15 Responses to “refresh my heart”

1. 1
   » Geoff Bullock rewrite index » » Blog Archive » Signposts Says:
   September 26th, 2005 at 9:40 pm

   […] ry The great south-land The stone’s been rolled away I will never be Mercy/Glory Refresh my heart | RSS | Inlinks | […]

2. 2
   brum Says:
   August 8th, 2006 at 3:48 pm

   Forgive me if my comment is out of line but the first seems to me to be like a call to God, a passionate plea. The second mostly sounds like an after-tense version. Why the change?

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   Geoff Bullock Says:
   August 8th, 2006 at 8:00 pm

   Because God has answered our cry in Jesus. It is something he has already done. We then “refresh our hearts” by meditating on the reality of all that God has already done. There is a big difference here. The first version asks God to take responsibilty for our emotions, it asks God to “do” something. Surely God has ‘done” more than anything we could ever ask or think. When the reality of this truly hits us, all we can do is simply shake our heads in awestruck silence.
   Does my heart still need refreshing? Constantly. But, now I take the responsibilty. and the reality of all that God has done makes the whole issue far larger than this song or prayer.

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   brum Says:
   August 9th, 2006 at 2:31 pm

   Interesting, love getting different peoples opinions on things. So let me get this straight, your are saying that asking God to refresh our hearts is wrong because we should do it ourselves?
   I was thinking about the whole thing about asking God to do stuff, which from my understanding is okay:

   Matthew 6
   11″Give us today our daily bread.
   12Forgive us our debts,
   as we also have forgiven our debtors.
   13And lead us not into temptation,
   but deliver us from the evil one.”

   My understanding of prayer and this verse that we must take responisbility when we ask for something. We can’t just ask for food then sit back and wait for it. But we can ask can’t we?

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   Geoff Bullock Says:
   August 9th, 2006 at 7:30 pm

   I’m not saying it is wrong, I’m simply saying that asking God to do something he has already provided for is a little pointless. I could write a song about my wife with the words: “Refresh my heart darling” or I could simply accept her love and the proof of it in our relationship.

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   brum Says:
   August 10th, 2006 at 9:47 am

   okay

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   texags Says:
   August 11th, 2006 at 7:24 am

   Geoff,

   Seeing you responding here I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ask you my question directly. I was in New South Wales in 93-94 when this song was originally very popular, and I remember discussions with many (churched) people who didn’t like this song, and others (Shine, Jesus Shine, for example) that seemed (redundantly) to request of God a gift that he already was freely offering.

   However I remember thinking that it seemed very fitting for the times. Back then there seemed to be a throng of unchurched younger people for whom these songs expressed the sincere longing for the gift that they had not yet discovered. Conferences, evening services and the like were springing up right and left all over the Sydney metro area with young people begging God for a personal validation that they did not possess. I mean literally one week a church would be empty of young people, the next there would be 50 teenagers packing the building. The only ones who didn’t like the songs were some of the established church members.

   I wonder if the timing of your song’s word change is also reflective of changes and development in the area’s prevailing spiritual environment or possibly even your own spiritual understanding. Any truth to that? Are you trying to reach a new and different generation with a different approach?

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   Geoff Bullock Says:
   August 13th, 2006 at 7:39 am

   Hi texags, in reality all I’m trying to do with these new lyrics is to reflect the changes in my own spirituality. I now see ‘worship” as a totally different practice than when I wrote the bulk of my more “popular” material. Worship is my embracing of the message of Jesus.. which is his embracing of mankind… mankind that was steadfastly opposed to his identity, mission and message.
   I find it impossibe to see music as anything more than a shallow artistic reflection of the culture, practices and expectations of Churchianity. Yes, the music may be average or it could be brilliant, but it is still the product of human hands. It is “our doing” for God. The message of Jesus is God’s doing for mankind. The foundation to my medidtation on worship is Jesus, on the eve of his crucifixion kneeling at the feet of his disciples and washing them. It is very hard to be in this position, with God at your feet, whilst you are raising your hands to the sky and singing your head off!!!!
   However, I am not dismissing the culture of worship, my new lyrics are simply written to provoke deeper thought and discussion.

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   Geoff Bullock Says:
   August 13th, 2006 at 7:42 am

   PS: I am in the middle or recording these new versions. It is an interesting exercise as I have never recorded my own versions before. They can be found on: http://www.soundclick.com/geoffbullock along with a whole heap of new songs.

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    phil Says:
    August 13th, 2006 at 8:40 am

    That’s great Geoff - are you intending to release a new cd of your new versions?

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    Lionfish Says:
    August 13th, 2006 at 10:59 am

    Geoff

    I ve been listening to your music - and its great. Love ‘Restless Emotions’.

    Soundclicks is great but I can’t log-in, it allows me to listen but not download for some reason, and promises to send an email with my password - but alas, it never comes!

    Any way, here is another spiritual piano based artist I listen to … he releases all his new songs online.

    http://www.joshuakadison.com/music.html

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    akevin Says:
    August 13th, 2006 at 12:25 pm

    For a few years I prayed that god would give me a message fro the world, Now i pray that he give me the messenger for the world.

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    Geoff Bullock Says:
    August 14th, 2006 at 6:07 pm

    I’m really not sure what to do with the new songs and the rewrites. At the moment, making them available for free seems like a good idea. I will also make the charts and orchestrations available as soon as I get my act together! The string parts for “I will never be”, and “May peace find your day” are available now.

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    the rev Says:
    August 14th, 2006 at 8:48 pm

    Geoff, I love the words for you rewrites. Would love to get the chord charts and the recordings so we can play some of them at our church.

    rev

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    Geoff Bullock Says:
    August 16th, 2006 at 8:47 am

    Just posted the “Live in the Loungeroom” recording of “Refesh my Heart”.. if anyone is vaguely interested. Please forgive the vocals!! http://www.soundclick.com/geoffbullock