Tuesday 24 January 2017

Singing and Serving

Have you ever looked at your worship leader and thought, wow they seem so together and good, or, they're such a good performer. Or maybe you're that worship leader or band member.
Is this the question that should arise from our worship? Or should we not notice this and be thinking of praise instead?

Well I've been trying to think over this, as someone who sings in the church band, and work out just what our role is.
The first thing to remember is that as a member of a band we're there to serve the congregation, not as a performer. There is a time and a place for performing and I think it's a wonderful thing. But if you're in the band and you feel like you're performing, maybe you need to pray about your motives for being there.

Secondly, this is your opportunity to praise God! So remember who you're singing to, remember why you're doing it. This is an opportunity to spend time in prayerful reflection on your Heavenly Father.

Thirdly, read Colossians 3v1-17, especially verse 16 "Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts." We are to sing praises to one another teaching and charing wisdom, even in singing! So sing with your brothers and sisters, sing to them! 

Praise the Lord with all your heart, loving and serving your congregation. 
You have a gift. Use it for God's glory.

Raise your voice and praise the Lord.

Friday 13 January 2017

Our Father

At the start of this month I had a wonderful opportunity to go to the 9:38 conference with a whole group of Ministry Apprentices just like me, and spend three days looking at our prayer life and what the bible teaches us about prayer.
One of the highlights, for me, was hearing Richard Coekin speaking on the Lord's prayer, showing us how the prayer our Lord Jesus taught us can structure our devotional prayer time.

Now before I continue this post, I want to make sure you know my prayer life is a constant battle that I am trying to turn into a joy! And this is all stuff I'm trying to work on and want to share with you! But it's hard and I have by no means got an answer to making it easier, remember it's literally a spiritual battle, Satan will do literally anything to distract you while you pray. Did I put the Dog out? Did I turn the oven off? That was a lovely program I watched today. He tries anything, to stop you talking to your Heavenly Father.

So, why have I entitled this blog post, Our Father, well, the Lord's prayer begins with this and I was shown that it is the most wonderful reminder of the privilege of prayer and the power of the one we pray to. Just stop and think for a moment, how amazing is it that you get to call the creator of the universe Father. The King over everything, the most powerful one ever known, Dad. We get to come to Him in times of Joy, sorrow, weakness, strength, love, heartbreak, anger and compassion. He doesn't change at all, His love-o-meter is fixed at maximum love. 
Our phone-line to Him is never engaged, faulty, out of service, or in a queue. It's instant and always open.

So, next time you make an excuse to pray, just remember, your Heavenly Father is always listening. He delights to hear you pray to Him. He longs for us to find treasures in His word and ask Him for them. 

He longs for us to speak to Him as our Heavenly Father, to embrace the privilege of prayer.