Don't Let Me Stay the Same

 This is a song I wrote a long time ago, sometime before 2006, but it seems not to have been added here.  It ran across my mind recently.   I had come across the prayer, "Break my heart with the things that break your heart, "  I think in its original context, this prayer may have been intended as a prayer about the sad things in the world, but it became for me a cry for personal transformation.

 

Don't let me stay the same

O Lord, break my heart

With the things that break Your heart.

When I grieve You

Let me grieve too.

Don't let me see my sin

And pretend it isn't there.

Teach me to be honest

And teach me to care

Don't let me stay the same,

Don't let me stay the same.

Don't let me hide in the dark

And play the same old games.

Let me see my sin and confess my shame

And run to You for healing

In Jesus' name.

Lord, help me run to You for healing

In Jesus' name.

Blessings--God as the Expander

 From time to time I think about the various Islamic "Beautiful Names" of God, and I was thinking about the one which means "The Expander" which is linked to a verse in the Quran that talks about God blessing those who lend to God, which in the Bible is a term for giving to the poor.

The idea of God expanding us brought to mind the Prayer of Jabez, which is tucked away in 1 Chronicles 4:10, and which very few people noticed until Bruce Wilkinson brought it to our attention in a best selling book back in 2000.  "Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!  Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request."  (1 Chronicles 4:10 NIV)

In Proverbs 19:17, we read that "Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done."

And Jesus said, "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Luke 6:38 NIV).  For what it's worth, let me point out that he was NOT talking about giving to the church.

So this is a song that came to me as I was doing some long-distance driving around the country.

Blessings

You are so marvelous,

You are so grand.

You give us your blessings and

Allow us to expand.

You bless us so much

That your gifts overflow

And allow those around us

To flourish and grow.

O God, may Your gifts

Freely flow from my hands

And help those around me to

Grow and expand.

Your mercy and love

May I never hold back

'Til your bountiful kindness 

Has healed every lack.