vssls, in carousels
carousels we’ve shared along the way: the call that started it, the songs read slowly, and the journey since.
Scripture a slide at a time.
tap a cover, then swipe through.
the call
how vssls began, and the conviction it stands on
the vssls story
our conviction on obedience and surrender
a word, two years to the day
from friendship to filling, in carousels
Scripture from the songs, a slide at a time
Help Me To See
Sit At Your Feet
where Friend to me meets Sit At Your Feet
Wrote Out My Days Before Existence
the journey since
what God has done: immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20)
Joel’s story: can I tell you about something God’s been doing?
How the vssls story began, in Joel’s words.
read the slides as text
can i tell you about something God’s been doing that honestly still feels pretty surreal to me?
i met Luke back in 2018 when I said yes to planting something new
you ever said yes to something without fully knowing where it’ll lead?
that was me.
since then, I’ve had a front-row seat watching him grow in his love for God, for His Word, for the church where He’s planted, for His big-C Church, and for the people he leads.
and watching someone give their yes even when it means uncertainty or comes with a high cost…
That changes you too.
2 years ago at a conference, someone felt to pray and prophesy over both of us together.
Rivers of living water. Anointing. Partnership. Worship. Restoration. Destruction to the enemy’s camp.
Some of it resonated. Some of it felt… incomplete? strange?
that’s us
we didn’t despise it.
but we didn’t rush into anything either.
tbh, it kind of went on the shelf. We didn’t even remember it until a few days ago.
Ever had God speak something that only makes sense years later?
life just kept going. we stayed worshippers. served our church. grew in our relationship with God.
but somewhere along the way, without even planning it, we started talking about writing songs for God.
no strategy
no formula
we honestly hadn’t written many songs at all.
but honestly?
most “sessions” weren’t really sessions at all… sometimes we’d just worship. sometimes we’d drive and talk. sometimes some words would come that didn’t make complete sense, but felt like the hand of God was on that
then we’d dig into Scripture
not to finish a song, but to ask God what He’s actually saying.
and that’s when things started changing in our personal lives
some became songs. some never got a melody.
but man, did they help us to see God in the simple things… in the everyday moments.
they brought us to this conviction: that we should be quick to respond when we hear Him speak.
that our whole life is worship. Nothing in our lives should be out of reach for Him.
When He asks, would we give? Would we lay down? Would we offer without holding back—even if it’s misunderstood, even if it comes with a high cost?
because here’s the truth we keep coming back to:
our lives are fragile vessels
here one moment, gone the next.
but if we give them to Him? If we surrender to His will?
He can fill any vessel with His mercy, His glory, and use it for His honorable purpose.
have you ever stopped to think about what He could do with a life fully surrendered?
just before Christmas, we felt a nudge to look at what we have in our hands
we realized we had more than we were aware of.
Then came the question that kept us up at night:
Do we steward this faithfully, or do we choose to bury it?
What breakthrough could we be denying others?
How many lives aching to find Jesus simply stay where they are… if we hide what He puts inside of us?
then we were led to 2 Kings 4. The widow in debt with “nothing but a jar of oil.”
She was told: “Gather empty vessels – and not just a few.”
the oil kept pouring until there were no more vessels to fill.
we don’t know all that this means yet.
but we do know it’s not about a few of us recording some songs in a studio.
There was an urgency we couldn’t ignore.
a conviction that it’s not about polished production, but raw, honest, expectant worship.
a question: would we make room for vessels to be filled?
because the oil never stopped until there were no more vessels.
What if God’s waiting on us to make room?
so here we are 22 days into the journey of @vssls.worship
no it’s not a new church plant. we’ll still be planted in our church, serving our house, our leaders, the people God’s entrusted us with.
it’s simply how we’ve felt stirred to extend the way we’ve served our local church… to the Church
the body of Christ
if you’ve read this far, thank you.
we’re gathering on 26/1/26 to worship, to make room for God to pour.
if you’re busy that week, no pressure—we’re not gathering a crowd. We’re just making room for vessels to come.
but would you keep us in prayer? We’re so aware of our need for God.
And we’re excited to see what He can do when we give Him room to pour.
Luke’s story: i still can’t quite believe what God’s been weaving together
The same story, in Luke’s words.
read the slides as text
you know what?
i still can’t quite believe what God’s been weaving together.
in 2018, Joel said yes to a pioneering venture
– and that’s how we met
i had no idea what God was setting in motion.
and honestly?
getting to witness his journey up close – watching him fall more in love with Jesus, with Scripture, with the local body he’s rooted in, with the global Church, with the people entrusted to his care, it does something to you... it marks you.
have you ever watched someone surrender even when the road ahead is unclear, even when the price tag is high?
we were at this conference 2 years back, where an intern of the hosting ministry felt to pray for both of us together.
a lot of the word landed deep:
living water flowing like rivers. anointing. worship.
some of it? honestly felt a bit... off? unfinished? like how we’d walk together... partnership... restoration breaking through. the enemy’s plan dismantled...
that’s Joel
that’s me
we didn't dismiss it.
but we didn't force it either.
if i’m being real, we kind of shelved it. didn’t even remember it until this last week.
you ever had God drop something that doesn’t click until way down the line?
we kept worshipping. kept serving our local church. kept talking. kept pressing into God in our own walks with Him.
some time later, we started dreaming out loud about writing songs for God, though we never got together for this reason until somewhere this time last year.
no blueprint
no masterplan
truth is, we had barely written anything before
most of our time together wasn’t structured at all. sometimes we’d just be in worship. sometimes driving around, processing life out loud. sometimes words would bubble up that felt weighty, like His fingerprints were all over them, even if we couldn’t decode them yet.
but we’d crack open the word
not hunting for lyrics, but genuinely asking, “God, what have you got to say here?”
and that’s when the shift started happening, not just in what we were writing, but in how we were living.
some these turned into melody.
others never did.
but every single one of these moments helped us to see God in the simple things... in the mundane, ordinary moments of life.
it led us to this conviction: that we should be quick to respond when we hear Him speak.
that our whole life is worship, our whole being is to be an offering.
NOTHING’s off limits for Him.
When He prompts, will we obey? Will we let go? Will we give without reservation – even if others don’t get it, even if it costs us everything?
because we keep circling back to this truth:
our lives are fragile vessels
here today, but tomorrow...
that’s not guaranteed
but if we align ourselves with His purpose?
He can fill any vessel with His mercy, His glory, and use it for His honorable purpose.
have you ever stopped to think about what could happen if you held nothing back from God?
right before Christmas, we felt a gentle: nudge “Look at what’s already in your hands”
and we realised we’ve been given more than we thought.
then we had to ask ourselves some tough questions:
Are we going to faithfully steward this, or are we going to bury it out of fear?
What freedom are we withholding from people?
How many hearts desperate for Jesus stay stuck... if we lock away what He’s placed inside of us?
then 2 Kings 4 grabbed our attention.
this widow with "nothing but a jar of oil" was instructed “Gather empty
VESSELS
— and not just a few."
the oil kept going as long as there were vessels to fill.
we’re still piecing together what this fully means...
but what we know for sure is this isn’t about us hitting a recording studio to lay down some tracks.
There’s this urgency that we can't shake.
what if He’s just waiting for us to make room... for vessels to be filled?
because the oil never stopped until there were no more vessels to be filled
so here we are 25 days into the journey of @vssls.worship
no it’s not a new church. we're still deeply planted where God's rooted us, serving our house, honouring our leaders, caring for the community He’s given us.
it’s simply how we've felt stirred to extend the way we've served our local church... to the
Church
the body of Christ
if you've read this far, thank you.
we're gathering on 26/1/26 to worship, to make room for God to pour.
if the week’s already packed for you, no pressure, genuinely — we're not trying to pack a room. We're just making space for vessels who feel the tug to come.
but would you keep us in prayer?
We're so aware of our need for God.
And we're excited to see what He can do when we give Him room to pour.
Surrender: letting go before you know what you’re holding onto
A carousel on surrender, by Luke.
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there’s something about letting go before you know what you’re holding onto
- by Luke
i’m learning that surrender doesn’t come with all the instructions
for us, vssls started not with a bullet-pointed plan or some grand vision statement, but with this question that wouldn't leave us alone
what if we just let Him have it?
i used to think surrender was this one big moment:
altar call, hands in the air, “take it all, God”
and maybe sometimes it is
but mostly it’s been a thousand little surrenders
letting go of needing to know how it ends
letting go of looking qualified
letting go of the timeline we had in our heads
it’s been opening our hands when clenching our fists felt way safer
surrender means trusting Him with the outcome before you've even seen the beginning
here’s what nobody really talks about:
surrender will demand something of you
your comfort
your reputation
absolutely your control
because what if we're clutching something that could bring a breakthrough to someone else?
we had to stop white-knuckling what vssls would look like
this isn’t about building something impressive
it’s not about making a name
honestly, it’s not even really about the songs
it’s about releasing what He's put in our hands and letting Him do whatever He wants with it
the widow in 2 Kings 4 didn't have much
just some oil
but when she gathered those vessels and started pouring
God multiplied what she couldn’t
our part isn’t manufacturing the miracle
our part is opening our hands
gather the vessels
make the space
pour out what we’ve got
let Him handle the rest
surrender isn’t always this dramatic thing
most days it’s quiet.
faithful can be kind of boring, actually
it's showing up to write when we don't feel inspired
it’s worshipping when we’re exhausted
it's staying rooted in our local church while extending to the wider Church
it’s praying through the moments we feel way out of our depth
it’s making room when staying comfortable would be easier
because He's not hunting for the most talented or the most ready or the most experienced
he’s looking for vessels that’ll say
here, it’s Yours
do what You want with it
31 days into this thing, and, we’re still figuring it out as we go
but we're committed to keeping our hands open.
even when it's uncomfortable
even when it costs us
even when we can't see three steps ahead
because surrendering to God means trusting that He sees what we don't.
it means releasing control of the outcome and just focusing on releasing what's in our hands right now
on 26/1/26, we’re gathering to worship
not because we’ve got it figured out
not because we’ve arrived somewhere
but because we said it’s Yours
and we’re trusting that when we make the space
when we let go
when we pour out
He’ll show up and do what only He can do
if you've made it this far, would you pray for us?
pray that we'd keep our hands open when it gets hard
pray for continued surrender when we're tempted to grab the wheel back
pray for faithfulness in the small moments nobody sees
because we’re learning that surrender isn't about having answers
it’s about trusting the One who does
and letting go anyway
26/1/26 - vssls live worship night
Atelier Theatre, Cornerstone College, Mount Barker
come as an empty vessel
come in surrender
link in bio
1. His Path, Not Ours
Obedience means trusting His path even when He doesn’t give you a roadmap.
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lately i’ve been asking myself
What if the thing that often holds me back from full obedience isn't fear – it's that I’m waiting for
a map God never promised
to give?
Here’s what I've been learning about obedience:
God gives calls. He gives promises.
But he doesn't always give
roadmaps
And that's where trust has to do its work.
And here's what's been weighing on me as someone who leads:
If I don't step out in full obedience when God asks, in the way that He asks of me,
the people I lead might still get their drink from the rock for the moment—
But my disobedience could cost a generation their promised land.
Obedience isn't just personal.
It's generational.
Numbers 20
Jesus didn't sugarcoat what following Him costs:
"Take up your cross daily, and follow me."
daily.
Not once. Not when convenient.
Every. Single. Day.
"If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it."
Luke 9:23–25
Here’s what I’m learning about obedience:
It's not about finding my path and asking God to bless it.
It's about stepping onto His path—even when I can't see where it's going.
So what does His path actually look like?
His path is not my path.
His path is the one He's gone ahead to prepare.
His path is the one that He makes straight.
His path is the one He walks with rod and staff in hand.
His path doesn't always come with turn-by-turn directions.
But one thing that His path does come with?
A promise - that He’ll be there in every single step.
We find an example of full obedience in Abram's call:
"Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you."
Notice what God didn't say?
Where. How. When.
He just said,
“I will show you.”
Genesis 12:1
And Abram's response?
"So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him..."
Not "So Abram made a five-year plan first."
Not "So Abram waited until it made sense."
He departed.
That's what full obedience on His path looks like.
Genesis 12:4
This line from our song hits different when you see Abram's story:
“be quick to respond when i hear you speak”
Not eventually. Not when it’s convenient.
Quick.
And Abram? He lived this again and again, again and again, again and again in his life.
"It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home... He went without knowing where he was going."
without knowing
That's the part we skip over too fast.
Obedience on His path requires faith when you can't see what's ahead.
Hebrews 11:8
And you know what happened when he obeyed?
From one man "as good as dead"—God multiplied a nation like the stars and sand. Uncountable.
That's what God does when you walk in obedience on His path instead of demanding your own map.
Hebrews 11:11–12
But here's the thing—
Obedience on His path isn't just the big dramatic moments.
It's the small, faithful steps. The everyday yes-es.
"All my days Lord, I live them for you... each space where I live, I invite you in"
His path runs through every ordinary moment.
"If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones."
Obedience on His path isn't somewhere out there.
It's right here, in the small moments. The ones nobody sees. The boring, faithful, necessary.
Luke 16:10
Full obedience on His path requires full trust.
Not 80% trust with a backup plan.
Not trust while you keep control.
all your heart
No leaning on your own understanding.
Acknowledge Him in all Your ways and He will make your paths straight
Proverbs 3:5–6
Can I tell you what I'm learning about obedience?
Sometimes His path looks outrageous – to you, to others...
Moving across the world.
Stepping into youth leadership while studying medicine.
Moving across regions.
Helping plant churches.
Saying yes when the timing seems terrible.
People will ask
“Are you sure about this?"
the only answer:
“I’m sure about him.”
some who walked in obedience on His path were tortured.
some were jeered at. some lost everything.
“They were too good for this world."
and yet—they walked His path anyway.
because they knew:
his path leads home
Hebrews 11:35–40
so how do you stay in obedience on His path when it gets hard?
"Keep your eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith."
Not on the obstacles. Not on the opinions.
on Jesus.
Who walked His own path to the cross. Obedient to the point of dying
Hebrews 12:1–2; Philippians 2:6–8
30+ days ago, we said yes in full obedience to His path with vssls.
Did we have it all figured out? No.
Was it comfortable? Not even close.
Did it make sense to everyone? Probably not.
but here's what we knew:
God said “go.”
and when you obey, His path always leads somewhere worth going—even when you can't see around the bend.
and you want to know what's wild?
every single day we walk in obedience on His path, we see his hand.
The right people at the right time.
The right resources when we need them.
The right peace that makes no sense.
His path isn't just where he sends you.
It's where he meets you. Again and again.
one step at a time, we're still learning to walk in full obedience on His path.
Not because we have it figured out.
Not because the path is always clear.
But because He's been faithful in every step so far.
And that's enough to take the next one.
His path. Not ours.
to be continued
2. Friendship with God
Obedience is the pathway to intimacy with Him—He loved us first; we respond.
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What if obedience isn't just duty – what if it’s how we become
friends with God
we wrote a song called “Friend to me”
But honestly? The more I learn about obedience, the more I realize—
We don’t make God our friend.
Full obedience is how we respond to the friendship He‘s already offering.
Jesus said:
"I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead,
i have called you friends,
for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."
Friends, not servants.
But here‘s the thing – this friendship has conditions.
John 15:15
right before that, Jesus said:
“You are my friends if you do what I command”
IF
Friendship with God isn't automatic. It's not just positional. It's relational.
And obedience is how we steward the friendship He's offering.
John 15:14
but before He asked for our obedience –
Jesus first demonstrated what friendship looks like.
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends”
He didn’t ask us to love first.
He loved first.
John 15:13
Here's what makes this friendship so radical:
"God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Not after we proved ourselves.
Not once we got our act together.
While we were still sinners.
He extended friendship when we were enemies.
Romans 5:8
so when Abraham is called “friend of God" three times in scripture
not "servant of God" (though he was).
not "follower of God" (though he was).
Friend of God
it’s not because he earned it.
it’s because he responded to it
James 2:23; Isaiah 41:8; 2 Chronicles 20:7
“His faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say:
‘Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.' He was even called the friend of God."
His obedience made his faith complete.
Obedience completed the faith.
And the completed faith led to friendship.
James 2:22–23
Because here's the reality:
“Faith without good deeds is useless."
You can say you have faith.
You can believe God exists.
“Even demons believe”
But obedience is what makes faith real. Visible. Complete.
And complete faith—the kind that comes through obedience—is what friendship with God looks like.
James 2:19–20
And friendship with God is rooted in love.
Not just saying "I love you, God."
But showing it through obedience.
"Let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions."
How do we show God we love him?
We obey him.
1 John 3:18
Jesus makes this connection explicit:
"If you keep my commands, you will
remain in my love,
just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love."
Obedience isn't what earns God's love.
But obedience is how we remain in the love He's already given. How we stay in the friendship.
John 15:10
"Those who obey God's commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them."
remain in fellowship
That’s fellowship language.
That’s intimacy language
Obedience is how we maintain the closeness.
1 John 3:24
These lyrics keep coming back to me:
"Like a friend, would you speak to me"
What if that's not just asking God to speak like a friend—
What if it's recognizing that obedience is what positions us to hear Him like a friend would?
Moses talked with God
“face to face
as one speaks to a friend."
Not because Moses was perfect.
Not because he never questioned.
But because Moses walked in obedience—even when it was hard, even when he was scared, even when he didn't fully understand.
Exodus 33:11
so what does obedience get you?
not just God's approval.
not just blessings.
not just eternal rewards.
it gets you God himself
His presence. His voice. His friendship.
"Those who obey God's commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them."
1 John 3:24
but let's be honest:
Friendship with God through obedience costs something.
Jesus said "You are my friends if you do what I command."
That "if" includes the hard commands. The uncomfortable ones. The ones that cost you something socially, financially, emotionally.
Friendship with God isn't cheap.
But it's worth everything.
here's what I'm learning from experience:
every step of obedience leads to a deeper sense of God's trust toward me.
it's like He looks at obedience and says, “In you I am well pleased."
Friend speaking to friend.
Not master to servant.
Friend to friend.
stepping out in full obedience with vssls?
that cost us comfort, convenience, control
But you know what it's given us?
Deeper friendship with God.
Clearer sense of His voice.
Greater trust in His faithfulness.
the kind of friendship that only comes from walking in obedience together.
so here’s the question:
do you want to be God’s friend?
not just His follower.
not just His servant.
His friend.
then walk in obedience
not perfectly.
but consistently.
wholeheartedly.
His commands aren't burdens.
They're invitations into friendship.
“Like a friend, would you speak to me”
“Like a friend, you are here with me”
“There’s no greater love, what a friend to me”
obedience is the pathway
friendship is the destination
and He’s been waiting to call you friend all along.
3. The Undivided Yes
Obedience requires radical, wholehearted commitment with no backup plan.
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We sing these lines in worship:
“The cross before me, the world behind me”
“Though none go with me, still I will follow”
But do we actually mean them?
because here’s the thing - these aren’t just beautiful worship lyrics.
they’re radical commitments to full obedience.
Line-in-the-sand declarations.
And if we actually lived them out?
Everything would change.
“The cross before me, the world behind me”
do you know what full obedience to that actually means?
It means Jesus gets priority over:
Your reputation. Your comfort. Your plans. Your preferences. What people think. What makes sense.
Everything
“Though none go with me, still I will follow”
are you willing to walk in obedience even if:
your friends don’t get it?
your family questions it?
you stand completely alone?
Still I will follow.
James doesn’t pull punches on obedience:
“Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God”
Enemy of God
not “distant from God”.
not “disappointing God”..
Enemy
that’s how serious divided loyalty is.
James 4:4
“Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world”
divided loyalty:
one foot in obedience. one foot out.
one hand reaching for God. one hand clutching the world.
God is calling it out.
James 4:8
so what does undivided obedience actually look like?
it’s a yes that’s first given to God.
a yes that’s 100% for Him - before anyone else gets a vote.
a yes even if it doesn’t make sense to your family, your friends, your logic.
an undivided Yes to Full obedience
this is the song that birthed vssls:
“I choose today to love You, I choose today to serve you, I choose today to follow You, won’t stray to the left or right, Resolve that it is my choice.”
Not might choose.
Not hoping to choose.
I choose. Today. Now.
Full obedience. No conditions.
this song pulls from Joshua’s challenge to Israel about obedience:
“Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Choose this day. Not someday.
As for me. Not waiting for consensus.
We will serve the Lord. Decided. Done.
Joshua 24:15
the song continues:
“I wanna live set apart for You. Let me life be pleasing to you, a vessel of honour, ready for Your good works”.
Not casual Christianity.
Wholehearted obedience.
Set apart. Pleasing. Honourable. Ready.
That’s what full obedience looks like.
Let’s be honest about what full obedience may cost:
Your reputation (people may think you’re extreme)
Your comfort (obedience isn’t convienient)
Your control (God’s will, not yours)
Your certainty (His path, not your plan)
Full obedience costs everything you’re holding onto.
Full obedience means no backup plan.
Not “I’ll obey God unless…”
Not “I’ll follow unless it costs too much…”
Not “I’ll serve unless no one else will…”
No back up. No safety net.
all in.
some who gave God their full obedience?
they died by stoning
sawed in half
killed with the sword
oppressed and mistreated
“They were too good for this world”.
and yet - they didn’t take it back.
Didn’t renegotiate.
Didn’t add conditions.
their obedience stayed firm
Hebrews 11:35–40
“Jesus paid it all, unto Him I owe”
If He gave everything - His comfort, His rights, His life, His everything
don’t we owe Him full obedience?
not as payment (we could never pay Him back).
but as response to radical love.
here’s what full obedience means practically:
my yes for God needs to come before my yes to anyone else.
before my yes to my career.
before my yes to my comfort.
before my yes to what makes sense.
God gets first yes.
everyone else gets second.
that’s full obedience
full obedience means:
i’ll obey even if it looks outrageous.
i’ll follow even if i’m misunderstood.
i’ll surrender even if no one else does.
because my obedience is to God first.
Not the crowd
can i be honest?
some of my obedience moments have looked crazy to others... some even to myself...
every time there was a cost.
moving overseas. youth leadership. church plants. moving across regions.
did i have it all worked out? no
did i know how it would turn out? not even close
but i knew him
and that was enough to say yes.
vssls was full obedience with no backup plan.
we weren’t planning on it
we didn’t have a timeline
we had no guarantee
But we felt God speak and ask of something
and we had a choice to make --
do we give Him our yes?
do we give our undivided obedience?
Regardless of discomfort. Regardless of cost. Regardless of what may or may not be said.
His will. His way. His glory.
back to the song:
Resolve that it is my choice
I just want you.
resolve
Not “Im hoping” or “Im trying”. Resolve.
Decided. Determined. Done.
My choice. Not forced. Not guilted. Chosen.
I just want You. Nothing else. No one else. Just You.
that’s what full obedience looks like
so here’s the question:
will you give God your full obedience?
not when it’s convenient.
not if everyone else does.
not once you have it figured out.
NOW. TODAY. THIS MOMENT.
The cross before you. The world behind you. Though none go with you - still you will follow.
will you give God your undivided yes?
will you walk in full obedience?
to be continued
4. The Foundation
Obedience is what makes your life stand when the storms come.
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What if the difference between a life that stands and a life that crumbles...
Isn’t what you hear, but whether you obey what you hear?
Jesus told a story about two builders.
both heard the same teaching. both built houses.
but when the storms came, only one house stood.
the difference wasn’t what they heard.
it was their obedience to what they heard.
“Anyone who comes to me and listens to my teaching and follows it is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock.”
Comes. Listens. Follows.
Not just comes. Not just listens.
FOLLOWS.
Thats obedience. That’s the foundation.
Luke 6:47–48
“When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built.”
Well built.
not because of talent. not because of luck. because of obedience.
the foundation of obedience makes it stand.
Luke 6:48
“But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”
Hears. Doesn't obey. Collapse. Ruins.
the foundation of obedience was missing.
Luke 6:49
so here’s what Jesus is saying:
The foundations of our lives are deep, secure and solid when we come to him, listen to his teaching, and then obey it.
Obeying what he says, not just listening, is what Sets you apart.
And what makes your foundation stand.
Noah is a great example of building a foundation of obedience.
God told him to build an ark. For a flood. When it had never rained.
For 120 years Noah obeyed —- hammering, sawing, building.
While everyone around him mocked.
and then the flood came.
the storm everyone said would never happen - happened.
and Noah’s foundation of obedience? Built over 120 years of saying yes when it didn’t make sense?
That foundation saved his entire family.
Genesis 6–9
if a leader makes way for those they lead and enables them to stand on their shoulders -
i can’t expect the people i lead to build their lives on obedience if i don’t build mine on obedience myself.
my foundation of obedience becomes their example.
my obedience becomes their permission.
and the foundation of obedience isn’t just built in the big moments.
it’s built in the small, hidden, ordinary ones;
repenting for trivial matters.
forgiving when it’s not deserved.
being generous when I didn’t need to.
choosing kindness when i’m tired.
Small obediences. Deep foundation.
every morning, the foundation of obedience is being built or eroded.
every choice to obey in the small things - thats another layer of bedrock.
every choice to compromise - that’s another crack in the foundation.
full obedience. daily.
Here’s what I’m learning about walking in full obedience with vssls:
God puts a great sense of peace in our hearts as we start the day and as we go about what we feel he’s asked of us that day.
that peace?
that’s the feeling of a firm foundation of obedience under your feet.
because the storms will come.
not if. when.
and when they do, we won’t have time to build a foundation of obedience. we’ll only have time to stand on the one that’s already built.
the question is: have you been building through obedience?
30+ days into vssls, while i wouldn’t call them storms, there have been moments of testing...
questions we didn’t yet have answers for.
ways that something so pure had been perceived otherwise.
moments where it would’ve been easier to quit.
but the foundation of obedience we’d been building in the years before, and in every step as we stepped out with vssls?
that’s what’s kept us standing.
the foundation of obedience isn’t built on stage.
it’s built in obscurity
in the moments nobody sees
in the obedience nobody applauds
like Noah hammering for 120 years while people laughed
that’s where the deepest foundations are laid
“What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?"
you can build an empire with no obedience. you can build influence with no foundation.
but when the storm comes — and it will— what will you have to stand on?
Noah chose obedience over reputation. and his foundation saved generations.
Luke 9:25
i want to get to the end and say:
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
not "I heard good teaching." not "I had good intentions."
that requires a foundation built on full obedience.
2 Timothy 4:7
here's the thing about foundations of obedience:
you don't just build them for yourself.
You build them for the people who will stand on your shoulders. You build them for the generation that comes after.
your obedience today becomes their foundation tomorrow.
so here’s the question you have to ask:
What are you building your life on?
is it obedience? or something else?
because when the storm comes — and Jesus promises it will — only the foundation of obedience will stand.
one day, we'll stand before God.
and I don't think God will say “well done, talented and knowledgeable."
I want to hear “well done, good and faithful."
faithful. that’s obedience. that’s the foundation.
to be continued
5. Love Compels
Obedience can only be sustained by love—the fuel that outlasts duty, willpower, and fear.
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what keeps you obedient when obedience costs you everything?
not just once.
but again and again.
because here’s the reality:
full obedience often comes with a high cost.
your comfort. your reputation. your plans. your security.
sometimes it costs relationships.
sometimes it costs opportunities.
sometimes it costs being misunderstood.
so what sustains you when the cost keeps climbing?
what keeps you saying yes when there’s every reason to quit?
duty? that runs out.
willpower? that's finite.
fear of consequences? that makes you resentful.
there has to be something more powerful.
“For Christ's love compels us...”
compels.
not guilts. not manipulates. not pressures.
your friends don’t get it?
your family questions it?
you stand completely alone?
Love
is the only force strong enough to sustain costly obedience over a lifetime.
2 Corinthians 5:14
full obedience requires wholehearted devotion.
anything short of wholehearted devotion can rarely suffice as the motivation.
you can obey out of duty for a season.
you can obey out of fear for a moment.
But you can only obey wholeheartedly, over a lifetime,
Out of love
but here’s what makes this love so powerful:
We don’t love Him first.
“We love because he first loved us.”
His love initiates. His love demonstrates. His love compels.
and our obedience? It’s the overflow of being loved first..
1 John 4:19
“This is love for God: to keep his commands.”
Not just loving Him in feelings.
Not just loving Him in worship.
Loving Him in obedience
1 John 5:3
and here’s the wild part:
"And his commands are not burdensome."
not burdensome?
when you obey out of love, the weight changes.
it's still costly. but it's not burdensome.
because love makes the unbearable bearable.
1 John 5:3
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
love isn't just words.
it’s not "I love you, God" while living for yourself.
it's not worship songs while refusing to obey.
love is made visible in obedience.
1 John 3:18
there’s a story about a woman who brought an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume.
she broke it.
poured it all out on Jesus.
people were outraged.
“What a waste!”
but Jesus said:
“She has done a beautiful thing to me.”
why did she do it?
not duty. not fear. not obligation.
Love
love that compelled her to pour out something expensive, something precious, something irreplaceable.
that’s what love does. it pours out.
Mark 14:3–9
Our lives are alabaster jars.
fragile. finite. precious.
and obedience out of love means we pour them out for Him—
not drop by drop when it’s convenient.
but
Broken out
poured out
given completely
Paul said it this way:
“But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice.”
Poured out like a drink offering.
His life. His comfort. His safety. His everything.
because love compels what duty never could.
Philippians 2:17
here’s what I’m learning:
Love is probably the only thing that has the ability to compel you to follow after every single thing God has asked of you.
Not some things. Every thing.
Because love doesn’t count the cost and quit.
Love counts the cost and says
Worth it
if nothing else, the hearts and souls that have turned towards him in these last 30+ days has been worth every drop of alabaster poured out.
every uncomfortable moment.
every unconventional decision.
every cost.
worth it.
because God compels us.
so here’s the question we have to ask ourselves:
What’s fueling your obedience?
Is it love? Or something else?
because everything else will eventually run out.
But love?
Love sustains. Love compels. Love endures.
And if you’re realizing your obedience isn’t fueled by love—
Good. That’s the first step.
because we can’t manufacture love for God.
but we can position ourselves to receive it.
Spend time with Him. Remember what He’s done. Let His love for you sink deeper.
Love grows when you’re with the One who loved you first.
One step at a time,
we continue to walk out what we feel God put on our hearts with vssls.
In full obedience and in quick response.
Until our lives are poured out like a drink offering.
Until we hear “well done, good and faithful”—
Friend speaking to friend.
Adelaide radio: two years to the day
A word prayed over us in 2024, put on a shelf, and a song on Adelaide radio two years later to the day.
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16 March 2024.
a conference. someone we’d never met prayed over us together:
“rivers of living water coming at you. living water. anointing. worship. partnership.”
we put it on a shelf. some of it felt strange.
luke was in year 12. joel was his youth leader.
partnership?
we kept serving. kept saying yes.
almost forgot about it.
then God said “GO”
no team. no strategy. no timeline. just: “God, what do we do today?”
on january 26, empty vessels gathered
on the hottest day south australia had seen in 17 years.
the word came back off the shelf. and it started to make sense.
16 March 2026.
life fm featured friend to me on behind the mic with rachael leahcar.
a song born on a driveway between three friends — on adelaide radio.
it wasn’t until after that we looked at the date.
16 March 2024. 16 March 2026.
exactly two years. to the day.
a song we wrote in a lounge room ended up on Adelaide radio
we didn’t plan that. but someone did.
the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.
— Isaiah 40:8
save this for when you’re holding a word that doesn’t make sense yet.
share it with a friend who needs to hear it.
five months of Friend to me: help me to see
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five months of "Friend to me"
our journey started with a simple prayer:
Help me to see.
it's been our prayer ever since —
and there's not a day we don't come back to it.
whether he is a sinner or not, i don't know.
one thing i do know. i was blind but now i see!
— John 9:25
…that the eyes of your heart may be flooded with light.
— Ephesians 1:18
the Lord is my light and my salvation
one thing i ask of the Lord, this only do i seek,
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him
— Psalm 27:1, 4
the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
— John 1:5
God made his light shine in our hearts… the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ.
— 2 Corinthians 4:6
blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
— Matthew 5:8
to the pure, all things are pure.
— Titus 1:15
the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
— Psalm 19:1
out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square.
— Proverbs 1:20
faith is… the evidence of things not seen
— Hebrews 11:1
when Jesus saw their faith, he said… 'Son, your sins are forgiven'
— Mark 2:5
then their eyes were opened and they recognised him.
— Luke 24:31
my ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.
— Job 42:5
see! I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up… do you not perceive it?
— Isaiah 43:19
but the people's minds were hardened, and to this day… the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. and this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ.
— 2 Corinthians 3:14
those who look to him are radiant, their faces are never covered with shame.
— Psalm 34:5
you are the light of the world. a city on a hill cannot be hidden.
— Matthew 5:14
…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.
— Hebrews 12:1–2
Help me to see in the simple things,
be quick to respond when I hear you speak.
make it your prayer:
Help me to see
walk the journey from "Help Me To See" to "Eyes Fixed On You"
Eli: a priest saw everything
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Help me to see.
it's a strange prayer… unless we don't always see clearly…
a priest saw everything.
and then he couldn't see at all.
God had already made himself plain to them.
"Did I not clearly reveal myself to your father's house?"
— 1 Samuel 2:27
then, he saw wickedness. worship taken. what was weighty, treated lightly.
he knew what God had already said. he said nothing that cost him anything.
"you honour your sons above me"
— 1 Samuel 2:29
the word honour is the same word as glory, and it means to make heavy.
Eli made his sons heavy.
the word despised is the opposite — made light.
"whoever shall glorify me, him will I glorify: but they that despise me, shall be despised"
— 1 Samuel 2:30
Eli gave weight to his sons and made light of God.
but now —
"that thy eyes may faint and thy soul be spent"
— 1 Samuel 2:33
just a few verses later,
"whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see"
— 1 Samuel 3:2
he never restrained them.
and the word for what he wouldn't do to his sons
is the word for what happened to his eyes.
Paul says the seeing was never the problem.
everyone sees. even in the simple things.
"through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities... so they have no excuse"
— Romans 1:20
and today, the choice we have is the same one Eli was given
"they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him... their foolish hearts were darkened"
— Romans 1:21
they traded the truth of God for a lie.
exchanged the Creator for the created.
the glory that was his, yielded to another.
"I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another"
— Isaiah 42:8
and God gives them over to follow their evil desires… to passions of dishonour… to a depraved mind
— Romans 1:24–28
it's the opposite of Paul's prayer "that the eyes of your heart may be flooded with light", or in a shorter prayer, "Help me to see."
but Paul doesn't stop.
"don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you?"
— Romans 2:4
it was always God's intention to give…
"glory and honour and peace"
— Romans 2:10
"a change of heart. produced by the Spirit."
— Romans 2:29
"praise that comes from God, not from people."
a free gift. received by faith.
love that laid its life down while we were still holding the truth under.
even the suffering is pointing at a glory he's going to reveal. all of creation is waiting to see us live free from bondage, in the glory of the children of God.
"everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. all glory to him forever."
— Romans 11:36
now the turn
Paul says in view of His mercy — when we see what God gives, we in turn should give of ourselves as
a living sacrifice.
to renew our minds.
to live a transformed life.
then we will be able to discern — to test and approve, like metal being tested to see if it meets the standards —
his good, pleasing, and perfect will. to his glory.
are you seeing the way he sees, and living in his will?
make it your prayer:
Help me to see
walk the journey from "Help Me To See" to "Eyes Fixed On You"
Samuel: confide in me
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Help me to see.
the lamp of God had not yet gone out.
— 1 Samuel 3:3
a boy heard the voice of God.
he didn't know whose it was.
"Samuel did not yet know the LORD: the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him"
— 1 Samuel 3:7
He went to Eli, and Eli taught him from what he himself knew.
"Speak, for your servant is listening."
— 1 Samuel 3:10
Samuel was quick to respond to the voice of God, even if he didn't know Him yet.
because quick to respond isn't a personality.
it's obedience before intimacy.
and obedience can be costly.
"The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground."
— 1 Samuel 3:19
because Samuel spoke not his own wisdom, but the words that God spoke
the voice from God's own heart
from then on he grew close, all his cares, all his days, brought back to God —
"he repeated them in the ears of the LORD"
— 1 Samuel 8:21
"the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh through his word"
— 1 Samuel 3:21
"And Samuel's word came to all Israel."
— 1 Samuel 4:1
and one day, God did something that friends do. he told him something first.
"the LORD had told Samuel in his ear"
— 1 Samuel 9:15
that's the prayer: "Like a friend, would you speak to me?"
"No longer do I call you servants… I have called you friends, for everything I learned from my Father I have made known to you."
— John 15:15
"in awe that you'd choose to confide in me"
— Friend to Me
friendship here isn't a feeling. it's being told.
and being his friend never made the asks smaller.
he kept moving the moment God spoke. it kept costing him something.
but every yes makes the next yes easier.
"Fill your horn with oil and be on your way."
— 1 Samuel 16:1
"how can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me."
he told God he was afraid. then he filled the horn and went.
that's not doubt. that's what you do with a friend.
Eliab was the reasonable choice.
God gave Israel a tall king once. it was true. it was never a method.
God is not about the form. he looks deeper.
reasonable can become how you settle. a series of reasonable decisions that each point a little further from the promise.
Saul chose reasonable, that's how he disobeyed.
— adapted from Your Word My Compass, Day 4
here, reasonable is how a prophet almost misses the king.
we cannot let the word of God be substituted by good reasons.
"People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
— 1 Samuel 16:7
and this is our problem, not his.
God spoke. and he moved.
"Then Jesse called Abinadab."
— 1 Samuel 16:8
no argument. no explanation. no defence.
next son.
next son.
next son.
"The LORD has not chosen this one."
— 1 Samuel 16:8, 9, 10
seven times.
every one of them was a reasonable choice.
"he could let go of what seemed best, but was not God's best"
— Your Word My Compass, Day 4
"we will not sit down until he arrives."
— 1 Samuel 16:11
make it your prayer:
Help me to see
walk the journey from "Help Me To See" to "Eyes Fixed On You"
the journey to the cross
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"Help me to see"
the journey to the cross, and the people seeing what they could not see.
there's more to what Jesus died for — it's not only what you think.
we don't see the world as it is.
we see it through a frame — one you inherited, one you were swept into without noticing, or one constructed to hold you a certain way.
the frame feels like reality. that's the trap.
it's why two people can watch the very same thing, and one sees God, and the other sees nothing.
Jesus had been teaching, healing, and moving in the miraculous for three years.
the blind literally received sight the moment they cried out, "Help me to see."
the truth was lit up for everyone with ears to hear and eyes to see.
but some would not see.
their eyes had darkened and their hearts had hardened even if they never felt it happen.
even the most undeniable miracle, they refused to see —
and they did not want anyone else to see it either.
(so they made a plan to kill Lazarus — the proof, put back in the ground.)
they had already decided the outcome,
and shouted until the noise was louder than what was true.
one man saw it clearly.
he could not hold the clarity and the pressure in the same hands —
so he washed them, and called it clean.
but a decision doesn't leave you just because your hands do.
he handed it over to the pressure, but what he saw would still stay true.
on the cross, all eyes on him, he still kept the clearest view:
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." — Luke 23:34
his death became the reason some began to see.
the one who saw it most plainly had never stood inside their frame —
a Roman centurion: "surely this was a righteous man." — Luke 23:47
most people only ever see through the frame they were already in.
cross. death. burial. spices. — the next step, because within that frame there is no other.
this is the thing we rarely notice: our own epistemology can hold our minds captive —
until something outside the frame breaks in, and it can no longer keep us subdued.
the women came with their spices and found the stone rolled away, the body gone, two figures in clothes like lightning.
"why do you look for the living among the dead?" — Luke 24:5
a renewed mind is always challenged by minds still held by the old, unquestioned story.
the women told the apostles — but their words seemed to them an idle tale, dismissed before they were ever examined. — Luke 24:11
but when we stop conforming to the pattern without thinking, we begin to see what was always true.
Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping in, he saw the linen lying by itself, and went away wondering. — Luke 24:12
two of them were walking the road out of the city, eyes still held, unable to see —
carrying a frame they had inherited: the Messiah dies, and it is over.
then a stranger drew near, uncoordinated, and walked with them —
"are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?"
and he said, "what things?" — Luke 24:18-19
what they were most certain of was the exact shape of the frame they couldn't see past.
the truth had been walking outside it the whole time.
and step by step, the road out of the frame was carrying them straight toward the very thing they still couldn't see.
they were being drawn toward what he wanted them to see, still stepping out of the frame that held them.
something was already stirring. they urged him, "stay with us" — and he did.
when he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them.
what they had known in the light, he brought back into their dark.
"were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" — Luke 24:32
there is a voice that helps you see. and that voice sets your heart burning.
then their eyes were opened, and they knew him. — Luke 24:31
because the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never overcome it.
have you had moments when you sat with him, or spoke with others about him, and your heart started to burn?
that is the voice that helps you see.
"help me to see in the simple things
be quick to respond when I hear you speak
each space where I live, I invite you in
like a friend, would you speak to me"
— Friend to me
the exodus, part one
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Help me to see.
the exodus, and a people who could not see the God who was setting them free.
there's more to what happened in Egypt than the story we see.
we don't see the world as it is.
we see it through a frame — one you inherited, one you were swept into without noticing, or one constructed to hold you a certain way.
the frame feels like reality. that's the trap.
it's why a whole nation can watch the same signs, and some see God, and the others see something very different.
Israel had been in Egypt so long that Egypt was the only world they knew.
a people multiplied, then enslaved — and a new king to whom Joseph meant nothing.
you can be born free and still raised inside someone else's frame.
a system was built to hold them. taskmasters, quotas, store cities rising on their backs.
and when they cried out, the order came down: make the work harder, so they pay no attention to lies.
control what people can see, and you can make them miss what's true.
Pharaoh's heart hardened — first by his own hand, then past the point of return.
a man watching the undeniable pile up, and losing the very capacity to respond.
he never felt it happen.
the signs came, and even his own magicians reached the wall.
"This is the finger of God." — Exodus 8:19
they read it correctly. reading it was never the same as seeing.
and he had already decided not to.
the same sky over Egypt and over Goshen.
darkness one side; on the other, light where God's people lived.
same evidence. same day. opposite reading.
and some, inside Pharaoh's own court, feared the word of the LORD.
"those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the LORD hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside." — Exodus 9:20
the ones who saw most clearly were willing to step outside the frame they were standing in.
but a rescued people can carry the prison in their minds.
brought out of Egypt in a night — and Egypt came with them.
this is the thing we rarely notice: our own epistemology can hold us captive — inherited, swept into, or constructed to hold in a predetermined direction — until something outside the frame breaks in.
that night, the frame broke from the outside.
lamb's blood on the doorframe, bread with no time to rise, sandals on, staff in hand.
what death could not be argued into, God did in a single night — and a people walked out of the only world they had ever known.
but the old story doesn't die when the chains do.
cornered at the sea, they turned on the very deliverance they were standing inside:
"Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?" — Exodus 14:11
the frame dismissed the rescue before it examined it.
when we stop conforming to the pattern we were handed, we begin to see what was always true.
they had to leave Egypt to stop thinking like Egypt.
and it had started, years before, with one man that wasn’t raised as a slave, and a fire that would not go out.
"I will go over and see this strange sight – why the bush does not burn up." — Exodus 3:3
then a voice he had not asked for called from inside it: "Moses! Moses!" — Exodus 3:4
the truth had been burning outside his frame the whole time.
he just had to step out and go close.
what he was most certain of was the exact shape of the life he had settled for — a shepherd, a fugitive, a closed chapter.
the God about to undo all of it had been standing just outside that frame.
and the road out — a wilderness he thought was empty — was carrying him straight toward the mountain he could not yet see.
this was never only rescue from. it was rescue toward.
"So I have come down to rescue them… and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land." — Exodus 3:8
the door was already open. the voice was already moving.
and he told them how to carry it: bread with the yeast removed, nothing of the old batch brought into the new.
you cannot step into what he is doing while still feeding on the thing he brought you out of.
what you leave behind is part of what lets you finally see.
by day a cloud, by night a fire — the light went first, into the dark, and they followed it out.
because the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never overcome it.
on the far shore, dry-footed, they finally saw what had been true the whole time.
"the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him." — Exodus 14:31
the seeing came after the stepping out. it always does.
have you been staring at a sea, certain there's no way through — reading your whole life by a frame you never chose?
there is a voice that makes a way where there was no way. and it is already calling your name.
"help me to see in the simple things
be quick to respond when I hear you speak
each space where I live, I invite you in
like a friend, would you speak to me"
— Friend to me
which frame is holding you? the exodus, part two
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Help me to see.
long before Egypt was ever broken open, it was the story of five people and the frames that held them.
which frame is holding you?
the origin story.
you were born into one frame. raised inside another.
but there is a truer one — and once it holds you, no lesser frame can shake you loose.
the whole of Egypt turns on which frame has you.
every frame begins with a forgetting.
"a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt." — Exodus 1:8
keep God out of the equation, and you can build a whole world on the rewrite.
"the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread." — Exodus 1:12
the same growth God called blessing, Egypt could only read as threat.
same evidence. opposite reading. from the very first page.
so the order came: every boy to the Nile, every girl spared.
the frame went after the sons and never counted the daughters.
a frame cannot see what it refuses to count.
but two midwives were held by something higher than a king.
"the midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do." — Exodus 1:17
they didn't break his frame. they were never in it.
an inferior frame cannot shake a superior one that truly holds.
and God gave the women who feared him families of their own.
the anchored are not only spared — they are honoured.
then the frame broke where no one was watching — inside Pharaoh's own house.
"He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. 'This is one of the Hebrew babies,' she said." — Exodus 2:6
his own daughter, and compassion overruled her father's decree.
proximity to a frame was never the same as captivity to it.
she drew a Hebrew boy out of the river — and raised the deliverer in the palace itself.
the women the frame discounted are the ones who undid it.
and the boy himself was born into one frame —
a slave's son, under a sentence of death.
and raised inside another —
drawn out of the water, a prince in Pharaoh's court.
neither frame was the one that would finally hold him.
grown, he saw his people's burden and moved to answer it —
struck down an Egyptian with his own hand.
the right heart, reading by the wrong frame. zeal is not yet sight.
it surfaced. the palace turned on him. he ran.
the frame he was raised in couldn't make him see — and couldn't hide who he was.
now neither Egyptian nor free — a man between frames.
in the wilderness he named it plainly:
"I have become a foreigner in a foreign land." — Exodus 2:22
stripped of the frame he was born into and the one he was raised in — the empty place a truer frame can finally hold.
and all the while, the true frame had never left.
"God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant." — Exodus 2:24
the frame that holds you is a covenant-keeping God, already moving before anyone sees him.
so it was never the frame you were born into.
nor the one you were raised in.
it is the frame that holds you.
"the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge." — Proverbs 1:7
the midwives had it. the daughter let it move her. and the shepherd you watched at the bush — this was the frame that first held him.
Pharaoh had everything a frame could offer — the throne, the wise men, the certainty.
and of them all, he saw the least.
position was never the true frame.
so which frame is holding you — the one you were born into, the one you were raised in, or the one that would finally let you see?
there is a truer one. it was there before the plagues, before the bush, before you ever noticed — holding the ones who could see, from the very beginning.
"help me to see in the simple things
be quick to respond when I hear you speak
each space where I live, I invite you in
like a friend, would you speak to me"
— Friend to me
help me to see in the simple things: Esther
read the slides as text
the tables have turned
— Esther 9:1
Help me to see
in the simple things
a devotional from our EP, from friendship to filling by the writers of Friend to me
10 chapters. 167 verses.
the name of God: not once.
"We expect him in the breakthrough but overlook him in the routine."
a book set entirely in the boxes we don't call "spiritual".
a palace. a beauty contest. a bureaucracy. a sleepless night.
no temple. not one recorded prayer.
and yet his hand is in every line.
it began with a decree.
sealed with the king's own ring.
sent to all 127 provinces, from India to Cush.
— Esther 3:12–13; 8:8
what God gives, and the call he places on a life, he never takes back.
— Romans 11:29
"The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered."
— Esther 3:15
confusion is the result of not seeing clearly.
"Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?"
— Esther 4:14
no one had called for Esther in thirty days.
to go in uninvited could cost her life.
he saw her, and
held out the sceptre.
— Esther 4:11; 5:2
he had wealth, sons, honour, a seat at the queen's table.
"But this is all worth nothing as long as I see Mordecai the Jew just sitting there at the palace gate."
— Esther 5:13
the man at the gate was at rest.
the man at the table couldn't rest.
"That night the king
could not sleep"
— Esther 6:1
so he called for the book of remembrances. it was read to him, and he remembered a man no one had rewarded.
Haman walks in before morning to ask for Mordecai's death.
he walks out leading Mordecai's horse.
— Esther 6:4–11
The King has one more move.
the king gave his ring to Mordecai.
and a new decree went out,
to the same 127 provinces, in every language.
the city that was bewildered now celebrated. their sorrow was turned to joy.
the Jews had rest from their enemies
— Esther 8:15; 9:22
the king couldn't sleep.
we have a King who doesn't.
"Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain."
— Psalm 127:1
He sees what you don't see.
— Genesis 16:13
He hears what you don't hear.
— Malachi 3:16
He watches over
his own word
to perform it.
— Jeremiah 1:12
He sees to it that what's birthed of him prevails.
— Isa 66:9, Matt 16:18
make it your prayer:
Help me to see
in the simple things
"Today, don't search for something new. Ask for God to open your eyes…" — Day 1
"The quiet obedience deepens friendship." — Day 3
walk the journey from "Help Me To See" to "Eyes Fixed On You"
if you can hear it, you can see it: Elijah
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if you can hear it, you can see it.
— 1 Kings 18:41
Help me to see
no dew. no rain.
into the third year.
— 1 Kings 17:1; 18:1
“I will send rain on the earth.”
— 1 Kings 18:1
before there was a sound, there was a word.
from morning until evening, louder and louder.
“there was no voice; no one answered”
— 1 Kings 18:26
do you know his voice?
do you see his fire?
one prayer.
“Then the fire of the LORD fell”
— 1 Kings 18:38
“there is the sound of abundance of rain.”
— 1 Kings 18:41
he wasn’t hearing what he wanted.
he was hearing what God had already decreed.
— 1 Kings 18:1, 41
Ahab went up to eat and drink.
Elijah went up to pray.
— 1 Kings 18:42
“Our part is the willingness to go up.”
— Help Me To See, Day 2
“Go up now, look toward the sea.”
“There is nothing.”
— 1 Kings 18:43
go again.
go again.
go again.
seven times.
— 1 Kings 18:43
“The prayer ‘help me to see’ is not a prayer you pray once.”
— Help Me To See, Day 4
“a cloud, as small as a man’s hand”
— 1 Kings 18:44
small enough to miss. enough to move.
he didn’t wait for the storm to prove itself.
“…step out with confidence, even if the clarity was just for the next step.”
— Help Me To See, Day 1
“the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain.”
— 1 Kings 18:45
“Elijah was a human being, even as we are.”
— James 5:17
“the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”
— James 5:18
do you have seed in the ground?
the rain is coming. offer it to God.
after the wind, the earthquake, the fire:
“a still small voice.”
— 1 Kings 19:12
the loudest day had no voice.
the quietest moment did.
“Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.”
— 2 Kings 6:17
“He needed his eyes opened to the spiritual reality already surrounding him.”
— Help Me To See, Day 3
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
— Romans 10:17
make it your prayer:
Help me to see
walk the journey from “Help Me To See” to “Eyes Fixed On You”
Sit At Your Feet: what does it really mean?
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SIT AT YOUR FEET
what does it really mean?
close your eyes
picture someone sitting at the feet of Jesus
who do you see?
most of us picture Mary and we’re right to.
“a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.”
— Luke 10:38–39
but sitting at someone’s feet was more than it might seem to us today.
In Mary and Martha’s world, it was a specific, formal posture to take.
it was the posture of discipleship
Luke uses this phrase in a few places. The first: Jesus himself, at twelve years old.
“After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.”
— Luke 2:46
it was in this context that Luke writes: “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”
— Luke 2:52
Then Paul, defending himself in Jerusalem:
“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers…”
— Acts 22:3
to sit at the feet of a rabbi was to be formed by him.
but there’s more to this posture than receiving knowledge.
a man controlled by evil spirits — naked, homeless, living among the tombs, driven into isolation —
encountered Jesus.
news spread. people came to see what had happened.
“They came to Jesus and found the man sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed and perfectly sane.”
— Luke 8:35
out of control into covering.
out of torment into perfect peace.
healed. cleansed. whole. free.
restored to community.
to sit at His feet is to take in all that He gives.
but His word didn’t settle him.
His word sent him
to proclaim the goodness of the One who called him out of the darkness into His wonderful light.
there’s one thing about Mary at Jesus’ feet that was neither usual nor casual.
None of the other instances describe a woman sitting there.
in her day, that was not the expected place for a woman to be.
meanwhile, Martha was doing what was expected — preoccupied with all the preparations, the serving, the big dinner.
she came to Jesus and said:
“Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But few things are needed — or indeed only one.”
in other words, let me
help you to see
Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken from her.
— Luke 10:42
are you busy? troubled? distracted? overwhelmed?
choose the better thing
the invitation
from friendship to filling
is available for you today
Mary: sit, stay, pour
read the slides as text
she took the seat she wasn’t meant to take
but that wasn’t the end of her story. it was just the beginning.
John tells us who Mary is before he tells us what she does.
“This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair.”
— John 11:2
before he names the death. before he names her staying.
He names her by her worship.
the posture she chose at his feet in Luke 10
was the only posture she knew how to take when her brother died.
but this time, she sat not with him.
“Many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house.”
— John 11:19–20
The text doesn’t tell us why she stayed.
We don’t get to fill that silence.
when he finally called for her, she came. and she fell at his feet —
the same feet she had sat at to listen, now wet with her tears.
“When Jesus saw her weeping… a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled… Then Jesus wept.”
— John 11:33, 35
He didn’t wait for her to compose herself.
He came into the grief.
“He was despised and rejected — a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.”
— Isaiah 53:3
The Jesus who wept with Mary is the man of sorrows who would carry every grief like hers all the way to a cross.
she didn’t know it yet.
but the one who sat with her in the tomb’s shadow
was preparing to take it on himself.
six days before Passover, she came back to his feet.
“Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.”
— John 12:3
What she had received in the listening and held in the grief — she now poured out without measure.
Judas objected.
Called it waste.
“Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial.”
— John 12:7
He defended her then.
He still does.
sit. stay. pour.
one life shaped by one posture, returned to in every season.
the one thing she discovered at his feet was not taken from her in her grief. it was not taken from her at the cross.
it will not be taken.
the man of sorrows knows your grief by name. the exact texture it carries.
and he comes into it if you allow him into that space.
from the “Took On My Cross” devotional series
Martha: the one who opened the door
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she is the one we remember for being distracted.
but she was the one who opened the door.
luke tells us who Martha is the first time we meet her.
“a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home.”
— Luke 10:38 (NIV)
before Luke names her distraction. before Luke names her frustration. he names her by what she did first.
she opened the door.
Luke could have used many other words.
he chose ‘distracted’ —
pulled in many directions.
“but Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.”
— Luke 10:40 (NIV)
He didn’t shame her for serving. He didn’t condemn her for asking. He named what she was missing —
because He wanted her to have it too.
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed — or indeed only one.”
— Luke 10:41–42 (NIV)
the better thing was offered to her too.
she didn’t sit at His feet.
but she sat with something He said that day.
between Luke 10 and John 11, something changed in how Martha sits.
she didn’t go back to the way she had been.
when her brother died, and she heard Jesus was coming, she ran out to meet Him.
and she said to Him:
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
— John 11:21–22 (NIV)
she trusted Him before she could see, and the words He spoke that day helped her to see something she never saw.
six days before the Passover, the same house opened its door again.
the same woman set the table. but something in her had settled.
“A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honour. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him.”
— John 12:2 (NLT)
she was still the one who served. the serving had become worship.
sit. stay. pour.
a life shaped by the words He spoke —
from the one who opened the door, to the one who served from His feet.
the better thing was offered to her too. and in her own way, in her own time,
she chose it. she sat with it.
and she poured out from the overflow of what she sat with.
if you’ve been the one carrying it — the door, the table, the work, the family —
the better thing is offered to you too.
“so i’ll sit here at your feet, take in all the love that you give.”
— Sit At Your Feet
Lazarus: the friend
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Jesus called him friend.
not follower. not servant. not a name on a list.
two sisters. one brother. one household. they sent word.
“Lord, the one you love is sick.”
— John 11:3
He was already weaving his tapestry.
he didn’t just lose him. he let him die. but he already knew what he was going to do.
FOUR DAYS.
past the point of return. past what anyone could explain. he waited until the miracle could only be God.
“Our friend Lazarus… died… let’s go to him.”
— John 11:11–15
Martha came running. Mary stayed home until Jesus called for her. Then she came.
Jesus wept.
He knew the end of the story. He wept anyway.
He knows what he’s weaving in your life. but before it all plays out, he is right there with you. and even in times of grief, he weeps with you if you let him in.
“I am the resurrection and the life.”
— John 11:25
not I will bring it. not I will ask for it. I am it, and death had no answer for that.
he was in the dark. stone-sealed. four days gone.
and today, if you find yourself in the same place, one prayer you can pray:
i’ll wait on your whisper. i’ll let you in.
“Lazarus, come out!”
— John 11:43
not a prayer. not a request. a word.
the Word gives life, and his life brings light.
his light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.
he came out still dressed in grave clothes, but Jesus is not just about physical resurrection.
He lays down his life so he can give life and life abundant.
the miracle was undeniable. people believed simply because he exists.
so they decided to kill him again.
because light exposes darkness and not everyone who sees the light is willing to step out of darkness into the light.
six days before the passover. martha served. mary poured. and lazarus sat at the table.
he was called friend. he waited in the dark. he heard him speak. he was quick to respond. then he sat, and he ate.
and that same invitation for you today.
will you say yes?
the invitation
from friendship to filling
is available for you today
each space where I live, I invite you in
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each space where i live,
i invite you in.
Before the lyric was written, before the invitation was first sung, the truth underneath it was already at work.
“In him we live and move and exist.”
Not just cosmically. Personally. Your breath. Your heartbeat.
Each space where you live — already in him.
That doesn’t make the invitation less powerful. it makes it more honest. and it gives us the choice to invite.
He doesn’t need an invitation to enter. He waits because He wants to be wanted.
the choice to turn toward him in the space you’re already in — it’s real. it matters.
The Eternal Word — in whom we live and move and have our being — took on skin and bone. lived in the spaces where we live. got hungry. got tired. wept.
He pitched his tent among us — the tabernacle language. No more curtain. God — out in the open. Touchable. Present.
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.”
— John 1:14
Nothing of God withheld from Christ.
Nothing of Christ withheld from us.
And then — the cross.
not just the weight of the world. the weight of your particular room. every shame. every locked door.
the Son of God crying out into a silence He had never known — for you.
paid it all. took on your cross. the lengths you’ve gone for me.
it’s not poetry. it’s the truest representation of what He did, at every level we can consider.
the cross didn’t happen on a Sunday.
but the Sunday resurrection permeates every day that came after. Every ordinary space. Every ordinary moment.
He rose — and He didn’t go back to Friday.
He rose.
“It is finished.” He is not.
He made a way. He is not distant. He is not silent.
help me to see in the simple things. each space where i live, i invite you in. i’ll stay here. i’ll wait on your whisper. Your Word is my treasure.
more than lines of a song, more than devotionals as discipline — these were always prayers.
help me to see in the simple things — He walked back into ordinary roads.
each space where i live — He is not in a tomb. He is in every space.
i’ll stay here. i’ll wait on your whisper — He came. He didn’t make you wait in the grave with Him.
Your Word is my treasure — the Word rose. The treasure is alive.
the resurrection answers every one of these prayers.
the treasure is alive — and every vessel that would invite him in carries this light,
to shine the glory of God into every space where they live.
the lengths you’ve gone for me. each space where i live, i invite you in.
He was already there. the turning toward him still changes EVERYTHING.
Friend to me + Sit At Your Feet
out now
the deepest place I invite you in
read the slides as text
the deepest place
I invite you in.
the ordinary spaces
The bus. The kitchen. The 2am. The commute where nothing happens.
The room you come back to at the end of a day that cost you.
These are the spaces you live in.
He is already there.
The invitation changes you, not the access.
Luke 10 — Mary’s posture
There was a woman who chose to sit at His feet while the room filled with noise.
She didn’t invite Him in with words. She positioned herself.
That posture was the invitation.
Jesus called it the better thing — the one thing that couldn’t be taken away.
the horizontal
each space where i live, i invite you in.
every ordinary room.
the vertical
the deepest place I invite you in.
the room below that.
the sealed room
There’s a space below the ordinary.
The part you’ve kept sealed. The thought you haven’t let anyone near. The version of yourself you’re still deciding whether to let God into.
He doesn’t force the door.
But somehow the invitation still matters.
Mary knew this. She brought the whole of herself to His feet — not the presentable version.
Psalm 139:1–4
“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.”
Before you opened the door, He already knew the room.
Not an intrusion. A recognition. The deepest place you have — He has already been there.
The invitation is for you, not for Him.
Sit At Your Feet
Written from this place, for this place. For the ordinary spaces and the sealed ones. For the person who wants to bring the whole of themselves — not just the put-together version — to His feet.
an open heart i humbly give, my honest thoughts to you i bring
the deepest place I invite you in.
Whatever you’re carrying in that room — He already knows it.
The posture is the prayer.
Sit At Your Feet, out now
the lengths you’ve gone for me: the alabaster jar
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the lengths you’ve gone for me.
There was a woman who carried an alabaster jar.
What was inside was worth a year’s wages.
She had held it her whole life — kept it whole.
The dinner was at a Pharisee’s house.
She walked in uninvited.
Into a room she wasn’t supposed to enter.
Touched someone she wasn’t supposed to touch.
Wept in front of people who didn’t understand what she was doing.
The jar was the easy part.
She paid with the room.
With the staring.
With the people who were supposed to help — supposed to understand.
She paid with her conviction.
She counted the cost, but they don’t add up to cause a hindrance.
The monetary cost was the easy part.
And then she broke it.
The tears welled up in her bottle.
The alabaster she had stored up.
Everything she had. At His feet.
Not a portion. Not a calculated offering.
The whole thing.
The deepest place she had — she poured it out.
Jesus didn’t call it excessive.
He called it a great love.
“Her sins, which are many, are forgiven — for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
The sacrifice is not calculated by what it cost.
It’s poured out from the depths of what she had taken in.
The sacrifice is not evaluated by human approval.
It’s evaluated by who it’s offered to.
the lengths you’ve gone for me.
He didn’t think of equality with God as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges.
He took the humble position of a slave.
He humbled himself and died a criminal’s death.
This is what earns that line. Not sentiment.
The cross was His alabaster jar. Everything He had, broken open — for you.
He didn’t keep any of it whole.
— Philippians 2:5–8
What are you still keeping whole?
The deepest place — the thing you haven’t broken open yet.
He is worth it.
More than worth it.
the lengths you’ve gone for me
each space where i live, the deepest place i invite you in
Sit At Your Feet
listen and go deeper
Abraham: friendship with God didn’t start at the tomb
Six months on, the same yes, walked out on the road: friendship with God forged with open hands. From Wrote Out My Days Before Existence, a devotional series from our EP.
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Jesus called Lazarus friend.
long before that, there was another man:
“Abraham, my friend.” — Isaiah 41:8
the word came: Leave. Go.
it didn’t hand him a map. it promised to be his compass. — Genesis 12:1
so he decided: i’ll move in the direction it leads.
even when it led away from everything he could hold.
when it came time to part from Lot, he let Lot take the first pick
into that crucial moment, the word came again:
lift your eyes. count the dust. — Genesis 13:14–16
what he may have thought was his lot, was nothing next to what was appointed.
God told him he would enter a promise with him, and had him prepare for this
but until the time came, Abraham had to drive the vultures off of his offering —
not letting anything steal what God intends to seal.
“lift your eyes again. count the stars” — Genesis 15:5
same promise. same portion. bigger story.
at last, the first seed of the promise came.
but a seed held in the hand doesn’t grow.
so the hardest word came:
take the seed of your promise. go up the mountain.
empty your hand. give it back to me.
the man who let Lot have first pick took the only proof of his future and walked the whole way up.
he reasoned God could even raise the dead.
and what should have stayed buried in the dark rose instead.
he counted God as good. God credited him righteous — and called him friend.
what you do with the word in the dark makes the friendship.
the same God who wrote out your days before existence is the one who still speaks like a friend.
the question is, when he speaks, will you be quick to respond?
Wrote Out My Days Before Existence, the free devotional this deck comes from →
Moses: teach us to number our days
The oldest prayer in the songbook, and the same call Abraham got: not to number our blessings, but our days. From day 7 of Wrote Out My Days Before Existence, a devotional series from All My Life (To You I Bring).
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teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
the oldest prayer in the songbook was written by Moses.
he’d watched a whole generation refuse the promise and fall in the sand.
abraham heard Leave and Go
so did they.
abraham trusted the God who spoke it.
they called him cruel, kept their eyes on the chains behind them, and never lifted their eyes to see his ways.
so moses prays a strange prayer:
“teach us to number our days” — Psalm 90:12
not our blessings. our days.
the dust was beyond counting. the stars beyond telling.
but your days, they’re countable. seventy to eighty years on average.
when you know the portion is short, and held by a good God,
something happens to your grip. and you hold things a little less tightly.
the open hand is what wisdom from above looks like when it’s lived.
gentle. willing to yield. full of mercy. — James 3:17
you can only live with open hands
once you’ve stopped pretending tomorrow is yours to keep.
four hundred years, then plague on plague
let my people go, met with not yet
the waiting had a face, and it would not move
but a thousand years are a day to him
he is not slow. he is patient. — 2 Peter 3:8–9
then, about midnight, it turned.
that same night they were brought out
driven out so fast, the bread had no time to rise.
in its time, he does it swiftly. — Exodus 12:39, Isaiah 60:22
and then, all at once, the season turned.
see — the winter is past. the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. — Song of Songs 2:11–12
so whether slow or sudden, season turns in its time: a time to weep, a time to dance —
and he makes everything beautiful in its time. — Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11
he already wrote your days. the question left is how you’ll live them.
to you i bring everything, all of me.
from day 7 of Wrote Out My Days Before Existence
— a devotional series from All My Life (To You I Bring)
Wrote Out My Days Before Existence, the free devotional this deck comes from →
Six months on: we took stock of the songs God had given us
Six months after the word to lift our eyes: where the songs have gone, the days we’ve had to fight, and the invitation that still stands.
read the slides as text
six months ago today we took stock of the songs God had given us.
a word had come:
lift your eyes
not the songs, but what they carry. the grace and truth. the impact. the life change.
the dreams ignited in others. a move from borrowed faith to a real one. even if just for the one.
so we lifted our eyes from songs to souls.
no more burying talents. no more hiding the light.
with our hands open, he took the seeds in his wind further than we ever thought our private prayer ever would
Pakistan. Kazakhstan. Cambodia. Tanzania. The Emirates. Iran. Finland. Namibia. Albania.
70+ nations. places we have never been. people we may never meet. and even today, a new face in Mozambique.
then we heard a radio station and its hosts share what they see and hear about our journey, our first release, the fruit, the worship, our relationship transformed.
“less like a performance and more like a prayer” · “for a generation hungry to know Jesus” · “what started as a mentorship kind of relationship has turned into a creative partnership… pretty awesome… pretty meaningful”
it was good to zoom out and hear the bigger picture, from people who didn’t know us, have no investment in how it was received, pointing it all back to God.
but there have been days when we’ve had to fight.
for vssls, and for ourselves.
we’ve had to take the command God gave Abraham and walk it out ourselves.
Leave the spiral of escalating thoughts and the place where anxieties were allowed to rage.
Go out for a walk. to count the dust. to lift our eyes.
because when you hear the voice of God, everything changes.
and even when the days have been hard, we remind ourselves some things have to be viewed through the eyes of truth. because only His truth is our foundation.
because after the fire, there’s often a vulnerable moment
which is why we need to put His armour on, stand guard and pray for each other.
and God allows rest, he provides what is needed in the moment, and he says: “you are not alone.”
and when we bring ourselves to sit at his feet, he in turn kneels at ours and washes the dust off our feet.
he shares his heart like a friend.
reminds us that he wrote out your days. knew you before you were formed. chosen. appointed. set apart.
that your best days are still ahead
and if we don’t get weary in doing good, he promises that at the appointed time, he will bring a harvest.
the invitation
from friendship to filling
is available for you today
the invitation
peace for tomorrow
is available for you today
95 nations: it went where we couldn’t
A prayer from a lounge room in the Adelaide Hills, now heard in 95 nations on every inhabited continent. Let one name or place land on you, and pray for the people there.
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it began as a prayer in a lounge room in the Adelaide Hills.
a song we never meant for anyone to hear.
“It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit… it will prosper everywhere I send it.”
— Isaiah 55:11 NLT
“Go, borrow vessels from everywhere… do not gather just a few.” — 2 Kings 4:3 NKJV
Let a name or a place land on you, and join us in praying for the people there.
Oceania
“…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” — Acts 1:8 NIV
Asia
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us… full of grace and truth.” — John 1:14 NIV
Middle East
“…all the Gentiles who are called by My name.” — Amos 9:12 · Acts 15:17 NKJV
Africa
“Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” — Isaiah 60:3 NIV
North & Central America
“The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.” — Amos 9:13 NKJV
South America
“Behold, the days are coming… when the plowman shall overtake the reaper.” — Amos 9:13 NKJV
Europe
“seeds offered with open hands, landing on good soil of people’s hearts and on the soils of many nations”
carried on air
“Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” — Psalm 19:4 NIV
with Aussie Grown Across The Nation
Someone in Rwanda. Someone in Guyana.
We don’t know their names. He does.
thank you
to every station that carried it, to Aussie Grown, and to everyone who shared, prayed and sent it on.
95 nations · every inhabited continent
each space where I live, I invite you in
doors that close to the gospel don’t close to God
The same week billboards refused our ads for religious content, the songs and NOGREATERLOVE.live were already reaching places we’ve never been.
read the slides as text
the day ends, LOVE doesn’t
if you live in Adelaide, you may have seen the message of NOGREATERLOVE on billboards on Glen Osmond Road, in Mile End, and in St Peters…
other advertising boards rejected our ads, or excluded delivery of approved ads to the boards.
they cited religious content as the reason.
in the same week — NOGREATERLOVE.live somehow made its way into
Thailand, Italy, Iran, Ireland, China, Austria, Poland, Philippines, France, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Belgium
the sound of “Friend to me” made its way through
Australia, United States, Philippines, Canada, United Kingdom, Nigeria, Germany, Chile, Ghana, Guatemala, Ireland, Lithuania, New Zealand, Zambia
someone in Bacolod City, Philippines
streamed “Friend to me” 9 times on the day it released
we’ve never been to the Philippines.
we have no connections there. we didn’t put it on a billboard there.
nor did we in Thailand, Iran, China, Nigeria, Ghana, Guatemala, …, anywhere outside Adelaide
doors that close to the gospel
don’t close to God
“Friend to me” · NOGREATERLOVE.live
the grace and truth they carry, and God himself, go with them.
stream and save “Friend to me” · share NOGREATERLOVE.live with a friend
Iran: found before we’d made it public
On 9 February, someone in Iran found NOGREATERLOVE.live before it was public. Iran hasn’t been alone, and it wasn’t a one-off. Would you stand with us and pray?
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on 9 February 2026, someone in Iran found NOGREATERLOVE.live — our evangelistic site
before we’d made it public, when it was shared only with the intercessors covering us in prayer.
days later, on Valentine’s Day, a missionary to the unreached Muslim nations shared a story that would stay with us, from his first trip to Pakistan.
a woman, healed on this trip, met the love of God for the first time.
she asked him: “Why didn’t you come earlier?”
her husband had died the year before. her son, two years before that. neither had ever known this Jesus.
we couldn’t stop pondering what the visit from Iran to NOGREATERLOVE.live meant. but Jesus makes it clear:
When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away.
Matthew 24:37–39
Now learn a lesson from the fig tree.
When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all these things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door.
Matthew 24:32–33
Just as the gathering of the vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.
Luke 17:37
Iran hasn’t been alone.
we’ve seen visits from other places where the gospel is resisted — China. Kosovo. Albania. Pakistan.
Iran wasn’t a one-off.
February. June. another, just this week.
just as our offering in February reached them, this week we send again our prayers.
the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never overcome it.
wherever you are, would you take a moment today to stand with us and the global Church?
Pray for Iran, the Middle East, and the nations of the world.
your peace stands guard over all. in you, we have peace for tomorrow.
Gift for the Church: the first fruit in the Church’s own records
Our first CCLI SongSelect report: Sit At Your Feet accessed across the United States, Canada and Australia. A gift from within the Church, for the Church.
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a pastor once said of vssls: a gift from within the Church, for the Church
a word spoken as we stepped out in faith and obedience to host a worship night, and a word spoken over us before we’d seen it come true.
this week we saw some of the first fruit of that word arrive quietly — in the Church’s own records, our very first CCLI SongSelect report.
Sit At Your Feet was accessed from across the United States, Canada, and right here in Australia.
the harvest is plentiful.
some seeds are sown near, and some are sown far — the wind blows wherever it pleases, we just keep offering our worship.
whether carried near or far, whatever grows was always meant for the whole body of Christ.
Luke 10, John 3:8
“the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’” — 1 Corinthians 12:21
a church we’ve never met reached for something a collective in the Adelaide Hills was given — and we need the wider body every bit as much in return.
one body. one Spirit. one hope. one Lord. one faith. one baptism. one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
it’s the only reason a song can cross an ocean: it was never crossing to strangers. it’s the sound of heaven finding a resting place.
Ephesians 4:4–6
Sit At Your Feet is the most accessed so far — but it isn’t alone.
Friend to me · All My Life (To You I Bring) · peace for tomorrow — all on CCLI SongSelect
our gift from within the Church, to the Church
seed in the ground. was this your church? tell us
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” — Isaiah 43:18–19
We didn’t apply for this: Aussie Grown Across The Nation
All My Life (To You I Bring) on Aussie Grown Across The Nation: carried on twenty-plus stations around Australia and beyond. Times as at 24 July 2026.
read the slides as text
this week: Aussie Grown Across The Nation
we didn’t apply for this…
save this so you’ve got it. send it to someone in these towns.
United States: Christian Mix 106, Wilmington DE — Friday 11pm ET, Sunday 2pm ET.
South Australia: Lime FM 104.9 / 99.3 — Friday 8pm; Life FM 107.9 Adelaide — Saturday 11pm; Life FM Riverland 100.7 / 88.5 — Sunday 8pm.
Victoria: Life FM 105.1 Bendigo — Saturday 8pm; Good News Radio 103.9 — Saturday 8am & Wednesday 4.10pm.
let us know where did you catch it on.
save this so you’ve got it. send it to someone in these towns.
New South Wales & ACT: 1WAY FM 91.9 Canberra — Wednesday 8:30pm; Rhema FM 99.9 Pt Macquarie — Sunday 12am (late Sat); 2NVR 105.9 Nambucca Valley — Wednesday 6am; Triple H 100.1 Hornsby — Sunday 8am.
Queensland: Salt 106.5 Sunshine Coast — Saturday 4pm; Positive 91FIVE 91.5 Gympie — Saturday 8pm.
Western Australia: Hope FM 103.9 Esperance — Tuesday 8pm & Friday 12am.
+ more
let us know where did you catch it on.
Christian Mix 106
online from Wilmington DE, USA
Friday 11pm ET / Saturday 12:30pm ACST · Sunday 2pm ET / Monday 3:30am ACST
Life FM 107.9 Adelaide
Saturday 11pm ACST
Life FM Riverland 100.7 / 88.5 (Waikerie)
Sunday 8pm ACST
Lime FM 104.9 / 99.3 (Naracoorte)
Limestone Coast SA / Western VIC
Friday 8pm ACST
Salt FM 106.5
Sunshine Coast QLD
Saturday 4pm AEST
Positive 91FIVE FM 91.5
Gympie QLD
Saturday 8pm AEST
Life FM 105.1
Bendigo VIC
Saturday 8pm ACST
Rhema FM 99.9
Port Macquarie NSW
Sunday 12am AEST
Triple H 100.1 FM
Hornsby NSW
Sunday 8am AEST
Good News Radio 103.9 FM
Wendouree VIC
Saturday 8am AEST · Wednesday 4:10pm AEST
Way FM 105.3
Launceston TAS
Sunday 12pm AEST
Hope FM 103.9
Esperance WA
Tuesday 8pm AWST · Friday 12am AWST
2NVR Nambucca Valley Radio 105.9 FM
NSW
Wednesday 6am AEST
1WAY FM 91.9
Canberra ACT
Wednesday 8:30pm AEST
Isaiah 60:1–2
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you… his glory appears over you.
Friend to me, the first days: 28 nations in 11 days
From the Adelaide Hills to 28 nations in eleven days. We can’t go to all these places, but the grace and truth the songs carry, and God himself, go with them.
read the slides as text
we wrote “Friend to me” in the Adelaide Hills
recorded it live with a room of people longing for God to fill them as empty vessels
5 days after release, it’s being listened to in
Australia, United States, Philippines, Canada, United Kingdom, Nigeria, Germany, Chile, Ghana, Guatemala, Ireland, Lithuania, New Zealand, Zambia
someone in Bacolod City, Philippines
streamed “Friend to me” 9 times in a day
NOGREATERLOVE.live, as the evangelistic vessel, has somehow made its way into
Thailand, Italy, Iran, Ireland, China, Austria, Poland, Philippines, France, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Belgium
“Friend to me” — 11 days
28 nations
Port Harcourt, Nigeria · Riga, Latvia · Cape Town, South Africa · San Salvador, El Salvador · Bække, Denmark · Accra, Ghana · Bengaluru, India · Bacolod City, Philippines · Cagayan de Oro, Philippines · Benin City, Nigeria · Barcelona, Spain · Auckland, New Zealand · London, United Kingdom · Wasilla, Alaska · Anchorage, Alaska · Las Vegas, Nevada · Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania · Charlotte, North Carolina · Dallas, Texas · Indianapolis, Indiana · Oklahoma City, Oklahoma · Colorado Springs, Colorado · Atlanta, Georgia · Portland, Oregon · San Antonio, Texas · St Louis, Missouri · Hilton Head Island, South Carolina · Bluffton, South Carolina · Mentor, Ohio · Mitchell, South Dakota · Modesto, California · Farmington, New
Mexico · Decatur, Georgia · Brighton, Colorado · Cypress, Texas · Antelope, California · Antioch, California · Boise, Idaho · Campbell, …California · Carmel, Indiana · Colton, California · Arlington, Texas · Melbourne, Australia · Sunshine Coast, Australia · Brisbane, Australia · Sydney, Australia · Perth, Australia · Mount Barker, Australia · Adelaide, Australia
and more cities across 28 countries including Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Zambia
we can’t go to all these places. but “Friend to me” can. NOGREATERLOVE.live can.
the grace and truth they carry, and God himself, go with them.
see 18 Feb on Instagram →see 24 Feb on Instagram →see 24 Feb on Facebook →
Two weeks of Friend to me: what Spotify told us
In the first three days, 94% of streams came from people who searched for us. By day fourteen, people who didn’t know us had joined in, and they were keeping it.
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2 weeks of “Friend to me”
Spotify tells us something only God can do
in the first 3 days, 94% of streams came from people who searched for vssls or “Friend to me”
that’s you, thanks for being a part of the journey
by day 5, that was 51% and by day 14, it’s 48%
not because the people who knew us stopped listening, but because people who didn’t know us joined in
Spotify’s algorithm picked up “Friend to me” and put it to people we’ve never met
532 streams from radio alone
but here’s what got us: 29% of all streams now come from people’s own libraries and playlists
they’re not just hearing it — they’re keeping it
we poured out what we had and it’s still overflowing
the grace and truth “Friend to me” carries flows with it.