CCM Classic Spotlight–Dallas Holm

Indeed a classic CCM from the Broken Believer music library.  This man has had a long run of over 40 years of music ministry.  His song, “Rise Again” took over the CCM charts for several months, winning the Dove Awards best song of the year in 1977.

Rise Again Lyrics

musician: Dallas Holm & Praise

Go ahead, drive the nails in My hands;
Laugh at me… where you stand.
Go ahead, and say it isn’t Me;
The day will come… when you will see.

(Refrain)
‘Cause I’ll rise…. again;
Ain’t no power on earth can keep Me down!
Yes, I’ll rise… again;
Death can’t keep Me in the ground.

Go ahead, mock My name;
My love for you is still the same.
Go ahead, and bury Me;
But very soon, I will be free!

(Refrain) (Instrumental bridge)

Go ahead, and say I’m dead and gone,
But you will see that you were wrong.
Go ahead, try to hide the Son;
But all will see that I’m the One!

(Final refrain)
‘Cause I’ll come again!
Ain’t no power on earth can keep me back!
Yes, I’ll come again;
Come to take My people back.

Dallas Holm’s official website:

http://www.dallasholm.com/servlet/StoreFront

Walking Intelligently

  1. Faith–“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”  2 Cor. 5:7
  2. Spirituality–“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Gal. 5:16
  3. Consistency–“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”  Eph. 4:1
  4. Love–“And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.”  Eph. 5:2
  5. Wisdom–“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise.” Eph. 5:15
  6. Light–“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”  1 John 1:7
  7. Christlikeness–“Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”  1 John 2:6

 

These 7 verses all talk about our walk.  Each verse brings us a facet of that walk.  We must avail ourselves of every awareness, following Jesus is indeed a “walk.”  We take steps that will lead us into an vast eternity with our Savior.  We move spiritually from one place to a closer place.  We walk forward, and not back.  We move ahead, and each day closer to our Lord.  Time, you see, only exists to bring us that much nearer to Jesus.

To walk means progression.  It also is destiny.  Some of the greatest works in literature is the book, “Pilgrim’s Progress,” by John Bunyan.  It is a book about walking.  We are all walking toward home.  It is challenging to make this journey through tremendous issues.  We all are making progress as we travel home.

The issues are “faith, spirituality, consistency, love, wisdom, light and christlikeness.”  Which of these are we prepared to ditch?  If we concentrate on each of these, we find that we can’t give up any of them.  They all are dear and fundamental to an authentic faith.

Walking can be strenuous.  When we walk it means we have direction and a goal in mind.  It is almost never done aimlessly.  As we walk, we begin to unfold these seven issues.  We will find that the Father inserts us into situations and circumstances where we get to unveil these seven.  We will enter into events where we take on certain qualities.  As we walk we learn the behavior of our Lord.  And that dear ones, can’t be all bad.

The Miracle of Polaroid

I can distinctly remember seeing my first “instant” photo develop.  It was back in the dark ages of 1972.  It was a miracle!  Up to that time, you took pictures, but you had to wait a time for them to be processed.  It was an assumption that after a week you would finally receive those photos, developed and a bit expensive.

As I watched the Polaroid develop before my eyes, something happened to me.  Metaphorically a train was passing by, called technology, and I immediately jumped on board.  My family upbringing was pathetically poor, but that didn’t matter.  I was finally moving in a direction that made sense.  And we all were on a more equal footing.

Those early “instant” photos, starting from a glop of blue-grey would change into a pretty neat image, right before your eyes.  You did nothing, maybe you shook it in order to dry it quicker.  Within minutes something tangible would happen.  You would have a great photo of Uncle Willy.

I don’t want to be melodramatic, but I think we profoundly changed when we finally discovered the Polaroid instant camera.  Polaroid sold millions within months.  They couldn’t keep them in stores–they sold-out!  And yet, in retrospect it was just a baby-step into our technology of today.  Yet, it was the first step, and we would never be the same.

In the presence of the Lord God, we discover many moments like this.  He continually reveals himself in fresh and wondering ways.  He astonishes us with continually fresh and spiritually amazing ways.  As we come to know him, even deeper and more profound.  We stand in the driveway and watch our understanding develop.  It is a process that insists on staggering us.  He is not a novelty gadget, he is everlasting. We choose to wait on Him.

Deliberating About Discipleship

“Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

Luke 14:31-33, ESV

 

This is deep thinking, and a critical analysis gives us a behind-the-scenes of what happens when kings (and armies) go to war against each other.  They count.  They try to accurately fix the hearts of their soldiers.  Their bravado is left in a speech from their balcony.  It is now the time to back off, and deliberate carefully.  There must be admissions of weakness.  Can we really fight and win this war?

Jesus brings us to the same point.  The question is definitely presented; can you really “pull this off?”  When we try to analyze this from a Godly perspective, we will end up determining our own weaknesses and flaws that no one knows about except us (and God.)  Often, understanding fully our personal issues, we will try to courageously try to fight, even though the battle in our own hearts has not really been resolved. 

We may have a deep and intense battle with our own personal lust, or pride, or of greed–but haven’t come to an understanding of freedom.  We really want to claim it, even though we haven’t seen it.  volitionally we agree, but practically we stumble, over and over.  We cry out, “I want to be real!”

The Word tells us that we are to be very deliberate about our discipleship.  So many are trying very hard to be disciples when they have a great issue with a personal holiness that would re-route this .  Simply put, there can be no victory, unless we are going to be obedient.  Jesus intends that we will become holy, because he has asked us to be.

The 33rd verse is very significant.  The definite issue is “renunciation.”  We are to come to this point, and just “turn everything” over to Him, and then renounce it all to His Kingdom.  In a sense, we back out–and give him the glory of the moment.

We really struggle with this.  There is a very definite issue of renouncing many different issues.  No matter what is decided, we are to be His, fully and specifically.  He brings us to this point, and we have to make a very definite realization to things that brings the “discipleship revelation.”  Simply, we must accept His work in us, even when He approaches us from point-blank range.