"There's no other like You"

Note from Gina:  I transcribed the following exhortation & prayer from a July 4, 2010, GOD TV broadcast of "The Pursuit Conference" held in Alberta, Canada, Oct 2009... I just got around to watching it on my DVR, and these words by worship leader Jason Upton - an interlude between songs - made me stop and say, "Wow!"  I wrote down every word as it was spoken so I could think about it and share with others... May we learn to appreciate and recognize God's beautiful truth even as it tumbles imperfectly "out of the mouths of babes" and young worshippers who run after His heart.  Enjoy!

[singing:] "There's no other like You... You are holy... like no other..."

[speaking:] "A lot of times when we think about 'holy,' we also think about mercy.  We think about holy, we think, God's so unbelievably holy, so sinless, so pure, how could someone that's so pure and so sinless hang out with people, sinful, like us... and we say often, 'because of mercy,' and it's true, but it limits the real beauty of what 'holy' means, because 'holy' is not just the opposite of sin.

"Oftentimes when we think of 'holy,' we think, majestic and powerful, omnipotent - we think, how could Somebody so significant hang out with people in comparison that are so insignificant, and we say, 'because of mercy,' and that's true... the problem with it is that it often limits the beauty and the wonder and the awe of what it really means that God's holy...

"We even oftentimes worship Him the way that our little minds understand what authority figures look like in certain cultures all over the world, but He's way beyond kings and presidents and leaders... He's holy!  There's nobody like Him!  He's the God that gets down on His hands and knees and He coos in our little baby languages that we've made up all over the world, and He tries to understand - He tries to understand why we often distance ourselves from Him, and then blame Him for the distance.  He tries to understand why we often separate ourselves from Him for the sake of certitude, because He's just too much for us, He's too... holy.

"He's too uncertain, we can't get our minds around Him, we can't control Him, and He says, 'I'm so much more than your minds can understand... I'm way beyond you, Jason, I'm way beyond... I'm way beyond your mind's comprehension, I'm not like you, I'm not like you, I'm not like you, I'm not like you, I'm not like you, I'm not like all the things that you've made authority to be...'

"There's a power in poverty that breaks principalities
and brings the authorities down to their knees,
and there's a brewing frustration at the same time in this world,
and an ageless temptation to fight for control by manipulation,
but the God of the kingdoms and God of creation
and God of the nations said this revelation
through the homeless and penniless Jesus the Son:
'The poor will inherit the kingdom to come.'

"And where will we turn when our world falls apart
and all of the treasures we've stored in our barns
can't buy the kingdom of God...

"And who will we praise when we've praised all our lives
men who build kingdoms and men who build fame
but heaven does not know their name...

"And what will we fear when all that remains
is God on the Throne with a child in His arms
and Love in His eyes, and the sound of His heart cry...

"And that's what I hear tonight in our pursuit of Him, is God saying, (one), Oh, Jason, guys, I've been pursuing you, and I've never distanced Myself from you, and My glory so fills the earth, if you'll just wait long enough, and be in stillness long enough, it will overwhelm you...

"So we ask that first, Lord, awaken our senses to Your reality, here and now, all the time - it never shifts, it never wavers, it never moves, it never lifts, His glory is constant - God, awaken us to that, awaken us to that, to Your reality here and now in our lives...

"And, second, awaken us to the reality of what it really means to be holy... to be daring enough to allow You, God, to finish our story... to be gutsy enough to drop the little map of somebody else's spiritual life and actually stretch our hands out to You and ask You to lead us in the way that we don't know where we're going, that we have to trust You...

"I asked the Lord on the Isle of Wight a few weeks ago, 'Lord, when I wrote that song, "Power of Poverty" - which is really not about money, it's about trust - there's a power in trusting You, Lord, and depending on You... who's the child in Your arms that You're crying over?' 

"And I felt like the Spirit of the Lord just said, 'the child is... it's everyone you're gonna sing in front of tonight, it's you, Jason, it's My sons and daughters, when they decided to sell out or buy in to the system of the age, even in religious, falsely religious circles that try to give them a plan... it's the child in My arms and love in My eyes and the sound of My heart crying over My children... when they got duped into not allowing Me to finish their story...'

"So, Holy God, we ask that You would take us on a journey - pursuing, Jesus, Your way - complete dependence on the Father... not certitude, not certainty, but trust.  Make us holy... make us who we really are... or maybe the better way to say it, Lord, is, awaken us to who we really are... help us to stop rebelling against who You've made us to be... that we might live holy..."

[singing:]  "There's no other like You... there's no other like You... there's no other like You... there's no other like You..."

-- Jason Upton, "Pursuit Conference" - Alberta, Canada, Oct 2009

Bonus Tracks:  "You are Holy" by Jason Upton (Isle of Wight version of the song above):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfSBi2N8KA8&feature=related

If you'd like to watch the video I transcribed, it starts at about 1:45 on the first link below & continues through the 2nd link - both are from GOD TV broadcast of The Pursuit Conference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZsPj9bhT7E&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdEyK05k3h0&feature=related

& another truly precious revelation (same conference) "I Don't Help You"  :)  this one is really FUN!  :)    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ5NgIV3pcg&feature=related

Enjoy!  :)