Enthralled

This weeks song is "Enthralled".  As usual, it's available for free download by clicking the player below.  Based on Psalm 45.

I love Psalm 45.  I've heard it sung so many times, by so many different people, but it never gets old!  It starts with a statement by the writer, and then moves on to talk about the excellency of the King.  The excellency of Jesus:

My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king;my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer. You are the most excellent of men, and your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed you forever (Psalm 45: 1-2)

It then goes on to entreat the bride to listen and hear the important message - that the King desires her beauty.  That she needs to leave everything behind, and throw herself on the love of the King.

Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father's house. The king is enthralled by your beauty... (Psalm 45:10-11)

I love this!  It's such a powerful picture.  It requires the bride (that's us, the church) to leave behind the things we have known... leave behind the world that we were born in to, with all it's familiar and safe rules and routines, and simply chase after Jesus.  Just lay it all down to let the King love us!

"Give it all up!!  Jesus finds you irresistible!"   

The Raven and The Lily

I'm very happy to announce that my first ever single (released last year) is now available for digital purchase/download from bandcamp!  Of course, If you'd prefer a hardcopy, just leave me a message in the comments below, and i'll arrange it!

Based on the parable of the Raven and the Lily from Matthew 6:25, in which Jesus talks about the futility of worrying, this track was recorded as part pre-written song, and part spontaneous song.

You can buy it as an "album" which includes the TRATL Remix (by James Bough, of Lion & I fame), or just as a single.  Simply click on the link below.

I hope you enjoy!

Mel-burn

As Promised!  New Lion & I tracks are on their way!  But while we're finishing off all the details before a full album release, I'm letting you have a sneak peak of one of the spontaneous songs! This song is technically not yet finished (and so is not available for download), but I'm sure you'll get the idea!

About 'Mel-Burn'

At our weekly Friday night Worship and Prayer (or Harp and Bowl) sessions at our church, we often find ourselves interceding for our beautiful city of Melbourne.  We pray for revival, for the breaking out of God's power and love, for a softening of peoples hearts towards God, for our city to be set on fire for God....  for Mel-burn!!!

This spontaneous song is just that - a prophetic declaration over our city!

"Burn, Mel-burn!"

I hope you enjoy this preview!

Eternity

nooo... that's not the answer to the question "how long does it take Sally to upload tracks from two weeks ago??".  So I've missed the last few weeks... the upside is I'll be uploading 3 songs this week to make up for it!  And as usual, this track is totally free to download at my bandcamp site by clicking on the link below.  So if you love the track - share it around.

About "eternity"

I'm sure you're familiar with the verse "he has set eternity in the hearts of man", but did you know where it comes from???  It's from Ecclesiastes.  Smack bang in the middle of some other beautiful words!  

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.  Ecclesiastes 3:11

It's such an irrefutable thing- that we as humans have this leaning towards eternity.  Most cultures around the world are based on an understanding that the soul is eternal.  It's a universal concept that is not dependant on time or religion or geography or culture.  God has indeed written eternity on the hearts of man.  And yet how we let the things of this world distract us and blind our eyes.  But if you listen... you can hear the song.  You can feel the pull of the spirit of God.  Calling.

"Eternity is calling me...  drawing me away... "

The Remixs

Whoops!! Got so excited going away for church camp on the long weekend, that I forgot to post an entry for last week!!!  So here it is! (BTW, church camp was *so* awesome, I haven't experienced worship and the presence of God like that for quite some time!  Just powerful.  Makes me so amazed at what I get to see while in this world, and expectant for what it's going to look like when we get to do this full time in the next world! But I digress....)

I'm very excited to announce that there's some new Lion & I tracks on the way!!  As part of our 2012 debut album, James Bough and I set about writing songs in a number of ways.  One of these was to take some acoustic spontaneous worship and remix it into a format more like a standard album song.   I shared one of these songs on the blog earlier in the year - water of life (one of the most popular entries).  The exciting news is that James and I are about to collaborate on another set of remixes, using material recorded right here for "The Spontaneous Sessions".

In anticipation of the new tracks, I thought I'd feature Satisfy from the Lion&I album!  A remix from a spontaneous recording based on Isaiah 55:2, Satisfy asks the question:
 ”why spend money on what is not bread, and your strength on what does not satisfy? listen to me and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare”  

I hope you Enjoy!

Send Your Glory

It's been such an action-packed time that I've only just managed to sit down this afternoon and record this weeks last weeks song!!  Whoops!  As usual, it's available for free download - so why not bless a friend and send them the link!!  In addition, there's a chart available on the "chord charts" page.  We use this song in worship at our church, so please feel free to use it in your worship time too.

Melbourne, Australia

It always blows my mind to think that generations before me worshiped the same God, by the same Spirit.  Generations have poured out their hearts in prayer in this land. Someone I've never met, 100's of years ago has stood on this soil and been touched by God, they've tasted the depths, and they've cried out for more.  Every generation, regardless of how dark their generation has been, has a people that cries out for revival.  In 1902, a hunger for God's presence swept this city, so much so that a group of Melbourne Christians went over to the US to beg RA Torrey to come and hold revival meetings here.  2,000 representatives from 214 different churches volunteered to help, and even more volunteers visited every Melbourne house twice to invite people along.  During the weekdays, 1000's of business-men flooded the Melbourne town hall for lunch time meetings:

Up to 15,000 people crowded the Exhibition Building at night to worship! Weekly attendance of the meetings was around 1/4 million (especially impressive when the entire Victorian population was only 1 million at that time!!!!)



Hunger for God sweeping a city! Amazing!!  And i bet their prayers and feelings weren't so very different from ours today...  "We long and groan to see the fullness of God" (check out Romans 8:22-23!).

Revelation 5 gives us a picture of how the prayers of the saints are stored up in a bowl. All those people crying out to God for revival - their prayers are in that bowl.  My Grandfather's prayers for revival for Melbourne and Australia are in that bowl.  So are my Mum's, and mine, and countless others I've never met!  Oh the collective weight of people who have cried out to God for this place. You can feel the air is heavy with the expectation of generations past and present....

                                    "... send your glory...."

Pssst....The final remix of this song ended up on the Lion & I album Send Your Glory here

Anointing

This weeks song is prophetic worship in a slightly different form!  Many years ago, a good friend shared a vision he saw of me - similar in imagery of when Moses anointed Aaron :

..precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes. (Psalm 133:2)

As I sat down at the piano to sing through and ponder on this prophecy, this very simple song formed in my fingers and my mouth.  It's still one of my favourite songs to sing all these years later.  Everytime I play it, I feel the nearness of the Spirit of God.

I've shared the chords to this song on the "chord chart" page here.  And as usual, you can download the audio of this song for free by clicking on the link below.

Enjoy!