Worship: Choir or Band?

I loved singing in church choir and I was so lucky that for several years, the churches I attended had huge great choirs.  The last choir even cut a CD and I got to be a part of that and it was awesome.  But when my husband and I met, we both needed to relocate and find a new church.  We went to a few that had choirs but for this reason or that, we didn't make them our home.  So I thought perhaps, I will start one and I tried, unfortunately it was unsuccesful as was the church.  The next church said, that it didn't fit their style and so did the next but I was determined so I tried asking again and instead, I was given the opportunity to start a youth worship band.  Not quite the same thing but I know God doesn't always put you in a situation that is of your desire and so my next blogs will explain what I have learned about worhsiping God through music.

RE-reading

I love this blogging thing! I rarely write is a journal anymore. It seems like life is rushing by at an alarming rate and I am holding on, once in a while I raise my arms and holler with delight but it seems as if I am mostly turning around to see where I have been. I just re-read a few of these old blogs and of course I know why I wrote them and how desperate I was feeling at the time. Time does heal wounds and God does speak to us, we just have to be listening.

When my son was younger, 6 or 7 years old, we had a half hour commute from school/work to home. During that time, he would talk and talk and talk, while I would be concentrating on driving, going over my work day and evening plans in my head, listening to the radio, etc.. Being a woman and able to multi-task, I would also be affirming everything he said with a "u-hum, ok, or yes," to make him believe that I was listening. One day, he called me out on it! "Mom, are you listening? What did I tell you?" Oops, he caught on and while he was telling me about whatever he was telling me about and I was pretending to listen, I missed something. I missed an opportunity to HEAR my child. Now he is 15 and when we talk, I listen, because what he has to say is important to me! I really think we tend to get this way with God. We nod, or affirm vocally while we are really busy doing something else and then we have the gall to wonder why God doesn't speak plainly to us. We aren't going to get a burning bush, and it isn't going to be written on a billboard, He's not going to shout in our face but He does listen and He does respond, quietly, inaudibly, and if we aren't listening with our hearts and our minds, we will miss it. And when God speaks, it's good stuff!

1 John 4:16
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in him.

God’s will

How do we know what God’s will is? Well, several people will say read the Bible, all the answers that you need are in there. But where do you begin? Go to someone who knows the Bible and seek their counsel but what if they don’t seem sure either? Wait, meditate, pray, fast……all this makes me want to scream! I just want results, I want answers, I want God to talk to me, not through a song or through my very spiritual masseuse; I want the burning bush. I want the booming voice of God to shout it in my face, but I know He won’t. That is not how God works. So I continue to pray for His will, I continue to be patient and listen for that quiet whisper that speaks to my soul and I wait and I wait……………

God's word is everywhere, not just the Bible

My life feels like it's falling apart at the seams right now, I have good times - which I truly believe are the times when others are praying for me and God is granting me comfort. But I also have times where all I want to do is shut down and I believe that God is shaping me and strengthening me for who knows what.

Well, found a verse today - it was on a card which was among the many papers that constantly mess up my desk. I think we bought the card a long time ago for someone but it never got sent but here is the verse and it's ironic that it seems to be right along the lines of what I have been desperately praying for these past few days.

Romans 8:26-27
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. [27] And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

AMEN!

Random thoughts

So I'm going through a tough trial at the moment that right now almost seems insurmountable and a friend sent me this verse.

Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Has going through the Bible and picking random verses changed my life, has it given me any sort of a greater understanding of God, of myself, of my circumstances? Yes, I think it has but not so much the words themselves but in the realization that you can't get to know someone by just learning random things about them. You start off with the basics and then delve deeper. I was trying to avoid the delving part of my relationship with God and go for the superficial. Does that make me a superficial christian? I don't know, I do know this though, that I need to spend more time getting to know God and I am not going to get there by just randomly picking verses and hoping for that "aha" moment when the clouds part and the angels sing. I have to put an effort in to getting to know the God that would send down his only son to die for MY SINS!

So here is a verse that everyone should at least recognize!

John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

But wait there's more!

John 3:17-20
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. [18] Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. [19] This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. [20] Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

Verse 31, day 31

Oh how I wish someone could interpret my dreams sometimes, then again sometimes they are just too weird and perhaps it's better that I don't have them interpreted.

Genesis 41:25-27
Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine.

Verses 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, & 30, Day 30

Words are so powerful! One sentence and it can ruin your day, dash your dreams or break your heart, while at the same time words can build your confidence, let you know you are loved or make you feel hopeful.

The Bible is full of powerful words and stories, here is just about a weeks worth of powerful words.

Verse 25
Romans 8:12-14
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation - but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Verse 26
Job 18:17-19
The memory of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name in the land.
He is driven from light into darkness
and is banished from the world.
He has no offspring or descendants among his people,
no survivor where once he lived.

Verse 27
Exodus 19:24
The Lord replied, "Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord, or he will break out against them."

Verse 28
Acts 7:11-16
"Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our fathers could not find food. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit. On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family. After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died. Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.

Verse 29
1 Kings 11:19-20
Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him a sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage. The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath, whom Tahpenes brought up in the royal palace. There Genubath lived with Pharaoh's own children.


Verse 30

Isaiah 61:1
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,