Song and Thought for the Day

Song for the Day “Whosoever” Meaneth Me by J. Edwin McConnell

Thought for the Day

Take time today to make a list of the things that matter to you this Advent season.  Ponder over the things on your list to evaluate how many of them have lasting and eternal value.

 

Looking for Him During Advent

Looking for Him During Advent

Hebrews 9:28, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

            Jesus came to earth to the Jew first and then to the whole world. (Romans, 2:10-11)  As we approach the celebration of Christ’s birth, about the fact that as Romans 2:11so explicitly explains, “… there is no respect of persons with God.)  That is reason enough for me to enter this Advent season with great joy in gratitude in my heart!  I am   thankful for the whosoever of the gospel.  Anything less would have left this Kansas farmer with no hope whatsoever.

            Jesus left the Glory World without prejudice or favor to anyone from any country or any culture.  Someone has said that the ground is level at the foot of the old rugged cross.  So, we all are able to celebrate Christ’s coming to this earth to be Emmanuel-God with us.  If we know, love, and serve Him we can also look forward to His Second Advent with great joy and expectation.  I want to make sure that I keep his second coming at mind during this Advent celebration because, as Hebrews 9:28 reminds us all, So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

 

 

Song and Thought for the Day

Song for the Day    Once in David’s Royal City by Henry John Gauntlett

Thought for the Day

If you have very young children a good object lesson and Advent activity would be to find two dolls and have them wrap one in simple strips of cloth and the other in the finest doll clothes that you can find.  Next read the Christmas story in the second chapter of St. Luke and then have the children talk about what happened that night in Bethlehem and how blessed we are today.

Wrapped in Strips of Cloth

Wrapped in Strips of Cloth

Luke 2:7, “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”

            I am a bit sad when think that all Mary had to wrap Jesus in when He was born was strips of Cloth.  I remember that we were given beautiful things for our daughter Deanna to wear when she was born in St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City Missouri.  She looked so beautiful when we took her home! 

            What would we have done if that hospital had refused to let my wife be admitted that winter night in December?  We were treated royally, but my Savior who was born in David's Royal City was probably born in a dirty cave where animals were kept and was placed in a carved out place in the wall of the cave where they fed the animals.  I am also sad that so many people are still refusing to let Jesus in during this Advent season.  Oh, how wonderful it would be if they would say, “There is room in my heart Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for You”.

 

Scriptural Thoughts for the Day

Scriptural Thoughts for the Day

 Ephesians 4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”

Colossians 3:13, Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.”

 

  

 

 

Forgiving Others

Forgiving Others

St. John 1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

            Surely Jesus was full of Grace and forgiveness because, if we had received what we deserved, it would have never been grace and forgiveness.  Isaiah 40:2 states, “Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins”.  I am sure that I deserved to receive double punishment for my sins.  I do not like to talk about my former sinful acts.  They were many and they were most grievous

            We are reminded in Ephesians 4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”  I want to be sure to be kind to someone that may not merit my kindness.  As I remember that Romans 6:23 declares emphatically, “… the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Maybe I should start by being sure that I have forgiven one of my former renters who left owing me several month’s rent.

 

 

Thought or the Day

Thought or the Day

The 2014 Advent season is History.

The 2016 Advent season is in the future.

Today is your life—live it in expectancy of Christ’s soon return.

 

 

The Word Was God

The Word Was God

St. John 1:1-2,4, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

            Jesus who was very God from the beginning and before the World was created was with God the Father.  I am blessed in my soul when I think that Jesus left the portals of the glory world to the ”light of men”.in St. John 8:12 Jesus said, “…I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”  Oh! What a wonderful reality, I who was once in darkness now walk in newness of life.

            Have you recently pondered on where You would be today if Christ had not come to this world to bring you salvation?  One of the best ways that we can prepare our hearts for Christmas is to remember the great gift God gave to us all that December night long ago in Bethlehem. 

 

 

Prayer for this Blog in December

Prayer for this Blog in December

            I want to thank You Lord and Father for the 108 countries that are a part of our blog family.  I also want to thank you heavenly Father for helping me to write each daily post during the month of November, and for helping me to prepare the posts for Advent 2015.  It is my sincere and earnest prayer let this blog will go around the world to places where I cannot go.  Lord, thank You that You are answering my prayer by guiding people from 108 countries to find and read my blog posts. Help me as I prepare a post for each day to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.  Only you know Lord who is out there ministering musically that needs a fresh anointing for musical ministry.  Help me to know which philosophical and devotional thoughts will help these busy pastors and musicians.  Lord, you know that I am not sure which aspects of music education and music ministry to write about that will stimulate and encourage the blog family.  Please anoint the blog, the blogger, and the bog readers. If it is your will I am asking that the number of page views will increase during this month. These things I ask in your great and wise and wonderful name.  Amen.

 

Thank you for a Great Month of November

       Thank you for a Great Month of November

            Last month was the 35nd month of my blog which contained devotional and philosophical thoughts for Christian musicians. I have written over 2,203 posts since this blog was started. There have been several times this year when I have experienced a certain amount of writer’s burnout.  However, I have been praying all year that my posts in 2015 will stimulate both the regular and new blog members to remain faithful to their musical Ministeries. It is my continued prayer that each new post will bring honor to our heavenly Father.  My posts in the month of November were a mixture of philosophical and devotional topics. Some of them were discussions of the Thanksgiving and harvest season.  The month of December will be devoted mostly to the Advent season.

       Since we began on January 2 of 2013 we have received a total of over  61,785 page views with over 1,465 views in November which is about 150 less than we had in October of 2015.  Since I started this blog the page views have come from 108 different countries. 

            These views have come from Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Argentina, Armenia,  Aruba, Austria, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Colombia, Congo [DRC], Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, France, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong,  Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland (Republic of),  Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia,  Morocco, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands (Antilles) New Zealand, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru. Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Porto Rico, Qatar, Réunion, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Turks & Caicos Islands, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam, USA and Zimbabwe.  We would like to welcome Zimbabwe, who had its first page views this month, to our blog family.

             The ten countries with the most page views in June were: USA, France, Germany, Russia, Portugal, China, Zimbabwe, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, and Poland.

          If you are from a country that has had page views in the past 35 months and has been omitted from the 108 countries listed above, please email me your country’s name.  Please continue to pray with me that God will allow this Music Philosophy Blog to continue to go places where I will never have the opportunity to minister musically in person. Please pray for me, as I have mentioned before, I am in the process of writing a general music philosophy book and a devotional book for musicians. My philosophy book is now in the hands of the content editor. I would like to report that while I was in Ireland the editor and I were able to make some progress on the devotional book. So, thank you for praying for her as she works on it. Also, please pray for me as I am trying to prepare blog material for the Advent season.

        I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to view my music philosophy blog during the month of November and a special thanks is in order to those countries that faithfully view this blog month after month.  Please continue to pray that God will guide each post and allow it to reach those who need encouragement to keep ministering for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  

The main reason that I started this Music Philosophy blog is that, although there is much music philosophy information on the net, not very much of it is from a biblical perspective.  Please share the blog address with your friends.   If you have an area of music or fine arts philosophy that troubles you, please feel free to let me know and I will include it in our discussions.  My email address is Garenlwolf@gmail.com.