Prepare the Way for the Lord
Here are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite groups:
"Prepare Ye the Way" by Caedmon's Call
The Word of the Lord came one evening
Concerning His bride's great sin
He'd send down His Word to renew her
To prepare for the Bridegroom again
The Word said repent
From seeking vain glories
While the gifts in the Lord's name you give
Repent of all the first stones cast to kill
While your own self-righteousness lives
Prepare ye the way for the Lord
Prepare ye the way for the Kingdom
Prepare ye the way
Prepare ye the way for the Lord
The Word said repent
And turn from your strivings
Repent and turn from your hatred
Repent from the doctrines of men that divide
And fear like the wedding gown ripped
Walk in His love like newborn children
Walk in His love, let the wedding gown mend
Walk in His love, with humility come with pure hearts
And cast all your cares to the wind
The Word of the Lord came one evening
Concerning His bride's great sin
He assured me we will be forgiven
And then let the marriage begin
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I would define the word "repent" as follows: to set one's mind to change.
Matthew 3:1-3 says, "In those days [at the time when Jesus was entering the world scene] came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet [Isaiah], saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."
If we want God to move in a place, we must first prepare the way for Him to do so, and the Bible says that the way we prepare the way for God is through repentance! We must repent of our sins and of our disobedience; we must repent for doing things our own way instead of His. We must set our mind to change, to be conformed to His will and His vision.
Furthermore, John the Baptist preached, "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance" (Matthew 3:8). Don't just set your mind; act on it! Begin to do things God's way. Begin to move toward whatever it is that God has revealed to be His will, His direction. When we do so, He will be inclined to MOVE, because the way will be prepared for Him!
I want God to move. I HAVE to have Him do something through my life that will bring Him glory - it is the only reason I live!
God, I repent! I choose to change - I choose to pursue Your pathway passionately! Help me to do it!
"Prepare Ye the Way" by Caedmon's Call
The Word of the Lord came one evening
Concerning His bride's great sin
He'd send down His Word to renew her
To prepare for the Bridegroom again
The Word said repent
From seeking vain glories
While the gifts in the Lord's name you give
Repent of all the first stones cast to kill
While your own self-righteousness lives
Prepare ye the way for the Lord
Prepare ye the way for the Kingdom
Prepare ye the way
Prepare ye the way for the Lord
The Word said repent
And turn from your strivings
Repent and turn from your hatred
Repent from the doctrines of men that divide
And fear like the wedding gown ripped
Walk in His love like newborn children
Walk in His love, let the wedding gown mend
Walk in His love, with humility come with pure hearts
And cast all your cares to the wind
The Word of the Lord came one evening
Concerning His bride's great sin
He assured me we will be forgiven
And then let the marriage begin
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I would define the word "repent" as follows: to set one's mind to change.
Matthew 3:1-3 says, "In those days [at the time when Jesus was entering the world scene] came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet [Isaiah], saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."
If we want God to move in a place, we must first prepare the way for Him to do so, and the Bible says that the way we prepare the way for God is through repentance! We must repent of our sins and of our disobedience; we must repent for doing things our own way instead of His. We must set our mind to change, to be conformed to His will and His vision.
Furthermore, John the Baptist preached, "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance" (Matthew 3:8). Don't just set your mind; act on it! Begin to do things God's way. Begin to move toward whatever it is that God has revealed to be His will, His direction. When we do so, He will be inclined to MOVE, because the way will be prepared for Him!
I want God to move. I HAVE to have Him do something through my life that will bring Him glory - it is the only reason I live!
God, I repent! I choose to change - I choose to pursue Your pathway passionately! Help me to do it!
I must say i love your stuff. I agree too which is also cool. Joel 2 talks about that. It says in verse 12-18 it say things like return to me... rend your hearts not your garments.... consecrate a fast and let ministers weep between porch and alter... But verse 18 is awesome; The the Lord will be zealous for the land and have pitty on His people. But just a funny note, there was only one kind of baptism at the time of John. It was a prosthelyte baptism (the act of Gentiles becoming in a sence Jews, THey know the law and the were circumcised and were now renouncing everything else besides Jewish law.) So its grerat because John is screaming repent, the Pharsies are like we dont need to become jews we already are jews (sons of abraham). John points to the gentiles there and says dont say that because God can raise sons of abraham out of these stones.
ReplyDeleteAlex - I never realized that about John's baptism, but you're right. That causes that passage to make so much more sense!
ReplyDeleteAnd I would like to add one more thought to my post. We can "prepare the way for the Lord" to move in different areas of our lives. We can repent of how we have handled our finances; we can repent of how we have gotten along with different people; we can repent of how we have managed our time; and so on. As we repent in one area, God is freed then to come in and redeem that area of our life.