God’s Great Dance Floor

I’m coming back to the start
Where You found me
I’m coming back to Your heart
Now I surrender
Take me
This is all I can bring

I’m coming back to the start
Our God is freedom
And here we feel Your heart
Your heartbeat for us
Take me
This is all I can bring

You’ll never stop loving us
No matter how far we run
You’ll never give up on us
All of heaven shouts: let the future begin
Let the future begin

Take me
This is all I can bring

I feel alive, I come alive
I am alive on God’s great dance floor

Chris Tomlin
written along with Martin Smith and Nick Herbert

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Last week I kept thinking about starting over and getting back to basics. I have been trying so many different things to make changes in my life that I lost my focus. I was doing lots of things…but none of them well.

First of all, in one of my secular FaceBook fitness groups, a girl posted she was wiping out all her accomplishments and starting over. Then something similar happened in a Christian group. (This song was mentioned multiple times.) Finally, for the last several days I have had this verse stuck in my head:

“I’m coming back to the start
Where You found me
I’m coming back to Your heart
Now I surrender
Take me
This is all I can bring”

Ok, I may be slow at times, but even I could tell God was trying to make a point with all of this—I need to go back to the start. So I reread all the material from when I started my current fitness journey and decided to begin again. To start applying the basics in diet and exercise, and stop trying all the crazy new things or current fads. But that line from the song kept playing over and over in my head. “I’m going back to the start….” Then I realized I needed to go back to the start in my relationship with God…back to the foot of the Cross.

I was searching for anything that could help me regain control of my health and wellness but I was looking at worldly solutions. At the same time I was seeking to deepen my relationship with God by doing multiple studies; and, again, doing none of them well. I felt tired, weary of the struggle. Nothing was working. I was wearing myself out, physically and mentally. Finally, I realized I needed to surrender. Thank goodness God never gives up on us.

This song is such a celebration of God’s grace. We come alive because of the grace He extends to us. Ephesians 2:1 & 5 (NKJV) state:

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins…
…even when we were dead in trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…

Christ wants us to feel alive in Him. Not tired, not weary, not defeated—ALIVE. We have something to celebrate. If I am struggling, I need to stop and ask myself “Am I living in Christ?” If I am, then, (as Philippians 4:13 tells us), I can do all things because Christ is my Strength. 2nd Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV) reminds us “…for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness.”

I know this to be true, yet I so easily forget and go back to striving on my own. So, I am going back to the start because God IS my freedom. I want to feel alive and the only way I can do that is through God’s {great dance floor of} grace. Let the future begin!n

God’s Great Dance Floor

June 30, 2014 by Tina Marin

I’m coming back to the start
Where You found me
I’m coming back to Your heart
Now I surrender
Take me
This is all I can bring

I’m coming back to the start
Our God is freedom
And here we feel Your heart
Your heartbeat for us
Take me
This is all I can bring

You’ll never stop loving us
No matter how far we run
You’ll never give up on us
All of heaven shouts: ‘let the future begin’
Let the future begin

Take me
This is all I can bring

I feel alive, I come alive
I am alive on God’s great dance floor
I feel alive, I come alive
I am alive on God’s great dance floor
I feel alive, I come alive
I am alive on God’s great dance floor
I feel alive, I come alive
I am alive on God’s great dance floor
I feel alive, I come alive
I am alive on God’s great dance floor
God’s great dance floor!

Songwriters: Martin Smith, Nick Herbert, Chris Tomlin
Performed by Chris Tomlin, Passion Band

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“No matter how far we run, You’ll never give up on us.” To me, this speaks to mankind. Just think, that for over two thousand years after Jesus was on the earth, most things have not changed. From the beginning of time, our ancestors lived life as the best they could. They chose to follow God or not. They chose to have joy or sorrow in their hearts.

Look at what God has done for His people, Israel. He chose to make them from a promise He made to Abraham. His family were idol makers. God knew something about his heart and chose to test him through making him wait for the birth of his only son into the promise. At the birth of Isaac there was a celebration of life. I like to think of God being impressed by Abraham’s trust and of Isaac’s trust of his father. Isaac had to accept God in his own life and learn to trust him.

We rear our children in the church, but they have to make trusting God their own. Our kids think life shows them what and who God is in their life. But it is up to us to guide them into making right choices. Just as the kings of Israel knew who God was, some decided not to follow after God. They chose to lead the people astray. God cannot make someone want to follow Him, our hearts have to be willing to accept God. We also need to remember to celebrate the small victories, so we do not get weighed down with the world’s problems. We need to dance on God’s big dance floor!

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Father, help us to remember to celebrate life. Often times we make our lives too hard or complicated. We forget to look out past the weeds to see the beautiful butterflies or animals that You have created for our and Your enjoyment. Thank You for the little treasures we receive—the bird songs, the crisp morning air, the baby’s cry, the ability to get up out of our beds. Thank You for the inspiration music gives to us to dance! Thank You, in Jesus’ name. Amen!