He Lives In You

If you don't absolutely love The Lion King, there's probably something wrong with you. (Fact of life, more or less.) While I've never had the opportunity to see the live show (yet; I hope to do so someday), only God knows how many times I've watched the famous Disney movie. I. Love. The. Lion. King.

Though I cherished the movie my whole life, it wasn't until very recently that I realized it's more than just a "children's movie". There are a lot of profound spiritual elements in the story!

If you do even just a little bit of research, you'll find that The Lion King was most definitely not based off of Christianity or any Christian beliefs; however, God has His ways of sneaking into our creative endeavors, whether we know (or like!) it or not. Just take a look at this classic film masterpiece in greater detail, and you'll see.

I could write several hundred pages on the spiritual significance of The Lion King, and easily so. It's filled with rich spiritual imagery, regardless of your "religion". So instead of boring you with that, I'll just go to one particular facet: the song "He Lives in You". (Yeah, I know it wasn't in the original movie, but bear with me, it's still part of the story and the Broadway musical.)

Take a listen:

The song basically explains itself! Take a look at the lyrics from a Christian's viewpoint.

Ingonyama nengw' enamabala [A lion and a leopard come to this open place] 

Night and the spirit of life calling mamela [listen]

And a voice, just the fear of a child, answers mamela [listen]

Ubu khosi o khokho [This is the throne of our ancestors]

We ndodana ye sizwe sonke [Oh, son of the nation]

Wait, there's no mountain too great

Hear these words and have faith (have faith) 

He lives in you, He lives in me

He watches over everything we see

Into the water, into the truth

In your reflection, he lives in you

He lives in you, he lives in me

He watches over everything we see

Into the the water, into the truth

In your reflection, He lives in you

He lives in you (x5) 

He lives in you! He lives in me!

He watches over everything we see

Into the water, into the truth

In your reflection, he lives in you

He lives in you, he lives in me

He watches over everything we see

Into the water, into the truth

In your reflection, (in my reflection) he lives in you

I mean, really. Come the freak on! With its references to "the Spirit of Life", "There's no mountain too great ... have faith", "He lives in you, He lives in me", "He watches over everything we see", "Into the Water, into the Truth", "In your reflection, He lives in you" ... It's hard to overlook those, isn't it? This stunning Broadway song could easily be used as some form of God glorification. (I say this because it's not quite worship.)

So instead of giving you some overly detailed analysis... I would encourage you to study this song on your own, and use the Bible as a guide to decoding the song. Try finding some Scriptures on the Holy Spirit, particularly where His attributes are shown as light, life, water, and truth. Look for some verses on our bodies being His temple, and on how He lives inside of us. Search for some verses on the omniscience of God (the Psalms might be a good starting place for that). And finally, I would suggest trying to find some Scriptures on being an ambassador, representing God in our lives, etc. Enjoy!

Fight the good fight

Life just gets in the way of everything else sometimes.

Such as, keeping my room clean. Or blogging. Or, even writing anything at all. I barely see any of my friends anymore. School has taken over, and so has God.

If I thought that God had wrecked me before... well. That was just the beginning. These past few weeks alone have been ridiculous. Although Wicked really has nothing to do with my life right now, "Something has changed within me; something is not the same." But it's true. I went from listening to my some 4,000 secular songs to listening almost exclusively to worship music. (With a side of Mumford & Sons... ) Instead of reading buckets of fiction I've picked up Desiring God and Eternity in their Hearts - but most importantly, the Bible. This one, to be exact.

My brother gave it to me for Christmas, and I absolutely love it. Although NKJV is my favorite translation, NASB is a very close second. I find that the NASB maintains the regality of the original text while putting it in language that is understandable for the modern person. And the Life Application Study Bible especially begs for one to dive into it, and highlight and underline and scribble notes inside of it. It begs to be cherished in that way.

I've found that reading the Bible consistently changes one's perspective. Although I've dramatically changed within the past year, just these past few weeks have brought forth even more change and transformation of heart. Of course, I'm nowhere near where I want to be. I am still too far from Jesus.

I've also found that when you and your perspective change in a godly way, Satan doesn't like it. (Who would have thought, right?) And what does the Destroyer do to things he doesn't like? Well, ...he tries to destroy them. He tries to steal our hope, kill our vision, and destroy our faith. In my life, when he's tried to do this, it's usually come through the discouragement of people.

Just the other day at church, I had several people chastise me. When I voiced my desire for deeper Bible study at my church's youth group, one person told me that I was immature for not getting enough out of the messages as they are. (Um, doesn't the fact that I want to go deeper into God denote maturity instead of immaturity?) When I gave my prayer request for an upcoming mission trip I want to go on, another adult literally tried to talk me out of wanting to do any foreign missions!

But then, instead of getting angry... I realized something crucial. It comes out of James chapter 1 verse 2:

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.

James 1:2 is one of those staple verses that people tell us whenever we're going through something rough, and they tend to say it in this "holier-than-thou" tone (though not always). I don't know how many times I've simply passed over this verse because I was tired of people telling it to me. (Like Jeremiah 29:11. A great verse, but I would appreciate not hearing it 10,000 times a day.) I've come to the conclusion that James 1:2 is a verse that you have to read to yourself. And when you do, then it's priceless.

I realized that the fact that I was enduring these numerous trials at church was because I was doing something right. If you look at the New Testament, the authors talk multiple times about enduring trials. And every time it is implied that these trials spring from us as Christians doing God's will, and Satan doesn't like it. So he tries to make our lives miserable. Well ha-ha, Satan, nice try. I'm going to consider it all joy.

And one other thought to keep you encouraged (to be read in the context of, you're seeking God and doing His will):

When the world tells you that you are doing something wrong, it means you're doing everything right.

Thought of the day

What's the point in calling yourself a Christian if you don't even believe in the God you worship?

So there you have it. Today I'm not going to bore you with an excessively long post. Instead, I'm giving you this "thought of the day" with a little bit of explanation, and then leaving you to meditate on it and pray about it.

So what do I mean by it exactly? I don't mean that it's pointless to claim to be a Christian if you don't even believe in God. (Although it is.) What I mean in particular by my question - the thought - is that it's moot to be a Christian if you don't believe in the power of God. If you read the Bible yet pass over the parts about moving mountains and healing diseases and parting seas and read them as abstract fiction, why bother? Your being a Christian is no different from someone being an atheist.

Christians who don't believe in the power of their own God are no different from people who don't even believe that God exists. This is one of the gravest hypocrisies in the church. I urge you to examine your heart, your beliefs, and then go examine the Bible. Look at it plain and simple. It never says that God's power stops.

A song to power up to...

This song, "Break Every Chain" by the fantastic Jesus Culture has been running through my head ever since I heard it last weekend. It's from the group's most recent album, found here. (I give an iTunes link because, well, Amazon mp3 fell off the train of awesomeness on this one and doesn't sell it.)

It's such a simple song, and super easy to catch on to. At 8 minutes, it's one of the typical hardcore Jesus Culture songs. Seriously, check Jesus Culture out. My family just recently invested in buying some of their CD/DVD combo packs, which I highly recommend. It's impossible to love on Jesus Culture too much! Especially when their music not only glorifies God, but empowers you and welcomes the Holy Spirit and proclaims solid theology:

There is power in the name of Jesus to break every chain

Bask in it.

Fall

I recently got A Fiddling Christmas, a fairly easy book of Christmas tunes for violin/fiddle. (I do both styles of playing.) And, by recently, I mean sometime in October. Anyways, I've been playing from the book fairly steadily ever since then, and it's really been getting me in the mood for Christmas. Today my family finally put up our tree and began taking down the autumn decorations and replacing them with festive wintry ones! As a lover of Christmas... I am thoroughly pleased.

So here I've been, playing anything from "I Saw Three Ships" to "Away in a Manger"... over, and over, and over, and over again! I've been ready for Christmas for a couple of months now. And finally, it's actually appropriate to be singing Christmas carols! Yay! Anyways. I'm getting off track. Today has been extremely tired/unbelievably hyper, so my writing is a bit off. Sorry.

So one of the songs in the book is an old classic - "O Holy Night". I'd always liked the song, but it wasn't until sometime in early November when I really fell in love with its worshipful attitude. The lyrics are absolutely beautiful, and I really like the music. When my bow hit the A-string in the 15th measure, I finally understood.

Worship is something that is really close to my heart. To get lost in it and to be found at the same time is the greatest of glories. To forsake yourself is to discover your identity. The true worshiper praises not only to give, but to receive. Worship is not a one-way street; God operates in it just as much if not more than we do. He gives His all in worship, too. I long to see Christians in every church worshiping in their various ways: some people sitting down in chairs meditatively, others up and around the room dancing and jumping joyously, some people standing and swaying... I long to see every heart display its worship shamelessly. That is something that is so direly needed in the church today. But that's another topic entirely.

Anyways. 15th measure. This is the part of the song where the lyrics change to a more humble form. It's only four little words that made this song for me:

Fall on your knees...

And there you have it. Fall on your knees. Fall on your knees. What I love about this part is that it doesn't say "Calmly kneel down." It says "Fall on your knees." Let the worship overtake you. Let the Holy Spirit fill you. Fall on your knees. Leave your dignity at the door.

As Christmas, the celebration of the birth of our Savior (and let that sink in for once), approaches I would encourage you to make it one of your spiritual goals to learn how to truly worship. Worship in its purest form does not have room for religion. (You might want to re-read that sentence.) Pure worship is the abandonment of self. It is the praise, no matter what the circumstances, of our Lord. Whoever you are, I appoint you this task: learn what worship is. Then go do it.

Fall on your knees...

Links:
1. My all-time favorite rendition of "I Saw Three Ships", by Manor House String Quartet.
2. A current violin favorite, Dvorak's "Humoresque" as performed by the wonderful David Garrett. I felt like including this because, well, quite frankly, I'm in love with it.