just say the word…..layers deep

Just Say the Word

This song has hidden meaning and multiple layers to it. We co-wrote this song with Paul Baloche in Nashville in October of 2010…

I will lay me down, here at Your feet
Save me from myself and calm the raging sea
You will be my ark that floats me up above the storm
Just Say, just say the word
Just say the word I’ll be made whole
Hear my humble prayer, help my unbelief
Speak to me Your hope, Jesus carry me
You will be my ark that floats me up above the storm
Just say, just say the word
Just say the word I’ll be made whole
Your goodness Your mercy will rescue me
Let Your power Your blood wash over me
Just one word from Heaven, just one word from Heaven brings life
Just one touch from Your Spirit, Jesus
Just say, just say the word
Just say the word I’ll be made whole

The chorus of the song sings, “Just say the word and I’ll be made whole.” It’s based on the story in the New Testament where the Roman officer approaches Jesus and asks him to heal his servant, who is back home ill, and Jesus says, “I will go with you to your home and heal your servant.” The officer says to Jesus, “I believe, that if you just say the word, my servant who is at home and is ill will be made well.” Jesus answers his request saying he hasn’t seen faith like this before.
The keys that really unlock the power of the whole song are in the words of the 2nd verse. I will go through it phrase by phrase and explain what I mean. The song sings, “Hear my humble prayer and help my unbelief.” Let’s stop there and reflect on another healing account that’s found in the Gospel of Mark chapter 9. The healing of the epileptic boy. It says, “They brought the boy to Jesus and when the Spirit saw Him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell to the ground and rolled about foaming at the mouth.” Jesus asked the father, “How long has he had this?” and he said, “From childhood, it has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.” Jesus said to him, “If I can! All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe! Help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again.” In order for Jesus to say the word into our lives, to heal and to calm the raging seas, we need to have faith that lines up with the word and remember faith is a gift from the Father to us. Faith is not a talent or something people can boast of because ultimately it’s a gift from Jesus to us.
At the very end of this short story in the Gospel, it says in Mark 9:28: Jesus entered the house, and his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast out the demon?” (His disciples had tried to cast out the demon before they brought the boy to Jesus) Jesus says to them in verse 29, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” It’s obvious that the disciples didn’t start out in humble prayer; they kind of relied on their own talents and abilities to try to cast out the demon. It seems apparent that prayer is key to healing or deliverance of any kind. It starts with us coming to Jesus, and saying, like the song sings, hear my humble prayer and help my unbelief, just like the father of the epileptic boy. I need more faith. I want Jesus to move more fully in my life. Through humble prayer, I ask that He not only helps my unbelief, but that He would move the mountains of skepticism and fear that hide my heart from His.
Let’s move on to the next phrase, “Speak to me your hope, Jesus carry me.” The Bible says faith is the substance of things hoped for certain of what we do not see. We can clearly see that faith is made up of hope. So how do we receive more hope? Or should I say a Biblical idea of hope? The world can be a hope-less place. Here are some keys to receiving hope:

1. We need to turn to scripture and meditate on His word.
2. We need listen to inspiring music that glorifies the Lord and stirs up our hearts to receive what Jesus’ word says about us
3. We need to come to church to gather in the hope and victory of Christ. We need Jesus, through His Spirit, to speak to us His hope continually through these ways.

For more healing and peace in our lives these keys apply:

1. Come to Jesus in humble prayer and ask Him to help your unbelief. Pray that He would give you the gift of faith and that He would release the word that you need into your life.
2. Ask him to speak hope to you throughout your week and pray that His Spirit would be the final word in your life. Pray that His words would out shout the lies of skepticism and fear.

I pray that the Father’s hand of blessing would rest upon your head this week that He would carry you through the hope you have received. May He carry you in the refuge of His arms like an ark floating above the storm. When all around us, the world is dismayed, may He be all your hope and stay.

Chris

wake my heart!!

1 Samuel 3:7-10 “The Lord called Samuel again a third time. And he got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.”  Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down and if he calls you, you shall say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” and Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
 
Sometimes in life I feel aimless and directionless, confused about what decisions are best to make for my marriage and for the future of my career.  As I’ve said in a previous blog, there are so many things in life we can do, but God knows the things in life that will make us feel most complete. God has plans for you and I.  I feel Impulsive lately, it seems like I have been chasing after every idea that comes into my head and I end up feeling tired and burnt out.  A very close friend of mine, a friend that I have been talking to a lot lately, will end every conversation we have with the words….” Let’s take the next few days and pray about it.”  After like the tenth time of hearing him say that, I got off the phone and thought about all the things I have been chasing and pursuing lately.  I asked myself…did I pray about these things before I just went out and did them?  I know it sounds elementary, but it gets easy to take matters into our own hands and just do what we think is best without asking God what He thinks.  Jason Upton sings in one of his songs, “Bring your dreams to God, bring your laughter to God and bring your pain to God, bring it all to Him.”  What this says to me, is that God wants us to bring all moments of life, large and small, to Him.  We live in a society that has no patience at all, we want everything to be perceived and gotten instantly, we don’t like to wait.  Maybe that’s why praying and taking time to hear from God can be frustrating to us.  Tim Keller describes patience as love for the long haul. Learning to hear from God takes patience and love for the long haul.  My brother and I wrote a song loosely based on the above scripture from the book of Samuel, as a prayer in our present day, to hear the voice of the father and to follow where He leads…
 
“May your voice be louder than my own,
nearer to the bone,
may your presence draw me still closer to your will,
more familiar to me than my mother’s voice to me,
may your presence draw me still,
ever closer to your will.
Speak, oh God, for your servant is listening.”
 
God had a specific plan for Samuel’s life.
In this scripture we see that Samuel kept hearing the voice of God and thinking that it was Eli.  Eli was a father figure to Samuel and a familiar voice.  This speaks to me…that God is speaking to me all the time, but in a voice that is so close, closer than the air I breathe, and more familiar than my mother’s voice to me.  For many of us we have a din of voices going on in our minds. Constantly, so many choices, but we need to learn to be still and patiently wait on the Lord.   When we pray we begin to tune out all the voices, to get to the one that has been speaking clearly all along, but has been drowned out or discarded.  I guarantee, softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me.  Even at this very moment…but the voice is so close, that we either think it’s not the voice of God or it has been drowned out by other voices, the ones of society or of pursuing the ‘American dream.’  I invite you, to bring all of your thoughts, past and future, all of your fears, pain and laughter and leave them with Jesus.  Don’t forget the most important part at the end of your prayers, quiet your mind, be-still your heart and say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”  Let the Holy Spirit speak to you.
 
Chris

I’m running in a race!!

In Hebrews 12:1-3 Paul says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses: let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of God.”

A week ago Suzie and I attended a runner’s banquet. We were there to see my father in law receive a surprise award for his 16 years of support and dedication to a local running club called Checkers. My father in law owns a high end sneaker shop called Runner’s Roost that specializes in fitting and selling footwear to runners. Suzie and I arrived at the banquet early and mingled with the runners. At first I felt out of place, as I am overweight and presently have a beard that is borderline slacker looking. I had on my usual boots and North Face coat. Walking in, a lot of the runners looked at me as if I was attending a self help group, and that I was coming into the light by coming and attempting my first step at overcoming obesity haha. Everyone there was in shape like my wife. My father in law didn’t know we were going to be there and we wanted to surprise him. When he walked in he was surprised to see us! He asked, “what are the two of you doing here?” and he laughed. He asked us why we came to which I said, we’re joining the running club to lose some weight and he laughed as he could see we were joking. As the night progressed I began to enjoy myself a lot. They handed out like 40 awards at the ceremony. It seemed like everyone in the club received an award. One man got an award for best accident at a race. The guy face planted during a race and got all bloody and had pieces of track stuck in his skin. Another man received and award for best Aussie accent, as the guy was from Australia. My father in law was a celebrity there and everyone knew him and his store that has faithfully served this community for years. I was glad to be there for him and a part of this special evening.

As I sat there witnessing all the clapping, cheering and celebrating this passage in Hebrews kept running through my mind, “Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.” I thought about Paul and the people he was talking to when he wrote those words… sports fans and athletes. I kept wondering if Paul was an intense runner like one of these folks and it made me laugh to think that he could have been like me, not a runner at all. Maybe Paul was just motivated by all of the positive energy and healthy perseverance of being around athletes and that is why he related running to the Christian life. The Christian life is full of ups and downs, many face planting days but also days when you feel like you’re running with the wind. As a Christ follower, we have this joy set before us, that though we endure many hardships and dark days that we will one day bow humbly before the throne of God. I felt like I was a part of a cool community that night, a group of folks that weren’t concerned with who the best runner was but most concerned with folks being in the race and continuing to persevere. I kept thinking that is what Jesus thinks too. Jesus doesn’t want us to grow weary and lose heart but He wants us to continue on in the race until we cross the finish line. He wants to run with us everyday and for us to throw off the sin and all the stuff that creates excess weight in our lives. If you have been on the sidelines I want to invite you to join the race again, or for the first time to decide to run with Jesus. This is the race I am in and will continue in until I cross the finish line and receive the prize of my salvation seeing Jesus face to face.

chris

death is just a door…

Matt 17:1-4 “Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.”

I have lately had people close to me lose brothers and mothers to death. My mother in law, in particular, lost an aunt a month ago and her brother a year ago to the inevitable fate that looms in all of our minds, death. I remember her coming teary-eyed out of her bedroom and breaking the news to us. She looked at me and asked, “Are my aunt and brother in heaven?”

Obviously, after thoughts of Jesus being confessed as their personal savior and redeemer, this passage for some reason came to my mind in that moment…
I said, the poet William Blake wrote about death being just a door. I explained that Moses and Elijah appeared in Spirit before Jesus and a few disciples many years after Moses died and Elijah was caught up into heaven. They had a purpose even after this life was over, a plan that God had for them to continue to walk in.

Every time I think about death lately I think of this unlikely passage in the Bible. It reminds me, that like Moses and Elijah, God is going to use me even after this life is through. I want to live my life for things that death and time can’t do away with. How about you?
I also do not want to fear death. I know that may sound like an audacious statement. But I want to write a song that I can sing when I am dying, that I believe I will wake up in the next life singing with the angels surrounding me. Haha that would be cool!

N.T. Wright says, “If you belong to Jesus you will go to heaven to be with him; that’s what ‘paradise’ means. But that’s just the long bright tunnel before the new country begins. And when God makes a new heaven and new earth, he will raise you from the dead and give you a new body so that you can live in that new world, and indeed help God run it. That’s the deal; that’s what the New Testament promises, even though many generations of Christians have never even begun to realize it.”

I love this thought! That’s why it bothers me that when someone dies we always say they have ‘passed away.’ I don’t like the picture that paints in my head at all. Instead, I like saying they have ‘passed on’ meaning they have lived this life and that their soul is now with the Lord. They are awaiting the Resurrection when our bodies will be gloriously transformed!

May we live in this time remembering death is just a door and that after we have a time of rest in heaven we will be put to a task in the Lord’s service. God has work in mind for us to accomplish beyond this present life, just like Moses and Elijah.

Chris

we are the music makers…we are the dreamers of dreams part 3

I have felt the Lord’s hand through the music he has written through me down through the years. I have seen God use songs and lines in songs, to open up lives to him and to awaken the child within to the father calling them.
In my heart I am so grateful for every chord and song the Lord allows to pass from my heart, through my hands and lips.
Sometimes God gives me songs that are meant for me specifically to hear and respond to.

I had a dream last night I was leading worship in the basement of the church of my youth
which is evangel assembly of God.
It was a worship event and many people were there. We were about to start our worship set, and as I stepped up to the mic, this melody came out and I started singing a new song
that was writing itself as I sang.
The band followed, as they are used to abandoning the set and going with the moment.
the words were…

I’m standing on the edge of another time
I’m standing on the edge to another time
help me Lord to follow through with what it is you want me to my God

I can feel the wind brush across my face
in moments of doubt feel your embrace
help me Lord to follow through
follow through my God

these are the things i feel like the Holy Spirit was saying to me:

1.
Evangel church building where i spent alot of time as a child no longer exists.
The church has moved to a new location but there was alot of dreams spoken to me
in that place. I feel like the Spirit took me back there to remind me of the dreams he gave
me there. Dreams that I have let go of or abandoned that he wants to complete.
Now is the time for those old dreams to come to pass.

2.
As I was leading worship in the dream i would look out and see familiar faces, but they were faces
of people that I used to hang out with that I haven’t seen in years. They were all there singing along.
I felt that this meant God wants me to pay attention to these old dreams of mine that I used to have back when we all were in each others lives. These friends were around when God spoke to me and alot of them helped, prayed for and encouraged me.
They were in a sense an earthly cloud of witnesses, encouraging me on, saying follow through with
those old dreams you used to tell us about, it’s never to late.

3.
God’s time and our time are completely different and there are things he wants to complete in all of us.
He will just continue, year after year, inviting us through the Holy Spirit, to remember those lost dreams and ambitions that he still wants us to carry out.
That’s what standing on the edge of another time means, that I have been looking off this precipice,
year after year, but never jumping off. The other time means these dreams were received years back when
I was different but that it’s never to late to complete them.

So I encourage you to fulfill those old dreams and ambitions that the Lord keeps reminding you of, and pray that if he wants you to complete them that he would allow it. God wants to make us holy people.
There are so many things in life we can do, but he knows exactly the things that will make us feel most
complete in this life. It’s up to us to seek those things out through prayer and live our lives as holy, whole people.

chris

we are the music makers…we are the dreamers of dreams..pt 2

picnic pic

One thing you should know about me is that I have a vivid, lush and active dream life. I also fall asleep in like 10 seconds and will be out until the alarm goes off. I can also sleep in until noon, it’s a major blessing I know!
A little over a year ago, I had the most vivid dream! In this particular dream I was hanging with Megh, my sister in law. It was summertime and we were sitting on the edge of a stage at a festival. In the dream it was understood that we were at this festival with our husbands and the band, but that Brothers McClurg was off playing somewhere. Megh was pregnant in the dream and I kept touching her stomach telling her I think she was having a little girl. All of a sudden, as we were chatting, people started to approach the stage where were sitting. There were hundreds of people coming up to us, thanking us! There was a giant line of people waiting to talk to us and say thank you. Some had tears in their eyes. Some of them looked very poor. Some of them kissed our hands and some hugged us. There were loads of smiles and multitudes of gratitude!
I then noticed that in the distance there was a great line of picnic blankets that went on for probably miles. It appeared that people brought lots of different blankets, sheets and tapestries and connected them all together into one massive long picnic blanket. There were all sorts of dishes and food in the middle of the blankets, as if people were meant to sit on either side and eat. It went as far as the eye could see and I was amazed! Then it hit me! WE are throwing this banquet!!! Right here in the middle of this city! For all of these people and that’s why they are thanking us! It looked like so much fun and when I realized what was happening I turned to Megh and said, “Man, I want in on that too, I’m hungry, lets eat!” Megh laughed and smiled at me. Pastor Drew, a good friend of ours, was there in white priest robes giving a blessing over the food. I remember thinking in the dream, ’It is so cool that Drew is here! This is awesome!’ Shortly after that I woke up. I didn’t even attempt to write the dream down upon waking, as I sometimes do. I just kept trying to fall back asleep to go back to the dream. It is amazing to me that I can remember this dream so vividly even to this day. It is one of my favorites.
Months ago I tried to talk everyone into throwing a massive free picnic this summer. We have been very busy doing outreach events, and weren’t going to be able to fit this one in. We were all together talking about summer ideas when it hit me…we are already doing this!!!
Often my dreams don’t literally come true, but there are elements of my dreams that do occur. For example, we didn’t literally throw a massive free picnic but we are definitely feeding the poor! We do free dinners as part of our Sunday night church gatherings in Buffalo. We have lots of different folks come from all ages and walks of life. People are always so grateful to share a meal. We are also feeding people spiritual food. And as my husband always points out, Jesus loved to eat with people! So, in a sense this dream has come to pass! We are feeding eachother, and my Pastor Drew friend that I mentioned earlier from the dream…he is the pastor of this church! So cool how God works! Also, Megh did end up telling me she was pregnant again shortly after I dreamt my dream. She just had her second baby last week! A son. Cheers to that! Lets eat!
The 1st blog I have ever written lol, Suzie Hoisington

we are the music makers…we are the dreamers of dreams part 1……

willy wonka the man who spoke the dreamer of dreams quote

Abraham was a visionary.
Jacob was a dreamer.
Joseph was a dreamer & dream interpreter.

Over the years, dreams and visions have received a lot of criticism in the church. I can understand this un-easiness because some people take it to extremes, such as prophesying the end of the world, having unfulfilled dreams and visions and abusing the gift of healing. But there is much in the Bible that was revealed through these methods. I feel it’s time for us to allow God to speak through these ways again. The last thing we want to be is closed off to these beautiful ways the Lord can speak to us. My wife Suzie in particular is a dreamer of spiritual dreams. We have learned that her dreams can mean a myriad of things, and that some are not God related and some can be confusing, but others are as clear as a bell!
We bring all dreams to God and ask him to reveal their meaning. Joseph said in chapter 40 of Genesis, speaking to the butler who had a dream and couldn’t decipher its meaning, “Do not interpretations belong to God?” So always bring your dreams to God and let him show you, do not let your confusing ideas of what you think the dream might mean outshout the whisper of revelation speaking from your center.
When Elihu presents his case to Job in chapter 33:14-18, “For God speaks again and again though people don’t recognize it. He speaks in dreams and visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds. He whispers in their ears and terrifies them with warnings. He makes them turn from doing wrong, He keeps them from pride, he protects them from the grave, from crossing over the river of death.”
Before we go any further let me re-emphasize the importance of bringing dreams and visions to God first and foremost. Then leave it there, and believe me that if it’s something He wants you to know He will bring it up to you continually and lead you safely to conclusive thoughts. Also, share them with friends that you trust, that seek God themselves, and won’t laugh at you no matter how outlandish it sounds. Remember all dreams and visions need testing and refinement. Sometimes only a fragment of the dream applies. But dreams and visions sometimes need space to develop over time, like songs that take time to complete, don’t be quick to assume. That all being said, next week I will post a blog that my beautiful wife Suzie will be writing about a dream she had. We believe her dream applies to our ministry in the city of Buffalo, and that dream is still growing and we believe applies to other places as well!

chris

Born into a plan already set forth….

recent picture of the band and no we are not depressed it just looks that way haha!

Genesis Chapter 48:9 reads, And Joseph said unto his father Jacob, “They are my sons, whom God hath given me here in the land of Egypt.” And Jacob said, “Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.”What I especially love about the Old Testament are the strong family ties and plans that God extended from one generation to the next. Abraham received a vision of nations being blessed through him, extended through Isaac, then through Jacob, then through Joseph and so on. The blessing and purpose extended through Abraham’s descendants to bring to fruition and completion the plan God intended. I feel that way in my life, that I am walking out a plan set forth through my grandfather Pappy, and his son and daughters that make up the original McClurg Family Singers. I am blessed because of their faithfulness and call to follow like Abraham did, to leave his hometown and enter an unknown land trusting God would lead him.
I grew up the first few years of my life on a motor home, watching my family sing frequently all over the country. I can still hear their harmonies that are imbedded in me, and the timeless prayers of Pappy blessing me and committing me to the Lord’s service. I remember Aunt Martha crying tears of joy recently when we signed to Integrity Music label, as it was a dream of theirs to have a worldwide reach with their music. Now we are carrying on the mantle of blessing given to us through them to walk out.
In the Old Testament names were important and had a prophetic meaning to the person given the name. Though my last name is not McClurg, its Hoisington, as my father married my mother who was a McClurg. It was pointed out to me a few weeks ago by a friend of Suzie’s named Stacy who texted Suzie and said, “Hoisington, isn’t it cool that there is sing-a-ton in his name Hoi-sing-ton!” I never noticed that before and had to laugh as singing is my livelihood and what I do all the time!

chris

We are his workmanship….

When I was on the verge of signing a record deal with Integrity, I remember praying a whole lot and asking God for clear direction. I knew that if we did sign with Integrity that it would bring a lot of change. That along with that change would come a lot of opportunities but also a lot of hard work. I was extremely excited and fearful at the same time and not sure what advice to follow.
I stumbled upon this verse in my bible reading and began saying it quietly to myself for the next few weeks, meditating on each phrase…“We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:10
It was getting time to make the decision about signing the contract with Integrity. I remember coming home and seeing a card from my wife Suzie. I opened the envelope and on the cover of the card was the above verse from Ephesians I had been meditating on! It made me laugh because I never told Suzie I had been meditating on this verse. Suzie, just wanting to encourage me, happened upon this card with the very same verse that had been my strength the last few weeks! After reading the card I turned it over to look at the back and there was the Integrity symbol! (Integrity starting making greeting cards a few years ago)
God answered my direct prayer in an indirect and very out of the box way. A lot of folks love the bible verse Jeremiah 29:11…”I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord”…But my favorite as far as God having a plan for my life, is Ecclesiastes 6:10…”Everything has been decided, it was known long ago what each person would be, so there is no use in arguing with God about your destiny.”
I can totally picture a loving father telling his son, “Don’t argue with me boy or complain you’re not good enough, get out there and do it!” I picture God saying that to me every time I feel ill-equipped. God gives us more than we can handle so His strength can make us complete. By Your Spirit Lord, I walk out the good works you already have planned for me. Thank You Father! Amen.

the logo on the back of the card that Suzie gave me

Dialogue with an atheist

This gallery contains 4 photos.

I woke up on the hottest day of the summer and received a text from my wife saying there was a heat warning and to not be outside very long. The news said it could reach 110 degrees, so I stayed in the apartment with the air conditioner on, all the lights off, and a [...]