These are the words that God spoke to Isaiah for Zion. Now, while at the time Zion was a physical place it's also synonymous for anywhere the spirit of God is, and so it's also a promise for us. We are no longer called forsaken but now called 'The one in whom God delights'. This year for me has truly been the year of 'Not Forsaken'. This has been the truth that I've spoken over my life time and time again and this week I've been thinking even more about being no longer forsaken but the one in whom God delights and how incredible a truth that is that God says 'My delight is found in her'. This week I've prayerfully curated this playlist of songs for her (sorry boys) about how we can be confident as women in God that He has placed his delight in us. Below this playlist I've just done a little summary of the songs I selected, what they say and why I selected them. I hope that this blesses you in this advent season. (Also if you have any other songs that you think would fit perfectly in this collection please let me know!)
Take Courage (Kristene Di Marco)
And You who hold the stars
Who call them each by name
Will surely keep, Your promise to me
That I will rise, in Your victory
This for me truly is the anthem of advent, I used it in my advent blog last year and I'm using it again this year (sue me). It really reflects the spirit of waiting and waiting expectently for what God is going to do. As the song says, He is in the waiting so as long as we keep our eyes fixed on Him during the period of waiting, good things will come.
You Say (Lauren Daigle)
You say I am loved when I can’t feel a thing
You say I am strong when I think I am weak
You say I am held when I am falling short
When I don’t belong, oh You say that I am Yours
I couldn't make this playlist and not include this song. We are who God says we are, not what the world has to say about us. The city of Zion and the people of Israel knew what it was like to be forsaken, but God had other things to say about them. No longer forsaken but Hepzibah. God's delight is in us because He says it is and that's a truth.
Peace Be Still (The Belonging Co Ft. Lauren Daigle)
Peace be still
You are here so it is well
Even when my eyes can't see
I will trust the voice that speaks
Peace, Peace over me
The God of the storm is the same God who is also God of the calm. When we're in turbulent seasons we can be so quick to think that God has left us but we don't have to deal with these seasons alone because He is right there speaking peace over and bringing the seas to still and if He can calm the raging seas just think about the wonders that He could do for your stress/anxieties/worries.
I Am No Victim (Kristene Di Marco)
I am who He says I am
He is who He says He is
I’m defined by all His promises
Shaped by every word He says
We can so often feel like victims of the world but if we take refuge in who God has said we are we discover that we're not poor, we're not orphans and we're not lost. God's delight is in us and He's chosen us to be coheirs of His kingdom. We have a home with the King and the promises that He speaks over us are for good.
Who You Say I Am (Hillsong Worship)
I am chosen
Not forsaken
I am who You say I am
Chosen and not forsaken. This is the overarching theme here but it's a good theme. God has chosen us, Jesus died for us and we're never going to be forsaken and we never have been forsaken. We are who He says we are. No longer forsaken but chosen as children of God.
Pieces (Amanda Cook)
Your love not broken
It's not insecure
Your love's not selfish
Your love is pure
This song is an anthem about God's love for us. He doesn't just love us a little bit but He loves us with an Agape, unconditional love. It's pure and it's reviving. It wasn't given out accidentally, He knows exactly what He's doing when He loves us unconditionally. It's a conscience choice. How great is His love for us!
Still God (Elevation Worship)
Before the world began, it wasn't spoken yet
You were still God, and You are still God
After Your final breath, it wasn't over yet
You were still God, and You are still God
He is still God! The same God that created the heavens and the earth is the same God that's alive today and lives within us. He's the same God that is still performing miracles. he hasn't stopped being God and He never will stop being God.
Not Today (Hillsong United)
Tell me did the enemy panic
As You took up that cross
Tell me did the darkness cry mercy
As You rolled back that rock
Death is defeated, the enemy is defeated. Fear and anxieties can hold us back but when we have Jesus on our side we have the authority through Him to tell the enemy No and we can believe that no is no because Jesus has full authority and His name is all powerful.
Sing My Way Back (Steffany Gretzinger)
When I lose direction
When I can’t see the stars
If we get disconnected
I’ll sing my way back to Your heart
I’ll sing my way back to Your arms
Part of God's love being unconditional means that even if we fail, stumble or find our way walking against Him or His plan for our lives, we can always come back and He'll always take us back. No matter what we've done it's not too much for God. As long as we repent wholeheartedly and realign our vision with His we can always find our way back to His heart.
Lament (Seacoast Worship)
So come close, I'm on the verge of breaking
Come close, I'm desperate for Your presence
Come close, the weight of pain is crushing
Come close
This one is a little bit different from the others. In this one there is a cry of 'Where are You now?'. Sometimes we feel like God is so distant and that we're in our troubles all alone but even amid the times when we feel like this we can still proclaim that He is Good. Maybe this season of hurt isn't going away, maybe this season of loneliness is just stretching on and on but our difficult seasons are such an important part of the route to breakthrough and although it might not always feel like it, God is always with us.
Cover The Earth (Kari Jobe)
Fear has no choice but to bow
Chains have no choice but to break
Shame has no choice but to leave
In Your presence
His Spirit has covered the entire earth and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. That means that there are no chains holding us back from all the God has in store for us. The chains have no choice but to break because He has declared freedom over us.
On My Side (Kim Walker-Smith)
In the front lines, You fight for me
Oh, Your kindness is my shield
When the armies rise and I am scared
My heart You will defend
God is fighting for us always, He's always on our side. He's not going to see us battling something and just say 'Nah they can deal with this one on their own'. He's going to be right there with us throughout the whole thing!
Miracle (Mosaic MSC)
I see a miracle in an empty grave
The One we though was dead has come to life again
I see a miracle in every chain You break
The power of heaven roaring within me
The whole point of Christmas was so that Easter could happen so the miracle of Jesus coming as a baby was just the start of the bigegst miracle that was ever going to occur when He rose from the dead. But He's still performing miracles today and it's important that we never forget about the miracles that He has performed in us before He can perform mircales through us.
Defender (UPPERROOM)
And all I did was praise
And all I did was bow down
And all I did was stay still
And all I did was worship
God is our defender and things are always better His way but sometimes we try to take control of our own destinies but when we surrender fully to Him, and praise, bow down, stay still, worship. we'll see breakthrough. Be still and know that I am God.