Day 5: Drawing Closer to God (Find Him in the Music)

I have this thing about music and especially love all contemporary Christian music. I have found myself singing lyrics to a song when I am feeling down, worried or in a state that my thoughts just can't seem to form coherently thanks to hormonal influences. I have often felt bad about my lack of being able to formulate those thoughts in prayer to God. My brain can get so fried from my two jobs, counseling, studying for counseling and managing my family and personal life that I just can't get any more thinking going. Music can be a form of prayer. The Psalms are all really songs that were sung as a way of helping the Israelites memorize them. Music and memory go hand in hand. So, as I was listening to the song We Believe by The News Boys this morning as I exercised, I felt the Spirit stirring within me and raised my hands to the Lord. But towards the end of the song I realized how there were some lyrics that I just couldn't grasp which is just the way my auditory processing is. So, I looked up the lyrics to the song and found a video with the lyrics and am so glad I did. (underlined parts in song were the parts I couldn't discern by hearing them) The song means that much more now as I sing it to the Lord. Do you have a song where some of the lyrics are a mystery? Find out what they are so you can sing the full song to God.

WE BELIEVE by THE NEWS BOYS

In this time of desperation

When all we know is doubt and fear

There is only One Foundation

We believe, We believe

In this broken generation

When all is dark, You help us see

There is only One Salvation

We believe, We believe

We believe in God the Father

We believe in Jesus Christ

We believe in the Holy Spirit

And He's given us new life

We believe in the crucifixion

We believe that He conquered death

We believe in the resurrection

And He's comin' back again, we believe

So, let our faith be more than anthems

Greater than the songs we sing

And in our weakness and temptations

We believe, We believe!

We believe in God the Father!

We believe in Jesus Christ!

We believe in the Holy Spirit!

And He's given us new life!

We believe in the crucifixion!

We believe that He conquered death!

We believe in the resurrection!

And He's comin' back again!

Let the lost be found and the dead be raised!

In the here and now, let love invade!

Let the church live loud, our God we'll say

We believe, We believe!

And the gates of hell will not prevail!

For the power of God Has torn the veil!

Now we know Your love will never fail!

We believe, We believe!

We believe in God the Father

We believe in Jesus Christ

We believe in the Holy Spirit

And He's given us new life!

We believe in the crucifixion!

We believe that He conquered death!

We believe in the resurrection!

And He's comin' back,

He's comin' back again!

He's comin' back again!

We believe!

We believe

Here is a very powerful video with the words in the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtPmX7e_Rpw

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 323

I am sure that other mothers in the world have said this same thing that my mother always said, “if you can’t say something nice don’t say anything at all.” It is a struggle when you are in a negative non-respecting environment as I am at my job. I have to literally bite my tongue often to keep myself from jumping on the bandwagon. I am not always successful at keeping my big mouth shut but as all things it is a process of growth. I am learning to step out of the room and go to the bathroom or put my headphones on and turn on the music and of course, stop and ask God to help me. Goodness starts with getting your mouth to speak only what is good. No negativity, no gossip, no backstabbing, no criticism, no evil words. I am on a mission focus this month to let only good come out of my mouth. I will pray when my day begins: May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, My Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14 And when my day ends I will confess for all those words that should not have come out of my mouth and praise God for all the good words that were spoken.  I will evaluate my words every day and put a happy face for good days, a straight face for good with a slip here or there and a sad face for those bad days when nothing good is coming out. My goal will be to consistently work on getting a happy face on my calendar every day. Join me in the mission this month to let only good words flow from our lips.

Matthew 12:25-37 “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned. “

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 264

Heading home yesterday from work, I headed over to Little Ceasar's for a pizza but found the traffic going in this direction to be horrible. You know it's bad when it takes you 10 minutes just to get through one major intersection. To make matters worse, after picking up the pizza I seemed to have hit every red light possible. My bladder was full and my stomach was hungry. It was all adding up to becoming very impatient and I was sorely tempted to eat a crazy bread and totally cheat on my eating program. But a song caught my attention about focusing on Jesus and pointed me in that direction. I am so thankful for music and all the musicians who use their gifts to bring us messages that can help us in our everyday lives, that can put our focus back to Jesus. I made it home without peeing my pants, eating a crazy bread or going crazy with verbal assaults at every light and slow car. Thank you Lord for giving us something we can grab onto that can bring our focus back to you. Thank you for giving the gift of music and lyrics that speak to our hearts and for the artists who bring them to us.

Colossians 1:11-12  May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 224

My daughter has really gotten into music lately. She will listen and see along to a song of Taylor Swift's all morning long over and over again. It always puts a smile to my mouth to hear her voice singing a song. Her repetition of playing the song and singing it over and over again is a good example of what we should be doing with our Bible. Have you ever listened to a song and finally realized what they were singing about? You have been singing it a certain way for months, maybe even years and a light goes off moment occurs and you hear it for what it really is. It can be like that reading the bible. We can read the same verses over and over again but at some point a light goes of moment may occur giving you a nugget of truth you didn't hear before. Persistence always pays off. Keep at it and God will give you those light goes off moments as you read his word and while your at it sing a song of praise. My sing over and over again song is by Chris Tomlin, The Passion-White Flag. Hearing and seeing it on the blog was a whole new powerful experience. Take a listen and enjoy some of your own worship time with God.  Chris Tomlin-The Passion-White Flag

Psalm 100:2 Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 143

As I was doing my final preparations for my first faithbooking workshop at Wilson United Methodist Church, an obstacle came up. I had it in my head that I wanted to finish the workshop by playing the song Overcome by Jeremy Camp but I went to bed frustrated with Itunes because it was giving me an error message. I went to bed praying that it would all turn out well. In the morning, I got the same error message. Oh No! What to do?! So, I decided to at the least go on the internet and find the lyrics to the song. Praise the Lord! I found the song with lyrics on YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRCFRenm91k&feature=related
The Lord provided again and always will.
Psalm 34:1 I will extol the Lord at all times, his praise will always be on my lips.