GROVE WOMEN LIVE // Summer Song Vol. 3 // Week 5

Good morning, gals, and welcome to Grove Women.

We Lori and I have been um coming live uh now for a few years and uh I wanted to say after saying good morning, first of all, thank you for showing up.

Thank you for being here.

Um we do this because we know that sometimes it's difficult for some of you to make uh groups.

It's hard to be groups, it's hard to um find find a way to connect to others, it's hard to find.

Um, you know, outside of Sunday morning, it's hard to find places where we can continue to grow.

So that is why we have this space.

That is why we continue to do uh this little live, and it's now on our podcast.

So thank you for showing up.

And um, I I am so thankful for Lori, my partner in crime, and um, we're gonna get going here in just a second.

Today we are in week five of our summer song series, and I love when we do these series, we get to find out a lot about um the song, that the songs that we sing and who wrote them and why they wrote them and when they were written, and the history and maybe the story behind them.

I love that so, so much.

Um, so that is what we're gonna do today.

We are actually gonna do a song today um that is one of my absolute favorites, uh, not just to sing, um, but man, the words and the lyrics of this song truly hit my heart every single time.

And listen, girls, I am coming.

Lori and I tried both very hard to just come and be real and honest and authentic and um oh my goodness.

The talking about needing the Lord this morning, like I do need him every hour.

I did not sleep well last night.

I don't know why I didn't sleep well last night.

I and I'm at that stage of life where sleep, what?

What is that?

So uh needing him is an actual real thing this morning.

Um it's a real thing every day, but especially today.

As soon as my eyes opened up this morning, I'm like, Lord, I need you.

And then I'm like, oh my gosh, I am living the meaning, you know, this song or whatever.

But um, welcome, glad you're here.

Good morning to those of you that are here.

As you pop on, just uh give us a shout out in the comments so that we see that you're here.

But um I am gonna start us off in prayer, and then we are going to really think about what it means, um, what these lyrics mean, what the verses um for this week mean.

In I mean, you know, look what that really means.

What does it mean to need the Lord?

Um, so we're gonna talk about that today, at least from my experience, and maybe you could relate.

So uh let me pray and then we're gonna get going with today.

Father God, thank you for another morning.

You've given us life, and and it's up to us to decide how we're going to allow you to use us in this life, in this world, in this day, in this hour.

So thank you uh for the promise that you are with us.

You never leave us, you never forsake us, and you um are in this moment with us.

So thank you for that, Lord.

Help us as women and of as people that love you, Lord, help us realize our need for you so that we become more dependent on you.

Thank you for Jesus, thank you for what he's done for us.

Uh, it's in his name I pray, amen.

All right, so yes, Lord, I need you.

I also need coffee.

So this morning I may uh you may just, I just may have to take drinks because whew, what a night.

All right, so grab your cup of coffee, gals, and uh let's dive in.

Lord, I need you.

I honestly cannot remember the the first time I heard this song, but what I can say is um the song immediately reminded me of a hymn that I remember singing as a child.

I did grow up in church um in a and not that that made my life perfect or that made things easier, um, but I grew up in church and so singing the hymn that this song done by Matt Maur was based off of, man, I remember singing that song often in church.

Uh so we're gonna kind of I may read the rear lyrics of that song too.

Um, but anyway, um, all right.

So, and I'm a little tongue-tied this morning, just like I said, I got very little sleep last night, and I don't know, I think the enemy is already fighting.

Like, man, 6 30 when my eyes opened, I felt like he was already like, mm-mm.

Do you guys ever feel like that when you wake up and it's like your mind is wheeling and so it's automatic assault?

Maybe it's just me.

All right.

Uh, so this week, our pastor on Sunday morning, um, we're gonna talk about the song, but he also read a passage of scripture that has become, gosh, I don't even know the right word to describe what these verses uh mean to my soul uh right now.

A couple of years ago, I made a commitment that um part of my issues, part of my anxiety and part of my pride and part of my complaining and grumbling and being judgy of others, like part of it was because I was not drawing close to him and I needed to commit.

I needed to um, and not that I've not through the years like been in the word and you know, done Bible studies and have, you know, whatever.

But two years ago, like it was really impressed upon me, I feel from the Holy Spirit that I need to get serious about being in his word every day and memorizing scripture and trying to understand what I'm reading and all of those things.

So it's been about two and a half years since I made um probably the strongest commitment I've ever made to being in the word on a daily basis.

And and so far, um, two and a half years in, like it is definitely I I long for it.

I have to have it every single day.

I have to have it before before I do anything else.

And when I don't, like my day feels off.

Um, so I would encourage you that if you are not, and Bible studies are one thing, devotionals are one thing, and those are great first steps.

But if you are not actually in his word every single day, man, I would encourage you to think about that and what that could look like in your life.

Um, because it it has made all the difference for me over the last couple of years, having that time each day to commit to being with him.

Um, so anyway, our pastor read verses from Psalm 63, and he gave us a little bit of a backstory that when David wrote this, he was in the wilderness.

And and that means, you know, that he was either fleeing from Saul or he was fleeing from his son.

So he was hiding and he was, you know, not living up to king's standards.

Okay, so he was probably in a desperate situation.

So a lot of these words for him as he wrote them probably were very physical truths.

This is how I feel because this is what I'm actually going through.

For me, um, I read these verses very soon after I committed um to being in the word um every single day.

And it was the first passage that um I really felt compelled to memorize and and I love it.

And so we're gonna talk about a couple of the words that stick out to me in this passage.

But I'm gonna read this morning um from Psalm chapter 63.

Psalms 63 · chapter mention

Um, and I am gonna read it.

I actually have the ESV right here, but I'm gonna read it in the New Living Translation.

I just love the wording of it um from the NLT.

So I'm gonna read um these verses and then we're gonna chat just a little bit about some of the phrases that stand out.

Okay, so again, this is David who wrote this, and um, here's what he has to say.

Oh God, you are my God.

I earnestly search for you.

My soul thirsts for you, my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.

Does that sound familiar?

It's my heart.

I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory.

Man, we've all seen him work, right?

Your unfailing love is better than life itself.

How I praise you.

I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer.

Those are the verses that I memorize.

So, man, if you're looking for a place to memorize scripture, start with those four verses.

It will it will rock your soul, girls.

All right, so I'm gonna continue on.

You satisfy me more than the richest feast.

I will praise you with songs of joy.

I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night.

Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings.

I cling to you.

Your strong right hand holds me securely.

Guys, like I'm getting emotional just reading this.

But those plotting to destroy me will come to ruin.

And listen, David, and our pastor pointed this out on Sunday.

David uh definitely pulls all out all the punches when he's talking about his enemies.

But keep in mind, he was physically fleeing from enemies most of his life, or he was in a battle most of his life.

So um, so these words are very real to him.

I'm not going around wishing these on my enemies.

I'm not sure if I have enemies like this.

So, anyway, but those plotting to destroy me will come to ruin.

They will go down into the depths of the earth.

They will die by the sword and become the food of jackals.

But those plotting to destroy me will come to oh, sorry.

Uh, but the king will rejoice in God.

He's talking about himself.

All who swear to tell the truth will praise him, while liars be will be silenced.

Now, listen, I know those last few verses are very um, I mean, they're extreme.

All right, David was an extreme kind of guy.

Uh, but the first few verses is where we're gonna kind of park this morning.

Um, and in per I mean, we're gonna really hone in on um this dry, parched, weary land.

Okay, now you don't have to confess it in the comments, but how often in your life have you felt completely spiritually dry?

Like, and and what this can look like.

It can it can feel like, you know, the Lord isn't answering, the Lord isn't there, it can feel like those things, but it manifests itself in um, and and so maybe if these are things that you're doing right now, maybe you might want to take a minute after this, these few minutes together and really spend some time with the Lord and pray and and ask why.

But how this manifests in me when I am spiritually dry, when I am not getting filled up with his word and in his presence, I grumble, I complain, I'm critical, I'm judgy, I'm angry, I'm stressed, I'm anxious, and nothing feels like it's working for my good.

Ever been there?

Ever felt spiritually dry like that?

Um I would bet that we probably all have.

In fact, like you may not know this about women, even though we say it a million times, but we are the worst at taking care of ourselves when we are great or trying to be great at taking care of everybody around us.

And listen, I get it, I do it, I've been there, but um, but there is such profound truth in what can happen when we feed our soul with the one who created us, and then what that does, what comes out of us when we do that.

Like it's it's not it's not hard math, it's not girl math, it's just like actual facts that when we spend time filling ourselves with what is good and what is true and what is pure and what is honorable and noble and all the things that come from God, and then what comes out of us is not grumbling and complaining and criticism and judgment and anger and stress and anxiousness.

Like that's not what comes out of us when we are filled to the brim with Him and His Holy Spirit.

What comes out of us then is joy and the pain.

What comes out of us then is peace when that makes no sense.

What comes out of us is kindness when people aren't kind to us.

What comes out of us is goodness when it feels like there's no good around us.

When it comes, what comes out of us is being faithful and showing up and and and having self-control.

Like those are the things that come out of us when we make a decision to not be and to fight against being spiritually dry.

So I don't know, maybe that's where you are today.

And listen, I feel it.

I do, I do, I do.

I think, you know, even though I've been in ministry now for 20 plus years, like there have been seasons where I'm like, are you there?

Are you real?

Like, what is going on?

And and he's big enough to hear those questions.

Like, so don't think for a second that you can't ask him those big questions.

Don't think for a second that he can't handle your uh anger and your frustration.

Like, he wants you to bring it all to him so that like together he can help you work through that.

Like, that's the whole point of a relationship with Jesus is not doing it on our own.

Okay.

So if you are feeling that, like, I'm not judging, I've been there, and I'm pretty sure that even though I was deep into ministry almost three years ago, like I was going through a season watching what was going on in the world and maybe consuming too much of what was going on in the world.

And man, of just feeling like, ah, I am dry to the bone.

Why am I dry to the bone?

You know, and I don't remember what it was that um that uh jumpstarted my heart and my actions to be in the word.

I don't remember that that pivotal moment, but um, but I do just remember thinking, like, I have to be in the source, I have to go to the source every single day.

I have to be in the source every hour of the day.

And that's why this song, like literally anytime I hear it, and if you didn't listen to it, go back and listen to it right after this today, because this song literally makes me weep.

It makes me weep because it's true.

I cannot survive this hour or the next hour or the hours to come um without being tapped into the ultimate source, and that is Jesus Christ.

So I'm gonna read a few of these lyrics for us.

Um, and I'm already emotional because maybe I'm sleep deprived.

I have no idea.

But but I may cry all the way through these, and that's okay.

We're gonna chat through how to combat this spiritual dryness here in just a second.

But here are the lyrics to Matt Mars, uh, Lord, I need you.

Lord, I come, I confess.

There's where it starts, gals.

Like, you don't have to be anything that you're not in that moment when you are just him and you.

Like, you don't have to be strong, you don't have to fight for anything, you don't have to have pride, you don't have to like try to prove anything to him.

You don't have to be something you're not.

Like, see, the first line, it's already got me.

Lord, I come, I confess.

Bowing here, I find my rest.

Without you, I fall apart.

You're the one that guides my heart.

Lord, I need you.

Oh, I need you.

Every hour I need you.

My one defense, my righteousness.

Oh, God, how I need you.

Now, I don't know about you, but when I sing that song, I I used to get really tripped up on my righteousness because I'm like, oh, it's not mine.

It's because of him, you know.

But but here's what I want you to understand about that that little phrase: My righteousness is my rightness with God.

That's what righteousness means.

It means I'm right with God.

And when we are pursuing the things of Christ, when we are allowing him to infiltrate and permeate every ounce of our being, when we are spending time in his presence, then we are right with him.

And and and so all I have, my one defense is my rightness with you and the fact that you don't see me and my ugly.

When you look at me, you see your son Jesus because because that's that's who I'm trying to be.

Um, so that is what that that phrase means.

So if you've ever gotten tripped up on that phrase, that's that's um that's what it's all about.

Now I'm gonna read this next verse because listen, all these words.

Where sin runs deep, your grace is more.

We cannot out sin his grace.

Oh, that was good.

I may have to write that down.

We cannot out sin his grace.

Where grace is found is where you are, and where you are, Lord, I am free.

Holiness is Christ in me.

And it repeats the chorus.

So teach my song to rise to you when temptation comes my way, and when I cannot stand, I'll fall on you.

Jesus, you are my hope and stay.

Oh guys.

I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm so emotional today.

It's probably because of sleep deprivation.

I don't know, but it's true.

Like I love those words so much, they make me emotional because man, I cannot sin beyond what his grace can cover.

I can't, I can't do it, even if I try, I can't do it.

So, man, live in that truth today.

All right, so as I was reading through David's words in Psalm 63 and just kind of reflecting on the words of this song, I came up with uh three things, three three plus one.

Okay, I'm gonna say it that way.

So four things that we can do when we're spiritually dry that come straight from this passage.

Um, and so I'm just gonna kind of share those with you.

Um, the first thing is um uh, you know, he talks about in verse, let's see, where is it?

He he talks about in verse two, David says, I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory.

Right there, he's remembering what God has done for him.

And I think a lot of times we we forget to just stop and think about all the ways that he has met us where we where we were, like how he has shown up for us, how he has been there for us.

And and and so there are times where I have to like just pause and be like, okay, Lord, flood me with those memories.

Flood me with those memories.

And and very quickly I start thinking about, well, my salvation, you know, at 15 when I felt him call on my life, and and not just when I said yes to him, but all the moments from the time I was 15 until well in my 30s, where I was screwing up life and marriage and parenting so bad.

And he just kept meeting me there in those screw-ups, you know what I mean?

So um I I remember how he has restored my marriage, how he has restored my children.

You know, one of the things that I'm so faithful for or so thankful for right now, his faithfulness in is how my husband prays with me every night.

And that did not happen uh in the first 29 years of our marriage, actually almost 30 years of our marriage.

I, like many of you, have begged God, begged God for many years that my husband would be the spiritual leader of our home and felt like the Lord didn't hear me.

And it wasn't until um Steve and I kind of partnered up and did the marriage conference at Hickory Grove a couple of years ago that it hit my husband's heart and he has prayed, prayed over me and our family every single night before we go to bed.

And so that is something that, like, Lord, you showed up after I've been with him now, with my husband for 31 years and almost 32, and I have prayed almost all of those years for the Lord to lead my husband into a space where he can lead our home spiritually, and he's doing that.

So, how can I not be thankful for God's faithfulness in that?

He showed up.

Like, so if you're on that journey, keep praying, keep crying out to the Lord, keep asking him to do something you can't imagine because just one day my husband grabbed my hand and said, you know, I think we should pray together before we go to bed every night.

Blew me up.

Another thing that I'm so faithful, so thankful for today, where God is showing up, is I have been praying.

And like most of you that are mothers, you pray probably most for your children and for them to know Jesus and love Jesus and follow Jesus and to be protected from their stupid until Christ has taken hold of their hearts, right?

Me too.

I'm still praying for them.

I have four boys.

Um and one of the The demons that my kids battle hard.

Well, three of my four children battle so hard is drugs and alcohol.

And I'm not saying my kids are a bunch of druggies.

They like to drink.

They, they, they like to drink.

And um, man, I've seen alcohol nearly destroy them on multiple occasions.

And um, and so it's a constant prayer that the Lord delivers them from that demon hold on their bodies.

Um, but my oldest son right now, like, he's completely sober and just out of the blue, I don't know, it's been almost two months now.

Out of the blue, he's like, you know what, I'm giving it up because it just it wrecks havoc on my body.

And so I'm like, Lord, look what you're doing.

So boy number one is now completely two months sober.

And so, like, these are the things, and and listen, I'm not saying them to brat, I'm saying that like it takes so much.

Um, like, I don't know, I don't know what it takes.

Honestly, the words are not with me this morning, but like if you sit for a minute, there are so many ways that you can say, okay, Lord, you showed up there.

And those are promise, those, those are the foundation of us being able to trust him that he's gonna show up in whatever it is we're doing today, whatever hard thing we're managing today.

Like what he's done in the past is proof that he will show up again in his timing and in his way so that it's better than we could think or imagine.

Okay.

So trust in that.

All right.

So um I'm I have four things and I've only gotten to one.

First thing, when we are feeling spiritual dry, spiritually dry, remember his faithfulness.

Take physical time to remember how he has shown up in those moments of your life.

The second thing, and this is why I love that we do these summer song series, is worship, man, worship can defeat so many things.

And and I know sometimes it's like, well, I'm just singing, you know, praise music or whatever.

No, it's so much bigger than that.

When you are singing songs and you are worshiping through music, like you are singing scripture over your life and your situation, and you are taking time to praise him in those, in those lyrics of those songs.

And you are like it's truth.

Like you are you are manifesting his goodness and presence in your life when you are taking time to worship.

And I love it in these verses.

Um, let's see, where's it at?

Oh, these pages got all twisted up, Bobby.

I will praise you for as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer.

Ah, I will praise you with songs of joy.

Your unfailing love is better than life itself.

How I praise you.

Those are some of the words from Psalm 63.

Like, when we praise, we do not praise.

Let me tell you what praise does.

Praise and worship defeats pride, like it takes down the pride within us and allows us to just be who he created us to be, right?

And even if that's just you alone in your car or you alone in your house listening to worship music, man, let worship be a gateway to his presence.

Let it be what you do.

And and you know, a true confession, like my whole life I have been skeptical and critical of um of worship music.

Like when I grew up in the 90s, so much of Christian music, like in my young brain, was just a stepping stone to get into secular music, a stepping stone to get into pop music.

And man, I was so critical of it because it was just, it didn't sound any different.

You know, like a lot of 90s, and now like some of those songs I really, really love.

Um, but a lot of 90s songs felt the same, sounded the same as just the stuff on, you know, pop radio or whatever.

So I was super critical, and I have been like a lot of my life, but but listen, some of these songs that are being written um in our modern church history, so like in the last 10 years, man, they are good and they are based on scripture.

And when you are singing that kind of thing, man, it it makes a difference.

It it gives an impact.

I have shared many times that I listen to um a devotional in the morning.

It's called Worship Initiative, and their entire point is to find songs that are based in scripture so that we are singing um praise to him.

We're singing his words right back to him.

So um, if you are feeling spiritually dry, remember his faithfulness, take time to remember what he has done and worship anyway, even if it's hard, even if there's pain, worship anyway.

And that reminds me of the old hymn, I need you, Lord, I need you.

I want to just read this lyric: I need thee every hour, in joy or pain.

Come quickly and abide, or life is in vain.

Man, I love those words because it's truth.

Like, and when we are singing about him, we are allowing him to be present and to be a part of our hour, our day, our minute, whatever.

So when you're feeling spiritually dry, remember his faithfulness, worship anyway, and just be in his presence, just be with him.

Like David talks about, like in verse six, I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night.

Guys, pause and think about all the things that you have thought about already this morning.

And I would bet my life that many of you allowed it to spiral and already started to feel like, oh, how am I gonna handle today?

Stop it.

Stop it.

Start with him, let him be what is on your brain.

Remember a couple of weeks ago we talked about all the thoughts that we women think and how like if we could just give him a portion of that, would that change how we function?

Yes, of course it will.

So, so figure it out, figure it out.

And I don't mean that to be like cruel, like I know you're busy.

I raised four kids, they were all in sports.

Like, it life is busy, but life is also what we choose it to be.

Life is what we choose it to be, and so if I'm gonna make a choice to be in his presence every single day, he will show up.

He will beat me when my mind and brain starts to spiral.

And even more than that, when I'm here and I'm reading about his goodness and his faithfulness and his love for me, those are the words that replace the thoughts that the enemy and the world are trying to make me stay stuck on.

It is 100% truth that I am sharing with you today.

If you if you are struggling and feeling spiritually dry and you are feeling like he is not there, remember how faithful he's been, worship him anyway, and just figure out time to be with him.

It will change everything, guys.

I'm not kidding.

I'm running out of time.

I always do that.

I'm sorry, but I do have one little bonus thing that we can do when we're spiritually dry.

And this has really hurt uh not hurt.

Maybe it should hurt.

Uh, it has really hit me over the last couple of weeks.

Like a lot of times when I am feeling dry, I'm not doing these things.

I'm not remembering who he is and what he's done.

I'm not worshiping him and I'm not uh spending time with him.

But but a lot of times I'm also just so focused on me that that is the problem.

That's the root reason, is that I'm just focused on me and my woes and my thoughts and whatever.

They're not his.

And so sometimes in those moments when we are spiritually dry, one of the best things we can do is take the focus off of us and serve somebody else.

It's true.

Like as believers in Christ, as those that are trying to be like Jesus, it is part of our responsibility as a follower of Christ to serve.

Yep, sometimes that means inconvenience, and sometimes that means suffering, and sometimes that means doing things we don't want to do.

But you know what?

That is where he is.

He is there in our humility, he is there when we are at the end of us, he is there when we show up, when nobody else is ever gonna see it.

Like that is where he meets us and goes, Ah, you're ready for what I have for you next.

Girls, none of this is easy.

But but here's something that um I heard not long ago and it stuck with me.

Life is going here it is.

I don't want to mess it up.

Life is hard.

Choose your hard.

Okay?

You're gonna choose the hard part of life without Jesus, or you're gonna choose life with Jesus and all the things that he is the source of.

Life is going to be hard, and it's going to try to beat you and keep you down.

And the enemy who is very real wants to seek you out and destroy you from the inside out.

So there's one version of hard.

You can do that and you can fight that on your own.

Or you can know that life is gonna be hard and the enemy is coming after you, but you have Jesus as your shield, your source for all things.

And wow, what starts to come out of us when we allow him to work.

So, all right, Lord, I need you every hour today.

I need you every hour with maybe coffee every hour.

I don't know if that is your morning too, but man, friends, I'm praying for you.

Um, next week, Lori is gonna be back with us.

Lori, if you're watching, I saw you comment.

I'm so thankful for you that you tag team this uh this situation with me.

And I have a challenge for all of you before you log off.

I have a challenge, just very quickly, if you've hung on.

There are women around you, there are women in your circle who need this kind of encouragement.

Okay, and what's beautiful about this kind of encouragement is they can listen to it on their own.

They don't have to go anywhere, they don't have to be anything anything, they don't have to do anything but hit play.

There are women who need to be encouraged in this way.

We need women to be strong followers of Jesus.

So I'm gonna ask you to tag somebody or I'm gonna put the link to our podcast because as we've said many times, these disappear, these videos disappear after a month because of Facebook's new rules over the last year.

I'm gonna link the podcast in the comments, and I want you to share that with someone who needs it.

Gals, don't leave.

Don't leave a woman defenseless.

Don't leave a woman on her own and don't leave a woman in what you think she deserves.

Don't leave a sister in that.

Give her hope today.

All right, so uh that is all for today.

Let me pray over us and then man, whatever it is you need.

If you need to sit in his faithfulness, if you need to uh worship as loud as you can, if you need to just be in his presence, then do that now.

And uh we will see you back here next Tuesday.

Father God, thank you for loving us.

Thank you for the truth of your word.

Thank you for the encouragement it gives us.

Thank you for being the source of all the things we need.

Thank you for loving me even in my mess.

Lord, I ask that you show up in big ways to the women that listen to this today.

And Lord, I just thank you for all that you've done.

It's in your name I pray.

Amen.