"Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."
What a wonderful gift our Lord has given us in music!
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness ..."
Created in His image! Is there any higher form of creativity than when man is inspired to create music which worships the Creator of all that is?
Recently introduced to them myself, the Australian group CityAlight has been greatly inspired by Him to create music for our encouragement and edification. If you are not already familiar with them, I would like to introduce them to you in this post.
This is my first post in the new Christian Fellowship community here on our Steem blockchain.
Before introducing you to three of their wonderful songs, I found the members of this worship team are part of St. Paul's Castle Hill Anglican church in Castle Hill, New South Wales, Australia. Here is what they have to say about themselves and their ministry:
"The sound of a church singing has preceded almost every great revival in church history. The church is God’s witness and representative on earth. Is there any wonder that a tremendous power comes about when the representative voice of God in the earth is singing."
"We desire to get out of the way so the truth upon which all our songs are built can properly shine. We pray that the lyrics and melodies of these songs would fix eyes and hearts and minds on Jesus. We pray that our songs might join the many thousands of songs written through history to encourage the church, and when they have played their role, to make way for the next ones. And we rejoice that one day the only name left standing will be the name of Jesus, as it should be."
"Yours together in Jesus’ service,
The CityAlight Team"CityAlight website
A Christ-centered focus on revival! "We desire to get out of the way so the truth upon which all our songs are built can properly shine." Amen. To God and Him alone be the glory!
☝ 🙏 Love it! 🙏 ☝
Song 1 - "Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me"
In our church, our worship team introduces new songs to us from time to time. Within the last 3 months, we were introduced to this one. As soon as I read the words on the screen while singing, they were an immediate blessing to me.
When is the last time that happened to you? I knew I needed to find out more about the source of this song. Glad I did!
We have all experienced the spiritual battle life in this world represents. This song powerfully captures the only source of hope and strength we have in being victorious in getting through it.
Chorus:
"To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus
For my life is wholly bound to his
Oh how strange and divine, I can sing: all is mine!
Yet not I, but through Christ in me"Lyrics of "Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me"
We know our Lord was tempted in all things as we are, yet He never faltered. He never failed! Only by the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus do we have His power to overcome our sin which so easily entangles us!
- If you would like to support this worship team's ministry, this song can be found on their Yet Not I album on Apple Music.
- This powerful song has also been translated and sung in Spanish! Here is a link to it on YouTube.
- And ... It has been translated into Romanian! Here is a link to it on YouTube.
Song 2 - "Good and Gracious King"
This song captures the beautiful and humbling thought that we bring nothing of value into our relationship with our Good and Gracious King.
The words are relatively simple. But, very powerful.
Chorus:
"You deserve the greater glory
Overcome with joy I sing
By Your love I am accepted
You’re a good and gracious King"Lyrics of "Good and Gracious King"
If you can begin singing this song with CityAlight - "I approach the throne of glory, Nothing in my hands I bring" - and not feel tears welling up inside from a grateful heart, well ... You can tell me about it in the comments ...
As for me, deeply moved by it, I have shared this song with family and friends and they have all been very grateful to have learned about it.
- If you would like to support this worship team's ministry, this song can be found on their Only a Holy God album on Apple Music.
Song 3 - "All My Ways Are Known to You
We can all have days where the circumstances of our lives can have us feeling down and "blue" ... I have an antidote! 😊
If you can listen to this song and not feel at least some better, than I really don't know what to say.
Chorus:
"And oh what peace that I have found
Wherever I may be
For all my ways are known to You
Hallelujah, they are known to You!"Lyrics of "All My Ways are Known to You"
It is just so upbeat and full of joy, you can't help but be uplifted, while reinforcing an essential Truth from His revelation to us! Try it!
- If you would like to support this worship team's ministry, this song can be found on their Only a Holy God album on Apple Music.
Closing
Over my journey through life with our Lord, I have experienced many different individuals and groups singing to lead others in worship. I believe I can discern those who are wanting us to be impressed with their performance from those who are truly worshiping God. And with whom we have the blessing of worshiping with them. While I have never been to Australia to see them in person (ideal), in my spirit I sense the CityAlight worship team is one of the latter.
We can marvel at the time our Lord has chosen for us to live out our "number of days" in this world. Where we can experience fellowship with others knowing we may never actually meet them in person this side of eternity!
Trusting these songs will be the blessing to you they have been to me, I'll close with this encouragement and call to thanksgiving from our Lord:
"... speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father"
Ephesians 5:19-20
[emphasis added mine]
And encourage you, dear reader, if you have been blessed, to listen to the rest of the music created by this great worship team. You will not be disappointed. I’d love to hear any feedback you may be inspired to provide.
Until "next time," all the best to you for a better tomorrow, as we all work together to build up our Steem Communities and add increasing value to our Steem blockchain! 👍 😊
Respectfully,
Steemian @roleerob
Posted using SteemPeak and “immutably enshrined in the blockchain” on Thursday, 27 February 2020!
P.S. While barely managing to keep my recent "streak" alive of posting once a week, I am smiling thinking of writing about a worship team from Australia. On the other side of the world from me, but the home country of the leader and moderator of this community - @nextgen622 and @michealb. I'll be very interested in "hearing" from you both if you are familiar with this worship team.
Edit (27 Feb., 20:19) Or we can also refer to @michealb as a "pleb with special powers :)" ... 😉
Interested in finding out more about me?
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💥 One Year on the Steem Blockchain! 💥 Part 1 ...
Summary: Capturing the highlights of the first year of my journey on our Steem blockchain, this post contains a categorized and indexed listing of 43 posts. Including a thumbnail of lead images and a brief description ... You'll find my first post was my Introductory post. |
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💥 One Year on the Steem Blockchain! 💥 Part 2 ...
Summary: After an "Exceeds maximum length" error in attempting to post Part 1 ... 😧 ... this post continues summarizing my first year with a categorized and indexed listing of 51 posts. Including a thumbnail of lead images and a brief description ... |
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SteemPeak: An awesome interface for our Steem blockchain.
Check it out!
I have found this post by @jarvie and this post by @eco-alex to be very helpful!