Jon Lloyd

Dead to self

jon — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:19:34 +0000

“In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” – Romans 6:11 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.’” - Matthew 16:24. I think that so many times Christians profess to be dead to sin, but don’t profess to be dead to self. In other words, we celebrate our freedom from the chains of sin yet … →

It’s my life… or is it?

jon — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:32:06 +0000

It’s your life, do what you want with it. If he messes up his life, oh well, it’s his life, not mine. It’s my life, and it’s now or never, I ain’t gonna live forever… Stay out of my life! Any of these sayings (or song lyrics) sound familiar? They do to me. Early in high school, I hit a point where I was just really mad at the world. I was unpopular, wasn’t getting the best grades, really didn’t … →

Not everything means something

jon — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:59:16 +0000

I’ve been thinking a lot about marriage recently, as we prepare for our upcoming series at Vertical, as I’ve attended Mark Driscoll’s Real Marriage conference, and as I’ve been able to lead two small groups through two different marriage studies. Through all of this, I’ve zoned in on several potential pitfalls that can sabotage our marriages. One of those areas is communication. I could spend hours on this topic, but I want to focus even deeper on one particular aspect … →

Marriage is hard

jon — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:18:53 +0000

OK – so if you’re single, don’t stop reading this post. This has a lot to with you as well. This post is primarily for those who profess to be Christians, because, well, Christian marriage is especially hard. Why? Because of accountability. As Christians, in our marriages we are accountable to a sovereign God through Jesus, the ultimate bridegroom. So let me start by hitting you with some controversial scripture. Good way to start the day, right? Now concerning the … →

Free Song #15 (the finale) – My Prayer

jon — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 17:00:30 +0000

Wow – this has been fun, huh? You’ve gotten some free music out of the deal, and I’ve gotten to reminisce about how these songs came about. Just typing each of these posts has brought me back to the times when God was working on me in various seasons of my life. The final free song for you is “My Prayer.” What better way to end this project than with the very first Christian song I ever wrote. I actually … →

Free Song #14 – Jesus is Alive

jon — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:00:15 +0000

“Jesus is Alive” was meant to be just a big-time, loud worship song. It’s meant to get people jumping on their feet in celebration of the fact that Jesus lives! This song is basically about how the Resurrection can’t be contained – it’s so exciting, so liberating, that we have no choice but to “shout His love to the nations and proclaim to all generations that Jesus is alive!” This is the final song from the 2010 Alive EP. A … →

Free Song #13 – The Lord is My Strength

jon — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:56:55 +0000

This song actually took a year to write. It began in 2009 and came to fruition in 2010. I wrote a post about the story behind this song, including how blessed I was to be able to cowrite it with Casey Darnell. Here’s that post for you from 2010, including the lyrics to the song: After the events of this week, with the passing of my grandfather, I thought it only appropriate to share the story and lyrics of a … →

Free Song #12 – This Place

jon — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:42:29 +0000

The song “This Place” actually has a humorous story behind it as far as how the actual writing went. We were on the last day of recording the album in 2007, and “This Place” was the last song needing vocals recorded. There was a problem, however – I hadn’t written any lyrics. I had tried to force some lyrics, but nothing really sounded good, or really made any sense. Even more interesting is the fact that we had already recorded … →

Free Song #11 – Help Me Hold On

jon — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:25:41 +0000

This song was quite simply a labor of love. “Help Me Hold On” was a collaborative effort between myself and my keyboard player at the time. He had some great ideas for the music, and I had written the words ahead of time. When these two things met, I remember thinking, “this is perfect.” I wrote this song out of a season of confusion and struggle, and I was begging God to not let go of me. We recorded it … →

Free Song #10 – Jesus Paid it All

jon — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:30:40 +0000

One of the first songs we did as a band at an event was the Kristian Stanfill/Alex Nifong arrangement of the hymn, “Jesus Paid it All.” I had heard this song done at Passion 2007 in Atlanta, and loved the way they did it and the effectiveness of it. This song quickly became a staple at nearly every event we ever played. It’s so simple, yet so powerful. Chances are you’ve heard this song before, perhaps even this version. Our … →