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Please Come Home, a song based on Prodigal Son story

Do you feel unworthy to be near God? The apostle Peter sure did. When he first realized who Jesus was after a miracle, he said to Jesus, “Depart from me Lord, I am a sinful man.” As if to say, “God, you don’t want me around, I’m too sinful. You’re better off without me. I’ll just muddy things up.”

Have you ever felt that way? I sure have.

Here’s a common scenario:

You know what God wants you to do but you fail him and break his heart for the billionth time and you wonder, how in the world would he take me back again? Why would he give me another chance? Why would he ever risk his heart on me again?

And so you stay away. You keep your distance. You may even come to believe that you are beyond his grace. Beyond forgiveness.

But Jesus would say to you, “You are the reason I came. I came for you! I died that day to take away all your unworthiness and every last sin and shameful thing that you think keeps you from me. So come. Please come and just let me love you! Please come home.”

Jesus shared the story of the prodigal son to tell us something about how God feels for those who feel this way. (Read the story here). He shows us the attitude of the Father God toward all his lost children. He is waiting and watching and I believe, is doing everything possible to bring them home. Yes, he has done and is doing everything!

The cross accomplished more than we will ever know. When Jesus said, “It is finished” he meant it. On the cross God Himself bore our shame, our pain, and our every sin. Yes, even every last lustful look and judgmental attitude. He bled for every murder, every rape, every homosexual act, & every word of gossip so that we might be saved and have hope & redemption.

Redemption is yours if you want it. God respects our free will. He will never force us to come. He simply invites.

Be reconciled to God today! Stop everything and take a moment and connect with him right now! Please pray with me:

“Dear God, thank you for being the God of second chances. Thank you for always risking your heart and trusting in your love and grace to change us. May your love and grace do it’s work right now and soften our hearts towards you God. Thanks for loving us so much that you would run out to meet us and lavish us with love when we turn for home. God, we come home to you now.”

(“Please Come Home” is now part of our 5 song free sample download available on our website and is this month’s “Song of the Month”.)

Song Story & Chords:

The Original (Download) Version of this song:

Performing this song at Cup O Joy in Green Bay:

Here we are as the whole band playing this at Lifest 2012:

 
If this song has blessed you, please use the share buttons at the bottom of this post to share it! Join the conversation, please leave a comment!

Please Come Home
(note to Guitar players – Capo on 3 and play the following chords)

Am Fmaj7
You think I’m better off without you
You say, “Depart, for I’m a sinful soul”
But you’re the reason that I came to earth
To bleed upon a cross to give you hope

CHORUS:
C G
So please come home, please come home
Am F2
Where you will never more, have to be alone
So please come home, please come home
Where you will never more, have to be alone
Am Fmaj7
Please come home

Am Fmaj7
I know your anxious thoughts and that your mind is filled with doubt
You wonder how I’ll take you back, with all your dark clouds
And you think you’ve gone beyond, what my grace can bear
But I want you to know; your debt is paid in full

Gadd9                             F2
I know you feel unworthy, and that you don’t belong
Perhaps you think you’ve sinned too much,
Your shame is just too strong
No need to worry, I will never bring it up
Am F2
Instead I will lavish you with love

Words and music by Daniel & Catherine Lovett
cop.2012 Reflect Worship Music

ps. So as I was writing this song it reminded me of Dustin Kensrue and when I checked iTunes store for songs of the same title, and who should appear in the search results but Dustin Kensrue. He wrote a song by the same title. Crazy right? His version is completely different of course.

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Song of the Month (April) – Captivated

Download “Captivated” here: http://reflect.bandcamp.com

(Click Here for LYRICS)

We pray you are doing well and hope this song “Captivated” is a blessing to you in your journey with God. I have been thinking about something Jesus once said, “But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.  For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24 NLT)

The Father is looking for worshipers. Is he finding you? Is he finding me? Are we worshiping? What does it even mean to worship him?

Worship = Love

I was listening to Danen Kane’s song “Love is Waiting” the other day in my car and it ended with the line, “Love is waiting on us”. I thought, “Okay God, I receive your love.” Immediately I felt his love and affirmation fill my heart.

I am convinced that to worship God primarily means to simply allow ourselves be loved by him. This is what God wants from each one of us, a willing heart… willing, to be loved. And as we are loved, and only as we are loved, are we able to then respond in love for God and a genuine love for others, for Scripture says, “We love him, because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19 KJV)

I can imagine God searching throughout the whole earth asking, “Who will respond to my love?” I bet he gets really excited when he finds someone willing to open their heart to his love.

Jesus talked about abiding or remaining in God’s love in John 15:

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” ( John 15:9-13 NIV)

Love each other. Even as Jesus loved us, so we are commanded to love each other. This is the true test of responding to God’s love. It translates into love for others. Someone who doesn’t love others hasn’t yet reveled in the love of God. When we do revel in his love for us we then love others and come to experience the abundant life of Jesus.

I encourage you to take some time to revel in the love of God, in the unconditional love of God, and then spread that love to everyone you come into contact with!

Update on Daniel & Catherine:

We were sick for a little over a week in the month of March and I grew a beard (now gone). My joke was, “I’m not sure how I feel about it yet, but it’s growing on me.” I had to cancel ten days of concerts and while I was off I did a great deal of writing and recorded several videos (a few Johnny Cash covers).

Our little girl Ellie is now almost 2 years old. We love her so much and she is so much fun. Jungle book is her favorite movie and she has even sung in her sleep “Bare nessecities… yea man”. She loves music and dancing around the house. While we were rehearsing Captivated before recording the video Ellie corrected us when we got to the chorus. Every time we would sing “Jesus you are so beautiful…” she would say, “No, Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so!” She has a really good memory for songs.

Nursing Home Ministry Update:

Please pray for our Nursing Home ministry. We have quite a busy month in April with about 50 concerts and I really want people to experience and respond to God’s love and the good news of Jesus. You can donate to help this ministry at our website. Your donations go toward providing large print Gospels of John to residents!

Thanks for listening,

Daniel & Catherine

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Song of the Month: Bring Me to the Light

“Song of the Month” for March – (available for download here: www.reflect.bandcamp.com)

Bring Me to the Light:

Rescue me, Lord I pray,
Please send the help I need
Lord Jesus show the way
Reveal yourself to me

CHORUS:

I went wrong, I won’t deny
I confess my sin to you
From your love I will not hide
O bring me to the light
To the light
O bring me to the light
To the light

If redemption’s to be found
I will do all that it takes
To be free, to love you God
Oh to finally know your grace

What is the goal of our salvation? What is the purpose, or intended result, of forgiveness?

In his first letter, John writes about fellowship. Fellowship with both God and other believers as we walk in the light… and only as we walk in the light. John tells us this fellowship is maintained through the forgiveness and cleansing God extends to us freely as we do our part and confess our sins to him. (John makes it clear that none of us can claim to be without sin.)

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 NIV)

That is what this song of the month, Bring Me to the Light, is all about! I am so glad God has done everything to keep us in fellowship with himself. Not only does he forgive, he cleanses us as well. And just think, God is faithful and just to do so. He doesn’t have to bend a rule to do this. Because of the cross of Jesus, there are no rules to keep you or me away from God and his love.

One of my favorite lyrics is “Lord Jesus show the way, reveal yourself to me.”

Jesus said that he is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). Early believers were known as followers of the way. Jesus is the way to life abundant and victory over sin. He is the way to love and the way home to our Father. Jesus is the way.

Incidently, Jesus name in Hebrew is Yashua. “Ya” is the abrev. form of YHWH, the personal name of God which translates as “I AM” or “I AM THAT I AM”. “Shua” means salvation. Salvation is such a rich word here. It indicates complete wholeness. You are restored to all you were created and intended to be by our loving God as his image bearer.

“I AM salvation”. This is the name of Jesus.

PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, we pray that you would bring us to the light, restore us to fellowship with yourself and all our brothers and sisters in the family of God. God, we do confess our sin to you and ask you to forgive and cleanse us right now in Jesus name. May we walk in the light of Jesus, our salvation.

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Happy New Year from Reflect Worship

The new year can be a great time for fresh beginnings and for taking on new challenges as we stop to take stock of our lives and consider areas we might want to change. We all know, or should know, that God’s word is important and that is why we are deciding to read through the Bible this year. Catherine will be taking the whole year to read and meditate on the Scripture, while Daniel, along with some friends, has decided to read through the Bible in 90 days. We encourage you and challenge you to read through the Bible in the new year!

Check out the 90 day challenge at our website!

New Album in the New Year

This year we are planning to work on recording a new album.  As we work on writing and recording we thought we would share some new songs with you.

For the next six months we will send out a link in each e-mail to a previously unreleased song.  We will have the song available for free download for one month.  If you like it, please share it on facebook or twitter.  We’d also love your feedback as we are deciding which songs to put on our next album.

January’s song is called I Want to Fly.  Download it for free today!

Thanks for listening,

Daniel & Catherine

 

 

 

 

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Read the Bible in 90 days Challenge!

Over the past couple of months I read through the Bible – all 66 books in 66 days.  I cannot put into words how valuable this life changing experience has been! I wish I could share all the wonderful things I learned along the way! But no matter how much I wish I could share this experience with all of you, you must experience it for yourself.

This why I am challenging you in this new year to read the Bible! This time around I will be reading it with some friends in 90 days and discussing what we learn.

One friend asked me, “Is it a race that you read it so quickly? Did you even retain any of it?”

Of course getting through the Word of God is not a race but there really is something wonderful about reading through the Bible in a short time frame (though admittedly, 66 days is perhaps too fast). You start to see the big picture of this amazing redemption story that God is telling and inviting us all into.

The Holy Spirit is indispensable to the process, after all He is the author. With the Holy Spirit by your side as you read his word, He will highlight and underline things that you read. Life changing truth will jump off the page and speak to you. Only God, by His Spirit can bring true understanding to what we are reading. He often challenges us to repent and become the loving people he always intended us to be. We can, by his grace, truly change for the better. He is the one who changes us.

Prior to my 66 days through the Bible, I had been frustrated with myself over how much I had been ignoring and avoiding the word of God. If the Bible is a book divinely inspired (authored) by our Creator and Savior, then shouldn’t we all be desperate to know God and learn what he has to say?

In this new year, let’s dive into God’s Word and read for ourselves what God wants to say to us. Let’s get to know God and to love God with everything we’ve got in this new year!

Here are links to a couple of reading plans for the new year:

Here is where I’ll be blogging about my experience through the Bible in 90 days. sign up for email updates at this blog: http://66in66.wordpress.com/

Thanks for listening!

Daniel

 

 

 

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First and Only Snow, a Christmas Poem

First and Only Snow (a Christmas Poem)

It was the first and only snow
That I had seen all year,
I thought perhaps it was a sign,
To mark the Saviors birth.

I was shepherding in fields that night,
Or rather hills of Bethlehem,
Gathered with some friends of mine,
And suddenly just then –

Angels from the Lord of hosts
Hovered in the air,
Declaring, “Peace on earth to men,
Goodwill and do not fear!”

“The Savior has been born this night,
so be now of good cheer!
You’ll find him lying in a manger,
not too far from here!”

Just as suddenly as they had come,
They vanished from our sight,
And despite the words the angel spoke,
We were in a fright!

All except one little boy,
Who said, “Let’s go and see!”
And soon we all were on our way,
Singing merrily.

When we finally found the place,
We were overcome with awe,
We knelt and kissed the Saviors head,
And held him one and all.

The little boy who said “let’s go”
Played then on his drum,
He danced around the stable then,
Having so much fun.

We all laughed and clapped along,
And then we sang with joy.
At the birth of God’s own son,
This precious baby boy!

(Christmas poem by Daniel Lovett 2008)

About this poem:

I wrote this a couple of years ago while sitting at La Java coffee shop in Green Bay, WI. I was looking for more material to share at my Christmas concerts and thought, why not create some? Israel is about the same latitude as Texas and doesn’t get a whole lot of snow, if any, especially as far South as Bethlehem (hence the title). This poem is written from the perspective of one of the shepherds on that first Christmas.  Hope you enjoyed it! Share it with someone this Christmas! Sharing is Caring.

Thanks for listening,

Daniel Lovett

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Twelve Baby Days of Christmas

An original version of a Christmas classic, featuring our beautiful daughter Ellie.

We thought it would be fun to rewrite the 12 days of Christmas to be all things baby related. We recorded the song, put together a slide show of Ellie and sent it off to our parents last year for Christmas. After watching it, my mom immediately booked a flight to come see her new granddaughter for herself. Enjoy!

If you enjoyed this video please share it on facebook or twitter,

Merry Christmas!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

The Lord Provides!

Full time music ministry has been an exercise in living by faith. We are continually challenged to trust God to provide for our family and to continue to open doors for us to share music with people. Recently we have been reminded about the creative ways God uses to bless his children.

We had a bad storm move through the area with high winds and lots of rain. We have an enormous maple tree in our backyard that became a storm casualty. One huge branch broke and crashed to the ground. This actually turned out to be a blessing for us. First off the branch fell in the space between our house and our neighbors and did not damage either house. Second, a very kind friend in the area purchased a new chainsaw and lent it to Daniel so he could cut up the branches. We will have plenty of firewood for our fireplace next winter! Third, our insurance sent us a check for $500 to cover the cost of the removal, which just happened to be the exact amount needed to cover the repairs we had to have done on Daniel’s car that week. I thought it was pretty cool that God used a storm and a downed tree branch to provide for our car repairs.


Van for Sale!

We are selling our 2002 Chrysler Town and Country van! It has served us well for several years and has many new parts (transmission & brakes). We are selling it at the kelly blue book price for it’s condition. Check out the link for all the details and pass the info on to anyone you know who is looking for a van!

Here is the link to the details:

http://appleton.craigslist.org/cto/2673348068.html


 

66 Books of the Bible in 66 Days!

A few weeks ago I challenged myself to read through the Bible in 66 days, tackling a book a day, and blogging about the experience!

It has been truly amazing and life changing thus far! Issues that had long been crippling my relationship with God were brought out into the open to be dealt with and I have learned a lot about God’s heart.

Please visit my blog at this website: http://66in66.wordpress.com!

Subscribe to it if you like at the home page, and take up the challenge yourself! There is nothing like reading the very words of God and getting to know him and his word for yourself.

Contact Us:
We love hearing back from you (especially if you’re in the market for a reliable van). Of course we also like to hear stories about how our music has impacted you as well.

Visit us at: www.reflectworship.com if you’d like to support our music by purchasing an album, or donating toward our Nursing Home Ministry.

Thanks for listening!

Daniel & Catherine

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Music for Africa

This month’s opportunity to make a difference

Horn of Africa Famine - Donate NowFor the month of September, we are donating all the profits of our CD and download sales to the ongoing crisis in Africa.

If you would like to get some music and support this cause, consider purchasing or downloading our album.

Link to Purchase or Link to Download

If you don’t care to get our music or already have it, please donate to World Vision to help the 12.4 million at risk of starvation in Africa!

Here is a video that will help explain what is going on in Africa:

UPDATE on Nursing Home Ministry Fundraiser


In the last email we sent (which you can view here) we were doing a fundraiser to bless some nursing homes with a copy of our Hymns CD. Here are the results:

  • We raised a total of $610 dollars and were able to get a Hymns CD to all 81 nursing homes in the six counties surrounding Milwaukee!
  •  We were also able to purchase 100 Large print Gospels of John (already distributed 50) and 24 Large print New Testaments!

A huge THANK YOU to all who believe in this ministry enough to support this ministry! We couldn’t do this without you!

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Nursing Home Ministry Fundraiser

After four years of nursing home ministry we are finally doing our first official fundraiser to bless the area nursing homes. Our goal is to bless 85 new nursing homes in six counties near Milwaukee with a copy of our Reflect Hymn album.

Over the past two years I have mailed out a copy of this CD to many of the area nursing homes and assisted living facilities. This album has been very well received by the residents in the nursing homes and they are often used for music therapy, played during the dinner hour, for memorial services and most amazing of all, to comfort those passing away.

About the Reflect Hymn CD

This album has become a favorite among elderly residents. It is a peaceful acoustic collection of the most loved classic hymns such as Amazing Grace, What a Friend, In the Garden, and Rock of Ages. (click here to listen)

Our goal is to raise $680 to fund the mailing of the CD to these 85 facilities ($5 each) and also to order a supply of 300 large print Gospels of John (comes to $0.85 each after shipping) to distribute to residents who would want one. Any additional funds raised will go towards a new Hymns project that is in the works for our continued ministry to the elderly in nursing homes.

If you would like to help, please donate!

Or, you may also send a check to:

Daniel & Catherine Lovett
1901 N. Nicholas St.
Appleton WI 54914

(If you would like to send a CD to a nursing home near you or you know someone in a nursing home that you would specifically like to send a CD, simply donate and let us know where or to whom you would like it sent.)

THANKS!!!