Our worship team learned a new song recently. From the moment I heard this one line in the bridge, it has wrecked me every time.
🎶Bless God when my hands are empty
Bless God with a praise that costs me🎶
Y’all. It wrecks me. Just trying to articulate what this speaks to my spirit.
I’ve talked about walking in my season of loss. It’s a wilderness season. It’s a season of set apart. It’s a season of seeking the Lord and receiving healing.
My hands are empty.
Not that I’m not working. Not that I’m not growing in my faith. Not that I’m not ministering. But I don’t have anything to hold on to right now.
My hands are empty.
I choose to praise. I choose to proclaim “even if this season endures, you are still God, you are still good, you are worthy of praise.”
When I have NOTHING to bring, no gift to give, I bring my praise.
Praise comes at a price.
We live in a society of instant gratification. They want it now, they want it quick, they want it as easy and convenient as possible, they want more bang for their buck, they want little effort and big reward.
That’s not conducive to the Kingdom.
Put your shoulder to the plow and WORK.
If it costs me everyone I love.
If it costs me everything I have.
If it costs me favor with man.
If it costs me the dreams/plans I have for myself.
If it costs me every penny I have.
I will pay that price.
No cost is too great.
When I come to the end of myself. When I literally have nothing to offer up but empty hands and an empty heart.
And there, in that moment, realize it’s what He wanted all along.
For me to be reminded I can’t do it in my own power.
For me to be reminded HE is my source.
For me to be reminded I must be emptied of myself to be filled anew.
To be willing to lay every single piece at His feet and turn it loose. To pay that price.
To pour out my praise without expectation of what the response is going to be but at the same time KNOWING the Lord takes what we have lost and returns it in abundance.
To know and believe that my praise is more than a sound. My praise is a gateway to align my flesh and my spirit. My praise is a catalyst to propel me forward in the battle.
He loves when we’re empty, not because he’s cruel but because of his grand love for us meaning he can fill us all the more. When we’re empty and we bring ourselves forward, we’re a vessel he can fill.
A season that prunes.
A season that removes.
A season that sheds layers of all kinds.
It isn’t pretty and it feels so raw in the moment BUT what a blessing this season is turning out to be.
♥️
Just Between Me & Jesus 