The Nothing Blog

Grace Balint sings "Open My Eyes" God had to take me through a long journey through a very dark valley to tenderly teach me more truths about who He is and what He wants for His beloved daughters and sons. He wants us to love the truth because He is the Truth. "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."  (John 14:6). Truth is freedom for God's children. "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32). Jesus made this truth very plain when He was taken prisoner and set before a spiritually blinded Pilate, who said to Jesus, "'You are a king, then!' Jesus answered, 'You are right in saying I am a king In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me." ( John 18:37) When Jesus says  He is the way , it's every way: the way to truth, the way to everlasting life, the w...

Worship Leader Grace Balint sings "Zephaniah 3:17 " One Week Old Jesse Spencer Agee.  photo credit: Caleb Jones Photography Loud and clear. That's how God was speaking to my heart during my first week of caring for our first grandchild, Jesse Spencer Agee. God was showing me in a new way that He never changes no matter how we behave; that He is faithful to keep every promise to His children and He daily opened my spiritual eyes to this Scriptural theme: "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Joshua 1:6). The more time I spent with Jesse, the more I saw this beautiful, loving promise from our Shepherd. And this is especially remarkable because even before my first week with him I was daily praying for God to "open my eyes to see truth and know the truth and to give me wisdom to know it and believe it." (Side note: Isn't that something we all should be praying daily for: wisdom, truth, and faith to believe?)  Well, God has delightfully asto...

 🎶 Grace Balint sings "The Joy of the LORD" 🎶 "...the joy of the LORD is your strength."  Nehemiah 8:10 This thought came to me when I was praying yesterday morning: When we love God more than we love ourselves we have power to push back the darkness. In other words, we push back darkness with our love for God! And I thought to myself, "Wow! Yes! That is what is happening to me right now! I've been praying for God to move mountains and giving Him praise for who He is...and this is where the power is! Faith! Believing God!"  Creating a designated space to study and pray sets the scene for the radiant presence of God to be felt strongly. Darkness has to flee and JOY swoops into the room! Whoa! Yes! It's happening, Baby!  When we love someone we want to spend time with them; to be in their presence, right? We want our relationship to grow and blossom and bear fruit. The love grows like a fruitful vine. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you r...

🎶  Worship Leader Grace Balint sings "Surrounded"  🎶 Before our daughter Grace graduated from Brenau University in Gainesville, GA,  she had been researching schools on the west coast where she wanted to earn her Masters Degree. She discovered Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA, to be the perfect place for her to receive the Masters of Divinity in Worship Arts. With that news, I began to be concerned for her safety and well-being. It was unfamiliar territory far from home for her and for us as her parents. Look, not one of us in this family knew anyone in CA. Nope. No relatives. No friends. No business associates in the Hollywood/Pasadena/Los Angeles area. I began to fret. Yeah, I did.  I'm her mom. Who would protect her? Who could she call? We had a few conversations about all this and it was obvious Grace had done her homework. Grace had been praying about it for a while, too. She found her own housing, registered for classes at Fuller and found part tim...

Worship Leader Grace Balint sings Holy is the Lord of Hosts  Recently during one of our weekly Mt. Zion Church   5:16 Prayer Gatherings   I tried to pray but I felt overwhelmed. I think it was a combination of the number of prayer requests, the reality of knowing it pleased our Holy God for us to gather, and my struggle to hear the Holy Spirit lead me in where to start. Then I realized why I was trembling; the Holy Spirit was reminding me of the verse for which our prayer gathering was named,  "The fervent prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective." ( James 5:16 ). Wow. Yes. Powerful. Effective.  The supernatural power of the Spirit of God works through our prayers to move mountains, redeem, save, heal, restore, provide, and protect -- all in accordance with His will. What sank deep in my soul in those moments was acknowledging that to be a faithful child of God includes privileges and responsibilities.  When He changes our hearts and we become H...

Grace Balint sings The Lord's Prayer,  music by Pendleton Brown The Blame Game isn't working for the healing of America. Blaming public prayer in our government schools for our troubles and ruling to remove it  hasn't helped anyone. Maybe because God says,  "The fervent prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective"  (James 5:16). Looking to God as our Ultimate Authority isn't why we have a troubled nation, but national authorities decided to take down the 10 Commandments from our government buildings anyway. Wow.  God says,  "You shall have no other gods before Me"  ( Exodus 20:3).  So whose law is America following and h ow's all this working for US? Blaming unplanned, inconvenient pregnancies as our troubles and paying abortionists to dissect unborn babies to get rid of the problem...who wins with this one? "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb" (Psalm 139:13). Taking away the people'...

🎶  Worship Leader Grace Balint sings "Stronger"  🎶 I've met the wisdom lady.  I first met her many years ago in the book of Proverbs. God had just opened my heart to know Him so I was ready for the wisdom lady to open her heart to me! When I read her practical, rich words of life  I thought to myself. "Wow. Really? This is powerful. This is good stuff. This is so simple and wonderful...and these beautiful promises!"  Yep. Since then she's become a mentor to my soul. But not before God sent me through many painful storms and dark valleys over the years to show me it was not wise for me to try to control my little world. Hah! I admit it. Control issues cause pain. It means we're trusting in ourselves instead of trusting in God.Yikes. That's called idolatry!  But I hope I've become a teachable, willing student. I will say I'm wholeheartedly convinced that to be hungry for wisdom is how to receive her holy hospitality! The wisdom lady promises ...