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Embracing Faith

HolyName Band’s Self-titled Debut Album Tops The Billboard Top Christian/Gospel Albums List

by Emily Wheelock January 30, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — HolyName Band’s self-titled debut album from Facedown Records has debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Christian/Gospel Albums list, #10 on the Top New Artist Albums chart and #15 in Current Hard Music Albums.

Meet the Band

HolyName is led by Tommy Green of Sleeping Giant fame, with the supergroup lineup rounded out by Brook Reeves (Impending Doom), Matthew Weir (Sleeping Giant), Aaron Craner and Joe Holt. Ryan Leitru (For Today) has served as their producer. HolyName’s debut full-length album HolyName showcases their signature, self-described sound: “violent worship.”

“We feel shocked and truly humbled and grateful by the people who have supported this release and made it a success,” Tommy Green says as he reflects on the project’s wildly successful debut. “The pain and the journey and the faith journey of this record is the substance of struggle and devotion that many people can identity with in these days. There is a time for lament, a time to stop and listen to the pain of the world and the pain of the soul. That is faith as well.”

The People Have Spoken

The album has also received rave reviews from media and listeners. These responses are proving that HolyName is resonating as much as the band hoped.

“Call it “Holy Drone,” call it “Violent Worship”—but HolyName represents some of the most inspired music from the Facedown Records roster.”
— Metal Injection

“With a deeply heavy sound that eschews the punchy riffs and snappy leads of modern metalcore, HolyName’s drone worship sound is definitely something new in a musical climate that badly needs creativity injected into heavy music.”
— JesusFreakHideout

Staying Rooted

In the face of the enthusiastic response, the band remains committed first to the faith that fueled it. Tommy concludes, “We hope that this record is encouraging and edifying and mournful and true. We’re so grateful: thank you. Lord Jesus, please have mercy on us. I’m so grateful.”

You can find the album on all major streaming platforms at orcd.co/holyname. You can also follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

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January 30, 2023 0 comment

Faith Today's Encouragement

Faith And Healing

by GOD TV October 26, 2022

written by GOD TV

You know, when we talk about Jesus and the healing gospel, you know, I hear people say, “Well, healing is not the whole gospel.” And, that’s true. But neither is the gospel whole without it. What He did on a daily basis was so extraordinary that it recalibrated a value system for believers of His day. There were people of His day that didn’t think God did that stuff anymore, and yet they had to adjust to the fact that Jesus Himself was displaying the nature and the heart of the Father.

I think the most amazing thing to me about the ministry of Jesus, He summed it up by saying, “I’m here to reveal the Father.” Wow. “I’m here to reveal the Father.” That’s basically saying everything that’s happened up until that point did not adequately reveal the Father. Everything in the Old Testament was necessary. It’s powerful, it’s beautiful, it’s amazing. But it fell short and Jesus came to carry it on. He came to run the last leg of the race, so to speak, to bring it into a place of real definition and real triumph and real victory.

Jesus revealed the Father. How does that play out in our lives? When we look at Jesus, I hear people say, “He didn’t heal everyone alive,” and that’s true. We see the man at the Gate Beautiful in Acts chapter three. He was there during the time of Christ. We don’t know anything about any interaction, anything of that nature. We’d have to make that up, because it’s not in the book. But we know he was alive then, and we know he was afflicted then. Here’s what we do know. Jesus healed everyone who came to Him. Every person, even the Syrophoenician woman. Jesus was sent first to minister to the Jew. He first was to minister to the Jew. In their rejection, the gospel would be opened up for all the nations, for which I’m so thankful. But Jesus came to minister to the Jew. And yet, here’s a woman that was so hungry, so desperate, that she overcame the opportunity for offense. Jesus looked at her and said this: “We don’t give the children’s bread to dogs.” Churches have split over less offense than that. And yet she overcame offense. She jumped the hurdle of offense, if you will, and stepped into the realm of the Kingdom and got a miracle for her daughter. So the point is, Jesus healed everyone who came to Him, even those whom people would say were not qualified. Jesus healed them.

The second thing, Jesus healed everyone the Father sent Him to. We know that He only did what he saw the Father do. That’s a pretty amazing statement. And so the Father would direct Him. He would step into a situation, bring a great miracle, great healing. We know that there were times where the Father would show Him exactly how to bring about the miracle. The spitting in the mud and putting it on the eyes, the telling to go wash in the pool of Siloam, to the centurion, “Go your way your servant lives.” Everything that He did, He did in response to the Father, revealing something about the heart of the Father for people and the nature of the miraculous. Someone could actually be healed through a decree: “Go your way, your servant lives.”

It really is fitting because Psalm 107:20 says, “And He sent His word and healed them.” He sent His word and healed them. So here’s this phenomenon that Jesus would simply make a decree and something would happen. Why didn’t He do all of them that way? Because every miracle uniquely revealed the nature of God, the heart of God, and the nature of faith. The centurion with the servant that was sick, said to Jesus, “You don’t need to come to my home.” He had an understanding of how the reality of the Kingdom worked. He wasn’t even qualified in an Old Testament sense, and yet Jesus responded to him, made a decree, because he saw, he understood how the Kingdom worked.

Faith works according to a renewed mind. It’s hard to understand how a centurion would be the one that understands the nature of the Kingdom, the nature of the King, the nature of faith as clearly as he did. But he did. Jesus honored it and brought a miracle. Other times He would lay hands on them. Other times, they would touch His garment, His clothing. The point is, every single miracle revealed the nature of God, the heart of God, and the nature of faith.

You and I are responsible for that last part. Faith is not the result of striving. It’s not like let’s work ourselves up into faith. So many have tried that and it ends up in such disaster, because faith is never self-made. It’s not the result of determination, it’s not the result of striving, it’s not the result of human effort. It’s the result of surrender. God has already created the momentum of faith. Surrender is to step into the momentum He has created.

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Against All Hope, Abraham In Hope Believed

by Sarah Crockett June 24, 2022

written by Sarah Crockett

Are you facing a difficult, or even impossible, circumstance? You’re not alone. Romans 4 paints a vivid picture of Abraham’s faith journey. In verse 18 it says, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations…” Here we see Abraham choose to believe. The key word here is choose!

Facing The Facts

Romans 4:18-21 NIV – “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”

There was a reality facing Abraham as he pressed into the promise God had given him – he was old and so was his wife. But Abraham didn’t let his circumstances trump what God had said. He was unwavering in his faith. Abraham focused his attention more on the promise and the One who promised. He set his face like flint.

Faith Is The Key

Abraham is our example when it comes to receiving the promises of God. Life isn’t always going to line up with what God has said. But which reality do we choose to focus on, the reality of Heaven or the reality of our circumstance? We must use faith, the kind of faith that is “certain of what we hope for” and “sure of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).

God’s promises to you are “Yes and Amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20). You may not see them yet, but be encourage by Abraham’s story. The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:24) so just believe!!!

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I Once Was Blind But NOW I See!

by Corine Channell May 31, 2021

written by Corine Channell

It really hit me today – I have pondered this thought before but now I feel I have lived it out. You can stay (emotionally) at the age when you were abused or suffered injustice, until that door is unbolted and THEN you get to finally move on. I feel like I never actually fully grew up (mentally) until, wow – last year. Yikes. That has been very hard to face and yet so liberating to walk in truth now. It is wonderfully horrifying to me. I feel like I was 15 for 50 years. It is as if I was invited to a party 50 years ago, but I finally just made it there. And now everyone else has gone home. THAT is how I feel. So it is a mix of a joyous healing (I was blind but now I SEE), but also remorse at – look at what I missed when I was blind. When I was stumbling around in the dark at that time, I was tripping, searching, breaking, destroying, questioning, fearing, and did not ever have a clue where I was going. Except for Jesus. HE knew where I was. HE knew every misstep I took. HE knew every lost moment I would never reclaim. HE knew my every fear and He called them by their names when I couldn’t. HE held me until that day – the day when He gave me back my sight. When I was blind and basically used to NOT being able to see, did I know how it could feel to NOT be blind? I feel like I had nothing to compare to being blind in my soul – I had been that way for as long as I can remember. I couldn’t SEE … yet. Just like the blind man, blind from birth.

THE BLIND MAN

And THIS Bible story I have heard my whole life – NOW I get it. “As He went along, He saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of Him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” After saying this, He spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” He told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam”. So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked. He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.” (John 9)

And so there is that. Blind but now he sees! I want to tear this story apart – so much there I never researched or explored or considered. And so much about it that can relate to each of us on a personal level.

BLINDNESS WITH NO SHAME

First of all, it was not hereditary that he was blind. He didn’t become blind because of anything he had done (not a consequence) nor was it his parent’s fault. I am guessing they blamed themselves, as ALL parents do when anything goes wrong with their children – we always think it is something we did. And any injustice is attached with blame and shame. Right here Jesus makes it clear – the man was blind and it was not his fault. We tend to judge other’s flaws as if somehow they chose it. Gee, I think I will choose to not have my sight – sounds like a great plan. NOT. Life just happens.

Next, Jesus said there was a purpose (a profitable aftermath) for the man’s blindness. (the supernatural works of God on display in him) Whoa. Wait. Really? Think about that. So that thing in our lives that is our cross to bear so to speak, can become the very thing that defines us with a purpose and a WHY? For me, sexual abuse? That is deep and intense and troubling really. Okay, keep going.

Jesus explains how dark the world is, and how short our time is here. He says that HE is the
light of the world and while here on earth, basically He must perform miracles so others will believe – so generations (us) who follow behind people like the blind man, will be reminded of His power to redeem and heal and restore. Basically, Jesus came to be the proof of God.

THE MIRACLE OF DIRT AND SPIT

The blind man – okay – how did Jesus heal him? WHAT did He use? Well, the actual ground where he had stumbled and fell, and the dirt he had sat in for years and years. THE SAME DIRT. What had been his captivity and his shame, became his healing. When you add Jesus to any equation (even dirt piles) they become places of redemption. No longer simply dirt – the ground became the very thing that Jesus used to anoint the blind man’s eyes to see! What? This is a lot. Go a bit deeper – Jesus spit on the dirt to turn it to mud to put on his eyes. Even the spit of God is miraculous. Whoa.

Okay, moving on. Jesus sent him (with mud caked on his eyes) to the Pool of Siloam. (Aren’t you curious what his thoughts were?) The Pool of Siloam was where fresh water was stored, also called the Lower Pool in Isaiah 22:9. “You saw that the walls of the City of David were broken through in many places; you stored up water in the Lower Pool.” Siloam means “sent”. The even deeper meaning is that the pool was filled with fresh and clear gushing water. And the water was stored there because of all the broken places around it.

A DIP IN THE POOL

Also, being sent to this particular Pool gives Jesus’ miracle credibility from then to NOW – it is an actual historic location – not something in a story without authenticity or fact. I had to laugh at the reference for this Pool’s credibility – II Kings 20:20. Blind man gets his sight back here – WOW. Right? 20/20 vision. Don’t we want OUR stories to be authentic and real, so generations to come will have reason to believe them as truth? Jesus clearly had a plan, from start to finish. At some point we are required to just have that ONE moment when we have some faith in the same Jesus.

Let’s back up a minute – Jesus SENT him there. The blind man had to get there still blind, but NOW with hope in his heart and mud on his eyes. His healing was a journey – he had to trust this man – I wonder if he knew it was Jesus or who Jesus was – no, I don’t think so, but his heart knew what his mind could not. He was encountering the Son of God and if He said get to the Pool of Siloam, he was going there.

I find this significant for me – when I decided to take my journey back to find my own healing, well – it was a choice I made. I felt that pull into the unknown – I know now that was Jesus calling me, just like He called the blind man – I will heal you, yes – I need YOU to do this first, as an act of your faith and trust. And He sent the blind man on his journey – still blind, eyes caked with mud and Jesus’ spit.

Maybe this represents all our fears mixed with hope that becomes our driving force for the healing. Then Jesus sent him to a spring of clear life giving water where He told him to wash himself, in the midst of all the broken places around him. All the wows. SO deep. A walk of faith. A walk out of the darkness into the light.

NO LONGER BLIND

Finally, well – there was the miracle as we know it – the blind man was NO LONGER BLIND. Mission accomplished. All I can advise here is to put yourself in the place of the blind man – with your own unique story, but with the same Jesus.

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Embracing Faith As The Response Of The Human Spirit To The Word Of God

by DESEMOND MBANTOH September 26, 2019

written by DESEMOND MBANTOH

Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen

Embracing faith as the response of the human spirit to the word of God makes us receptive to His saving grace. There is tremendous power in the word of God. It is holy and helpful in knowing what God wants from mankind. As we all know, the Bible is an authoritative guide when it comes to living a faithful life. Have you ever had the sudden feeling of the world becoming seemingly small when reading the word of God? If yes, then we’ll attribute it to the manifesting power of the Word of God.

When the power coming from the Word of God is manifested, even the challenges that were worrying your mind disappear or seem less important. You might be wondering how and why? Behold, at such a time, the Word of God is getting into your spirit and provoking a response from your inner self. The response is what we refer to as faith.

Apostle Paul in Romans 10:17 puts it this way: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” In simple terms, God’s Word gives birth to faith. Every time that you hear God’s Word, your spirit responds to it by creating room for faith. When faith settles in your heart, it energizes your whole being. That’s why your problems or worries in the face of faith seem to be of no effect. Note that faith is not in the realm of the physical senses; it is an attribute of the human spirit. Faith was divinely imparted into your spirit when you were born again as we can read from Romans 10:17.

Embracing faith to live a fulfilling life through Christ

Every time we hear the Word of God, it goes through our minds into our spirits. The Word of God is more like our spiritual food without which we cannot experience spiritual growth. Receiving the Word of God in our spirit makes it more real than the physical things that our senses perceive. As followers of Christ, we are taught to walk by faith and not by sight nor other senses.

Bible verses about faith point to the spiritual truth that faith is the evidence of the things we don’t see or perceive with our senses. Genuine faith is the evidence of what God’s Word says. Embracing faith leads to accepting what the Word of God says above the natural circumstances of life. That is, instead of focusing on the contrary things that your eyes or ears are perceiving about the situation at hand, you focus on what God is saying. Regularly study and meditate on God’s Word so that your faith can heal and set you free from all situations that are not in line with His will for your life.

There is a strong spiritual reaction that is ignited between your spirit and the Word of God thereby giving you dominion over the circumstances of life. During this reaction, faith rises in you like a giant and you have the assurance or certainty that you are who God says you are, you can do what God says you can do, and you have what He says you have. In addition, God loves you and wants the best for you as we can read from the top Bible verses about love.

September 26, 2019 0 comment