Thursday, March 8, 2012

At the foot of the cross

I've spent the majority of my afternoon browsing the internet and listening to various worship music on Spotify. First, Elevation Worship (which you should check out! :)) and then started playing various other songs. I opened iTunes for inspiration of what else to look for and noticed Kari Jobe has a version of "At the Foot of the Cross" and decided to play it. I've always loved this song. At Connection we did it for a few years as a part of our Easter services. There's just something about it that's refreshing to my heart and spirit. Music (and worship musica specifically) is refreshing to me. Words have a huge impact on me and sometimes lyrics hit me harder than anything else. The whole song is great! Here are the lyrics (and I suggest you go look it up on youtube or something! :))

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At the foot of the cross

Where grace and suffering meet

You have given me life

Through the judgment You received

And You've won my heart

Yes You've won my heart

Now I can

Trade these ashes in for beauty

And wear forgiveness like a crown

Coming to kiss the feet of mercy

I lay every burden down

At the foot of the cross

At the foot of the cross

Where I am made complete

You have given me life

Through the death You bore for me

I'm laying every burden down

I'm laying every burden down

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I could pick the song apart and tell you why I like every part, but I won't.

I guess the part that I can't get over right now is, "I lay every burden down at the foot of the cross."

EVERY burden. Jesus wants us to lay everything at his feet. He doesn't sit there and say, "I'll take that but not that. I want you to hold on to that for a while." No. EVERY BURDEN. There's so much freedom in that! In Matthew 11, it says: verse 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. verse 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. verse 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” I don't know about you, but I feel weary and burdened from time to time. What a wonderful thing it is to be able to surrender those things to Christ, and in return receive rest.

I can lay everything at the foot of the cross. Every anxiety, stress, fear, worry... all the things I've laid down countless times but slowly picked back up, I can lay them down. Just like the chorus says, we can trade ashes for beauty, wear forgiveness like a crown. We aren't defined by our past mistakes. Lay those things down at the foot of the cross!! He'll make you new, make you whole. As I'm writing this, I have the song on repeat. I just can't get over it! He just wants us to come to him. The song that began to play immediately after "At the Foot of the Cross" was "The More I Seek You." The chorus says this and fits with this post... "I want to sit at your feet, drink from the cup in your hand. Lay back against you and breath, hear your heart beat. This love is so deep, it's more than I can stand. I melt in your peace, it's overwhelming." SO GOOD. Goodness gracious! The peace of God is so amazing.

I don't know about you, but I want to lay my burden down at the foot of the cross every day and even more, find myself sitting at his feet, because it's there that I'm made whole.

At his feet, fear and worry don't exist.

At his feet, I find my strength.

At his feet, I am who HE says I am.

At his feet, I am made whole and complete.

"At the foot of the cross, Where I am made complete."

Friends, make time every single day to have alone time with God. It'll be the best thing you can do.

Find yourself, at the foot of the cross and at His feet. You won't regret it.