Driving Notes

Here’s the countdown for this week!
10. Stand in Your Love – Josh Baldwin
9. Do it Again – Elevation Worship
8. Joy – For King and Country
7. Confidence – Sanctus Real
6. Everything – TobyMac
5. Only Jesus – Casting Crowns
4. Even Then – Micah Tyler
3. Known – Tauren Wells
2. Who You Say I am – Hillsong Worship
1. You Say – Lauren Daigle

Also, check out our new music!
The Prayer – Natalie Grant and Danny Gokey
Somewhere in Your Silent Night – Casting Crowns

Thanks for listening!
-Lilly and Joe

This week, we opened a new devotional for Praise Thursday, and this is one that I think hits us all pretty hard. Fear is something almost all of us will battle during our lifetime, trying to paralyze you from truly living life. This devotional will lead you through five choices that will strengthen you and help you be victorious over fear.

Week 1! Here we go!

Fear has been around since the earliest of days.  It was one of the first emotions expressed in the Scriptures after the fall of man.  Adam said to God, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid’.  We humans lean towards being afraid.  We read throughout the Scriptures of men and women, like you and I, who were worried or fearful.  But, God!  God showed them how to overcome their fears, and He is faithful to do that for you as well.

So, what does fear do? Fear prompts us to cover up what we really feel. Think about it for a moment. Whether you face a fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of not being enough, fear of losing control, fear of violence, fear of illness or death, or any kind of phobia, you will end up hiding. Fear causes people to hide by disguising who they really are from others (even from themselves at times) or to pretend to be someone else. Fear leads to people hiding from God much like Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden.

If you wrestle with any form of fear, be encouraged in the fact that others have gone before you and have defeated this stronghold. It takes courage to face your fears.  Choose today to trust in God to help you by placing your faith in Him. He will empower you with all you need to overcome your fear(s). Faith is something you can choose to exercise as you engage in this battle against fear. Don’t listen to the lie that you cannot defeat. You only need a little amount of faith to move that mountain. Faith will grow as it feeds on the truth of the Word of God. Faith can bring your hope into reality.

Here are the bible verses that we looked at today:
Genesis 3:10
He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
Matthew 17:20
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

As we pray today, choose faith over fear.  When fear comes knocking, will it find faith standing at the door? How can you choose faith today?
Here’s our prayer:
“Lord, I pray that I don’t let fear disguise who I really am. I don’t want to pretend to be someone else. I am wrestling with fear, and I feel like it’s a battle that I cannot win. Give me the encouragement and courage to defeat this stronghold. Give me the strength today to choose to trust in You. Empower me with everything that I need to overcome my fears. Give me the strength to block out the lies that I cannot defeat. Give me the faith that I need to move this mountain. Bring your hope of defeating this stronghold of fear into reality. I know You are faithful and will help me overcome these fears. Give me the patience and give me the strength as we fight this battle. I will live in the hope that fear will not defeat me. Amen.”

Thanks for listening!
– Lilly and Hannah

Our artist news today started with our friends from Unspoken!

Unspoken released their “Just Give Me Jesus” EP last Friday.
“People just relate better to somebody who has been broken and redeemed,” Mike Gomez notes, “than to someone who pretends to have it all together. What we say from the stage and what we say in our songs, they’re not stories from somebody we heard about. Our songs are written out of places we’ve been and places we are.”

David Dunn also released new music last Friday, and of course, it’s not a release day without a Christmas album, and David Dunn delivered.
It’s called the “Star” EP, and it has 5 songs with a mix of originals and classics, including his original song “Star”.

Casting Crowns latest album, “Only Jesus” is making waves in the Christian music scene with very good reviews! Staff reviewer for NewReleaseToday Kevin Davis said This band can really write a hooky and truth-filled chorus, and lead single “Only Jesus” is catchy, relevant and worshipful similar to previous hit songs “Who Am I,” “Voice of Truth” and “East to West.” The song is a great call to worship, and a fresh offering of praise for the Church. The bridge is very stirring and convicting: “Jesus is the only name, Jesus is the only name, Jesus is the only name to remember.”

We also heard the story behind the song “Joy” from Tori Harper herself!

“Joy” is personal to me. I’ve dealt a lot with the Enemy throwing all of the negative things about life and how even when my circumstances didn’t look that great in my face. But, the Lord has been showing me through writing this song that joy is so much deeper than happiness. And, it doesn’t depend on your circumstances. It depends on God. And, he’s constant and faithful and we can depend on Him. We can depend on His faithfulness.

Congrats to our Song Poetry winner today, Theresa from Mt. Vernon!
Our song was “Live like That” from the Sidewalk Prophets!

Thanks for listening!
– Lilly and Todd

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE– IT IS MYSTERY MONDAY! On today’s show, Joe, Hannah, and I helped you get into the Christmas spirit with a Christmas-themed Mystery Question!

Here it is:

MYSTERY QUESTION

When do people start decorating for Christmas? Give the two most popular answers…

1. The day after Thanksgiving // 56%

2. Early December // 25%

3. Week before Christmas // 9%

4. All year // 5%

5. Christmas Eve // 2%

Congratulations to Sherrisa from Howard for being the first caller to correctly guess the answer to today’s question! She has won the $5 gift certificate to Troyer’s of Apple Valley.

In case you missed it, Operation Christmas Child called Joe to inform us they had over 6,300 shoe box collections just from our area! How incredible!

With Christmas right around the corner, we also shared with you some fun decorating tips:

1) Add some glitz!

2) Don’t be afraid to use an artificial tree

3) Get quirky with the placement of decorations

4) Use natural/fresh evergreens, citrus, etc.

Click HERE for “20+ Christmas Decorating Ideas for Extra Stylish Season Cheer“!

Thank you for checking out our blog! The Afternoon Drive is thankful for you!(:

Malisa Simco

Here’s this week’s countdown!
10. The Breakup Song – Francesca Battistelli
9. Do it Again – Elevation Worship
8. Only Jesus – Casting Crowns
7. Joy – For King and Country
6. Everything – TobyMac
5. Confidence – Sanctus Real
4. Known – Tauren Wells
3. Even Then – Micah Tyler
2. Who You Say I am – Hillsong Worship
1. You Say – Lauren Daigle

New music this week came courtesy of Natalie Grant and Danny Gokey!
Listen to their rendition of “The Prayer“!

Thanks for listening!
– Lilly and Joe