Born to do great things

I have never had great success writing music, by trying really hard to write music.  Most of the music I have written is what accidentally falls out of my lips when I find myself helpless in His Presence.  The times when I try to whip up some great lyrics or melodies, it doesn't happen.  It is in the moments when I get lost in the great love He has for me that songs beyond my reach flow out effortlessly.

I have discovered that I often stumble into singing the breakthrough I am going to need for the journey ahead.  Many times I have looked back at the songs I wrote years before and realized that they contain the keys I need for my current season.  When I wrote "I Will Not Be Silent" I was just running after the heart of God and shouting at the giants who were trying to silence my voice.  At the time it seemed like a very simple song.  Almost six years later I am just starting to unpack the revelation that God crammed into that song for me.  The first and second verse go something like this:

I will not be silent
I was born to worship
I will not be quiet
the voice of fear will hold me back no more
I will not give up 
what is my inheritance 
I was born to do great things 
God is alive,  He is inside of me.

I used to be afraid to speak in public. You know why I wrestled with that fear?  Because the enemy fears the voice God has given me.  Fear comes against us because the enemy is afraid of us.  The exact places where we are created to do great things are the same places the enemy targets us with fear. 

A few weeks ago I had the honor to share this message at an amazing school called "Fire and Fragrance" in Kona, Hawaii.  The school is apart of the incredible mission movement called Y.W.A.M. that has been carrying the heart of God to the nations for over fifty years. 

You can find out more about YWAM and Fire and Fragrance at www.fireandfragrance.com

You can hear the message I shared at "Fire and Fragrance"  on our latest podcast by clicking here 

A Mighty Raucous Evening

Mr. Webster defines the word "catalyst" as: an agent that provokes or speeds significant change or action.  If I could use one word to describe my friend John Mark McMillan's music; It would be the word catalyst. The sound that flows out of John Mark's heart and guitar is significantly changing what we thought worship was or could be. John Mark is launching something new this spring called  "A Mighty Raucous Evening"  Its more than just a tour, its about creating an expectation for something new.  To find out more click here- www.johnmarkmcmillan.wordpress.com

Sing Winter

Don't be afraid of the silence. God may be doing more when you can not hear him, than when he is speaking. Redemption comes like the silent snow that falls while we sleep. You wake up and the entire landscape has changed. The dark and barren colors of winter are transformed into a bright white glory that almost blinds you. When you look out the window you see a brand new world. The snowflakes echo the silent redemption plan of a King who came as a baby. A baby who became the Savior and who stood silent as a lamb before the shearer. His silent sacrifice covered the whole earth in redemption that turned the crimson stains as white as snow.

My wife and I bought our son Cadence a ukulele for Christmas. A few nights before Christmas, when we were supposed to be wrapping his present, we started writing a song on his ukulele. The song was about the snowflakes falling and winters silent song. The next morning after breakfast we slipped into the bedroom to finish the song. As we were finishing the last verse of the song, we were interrupted by the joyful squeals of my two children playing outside. We looked out our window and were astonished to see them playing in a surprise snow storm. None of the weather reports had even mentioned the slightest chance of snow. We could hardly believe that the snow started falling as we finished the last verse of the song. This little video was filmed from our back porch just a few minutes later.


Sing Winter

Hear the snowflakes falling, winter's calling my name.
The silent song she's singing, what's she trying to say

Can I fall like glory, to wash your year away
All that remains was, really meant to stay

Come and clothe me winter, I really need a change
With silent redemption, cover me in grace

Hear the song of beauty, melodies and sounds
Cover you in white love, a joy you lost but now you found

Sing, sing, winter, sing me your silent song.

Upcoming Night of Worship

Last month we gathered at Grace Church in High Point, NC for a night of worship. It was one of those nights when the Lord hijacked every moment with His love.  Come and join us on January 28th. Our agenda is His Presence and our desire is to waste this night pouring our love out upon Him.

For more info go to www.aplacefortheheart.org

You're Never Giving Up

Three days after Jesus was crucified, the disciples were locked in a room hiding in fear. They thought their story was coming to end, but really it was just about to begin. All of a sudden, Jesus walked through the walls and said, "Peace be unto you, just as the Father sent me I am sending you", and then He breathed on them the Holy Spirit. The men who had fearfully locked themselves in that room came out and changed the world.

When we stepped into the studio to record "You're Never Giving Up," we had only planned on recording a simple song that would last a few minutes, but God had other plans. When we thought the song was coming to an end, Jesus walked through the walls of the studio and we realized the song was just beginning. The song that we thought would only last a few minutes turned into a fifteen minute experience.

A few days ago we uncovered the raw footage of this spontaneous moment in "You're Never Giving Up." One the greatest moments in this song was having my Dad in the studio sing with me. We had not planned this ahead of time. He had just dropped by to see us. The whole idea happened minutes before we hit the record button. We put my Dad in Melissa's vocal booth and moved her into the room with me. We had not planed on Melissa singing on this song, but the Lord had other plans. You can see on the video that Melissa is on the other side of the room when she starts singing and then she moves closer to my mic. This has become my favorite moment in all the recording sessions. Everything you see on the video we could have never planned, it was a moment where Jesus hijacked our plan with His dream



Click here to see "You're Never Giving Up"

Jonathan David Helser | I've Seen I Am

I've seen I Am, now I know that I am loved. I've seen I Am, now I know who I am…..I wrote these lyrics over 8 years ago and I think I am just starting to scratch the surface of what they really mean. All it takes is one look into His eyes and everything changes. Just think about the pioneers who have gone before us…..

Moses sees the I Am in a bush on the backend of the wilderness and finds out who he really is. For 40 years Moses ran from his destiny and in one moment he discovers what he was made to be. He leaves this encounter with Love and frees a nation from 400 years of slavery. The same thing happens to Gideon. He is hiding in fear from the enemies who are robbing his destiny. He sees the I Am on the threshing floor and in the next moment he leaves his fears behind and leads a nation into freedom. Just think about the disciples after the crucifixion. They have locked themselves in a room hiding in fear. All of a sudden, the I Am walks through the walls and they see perfect Love standing before them and touch the scars in His hands and feet. The men who had fearfully locked themselves in that room came out and changed the world. The fears that once paralyzed them no longer held them down, because they found out who they really were and how much they were truly loved.

A broken generation is crying out somebody tell me who I am and what I was born to do. They are wandering through the wilderness looking for Love. My dream is to see this generation encounter the eyes of Love and find out who they truly are. Last month in the city of Dublin, Ireland I began to see a flicker of this dream burring into reality, as we gathered with 400 kids from all over the world to seek the face of the I Am. In between the conference sessions we slipped into the back part of the hotels pub and filmed this simple video of this song in one take. My great friend Luke Skaggs joins me on his fiddle.

They tamed him and the color of the wheat was different.....

I am sitting on my porch the night after our school the "18 inch Journey" ended. I feel super emotional...I keep reflecting on a moment I had with Cadence, my 8 year old son last night...we were at our house eating freshly made pound cake, with a lemon glaze sauce drinking coffee and getting ready to do our last night of encouraging each other. By that I mean we were sitting around one by one telling each other the things that we love about one another and speaking life into each others hearts. You don't realize how much you crave encouragement until your sitting in that chair. Cadence asked to stay up and I said no its time for bed, he called me into the pantry closed the door and said, "Please mom." I started to say no again...but I quickly saw tears streaming down his face. He looked me in the eyes in a way he never has before and said, "why does it have to go by so fast, it was like a flash of lighting. I am going to miss the students so much." In that moment I realized that my little 8 year old son had received a revelation from heaven. He really felt the pain of love. He began to tell me that all day he had thoughts of the first day they arrived, he remembered waking up and being so excited to go down to the farm and meet them all. His new family for 2 months. So many memories he said as he uncontrollably cried in my arms. I know it would seem that I am exaggerating the moment but it was so intense I cried and cried with him, not knowing what to say. I realized in that moment that my 8 year old was really learning how to love. They tamed him and the color of the wheat was different. [taken from the Little Prince a children's book we read this summer] We sat in our living room all 25 of us circled up one by one loving on one another, and Cadence Zion laid down in the center and fell asleep surrounded by love. For all of you who don't really know what we do in the summer...Here is a simple picture. We have a school in June and July for 60 days. Where we have about 15 students and 10 staff and a lot of the Holy Spirit. In this school we don't teach them how to be amazing worship leaders or incredible artists we don't even teach them how to do ministry really well. We teach them how to love...love each other, love the Lord and love themselves. We teach them how to live lives of extravagance and give themselves to the dream of God over their life. Yep in the middle of no where in Sophia, NC we took twenty-five, 18-25 year olds on a journey, an 18 inch journey, to be exact. The longest journey we ever make is the journey from our heads to our hearts. I could blog all day and all night about the little moments that made up the journey but I would subject myself to a lot of tears and I think I have run out. I cry because I am alive. And tonight I am swimming in a river of thanksgiving for the overwhelming love of the father. He came so intentionally this summer and I can't believe it is over.

Melissa Helser