Fighter Verse Songs

Are you ready?

This week we begin the first of seven trying to memorize Psalm 103. It is a beautiful psalm – glorifying God and helping you and me.

Psalm 103:1-4

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy . . .

It is helpful for us, it gives strength in us, it increases faith in us, it enlivens Thanksgiving in us if we do not forget all of the benefits that God has given us.

So remember what he has done for you. I bet there are some good things about being a child of God that you haven’t thought about in a long time. Think about them this week.

This week’s verse gives you a starter list to consider and I’ll just give you a sneak peak into next week: This is not the end of the list.

[Just a reminder – many or most of the songs posted on this site or at our channel at Youtube.com are demo or scratch versions (not finalized) of what will be available on the CD]

Over at my other blog, I just posted a story from my teenage days in which I didn’t use the truth of this verse.

Romans 15:1,2

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

If you look at the verse in the wrong way, it feels a little condescending, doesn’t it? “We who are strong . . . ” And we need to be careful with how we think about it.

When I consider this verse, I read it this way: “In those areas where you are strong . . . ” and in that light, this verse applies to all of us, right?

All of us have gifts, all of us have some quality or fruit of the spirit or ability that others don’t. And this verse tells us what to do with that: Bear with the weaker person. Please your neighbor. Build him up.

In other words, your gift isn’t about you. It’s about glorifying God by what you do with it.

[Just a reminder – many or most of the songs posted on this site or at our channel at Youtube.com are demo or scratch versions (not finalized) of what will be available on the CD]

One of my favorite books is “The Screwtape Letters”, where C.S. Lewis writes in the voice of Screwtape, a tempting demon who hates God and wants to drag all of humanity down into hell.

It is very rare for Screwtape to quote the Bible in his letters, but in at least one place he does (with derision and hatred) and it happens to be this week’s verse.

From Chapter 22

He’s a hedonist at heart. All those fasts and vigils and stakes and crosses are only a façade. Or only like foam on the sea shore. Out at sea, out in His sea, there is pleasure, and more pleasure. He makes no secret of it; at His right hand are “pleasures for evermore”. Ugh! I don’t think He has the least inkling of that high and austere mystery to which we rise in the Miserific Vision. He’s vulgar, Wormwood. He has a bourgeois mind. He has filled His world full of pleasures. There are things for humans to do all day long without His minding in the least.

I think C.S. Lewis is correct in thinking that Satan hates this aspect of God. And if he hates it, we should love it even more.

And thank God for it.

If you are interested in listening, here is this chapter excellently read by John Cleese.

And in case you missed it – here is this week’s song.

Psalm 16:11

You make known to me the paths of life. In your presence there is fullness of Joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

God wants you to know the paths of life.
God wants you to experience fullness of Joy.
God wants you to experience pleasures forevermore.

And God wants us to know where to find these things.

At His right hand. In his presence.

The universe could have worked out that we had a god who didn’t really care if we were happy.

But, Thank God, we do.

[Just a reminder – many or most of the songs posted on this site or at our channel at Youtube.com are demo or scratch versions (not finalized) of what will be available on the CD]

Romans 10:13-15

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

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So here is the order:

Senders send the Preachers
Preachers preach the Gospel to Unbelievers
Unbelievers hear the Gospel
Unbelievers become Believers of Jesus
New Believers Call on Jesus for Help

But this is also implied:
Some Christians do not send.
Some preachers do not preach
Some Unbelievers do not Listen
Some Listeners do not Believe

And this:
If the Preacher doesn’t Preach, no unbeliever will hear.
If the Unbeliever doesn’t hear, he or she will not Believe.
If a person doesn’t believe in Jesus, he or she will not call on Jesus.

This is very sobering, is it not?

But it does give us, as believers, a clear course of action.
Send and Preach so that others may Hear and Believe and then Call on Jesus.

Isaiah 40:8

The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.

In his message at the Fighter Verse Kick-off this Wednesday, Dr. Jason Meyer reminded us that it not just the grass and the flower that will wither and fade, but so will our earthly bodies.

While it is true we will last perhaps one hundred or one thousand times longer than a blade of grass – what is that compared to eternity?

And eternity is how long the Word of our God will stand.

This is a very good reminder as we start a new year of memorizing scripture. So many of us can remember small details from TV shows or movies and these will not last.

But our Bibles will. Every verse will be true for ever. Into eternity.

If you have memorized fighter verses before, are you ready for another year?

If not, will you join us?

[Just a reminder – many or most of the songs posted on this site or at our channel at Youtube.com are demo or scratch versions (not finalized) of what will be available on the CD]

If you’re anywhere in the vicinity of Downtown Minneapolis, please come to the Fighter Verse Kick Off tonight at 6:15.

You’ll hear a family singing John 14:2-3, you’ll see skits encouraging everyone to memorize the scripture, you’ll hear a brief message from Dr. Jason Meyer and you’ll hear acapella songs from the Fighter Verse Song Quartet!

(Our guest post writer today is musician/song writer/sound technician Phil Krause)

Psalm 23:5-6

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

What a beautiful way to end the year!

There is so much gratefulness from the Psalmist David here, and we know that his life was far from pain free.

I’m struck by the phrase “in the presence of my enemies.”  David’s enemies were visible, physical.  Even though our worst enemies are not “flesh and blood” (Eph. 6:10), they’re nevertheless just as real as King Saul chasing David from cave to cave.  Theologians often refer to our spiritual enemies as the World (the world’s system that is set against Christ), the Flesh (my own selfishness/indwelling sin), and the Devil (Satan and the unseen demonic world).  It’s good to remember that our enjoyment of God’s blessings happens in the context of a battlefield–in the presence of our enemies.

And despite this reality, the psalmist seems to be in awe of how much goodness he has been given by his LORD. That’s the way we all should be.

Are you?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Fighter Verse Song Project!

My wife and I (Scott) both graduated from Bethel and the alumni magazine recently interviewed us about this ministry.

Here is the result: Bethel Alum Tunes Hearts to Christ Through Song

Go read it!

And if you’re coming over from that site – Welcome!