My Jesus Journal

O Come to the Altar

"O Come To The Altar" Elevation Worship

Are you hurting and broken within

Overwhelmed by the weight of your sin

Jesus is calling

Have you come to the end of yourself

Do you thirst for a drink from the well

Jesus is calling

O come to the altar

The Father's arms are open wide

Forgiveness was bought with

The precious blood of Jesus Christ

Leave behind your regrets and mistakes

Come today there's no reason to wait

Jesus is calling

Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy

From the ashes a new life is born

Jesus is calling

O come to the altar

The Father's arms are open wide

Forgiveness was bought with

The precious blood of Jesus Christ

Oh what a Savior

Isn't he wonderful

Sing alleluia, Christ is risen

Bow down before him

For he is Lord of all

Sing alleluia, Christ is risen

O come to the altar

The Father's arms are open wide

Forgiveness was bought with

The precious blood of Jesus Christ

Bear your cross as you wait for the crown

Tell the world of the treasure you've found

I came across that song about a day or so ago, and I instantly fell in love with it. The words, the emotion, everything...it's just beautiful.

A while ago, at youth group, Pastor Chris asked us to stand out for God, and asked us to come to the altar and worship God if that's what we felt in our hearts that we were meant to do, but I stayed at my seat. Part of me really wanted this week at youth group to be different, I wanted to FEEL the songs that we were singing during worship, I wanted to connect more with God instead of just singing the words on the screen. While I wanted that, there's always that anxious part of me that holds back, that I'm trying to work on...worship isn't about the people around me, it's about God...and then the fourth song started. Along with O Come to the Altar, I recently came across Resurrecting, also by Elevation Worship, and that happened to be the song that we were finishing worship with. At the end of the song, Pastor Chris went to the stage, and began talking to us about doubt. He told us that the f word most used by Christians is the word 'fine'. We say we're fine when we aren't, and we wear a mask to keep others from knowing that we are facing something. This proves just how amazing God works, that the exact day that I felt this way, I was being reached out to, not directly, but these words were reaching to me. We were asked to go to the altar if we were facing some type of doubt, to take off our masks, and to just acknowledge that we aren't always fine. That anxious part of me was telling me to stay in my seat, but God is BIGGER and GREATER than everything that we face, and before I realized what was really happening, I was kneeling at the altar. I closed my eyes, and just talked to God...I asked that he would help me to be not be fine, to let me be better, that he would help me settle all my doubt, that he would guide me in every area of my life, especially the areas that are filled with struggle. I hadn't cried in a long time, I had been bottling up all those negative emotions, I had been telling myself that God had it, so there was no point in crying...but that's the thing...being a Christian doesn't make life easy, it doesn't mean we don't go through things, and that doesn't mean that we can't cry. It's okay to cry, to get out all that emotion, but that was something that I hadn't allowed myself to do in quite some time. I could tell that those emotions were surfacing; my mask was off...here I was, at the altar, vulnerable, in need of special care from God because I wasn't okay. But I was still trying to hold it in, and then I felt one of our youth leaders touch my shoulder, and I heard her start to pray over me...and then there were tears streaming down my face. I let my makeup run down my face, I let myself cry in front of everybody, because I didn't care anymore...I didn't need a mask. I could feel myself relax, I could feel God working in me, I knew that he was in control of this struggle, of this doubt. Life isn't easy, we will face difficult things, but my God has my life all planned out. We don't need to wear masks, especially not with God. He sees our biggest struggles, and loves us anyway. Good things can come out of the struggles that we face, there is a greater plan for each and every one of us.