Beyond Country

09/01/2026

https://youtu.be/w-eDwv5bVuw.

🎸 Thank you for listening to Sacred Strings!If this song spoke to your heart, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe — your support helps keep country g...

09/01/2026

Wisdom Hunters
January 9, 2026
Curating the Mind: The Battle for Peace in a Noisy World
By: Boyd Bailey

Finally, brothers and sisters, fill your minds with beauty and truth. Meditate on whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is good, whatever is virtuous and praiseworthy.

Philippians 4:8, The Voice

Your phone buzzes again—another notification, another demand, another crisis flashing past in real time. Social media clamors for your attention while life stacks challenges at your feet—work pressures, family struggles, financial fears, health concerns. The noise is nonstop. The interruptions never end. And somewhere amid the chaos, your mind turns into a war zone. Paul knew this battlefield well, even though he never scrolled a feed or responded to a text. Writing from prison—chained, uncertain, facing possible execution—he offered the Philippian church a revolutionary strategy for mental and spiritual survival. His solution wasn't escapism or denial. It was intentional, disciplined focus on the beautiful and true.

This isn't just positive thinking; it's strategic thinking. Paul understood that the mind gravitates toward whatever feeds it most. Feed it worry, and anxiety multiplies. Feed it outrage, and bitterness takes root. Feed it comparison, and inadequacy festers. But carefully choose what occupies your thoughts, and peace becomes possible, even in prison, even in chaos, even when life keeps interrupting. Notice Paul's setup: just verses earlier, he directly addressed anxiety: "Don't be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Then comes the promise: "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Prayer alone isn't enough; you need ongoing peace through Scripture meditation. You can pray about your worries, hand them to God, and feel a momentary relief. But if you immediately go back to doom-scrolling, rehearsing worst-case scenarios, or mentally replaying every offense and failure, anxiety returns. Prayer opens the door to peace. Daily renewing your mind with truth keeps that door open. Paul lists eight categories: truth, honor, justice, purity, beauty, good report, virtue, and praise. This is your mental checklist, your thought filter, your deliberate strategy for what deserves mind space. It's active, not passive. You don't accidentally dwell on these while drowning in the sewage of some social media or life's constant crises. You choose wise, good thoughts. Repeatedly. Intentionally. Curate your mind with truth to be free from anxiety.

Online trolls thrive on outrage, comparison, fear, and triviality. It's meant to hijack your attention rather than facilitate peace. Life's disruptions: legitimate struggles and real challenges—add to the chaos. Bills accumulate. Relationships become strained. Health declines. Deadlines approach. These are genuine issues; they're not imaginary. But obsessing over them, replaying them endlessly, allowing them to dominate every moment of your waking life? That leads to paralysis, not peace. So, what's the alternative? Be selective and intentional. When anxiety surfaces, recognize it, pray about it, and then shift your focus. What is true about God's character right now? What is honorable in your current circumstances? Where can you see justice, purity, and beauty? What good news can you remember? What virtues are evident in those around you? What deserves praise and honor? Be curious with yourself, others, and the Lord.

This takes practice. It requires mental discipline in an undisciplined age. It means guarding your inputs: what you scroll through, watch, read, and mentally replay. It demands that you fight for silence, solitude, and space for the Spirit’s whispers to break through the world's screaming. The promise? "The God of peace will be with you" (Philippians 4:9). Not eventually. Not someday when life calms down. Now. Right in the middle of the mess. Peace becomes your guard, your companion, your reality. Curate your mind with the same intentionality for quiet intimacy. Your mind is the battlefield. What you dwell on determines the outcome. Choose wisely and often.

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me set my mind on what is true and pure. May my thoughts dwell only on things lovely and admirable in your sight, rejecting all lies. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Application
Based on your life situation, focus weekly on one of the attributes Paul lists as worthy of your mental focus.

Related Reading
Psalm 19:14; Isaiah 26:3; Romans 12:2; Colossians 3:2; James 3:17

08/01/2026

https://youtu.be/Rew18lGo7WM.

Track taken from Alison Krauss & The Cox Family’s Grammy winning album I Know Who Holds Tomorrow (1994), which won the Grammy award for Best Southern, Countr...

08/01/2026

Wisdom Hunters
January 8, 2026
A Higher Allegiance
By: Tripp Prince

They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.

Luke 13:29, NKJV

I come from a long line of southern Americans, tracing our roots back to English farmers who immigrated to Virginia, Alabama, and Georgia in the early 1700’s. As anyone who has spent any amount of time in this part of the world can tell you, this is a region with a deeply rooted identity, which, at its best, is a model of welcome and hospitality, yet at its worst can be judgmental, closed off, and suspicious of “the outsider.” Case in point, ask most southerners their opinions of “Yankees,” and you’ll quickly see what I mean!

Though it isn’t wrong to love and appreciate the best parts of our native cultures, there is a risk we run in making secondary allegiances the primary lens through which we see the world. We fall prey to this when we view anything or anyone who is different than us as flawed or deficient. And likewise, we’re guilty of this posture when we greet others with judgment in our hearts, rather than gratitude and wonder at the privilege of meeting someone made in the image of God.

When our identity as Christians is our highest allegiance, we are liberated to see the beauty in our diversity. As we read in Luke 13, people from every corner of the earth, “from the east and the west, from the north and the south,” bring who they are into the kingdom of God, yet do so as equals, sitting down side by side at the feet of the one true king and one from whom our true and deepest identity flows. The next time you feel a judgmental or critical spirit rising up in your heart, seek to instead keep this vision in your heart and mind, and give thanks to God for the different ways His sons and daughters bear witness to His light and love.

Prayer
Father, thank you for the beautiful diversity of your kingdom, and how you are drawing people from every corner of the world into the peace of your heavenly kingdom, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Application
How can you cultivate a posture of humble curiosity in your interactions with others?

Related Reading
Isaiah 25:6; Galatians 3:28; Revelation 7:9

07/01/2026

https://youtu.be/K84eYNJp2qo.

Provided to YouTube by Daywind RecordsGrateful · Amber Nelon ThompsonJust Sing℗ 2015 Daywind RecordsReleased on: 2015-07-31Main Artist: Amber Nelon Thompson...

07/01/2026

Wisdom Hunters
January 7, 2026
Boyd Bailey

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 John 4:11-12

The world hands us a script written in lies. You're only as valuable as your last achievement. Your worth depends on what you earn. Your strength is measured by how much you can shoulder alone. Pull yourself up. Push harder. Prove yourself. Again, again, and again. We've memorized these lines until they've become our identity. We've performed this exhausting solo act so long we've forgotten there's another way—a different, more fulfilling way. God’s love letter to you—the Bible—completely overturns that narrative in favor of experiencing abundant life in Christ. Holy Scripture isn't another self-help manual urging you to dig deeper, work harder, or finally get your act together. This is an invitation into something revolutionary: simply receiving. Just receiving. Let God's love for you—His wild, relentless, personal affection—become the soil where your true identity takes root.

This is where we struggle most. We navigate the tightrope of ambition, feel the burden of seeking acceptance, and experience the emptiness of success without love. But we are also learning what everyone desperately needs but rarely discusses: being loved. Not loving others—we're decent at that. We provide, protect, and sacrifice. We pour ourselves out for families, friends, and causes. But receiving love? Allowing ourselves to be cherished, valued, and treasured simply because we exist? That feels foreign. Uncomfortable. Almost weak. Yet Scripture reveals a powerful truth: our core identity isn't as providers, protectors, or performers. It's as beloved children. God doesn't love us because we perform well; He loves us because He's our Father, and we are His beloved on whom His favor rests. That's the foundation. The other fruits of the Spirit… joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are the unbreakable bricks that build an abundant life in Christ.

The Holy Spirit invites you to become a sponge floating in God's ocean of love. The longer you stay there, the more saturated you become until you're mostly Him, not you. Until His love fills every crack of your being, every wound you've hidden, every lie you've believed about your worth. This isn’t a passive reading of God’s Word. It requires slowing down in a speed-obsessed world. It demands silence when noise surrounds you and solitude when chaos consumes you. It asks you to ponder, reflect, surrender, and rest—postures that may seem unrealistic until you realize Jesus Himself practiced them constantly. He loved well after being loved well by His heavenly Father. But here's what happens when you let divine love define you: everything changes. Your view of God shifts from a distant judge to an intimate Father. Your identity moves from performance-based to presence-based. Your relationships deepen because you're no longer desperately seeking from others what only the Lord can give. You finally understand Brennan Manning's words: "You will trust God to the degree that you know you are loved by Him."

The Holy Spirit is ever generous to fill you to overflowing with His love: “God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us" (Romans 5:5).

So come thirsty. Come weary from striving. Come skeptical if you must, but come prepared to receive. Invite truth to challenge the lies you've believed and lead you into godly wisdom that changes everything. You are deeply, personally, eternally loved by the God who created you. Not because of what you've done, but because of who He is and whose you are. That's not weakness. That's freedom. Be loved and love well to experience the Lord’s amazing abundance!

Prayer
Father, saturate me with Your love until I'm overflowing. Let me receive deeply so I can give freely. Transform my striving into resting, my performing into belonging. Loved first, I love best. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Application
What area of your life needs the unconditional love of your heavenly Father?

Related Reading
Romans 8:37-39; Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 3:17-19; 1 John 4:13

06/01/2026

https://youtu.be/uYW_kT2HghI.

Provided to YouTube by The Orchard EnterprisesLearning To Lean · The Blackwood BrothersGospel Classics℗ 2011 Master Classics RecordsReleased on: 2011-01-01Au...

06/01/2026

Wisdom Hunters
January 6, 2026
A Bigger Story
By: Mez Stead

He must increase, but I must decrease.

John 3:30

Growing up in the 90s, I was part of the self-esteem generation. The belief trumpeted from every kids’ show or film was that if you discover yourself, feel great about yourself, and be unflinchingly true to yourself, you would be free to live your best life. My generation grew up to be easy targets for marketers the world over who sell their products based on one premise: “You are the hero of your story. You deserve this.” Are we any more secure or happy for all the naval gazing we were taught to practice? A look at social media would suggest that we are just as desperate for notoriety, just as starved for affirmation. How did all the films get it so wrong? Perhaps they were giving us an aim that was too small. Perhaps we were made for a purpose so much bigger than finding ourselves.

My life and yours were made to tell a story, but it is so easy to live as if the story is all about me. And that pressure of self-preoccupation is suffocating. If the story is about me, then when I don’t perform well enough, when someone doesn’t affirm me sufficiently, when someone else rises above me, security vanishes, and with it joy.

Thankfully, the Bible tells a different story than the Disney shows of the 90s. It affirms that we are made in the image of God and dearly beloved, that we were bought at the price of Christ’s precious blood. But it draws our gaze away from ourselves and towards the true Hero of the Story. Take the story in Matthew 14 of Peter walking, by Jesus’ invitation, on the water towards the Lord. The instant Peter takes his gaze off of Jesus and begins to consider his own limitations in his wild venture into the impossible, he sinks beneath the waves. But just as Jesus called, and just as Jesus enabled, Jesus saves Peter. It was never about Peter walking on water. It was always about Peter joining Jesus in what He was doing. Being in the place where his Lord was. Jesus is, as always, the hero of the story. When we fix our gaze on Him, we will find our place in that story too, walking with Him on water as stable as if on solid rock.

As I enter the new year, I’m embracing the motto “It’s not about me.” My work, my relationships, my parenting… none of it is about me. What wonderful freedom there is in that! What greater ambition than that all the pieces of my little life might point to the King and the glorious story of His coming Kingdom?

Prayer
Lord, help me to see myself rightly, as your beloved child. But also, keep me from self-preoccupation and teach me to fix my gaze on you, the Author and Hero of the story.

Application
Are you suffering from self-preoccupation? How can you practice denying your self-primacy and living unto the Lord?

Related Reading
Matthew 16:24-26; 1 Corinthians 6:20; Colossians 1:17-19; Hebrews 12:2

05/01/2026

https://youtu.be/_osKunz_pd4.

The Final Lyric Video From Our Debut EP "Folks Like Them"You can stream the song on all platforms and learn more about us at Folkslikethem.com

05/01/2026

Wisdom Hunters
January 5, 2026
Wise and Free
By: Boyd Bailey

But be careful not to use your freedom to eat it, lest you cause some Christian brother to sin whose conscience is weaker than yours.

1 Corinthians 8:9

Paul addresses a difficult issue of his time: the practice of sacrificing meat to idols. Young believers couldn't handle it, not because of the food itself, but because of what it symbolized. Every bite pulled them back to their idol-worshiping past, to the darkness they'd escaped when they found Christ. The meat wasn't harmful, but the meaning behind it was problematic. They couldn't understand why anyone following Jesus would associate so closely with practices that once enslaved them. For these new believers, it was about respect and painful memories.

In Christ, we are free. But freedom without wisdom turns into foolishness. We are called to use our liberty prayerfully, carefully, and wisely. Prayerfully, always seeking God's guidance. Carefully making sure we lead brothers and sisters deeper into faith, not stumbling blocks. Wisely considering what's best for everyone, not just what satisfies our personal preferences.

Prayer prompts us to ask the key question: "What would Jesus do?" His approach was simple: more grace for sinners, less for saints. Jesus understood the situation. He related to people at their level, never overwhelming them with behaviors that judge or confuse. He delivered truth with love, always guiding others toward God. Seeking God's presence keeps Christ's spirit alive in our actions and how we live.

Discretion always takes precedence over demands. That’s why we emphasize understanding people, not just Scripture. We prioritize their needs over our own desires. Young believers are like spiritual infants, high-maintenance and requiring constant care. Children see things as black and white. They'll grasp God's gray areas later, after wrestling with the fundamentals of faith. The training ground of the Ten Commandments prepares them for the creative application of grace. Both are essential for spiritual growth, and how you live matters most to these new believers. Practice restraint and temperance to keep their foundation strong, which provides wisdom and freedom in Christ.

The final question: "What's the wise thing to do?" Will this activity, thought, or attitude bring others closer to the Lord or push them away? Paul summarized it well: "Let's please the other fellow, not ourselves, and do what is good and thus build him up in the Lord. Christ didn't please himself" (Romans 15:2-3). Wisdom seeks what's best for everyone, not just for me. Wisdom is the child of humility; grace is the daughter of humility. Walk in humility, and you'll gain wisdom to know what to do and grace to do it.

God's heart for us? That we are all growing closer to Him. Are we encouraging each other to do good? Are we walking confidently yet humbly, sharing Christ's gospel with both words and actions? If so, we've chosen what's best for everyone, not just what's easy for us. Wisdom in God’s Word and freedom in God’s grace give us a pathway to experience His abundant life.

Prayer
Lord, grant me wisdom to wield my freedom carefully. Help me prioritize others over myself, building up the weak rather than flaunting my liberty. May humility guide my choices always. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Application
Where do you need to temper your freedom with wise restraint?

Related Reading
Matthew 18:6; Romans 14:13, 21; 1 Corinthians 10:23-24; Galatians 5:13

02/01/2026

https://youtu.be/Pfgop3zCJuI

Subscribe to Daywind Records on Youtube for more great clips like this one!https://www.youtube.com/ With a fanbase easily canvassing an array ...