Prayer,Thought, and Song for the day-God Cares!

Prayer for the day-God really Does Care!   
Great and wise High Priest, I want to acknowledge You at this moment as my High Priest.  You understand my temptations and infirmities because You went through them without ever sinning.  I am asking You, right now, to please help me to recognize and acknowledge Your presence.  Please help me to be willing to listen to your voice.  I know that You not only listen but You also love, restore, heal and forgive those who truly ask of You.  Please lift me up in the most holy faith and to put on the whole armor of God so that I may be able to resist Satan.  These things I pray in Your name.  Amen.  

Song for the day—“A mighty fortress is our God” by Martin Luther  

Thought for the day-God Really Cares.

We all need to remember that the just live by faith in God alone, and not by works i.e. not by “doing”.

 

      

God Really Does Care?

God Really Does Care!  

Hebrews 4:15 states,  “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”  

       The Greek word asthenia (769) translated infirmities in the AV means feebleness, moral frailty or weakness.  Have you ever felt like you had so displeased God because of your spiritual failure that you could not touch Him?  Have you ever come to Him at the end of a frustrating busy week so ashamed that you had almost left Christ pout of your difficult week? 

        I have!  I have come to him after I had “failed the test” begging Him for forgiveness.  I know in retrospect that I have not always understood just how much Jesus had been touched with the feeling of my infirmity and spiritual weakness.  I was unaware that even though I had failed to ask Him for help, He had been helping me through the time of frustration and trouble.  

       Musicians are most often very busy people.  They are many times engulfed in “doing” rather than “being”.  They are often so busy trying to learn that they fail to learn from our very wise and loving heavenly Father.  Christian musicians need to be reminded often that our “high priest” Jesus Christ the righteous one is very approachable.  However, it is necessary to approach Him, if ye want His help. 

 

Prayer, Song, and Thought for the day

Prayer for the day—The Word was and is God. 
Heavenly Father, I want to love You and experience You more than I do in my times of private devotions.  Please reveal Yourself to me through prayer and reading Your Word.  Lord, I am Yours and You are mine since You have adopted me as your own son.  Thank You for making me Your child.  This I gratefully pray in Your wonderful name.  Amen.

Song for the day  “Jesus the very thought of Thee  by Bernard of Clairvaux  

Thought for the day 

Since I am truly God’s children, I can talk to Him like I would talk to my earthly father,

      

 

The Word was and is God

The Word Was and is God  

St. John 1:1 states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
       St. John refers to Jesus Christ as  the Word.  He also tells us, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, that Jesus Christ was before creation because verse three tells us “All things were made by Him”.  Thus John establishes that Jesus is God the third person of the Trinity and that He cannot be separated from the Logos or Word.  

       We are adopted sons and  daughters of God because the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us” and “…and as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name…”  Every Christian musician should receive strength in the knowledge that the Word assures us that the Holy Spirit  “…beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children or God…” (Romans 8:16)  

       At times in the past when I could not feel God’s presence when I was praying, I have experienced Him through reading the Bible.  If you are having trouble experiencing God’s presence try reading His Word and singing Scripture songs.

Prayer, Song, and Thought for the day

Prayer for the day-To the Chief Musician  

Lord I confess that sometimes I feel like quitting, but I know that I can’t quit because You have called me to minister musically for You.  Holy Spirit I am asking that You will fill me afresh with Your anointing.  Help me to music with a burden for lost souls, weary Christians, babes in Christ, skeptics and seekers who come under the sound of my ministry.  Help me to never give up or lose hope on the inside.  These petitions I bring to You who are exceedingly able to give more than I could ever ask or think.  I love you Lord.  Amen.  

Song for the day “I Will Serve Thee” by Howard Walter  

Thought for the day

It seems that God gives ‘burden for song” to those whom He can trust to serve Him with their musicing.

      

To the Chief Musician

To the Chief Musician  
I Chronicles 15:22 states,  “And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was for song: he instructed about the song, because he was skillful.”
       Chenaniah was in charge of music and he had a burden (massa 4853) for music in worship.  He was placed in charge because of his burden for song and because he was a skillful musician.  If you are reading this devotional today and you are a skillful musician, it is your responsibility to use your musical skills for God.  You may be so emotionally and physically weary that you sometimes wish that you could  run away and hide in a very big church where no one knows that you are an experienced accomplished musician. 
       As we mentioned above, Chenaniah was not only “in charge’ of music but he also ministered with great massa or burden borne in upon him of God.  The Hebrew word massa used here is the same one used of the major prophets of the Bible who were said to have this burden borne in upon them by Jehovah.   I believe that you, as a Christian musician, have not only the responsibility to of ministering through music, but you also have the responsibility to carry a spiritual burden for the musicians you minister with and the people you minister to who attend services at your place of ministry.

 

 

Thourht for the day-Sewing with the Right Water

 Thought for the day—Sewing with the Right Water 

Perhaps the tears a Christian Musician sheds in his or her music sewing are proper water for the crop.

 

 

 

 

Sewing with the Right Water

Sewing with the Right Water  

Psalm 126:5&6 state, “   they that sew in tears shall reap in joy [or with songs of joy].  He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again rejoicing [ranan-7442, i.e. singing], bringing his sheaves with him.” 

       This is a precious promise for those who bathe their ministry in tears.   Sometimes we sew and sew and sew in tears and there seems to us that there is no fruit for our ministry.  However, God’s Word promises that they that sew in tears will reap with songs of joy. 

       If you have been praying for a long time for some situation or someone, do not give up!  Psalm 30:5 promises that “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”  The night of trusting God may be a long one, but God is faithful to keep all His promises.  Weeping connotes heaviness of heart and burden of soul , but the promise that we shall doubtless come again rejoicing with singing gives us hope.

       If you are now in the long night of waiting and trusting God, keep praying and keep trusting believing that God will answer your prayers.  Are you patient?  I’m not very patient.  However, I have seen God work miracles in His time.  God knows best; His clock keeps perfect time, and He never slumbers or sleeps. 

Song,Prayer, and Thought for the day

 Prayer for the day-Jesus Expects Our Help 

I am asking you Lord to forgive me for misunderstanding You and trying to do your work in my own strength.  I need and want your help.  Here is my musical lunch.  It is meager but iis my all.  This I am praying in Your strong name.  Amen.  

Song for the day—“Take My Life and Let it Be” by F.R. Havergal  

Thought for the day—Jesus Expects Our Help

Jesus will never ask more than you are capable of giving.

Jesus Expects Our Help

Jesus Expects Our Help

Mark 6:35A states, “He [Jesus] answered and said unto them [His disciples], give ye them to eat.”

       After Jesus taught the people, his disciples wanted Jesus to send those He had taught away so the people could go somewhere and buy something to eat.  The disciples were overwhelmed at the enormous task of feeding about 5,000 people.  The job was too costly and too big for them, but it was not too big for Jesus.

       Christian musicians are often just as overwhelmed at the tasks before them.   Eighty thousand dollars for a new organ, seventy-nine thousand dollars  for a new piano, two Sunday morning  worship services, an adult choir, a youth choir, a children’s choir, an Easter pageant, and a Christmas Production with a special choir ,orchestra, sets, lights and drama are definitely too much pressure and too taking.  

       It often seems that Jesus is saying ‘do it all yourself”.  What we often forget is that He does expect our meager “five loaves and fish” but when we present them to Jesus, HE BLESSES our work and HE provides for the five thousand.  Jesus takes whatever we have and when He has blessed it is enough and it will be sufficiently proper to accomplish the ministry task.  

       It is our job to give of our best to the Master, and it is His job to bless our musical ministry so that it will be efficacious.  Jesus did say that it is our responsibility to feed the souls of those who attend our worship services.  However, He does not expect us to do it with our own strength or power.  We are required to give Jesus all that we have but we must remember that our musicing will accomplish the desired task if we will let him bless and break it so that will feed all those who attend our worship services.