Leeland

If I wanted to, I could list thousands of failures I've made in my 24 years of life. It's easy. Let's see, there's the tons of projects I've never finished, friendships I've fumbled up, and opportunities I've squandered. And I've never been that great with my money (something I'm trying to be better about, but it's a source of frustration). We could also talk about unfulfilled potential, and I could even give my dirty laundry list of sins and secrets.

But none of these things can describe who I am. The only way I can describe my true identity is by pointing you to the person of Jesus Christ. He's IN me. And I am IN him. I can never run from that truth. My true nature is GOD'S nature! Who am I? I'm a child of God. I'm a son of the King of Kings. 

If you add up all my failures and mistakes they would pale in comparison to God's great love for me. As I walk with God more and more, I find out that God chooses to see our potential when everyone else only sees our weaknesses.

I'm a world changer, because God has destined me to be one. And all the hordes of hell tremble at my potential in Christ. The same goes for YOU! Before you were born, God had a perfect plan for your life.

Don't let your past mistakes define you. That's not who you are! Just because you got sidetracked doesn't mean you're disqualified from the race! You're still qualified and you're still in it! And the best part is that God is cheering you on. God only sees success for you and me. So be encouraged!

Share your stories with us, and let us know how God is working in your life!

Our friend, Marcus Hackler, created this video for our tour last fall. Wanted to share it on the site today and let you refelect on the message of this song. God's raising up a generation of people that know they're the righteousness of God. And we have access to the purity of the Holy Spirit, and can release that love and purity into the world around us. Take some time to pray right now, and ask God if there's anything that stands between you and him. You CAN defeat it, because God has given you authority over the enemy. We're on the winning side! So be encouraged.

Remember...

Ephesians 1:3-8

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding."

"And I'm lost in Your love and Your mercy. Lord Your beauty is so overwhelming. I'm thankful for Your truth. I'm so in love with You, my Jesus."

Recently, I had one of those spiritual epiphanies and everything became clear in one moment. I was praying and suddenly my eyes were opened to something. I realized that I had complicated things. I'd turned my relationship with God into process...a formula. I knew God loved me, but for some reason I couldn't get free from the bondage of "productivity". I don't think I'm the only one who has struggled with this.

Don't get me wrong - we're supposed to be responsible and get things done in life, but that's not what I'm talking about. We've brought this "productivity" thing into our relationship with God and we've completely missed the point of the Gospel.

We were created for one simple purpose, and that's to be intimate with God. To know Him and walk alongside Him with love is the highest calling, the ONLY calling. Everything else flows from this. Do you want to win this world to Jesus? Do you want to see your family situation turn around? How about those bills that are stacking up? The solution to the world's problems and the answer to our needs will only come if you're intimate with God. Show me someone that's giving everything in pursuit of the face of God, and I'll show you a world-changer. Show me someone that's consumed with just "getting things done" for God, and I'll show you a frustrated & unfulfilled person.

This song is an invitation to make things simple again and, to make your greatest goal in life to simply fall more in love with Jesus. Really get lost in Him. Here's a project for you. Take some time today (and every day for the rest of your life) to just sit and let God love you. Then let that love fill every moment of your day, even the ordinary places. It will change your life. If we get this, we'll be in the perfect position to change the world around us!

Here is a video we have been showing on the Follow You Tour to help show people what Food For The Hungry does. You'll see more footage from our trip to Cambodia with Brandon Heath. For more information on Food For The Hungry, visit FH.org.

"Love is on the move revealing heaven's truth. Love is on its way and it will find you."

We were having a writing session earlier this year in preparation for this new record. Leeland and I took a lunch break and on our way back to the studio we stopped at a red light. It was the lunch rush, so there were tons of cars. We looked to our left and saw a homeless man asking for money. We started to look around the van for a little bit of cash to give him, and before we knew it the light had turned green. Cars were honking at us to go, so we just sped off. We knew the Holy Spirit wanted us to help that man. We were tempted to just keep driving, but we turned all the way around and Leeland ran back to give him some money and simply show him love.

After that, we headed back to the writing session and had all but forgotten about the whole thing. We were writing on a faster song when all of the sudden Leeland started to play this soft and beautiful melody on the piano. Everything stopped and God got our attention.

We wrote "Love is on the Move" in just a few minutes, and it was like the heart of God was overflowing with joy because we had just taken care of his lost son on the side of the road.

There are so many forgotten people in the world...the overlooked. They may be across the street or in Africa. Some have no money and some have a lot of money. It doesn't matter. Anyone can feel unloved.

God is so passionate and so aggressive in his pursuit of loving his children, that NO ONE can escape it! Here's the catch though - we're His representatives. The world is missing the love of God if we're not SHOWING it!

Love isn't really love unless it moving and living in the hearts of a people willing to pour it out. Will you make that commitment? Ask God to open doors and give you opportunities to give His love away. It will change your life.