"I Want You With Me" by Julie Meyer

There is a beautiful album out by Julie Meyer that I have been listening to for a few months now.  It is Paint Your Picture and it has some amazing music that is truly from her heart and the heart of God.  One of the songs is "I Want You With Me" and it is the cry of Jesus to us.. longing for us... searching for us.  His desire for us and love for us, His bride. 

The beginning of the song starts with these short phrases:

    I want you with me
    I want you shining in purity
    I want you with me
    I want you shining in righteousness

The part that grabs my heart every time I hear this song is the, I want, part of the phrases.  I want, I want, I want.... Jesus wants me??  Why would He want me?  What in the world is He thinking?  He could never WANT me??? could He?  I have always wondered why would someone ever want me, especially the God of the universe.  I am dirty, ugly, filthy and unlovable.  I am not pure!  I am not righteous!  I certainly do not measure up.  Those worldly self-loathing tapes of the enemy start to scream in my head.

Then comes a verse that brings you closer to His heart and what He is looking for:

     Oh and I, I'm after a bride
     I'm after a prize
     One I can possess
     One I can refine
     Oh and I, I want you to shine
     Like the strength of the Sun
     I want your soul
     I want your all
     Every beat of your heart

The part that sticks out to me here is the phrase, One I can refine. He is looking to refine us into what He wants, into the pure, righteous one that He created us to truly be.  He is looking for His bride, and He is looking to us... the broken, fallen, dirty and defiled.  He wants to take all the bad that is there and He wants to refine it, change it and purify it!

He wants us with Him!  He wants us as His bride!  Not just the good parts, but all of us!  He is what will make us pure and whole and when we have given ourselves over to Him, letting Him refine us, then we can walk with assurance that we are pure and righteous in our Lord's eyes. 

Jesus is the cure to the virus of sin and with that life saving realization, I fell to my knees and wept.  I wept with pain with a sense of knowing that it was all my sins and filth that put Jesus on that cross and caused His great suffering.  But I also wept with gratefulness and peace because I knew that without a doubt that His time on that cross was followed by His resurrection and that He is now alive... and after His bride!  I am His bride and I am refined more every day by the Holy Spirit who was given to us by Jesus when He departed this world so that I and we can shine like the strength of the Sun! 

I thank you Jesus for all of your suffering and all of your sacrifices that you have been faithful to fulfill.  I thank you Jesus for wanting me, for refining me and loving me enough to continue to want me.  And I am thankful that you sent your Holy Spirit to dwell within me so that I can truly be purified and made righteous to stand for for my amazing Father in heaven.  You are amazing and I never want to forget that.

Thank you Julie Meyer for making such inspiring beautiful music that touches the heart and soul.  To find out more about Julie and her music you can find her at the following sites:

Julie Meyer (her website) ~ http://www.juliemeyer.com/

Facebook page ~ http://tinyurl.com/69xo62b

Twitter ~ http://twitter.com/#!/juliemeyerihop

Youtube ~ http://tinyurl.com/66e66f5 

I pray you are as blessed by her music and the Lord's love as I have been!