Create in Me a Clean Heart

I wanna tell my story, but the truth is hard to bear
Will it lessen my confessing, will my lesson keep you guessing
If I wait until the end and I pretend I wasn’t there?
It starts out with a Papa and his couple brawny boys
The younger gets a hunger to be leading life alone
Demands a cash advance and spends on women, wine and toys
While dining with the swine he gets to hungering for home.
Comes limping down the lane, a pimp in pain, no sordid gain,
Now humbled and repentant, mumbling asks to be a slave
His Papa wraps him up and wipes away each teary stain
“Let’s party, ‘cuz my long lost son has risen from his grave!”
A happy ever after seems in order—not so fast!
Remember that I said that Papa had an older boy?
Reflecting on his reputation and his brother’s restoration
He demands an explanation of the joyous celebration
Whining in his own frustration at the lack of acclamation
For his faithful occupation. He required no reformation.
What a dirty revelation that this sinner caused sensation.
Muttering an imprecation at his Papa’s great elation
Turns his back refusing to share in his father’s joy.


Create in me a clean heart, Father
I am Your ungrateful, rebellious daughter
I said I had no sin and so my sin remains
Purify with hyssop, Father, cleanse me of my stains.
Create in me a clean heart, Father
I am Your ungrateful, rebellious daughter
I said I had no sin and so my sin remains
Purify with hyssop, Father, cleanse me of my stains.


I’ll paint it with a different brush, to make the story clear.
A different place, a different space, behold the same redeeming grace
Embracing and erasing as it draws the sinner near.
As Jesus eats His dinner with a teacher of the law
A lady somewhat shady makes an entrance to the scene
Silently this sinner gives the Master’s feet a spa
The Pharisee finds kissing feet to be a sight obscene.
In answer to the question that had never yet been made
“Simon,” said the Master, “Let’s suppose two men had debts.
One owes much and one much less, the Master pardons both
The one who is forgiven little, finds he soon forgets.
He proudly casts his eyes about for someone worse than he
And seizes on his fellow-debtor, “Give me what is mine!”
If the Master hadn’t heard the news and kindly intervened
The second man would still be in the clinker doing time.
Mercy isn’t measured by the size of what’s forgiven.”
But Simon’s heart was hardened by the lie that he’d been living.
Reflecting on her reputation and her current occupation
He detests the explanation for the Master’s degradation
Whining in his own frustration at the lack of acclamation
What a dirty revelation that this sinner caused sensation.
Trashing up his celebration by her teary reformation.
Muttering an imprecation at this hooker’s restoration
Turns, refusing to accept the grace that she’s been given.


Create in me a clean heart, Father
I am Your ungrateful, rebellious daughter
I said I had no sin and so my sin remains
Purify with hyssop, Father, cleanse me of my stains.
Create in me a clean heart, Father
I am Your ungrateful, rebellious daughter
I said I had no sin and so my sin remains
Purify with hyssop, Father, cleanse me of my stains.


I know what you been thinking as you listen to my story
This history’s the mystery of how God saved me graciously
And thankfully and gratefully I’m giving Him the glory.
I wish I were the prodigal who wound up feeding swine
Or the woman of the city whose repentance proved God’s pity
Or the wretched debtor that the Master saved from doing time.
But actually, in honesty, the truth you’ll see exposing me
Is that I am the older son, the wicked slave, the Pharisee.

And since I scorn repentant brothers, pointing out the sins of others
Suddenly reality is facing me with clarity
Is there a possibility that mercy hasn’t measured me?


Jesus said:
‘If you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” (Matthew 6:14-15


The secret isn’t sinning more so that I am forgiven more
Instead I should be recognizing that my prideful patronizing
Is a sin that bears despising just like those I’m ostracizing.

I understand the reprimand and that is why I’m agonizing.


Create in me a clean heart, Father
I am Your ungrateful, rebellious daughter
I said I had no sin and so my sin remains
Purify with hyssop, Father, cleanse me of my stains.
Create in me a clean heart, Father
I am Your ungrateful, rebellious daughter
I said I had no sin and so my sin remains
Purify with hyssop, Father, cleanse me of my stains.

Come Away With Me

You’re conversing on exertion and you think it’s all good
But there’s a fundamental incidental you’ve misunderstood
In the perfect world that I made, before sin separated
I gave the first man work to do and then I legislated
For him to eat from any fruit except the knowledge tree
The reason this was treason is that wisdom’s knowing Me.
When knowing Me is not enough, you’ve bought into the lie
When you withdraw from knowing me, my love, you’re gonna die.
You’re lonely and you’re empty, so you’re eating from the tree
Just like your daddy Adam, when the bread of life is Me.
You’ve bought into the age-old lie that you can be like Me
Seeking knowledge, good and evil, you’re still eating from that tree
Afraid to meet Me openly, and come repentant, brokenly,
In filthy rags you’re joking Me if you think you can token Me.

I despised the disguise of your fig-leaf lies
I devised their demise through My sacrifice
Realize that your tries aren’t My highest prize
In My eyes it’s My price that satisfies

Come away with Me to a lonely place
Gaze at My face and be embraced by grace
Come away with Me to a lonely place
It’s time to be alone with Me.
Come away with Me to a lonely place
Gaze at My face and be embraced by grace
Come away with Me to a lonely place
It’s time to be alone with Me.


Your endeavor for the pleasure that your labor cannot buy
Slaps grace in the face, this chase of unbelief implies
That My love was not enough, My expiation you deny
When you’re hiding in the priding that you try to satisfy
But the price is supplied, your place is by My side
I didn’t buy a slave-girl--I bought a bride.

Adam was My friend when he walked with Me
Enoch was My friend and he ceased to be
On earth ‘cuz I took him up to be with Me
Abraham left Haran and he walked with Me
Moses was my friend and he talked with Me
Joshua spent time all alone with Me
David knew My heart when he’d groan to Me
Legion, once demoned, asked to stay with Me.
Peter, James and John were at home with Me.
In prison Paul learned to be alone with Me.
The key to being free in Me, in leaving your depravity
Is leaving leaves and lies behind and seeking just to be with Me.
I’ve got work for you to do, and Adam had his labor, too
Priority, I hope you see, is knowing Me and loving Me and walking with Me humbly.

If the stories that I just recalled leave you unsatisfied:
Martha was My servant-girl, but Mary was My bride.


Come away with Me to a lonely place
Gaze at My face and be embraced by grace
Come away with Me to a lonely place
It’s time to be alone with Me.
Come away with Me to a lonely place
Gaze at My face and be embraced by grace
Come away with Me to a lonely place
It’s time to be alone with Me.


When I whisper at the keyhole, “Come away with Me, my dove”
I’m trying to remind you what it means to be in love.
It isn’t like I need your labor, like I’m asking any favors,
Like the world I made won’t run, while you’re with Me. It’s done.
When I come as the Son and the One who has won
Will you be expectantly watching for me faithfully?
I don’t wanna find you on the floor, scrubbing tile
I wanna see you waiting in the door with a smile.
I made you for a purpose and that purpose was My glory
I wrote for you a letter telling out a true love story
I’m working on a place for you to come and be My bride
You should be learning more and yearning to be by My side
Instead you’re seeking liturgies, seeking to please, seeking that tree
Sin’s beginning when you’re seeking anything but Me!
The winter of dead works is past, the summer of redemption’s here
My bride, beloved, cease your tasks and seek Me while I‘m near.
You can work and you can study, but you’re eating from that tree
If you’re working and you’re learning, but you ain’t in step with Me.


Come away with Me to a lonely place
Gaze at My face and be embraced by grace
Come away with Me to a lonely place
It’s time to be alone with Me.
Come away with Me to a lonely place
Gaze at My face and be embraced by grace
Come away with Me to a lonely place
It’s time to be alone with Me.


My love, you’re forgetting that the purpose of your pardon
Is so you can walk with Me in the garden
My love, you’re forgetting that the purpose of your pardon
Is so you can walk with Me in the garden


Come away with Me to a lonely place
Gaze at My face and be embraced by grace
Come away with Me to a lonely place
It’s time to be alone with Me.
Come away with Me to a lonely place
Gaze at My face and be embraced by grace
Come away with Me to a lonely place
It’s time to be alone with Me.

Beyond Beauty

See this fallen world is wounded,
Bleeding, broken, stained and scarred.
Yet Thou knowest all our frailty
For Thy body, too, was marred

Beyond beauty, beyond grace.
This fallen world tore Thy back, Thy hands, Thy feet, Thy face.

Lost in anger, pain and sorrow,
Each wounded woman, each scarred man
Lashes out in tiger-fury
And drives each nail in Thy hand.

Beyond beauty, beyond grace
This fallen world tore Thy back, Thy hands, Thy feet, Thy face.

That first wound that grew and festered
Passed from Adam’s sin to Cain’s
Each single sin a foul rejection
Each wound a deepening, spreading stain.

Until the climax of this sickness
Cried “crucify!” in wounded rage.
The greatest wounds, the cruelest sorrow
Could heal the pain of every age.

Beyond beauty, beyond grace
This fallen world tore Thy back, Thy hands, Thy feet, Thy face.

Wounded for this world’s transgressions,
Scourged to purge away our sin
By Thy wounds our own are healed
By Thy piercing, we are sealed,
By Thy death, the cure revealed:

Beyond beauty, beyond grace
Thou rose and conquered sin and death to heal the human race.

God Prevails

Lately I’ve wandered.
Lately I’ve wept;
Laid a stone for my pillow
on the ground where I slept.
Angels descended.
My lost soul they kept
so far from the home I was fleeing.

Sojourned for years in
A far distant land,
neglected by “loved ones”,
Still blessed by Your hand,
Yet in my heart’s hardness
Did not understand,
It was only Your love I was fleeing.

Now I am wrestling
Between here and there,
Afraid of Your mercy,
Yet seeking Your care.
You reach down and touch me—
My thigh and my heart:
A limp that will keep me from fleeing.

A limp to remind:
I prevail through grace.
A name to inspire me
To seek out Your face.
And when You had shown me
How helpless I was
I found no more reason for fleeing.

For Your Glory, Lord

~From Ezekiel 36~

For Your sake, O Holy One
And to vindicate Your name
Gather my life together
And cleanse me
For Your glory, Lord

Prove Yourself, O Holy One
Among the heathens who profane
Bring me home to You
And fill me
For Your glory, Lord

For the glory You desire
For the honor You deserve
Soften my heart of stone
Renew me
For Your glory, Lord

Make the nations worship You
And make them sing Your praises
Put Your Spirit in me
And use me
For Your glory, Lord

Not for my own sake, Redeemer
But for the sake of Your name
Multiply fruit bearing
To me
For Your glory, Lord

For Your sake, O Holy One
That those who see may comment
“He makes the barren soul
“Like Eden”.
For Your glory, Lord

Piercing the Fog

(For all the women who have said, "He's not the man I married")

We've grown old
And nothing stays the same, it seems
Like hot and cold
What once was steam
Has now become the fog that's risen in between us.

I find the one I thought I knew
Was never really you,
You know?

Turned to frost
The fire that made us glow inside
Forever lost
We try to hide
If we seek each other now, we're sure to just collide

The one I swore I loved and knew
Was never really you,
You know?

Should it end?
Should I send
These words my worried heart has penned?
Or pretend
We can't mend
A love-live I can't comprehend?

Seems unfair
Love my misconception, live with you
Here's my prayer
May it come true
Somehow through the fog of distance truth comes shining through.

Bury the one I thought I knew
And lovingly seek you
To know.

I Will Call You My Own

I will call you My own
Who I said were not My own.
And I shall be your God,
Though I said "I'm not your God."
And with a love surpassing death
I will woo you as My bride.
With tender mercies from My breath,
In perfect shelter you'll abide.

If My people will repent,
Turn away from all their sin,
Freely, then, will I relent,
And I will make them whole again.
Then I will bind their gaping wounds,
Put an end to all their strife,
I'll call them by My holy name
And in their souls I'll grant them life.

You’re a Temple

I don’t know what to do to change your mind
Your body is not a gift for all mankind

You’re a temple of the Living God
Your heart should be His altar stone
Your life should be the sacrifice
Offered to God alone

The beauty God gives is not meant to be shared
By a roving eye or the outfits that you wear

God clothed His whole temple
In linen and hangings of blue
In velvet and scarlet
You should be covered too

The figure you have is not your light to share
You will not turn eyes to God by tempting stares

Your body is a sacred thing
Holy vessels are covered
In reverence and honor
Because they are beloved

Keep the abode of God unstained by sin
So the glory of God it may contain within

You’re a temple of the Living God
Your heart should be His altar stone
Your life should be the sacrifice
Offered to God alone

The Grace of the Lord

The grace of the Lord must be your own.
You're not saved by the faith that another has shown.
But if you should wander so far from home
The grace of the Lord can still find you.

So seek the Lord while He may be found.
Call His name while He might be near.
The humble sinner, who falls to the ground
Will find that the Lord of grace will hear.

Grace is greater than all our sin.
Grace will teach us to enter in
To the way of faith that the humble have trod.
God's grace will lead us to God.

So if you have chosen to humbly implore
God's grace and His mercy to open the door
That you might enter His rest ever more,
May the grace of our Lord be with you.

~Sparrow, Tell Me~

Sparrow, tell me how you live
Each day upon your song
For though you do not gather wood
Or build a fire to cook your food
You are not hungry long

Sparrow, tell me why you sing
When winter-time is near
Do you not fear the winds that blow
With no warm house in which to go
At this cold time of year?

Sparrow, tell me why you fly
When you, in flight, might fall
Is it no worry to your mind
That, struck from heaven, danger finds
Yet you fear not at all.

Sparrow, teach me how you trust
Upon the God above
For it is He that feeds your young
And fills your little heart with song
To show me He is love.

Prayers of Dust

I plead a cause I think is just

With eloquence that man applauds

My guilded prayers melt into dust

Before the mercy seat of God

Is He who formed the mouth impressed

With many words and colored speech?

My empty prayers He sees undressed

And into dust He turns them each

But when I bow my knees and sob

That is a sound His spirit knows

Its measured beat meets with my throb

And cries to heaven overflow

And every word is deeper far

Than all the wells of earthly voice

No sounds of mine could ever mar

The pleadings of that Spirit’s choice

And when my God my prayer receives

It is not empty words He holds

His spirit intercedes for me

And turns my prayers of dust to gold.

Mirror of Truth

James 1:22-25 & James 4:17

I stand before the mirror of truth
With the reflection of my soul before me
I know that if I look
And walk away
I will forget

I am afraid to look and stay
And yet I am ashamed to walk away

I stand before the mirror of truth
I do not want to gaze too closely at myself
I know that if I look
And take to heart
My heart must change

I am afraid to look and stay
And yet I am ashamed to walk away

I want to look upon the surface
But if my eyes are opened I will see the flaws
I know that if I see
A need for change
I am condemned

He who know the right thing to do
And does not do that thing
It is a sin

I am afraid to look and stay
And yet I am ashamed to walk away

I stand before the mirror of truth
Afraid to look

Men Who Cry

We’re told that crying tears shows weakness

Spineless are the men who cry

Yet as we make our boys dry tears

We cause their tender hearts to die.

There’s not a single wasted tear

Watering the graves of martyrs

Or shed with other’s pain in mind

Or poured repentant on the altar.

If tears be weakness, then I say

We need more weak men’s tears these days

For in Christ Jesus, weak are strong.

The Lord Himself wept loud and long.

When Jesus stood before the tomb

His heart and soul were deeply moved

Those watching did not think Him weak

His tears said plainly, “How He loved”.

If tears be weakness, then I say

We need more weak men’s tears these days

For in Christ Jesus, weak are strong.

The Lord Himself wept loud and long.

The One who holds my heart and soul

Wept tears of pity, love and grace.

In every man who cries such tears

I see my Savior’s tender face.

Less Than White

Oh my soul, it is easy to seem godly

When that godliness has not been challenged

It is easy to seem holy

When there is no call to higher holiness

And when compared to all that is unholy.

Comparing black to grey

Would make the grey seem bright

But there is a holiness that is nothing less than white

Oh my heart, it is easy to seem pure

When that purity is not as dirty as the mind

It is easy to seem spotless

When I’m fixed upon the spots of others

And close my mind to all that spots my heart

Comparing black to grey

Would make the grey seem bright

But there is a holiness that is nothing less than white

Oh my mind, it is easy to seem good

When the rotten thoughts are buried deep

It is easy to sound truthful

When the truth can cover darker lies

And when the truth is easy to bear

Comparing black to grey

Would make the grey seem bright

But there is a holiness that is nothing less than white

Oh my life, you must be willing to step

Into the call of greater holiness and truth

It is a hard thing to seem holy

When standing next to the Christ who is

And stepping far from sin

Comparing black to grey

Would make the grey seem bright

But there is a holiness that is nothing less than white

In the Silence

In the silence of a lonely hour

God’s spirit moves in me with power

And restless though my soul may be

It pauses listening quietly.

Alone with God is not alone.

My heart shall be His royal throne.

And I shall seek Him quietly

And in the silence bend my knee.

If ever dungeon plight is mine

I need not murmur or repine

For God Himself shall be with me

And he will hold me tenderly.

I need not fear the lonely days

While I have heart to sing His praise.

And if my tongue be from me torn

He’ll speak to me on silent morn.

If ever praise be shut inside

And deafening gloom in me reside,

And though my head seems split apart

He’ll split the silence in my heart!

If din and noise around are loud

Entrapping me in worldly cloud

Then God shall cause the sounds to cease

And in my soul he’ll grant me peace.

Though I should sink as low as hell

My God would whisper there as well.

For where I am there He shall be

Comforting me quietly.

I Will Praise You In Everything

I will praise You in everything

Thank You in everything

This is Your will for me

I will tell of Your mighty deeds

How You made everything

For this will fulfill all my needs.

For the trees that are leaving

For the grass that is greening

For the skies that hold promise of rain

For the birds that are singing

For the breeze that is blowing

For the flowers that are blooming again.

I will praise You in everything

Thank You in everything

This is Your will for me

I will tell of Your mighty deeds

How You made everything

For this will fulfill all my needs.

For my heart that is beating

For the life You have given me

For the heaven that’s waiting above

For Your son who ascended

For Your spirit descended

That is resting on my as a dove

I will praise You in everything

Thank You in everything

This is Your will for me

I will tell of Your mighty deeds

How You made everything

For this will fulfill all my needs.

For the pain that will end soon

For the sorrow that passes

For the morning that brings with it joy

For the trials that purify

Faith that can ne’er deny

For the songs that Your people employ

I will praise You in everything

Thank You in everything

This is Your will for me

I will tell of Your mighty deeds

How You made everything

For this will fulfill all my needs.

Seven times a day I will praise You

Your gates will swing wide with my praise

I can see all Your loveliness

Behold You in holiness

Worship You all of my days.

Jesus to the World

Jesus, I would learn to kneel

Take the yoke that You have made

Walk beside You, cultivating

The world.

Jesus, teach my heart to weep

For the people You have made

Walk beside You, calling to

The world.

Lover of My Soul

Jesus, help! My heart is breaking

I fold my hands, but they’re still shaking

Let me lay my head against You,

Lover of my soul.

You give me burdens for the lost

But, Jesus, what a heavy cross!

I don’t know how You ever bore it,

Lover of my soul.

Cradle me and comfortingly

Wipe the tears and blood now mingling

Carry me and all my burdens,

Lover of my soul.

I Stand on the Corner of Life and Look

I stand on the corner of life and look

My fingers curl round a precious book

My heart is twisted, wrenched and bleeding

For those who pass me, each one needing

This truth.

I hold the hand of our galaxy’s King

Remembering how He left everything

My heart is twisted, wrenched and bleeding

For those who pass me, each one needing

This love.

I share the hope that is in my soul

My eyes and heart have grown so full

My heart is twisted, wrenched and bleeding

For those who pass me, still unheeding

This gift.

I Draw Near

I draw near to Thy temple door

And cast myself upon the floor

For with the curtain Thou hast torn

A royal priesthood has been born

My incense in my hand I hold

My prayers of dust Thou turnest gold

And pleases to recieve from me

Despite my stained humanity

Thou settest me upon my feet

Before Thy covered mercy seat

And biddest me to raise my head

And seek to know Thee more, instead

No cloud of smoke surroundeth Thee

But only Holy Majesty

Which blinds the eyes of Pharisees

And lightens those who cannot see

In this sacred place and time

Thou bidst me take the bread and wine

The holy blood and body tell

Of a priest who sacrificed Himself.