Praise You With A Song

Songs and singing in worship, another area that I’ve been watching.  Why is it that we have no problem singing with the radio or out having a good time with friends, but we don’t open our mouths and sing in church?  Sorry, I love to sing in church!  I don’t think I’m very good but when I’m in church I’m singing the Lords praises with all my power!  For those around me this could be a challenge, but sorry you’re going to hear me anyway.

I feel that song and praise are an escential part of the worship service.  My take is that if you don’t participate in the singing, you’re missing a very important part of the service.  Song and praise has been an very important part of worship going back to the Old Testament, and to top it off you see written that it was the men  who did most of the singing and made most of the worship songs!  Men where are you now?

We don’t need to look far to find examples of this.  Just go to the Psalms – the songs of David!  When you open your bible to the Psalms, often there are notes explaining how the instruments are to be played and how each is sung and lead.

Look at 1 Chronicles 6:31-32 These are the men David put in charge of the music in the house of the LORD after the ark came to rest there. They ministered with music before the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, until Solomon built the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem. They performed their duties according to the regulations laid down for them.

And, 1 Chronicles 15:16-24  David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers to sing joyful songs, accompanied by musical instruments: lyres, harps and cymbals. So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel; from his brothers, Asaph son of Berekiah; and from their brothers the Merarites, Ethan son of Kushaiah;  and with them their brothers next in rank: Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom and Jeiel, the gatekeepers.  The musicians Heman, Asaph and Ethan were to sound the bronze cymbals;  Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah and Benaiah were to play the lyres according to “alamoth,” and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel and Azaziah were to play the harps, directing according to “sheminith.” Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing; that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it.  Berekiah and Elkanah were to be doorkeepers for the ark.  Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah and Eliezer the priests were to blow trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-Edom and Jehiah were also to be doorkeepers for the ark.

Nehemiah 12:45-47 They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did also the singers and gatekeepers, according to the commands of David and his son Solomon. For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there had been directors for the singers and for the songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.  So in the days of Zerubbabel and of Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers.

These were important duties!  Why do we shirk on them now!

And don’t think these were only “ancient” teachings of the Old Testament!

Let’s go forward to Ephesians 5:19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.

I want you to think about this the next time you’re in church.  Since we believe the Bible is divinely inspired, infallible, and all-sufficient, it is our sole authority for all that we do.  We believe we cannot add to or take away from the Scriptures, nor can we preach another gospel than that contained in the New Testament. We are to be singing and praising the Lord with all our might!  We shouldn’t feel ashamed, or self conscious about how we sing or how loud we sing.  We are to sing out with joy and thanksgiving, raising our hands in praise to the Lord.

So, here’s my warning! If you sit near me or stand near me when I am at a worship service, you are going to hear me!  And don’t be surprised to see my hands go up in praise either because I do love the Lord and I love Jesus Christ and I want Him to know how much I do love Him and thank Him for all He has done for me.

I pray that you think about this and that more so you pray about this, that the Lord will open your heart and fill you with so much joy that you cannot help but sing out His praises!

Sing to the Lord a new song!  Sing it from your heart!

God Bless you all!

Got a minute?

This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it! Psalm 118:24

What a wonderful verse to start each day with!  Good morning everyone, I wanted to start you off with a very uplifting verse from the Psalms.

Isn’t this how we should greet each and every day?  Think of it, every day is a gift from the Lord.  We don’t earn the right to our next day or for that matter even our next breath.  These are all gifts from God that we all tend to take for granted.  These are all things that we should be thanking the Lord for any chance we get!

I think it is also something we need to remember whenever we are with friends and loved ones.  There are no guarantees that we will be with them tomorrow or next week or next year.  We need to cherish time spent together for we don’t know when the Lord will call us or them home to be with him.

How often do we rush a phone call? Or half listen when they are talking to us?  Rush the kids off to “go play”?  What if it’s the last conversation we have together?  Our society is always in a hurry, but at what cost.  We are losing relationships, friendships and family to the pace.

We often do the same thing with our time spent with the Lord!

Let’s look at Luke 10:38 – 42: (I’m talking from the New Living Translation)

38 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.39 Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught.

40 But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”

41 But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! 42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Aren’t we many times like Martha?  We get caught up in getting everything ready or making sure everything is right, that we miss the important thing.  The time spent with Him.

We tend to say, I’ll spend time with God before I go to bed, but then we’re too tired and fall asleep.  Or, this is usually me, “I’ll read the Word over my lunch and spend time with him then” and then I get busy and work thru lunch or only have a 5 minute break to gobble some food.  I end up short changing the one who is really the most important!

I’m afraid many times I’ve become like Martha!  The Lord is always there, He’s with me all the time, but He will never force imself on me.  He just waits there patiently, waiting to see what and where my priorities lie.

I’ll ask you, are you like a Martha?  Are you also missing the big picture that Mary saw in the verse from Luke?  Is the Lord telling you and I – Stop sweating the little things! I’m the only thing you should be concerned about!  If you put your faith and attention on me, I will always be with you!

I’m afraid I can be a Martha sometimes.  I want to make sure everything’s right and everything is prepared just right.   Takes me back to my Catholic training, I have to go to mass every week, I have to go to mass on Holy Days, say the Rosary, pray to Saints for intercession, one rule after another to “work” myself right with God.  Through all of this preparation, really missing the entire point.  “. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

The important thing is – Jesus!  We must find our path to Him.  We must spend time with Him.  All the preparation we could ever do will not make a bit of difference if we don’t put our faith in Jesus Christ and the grace we receive from the Father for the sacrifice Jesus made once and for all by shedding his blood on the cross for all of our sins, past, present and all future to come!  We have been redeemed by the shedding of His blood for us, why is it so hard for us to then find a small amount of quality time to spend with him daily?  My human nature so gets in the way … I am as guilty of this as anyone, but the saving grace for me is knowing that He’s always there…… waiting, all I have to do is open the door and talk to him.

Thank you Lord, for being such an understanding God.  So often I fail to spend time with you, so often I let this world get me so busy that I miss our time together! Lord, help me stay focused on you, help me realize that my time with you is to be first, then time with my family and friends and then everything else.  When I keep you first, everything else falls into place.  It is when I keep you first that I see your plan clearly and I find it easy to walk the path you wish for me.  When I let the world take over, the road becomes foggy and the path is no longer straight and then I fall.  Thank you God for always being the shepherd to bring this wayward sheep always back to you. I say this prayer in your son Jesus name, Amen.

I wish you all a blessed week! May we all learn to be more like Mary and less like Martha!  May we learn to put the Lord first, then everything else will turn out just fine! God bless you all! Talk to you all next week!