from the Lord.

This brings me to the lesson that worship is not limited in the form of words about a promise to worship but rather it is about dedication to worship the Lord, to trust in Him, to thank Him for His blessings, love and care, and live life with continued faith in Him. In short, worshiping the Lord is an essential part of genuine Christian living.

The song and the above bible verses strongly resonate with me for I had gone through the frustrations of religion-based living, descended into living in darkness (caused by religion), became a lost soul (for years I stopped believing in God and Jesus) before finding my way back to Lord by accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Being Born Again and being part of the Kingdom of Light, I received the Holy Spirit in my heart and I worshiped the Lord a lot more than my entire old life. My faith, my trust and my dedication to the Lord are stronger than ever before. This is my experience about living with a heart of worship.

It is indeed true that religion is not essential because the personal relationship with God matters more which requires faith (certainly not religion). As such, you need to be born again and I encourage you to read John 3: 3-7 in the Holy Bible.

Do not forget that you should only worship the Lord. Avoid worshiping idols, both living and non-living. Don’t worship people. For true Christian living, your heart of worship and faith are truly meant for the Lord only.

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. Also my fantasy book The World of Havenor is still available in paperback and e-book format. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me as well. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me at HavenorFantasy@twitter.com

 

Christian Music Appreciation: You Are Holy

Christian Music Appreciation: You Are Holy

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I love worshiping Lord Jesus and God the Father at church on Sunday worship along with our local community of very faithful and prayerful Christians. As part of our worship, our church’s musicians perform Christian songs using a combination of vocals, drums and electric guitars.

Before, I explained in detail why I love the song Happy Day which sometimes gets played at our church. There are many other Christian songs that can be admired, be enjoyed and be used to worship the Lord. One particular song that caught my attention lately is You Are Holy.

Released in July 1998 as part of the Hillsong Worship album Touching Heaven, Changing Earth, You Are Holy was written by Reuben Morgan and, to this day, many millions of Christians around the world listened to it and praised the Lord with it during Sunday worship. The late-1990s Hillsong Worship performance of it is available in video through YouTube which I recommend you watch and listen. Oh yes, Darlene Zschech‘s leading of the vocals is great.

To understand the essence of the song, posted below are the lyrics for you all.

You are holy, holy
Lord there is none, like You
You are holy, holy
Glory to You my Lord

You are holy, holy
Lord there is none, like You
You are holy, holy
Glory to You my Lord

I sing Your praises forever
Deeper in love with You
Here in Your courts
Where I’m close to Your throne
I’ve found where I belong

I sing Your praises forever
Deeper in love with You
Here in Your courts
Where I’m close to Your throne
I’ve found where I belong

You are holy, holy
Lord there is none, like You
You are holy, holy
Glory to You my Lord

And I sing Your praises forever
Deeper in love with You
Here in Your courts
Where I’m close to Your throne
I’ve found where I belong

The lyrics clearly emphasize holiness, praising the Lord, glorifying Him, loving Him and the faithful Christian’s dedication to Him. Lines like I sing Your praises forever and Lord there is none, like You are understandably powerful. The lines Where I’m close to Your throne, I’ve found where I belong perfectly conclude the song.

The holiness aspect of the song easily reminds me of my relationship with the Lord and my true purpose in life. I should say that as long as we Christians keep being faithful, keep learning from His teachings and achieve whatever tasks the Lord assigned us with, we will ultimately be rewarded by Him accordingly (Revelations 22: 12) and God is always the righteous judge (2 Timothy 4: 7-8, Deuteronomy 32: 1-4) whose decisions are final, just and definitive. As faithful Christians who already accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we all should look forward to judgment because it is our opportunity to be found faithful.

Going back to the song You Are Holy, I love listening to it. Going beyond appreciation for it, the song really helps me praise the Lord in a very personal way. Truly You Are Holy is a holy song! As such, I recommend to you readers to take time out to listen to it from start to finish. You can order the album right here and here. Don’t forget to read the Holy Bible and pray in tongues to the Lord afterwards.

In closing this piece, I must tell you, my readers, to resist and disregard the propaganda being spread online emphasizing that the use of drums and electric guitar for playing music at church on Sundays is inappropriate to the Lord. That is simply false and whoever composed such propaganda are pawns of people who have narrow views about what church and Sunday worship music should be. Do not let those people fool you and instead of wasting time on them, focus on your relationship with the Lord and do not let religion get in the way. Back to music, the use of drums and electric guitars for Sunday worship music at church is actually fine and legitimate, and also useful to help Christians praise the Lord and connect to Him spiritually. Christian rock music is okay and so is having a band at church. Now we can move forward to the Lord!

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. Also my fantasy book The World of Havenor is still available in paperback and e-book format. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me as well. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me at HavenorFantasy@twitter.com

 

Meet Lynn Minmay

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screenshot_20180930-003308
For me this is Lynn Minmay’s prettiest smile in 1984’s Macross: Do You Remember Love?

I’m a long time Macross fan. For those of you who have been wondering who among the many characters of the entire Macross franchise I best remember, it’s Lynn Minmay.

For the newcomers reading this, Lynn Minmay (voiced by Mari Iijima) first appeared in Episode of the Super Dimension Fortress Macross anime TV series that debuted in 1982. She was that sweet and pretty teenage girl who was born in 1993 (note: the TV series story started in the then-future of 2009) in Japan with partial Chinese heritage (which explains her relationship with the folks running the Chinese restaurant on Macross City). As seen in Episode , she was among the first people to meet with Hikaru Ichijyo who at the time survived a crash while piloting a Valkyrie (that transformed to Battroid mode).

Is Minmay a fighter? Nope! She’s a talented singer who became an icon among the people in the SDF-1 fortress (which carried the remains of Macross City inside). Given the fact that the Zentradi (the army of giant humanoids that pursued the Macross) are a people devoid of culture due to their artificial nature as clones, Minmay’s singing (apart from the Macross people’s own culture) has tremendous power to manipulate them emotionally.

More importantly, Minmay is a crucial part of the memorable Macross Love Triangle along with Hikaru and his superior officer Misa Hayase.

The Love Triangle of Macross is itself intriguing. Hikaru struggles emotionally whom to spend time and love. Minmay is the sweet young girl who matured into a young woman while dealing with the tremendous pressure of the world of entertainment as well as having the circumstantial responsibility of inspiring people and help maintain peace. Her military counterpart Misa meanwhile is the dedicated officer whose family has a history of military service.

I’m not going to spoil the whole plot of the Macross TV series to explain more about Minmay and the others. But if you want to discover more of the anime icon apart from the Super Dimension Fortress Macross series, watch more of her in the 1984 anime movie Macross: Do You Remember Love? Also don’t forget that there are Macross video games that have Minmay in them.

As for the Western interpretation of Minmay seen in the Robotech franchise, I would not recommend that. The mistranslated Robotech adaptation of the original Macross TV series had a bad voice actress for Minmay not to mention bad singing in English. The ongoing Robotech comic book series published by Titan Comics had an even distorted portrayal of the icon.

If you want to discover the genuine and respected Minmay, stick with Macross!

Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this article, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to your fellow Macross and anime fans. Also my fantasy book The World of Havenor is still available in paperback and e-book format. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your project or business, check out my services.