This morning we had worship/music practice as usual and were able to meditate on some scripture. Brad and I read Romans 8 and as we summarized the content of scripture we took some time and reflected on how the scripture related to our lives and current events. As a result, we concluded on the following two points:

1. As both Brad and I look forward to marrying our beautiful fiancés in the coming three months, we pray to be loving/merciful/forgiven as Christ has been to us sinners. As shown in verses 31-38 in/through Christ we are encouraged that our upcoming marriage covenants can persevere and flourish; and even through there will be severe storms ahead because nothing can “separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus” we eagerly await the future and how it will assist us to be more like Cristo.
2. Prayer does not always involve speaking on our behalf. As shown in verses 26-27 it is Christ’s Spirit in us that speaks on our behalf. As a result, we must listen and listen carefully. Therefore do not get caught up on methods and trying to be too humanly reverent/ don’t try to impress God with words or amount of time speaking with Him. Note that THERE IS ONLY ONE ELEMENT THAT MAKES YOUR PRAYERS HEARD and that’s Jesus. That’s why being a Christ follower is the hottest thing, we are free and not tied to laws and traditions. We can now call God “daddy” that’s how close we are. NO MORE RELIGION, NO MORE LAWS.

I  cannot emphasize how importante it is to have a balance in your worship team practice. Music team practice is not all about music but also about understanding why we respond to God in music. To understand our musical response we must meditate on the Bible and encourage/challenge one another the message it promotes.

      Acts 6:8-12: 8And Stephen, full of grace and^(A) power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.9Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10But^(B) they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.                       This morning I was reminded of the benefits that come in having a likeness of Jesus, as I read on how Stephen was so full grace and power; and how these two combined signify a fullness of God’s Spirit in the life of a sinner operating to testify Christ’s: dominion, love and righteousness. Ya, that is what Stephen was doing and that lead him to persecution BUT his enemies “could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking”.  I think this is a good goal for us to have as we minister: to be full of Christ so that people cannot withstand but to join or leave. 

Psalm 59:9-10

9.O my Strength, I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress.10.My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

Enemies come in various forms, it can either be sin that WE can’t seem to avoid performing, sickness, relationships, school or finances. We all know that there are ton of conditions that can become our enemies which damage/limit harmony with our Creator and even with friends and family. But great news! That is why the Father sent his Son Jesus, b/c He understands our enemies/struggles which is why He tells us in Mathew 17:5  “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

And Christ in return says:  28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. WE CANNOT DO IT BY OURSELVES, WE NEED CHRIST. We can only achieve victory through Him.

And when we understand this concept we can then understand the reason behind a song.

 16.But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and  a refuge in the day of my distress.17.O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.

Today’s devotional is loaded with encouragement. First of all, I like to read my devo’s from Christian Classics. Everyday they offer a mixture of 3 scriptures such as: a psalm, an Old Testament and New Testament. The following are portions that spoke to my life this morning.

First, I read Psalm 27

13 I believe [1] that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

Then I read Isaiah 49

 15-18“Can a mother forget the infant at her breast, walk away from the baby she bore? But even if mothers forget, I’d never forget you—never. Look, I’ve written your names on the backs of my hands.23:…”Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”

And of course I cannot forget my favorite portion of today’s scripture:

Psalm 27

 6And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD.

God’s word is amazing. This scripture reveals to us how much He loves us. It also reiterates the importance of waiting. By doing so it makes us aware that being Christians does not mean to be happy 24/7. Instead there will be trials or better yet moments that really really suck. But in the midst of it all Christ encourages us to do what the psalmist did “offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, sing and make melody to the Lord.” 

Psalm 30

Today’s reading is a reminder that we do not rely on our riches. That is that our money or achievements/accomplishments are not our source of salvation or bright future, but instead it is Jesus and His word that should be more than enough for us.  Many time our riches can easily become idols in our life and there fore we choose to disregard the fact that our future does not rely on our $ or skills but on God alone.

6-7 When things were going great

I crowed, “I’ve got it made.

I’m God’s favorite.

He made me king of the mountain.”

Then you looked the other way

and I fell to pieces. (The Message)

To rely on something and not Jesus as a means of security/success is again “idolatry” which is sin. In this case David acknowledged that he was sinning by relying on his wealth and ruling position (as a king over Israel) and God “hid” his “face” from him. David finally repents and thanks God for restoring relationship w/him: “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing”. Again, this is another example of what makes PraiseWorship so intimate/genuine and that would be repentance, which is what God is looking for b/c in doing so we are recognizing the perfect sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. That it is only through His blood that we have access to salvation.

Something good to think about today as worship directors/leaders would be to ask ourselves if we are relying too much on what we have and and not on who God is or what the Cross signifies God’s ministry of praise and worship. The talent God has given us is not the essence of our worship but it is Christ and His Spirit.

Psalm 86 reminds us that God’s revelation will cause people to leave their gods and come to worship Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:6), b/c He is the maker of all the nations: “all the nations you have made”, and He is unlike any other god. He also gives God praise for delivering him from an extremely painful situation: “band of ruthless men seeks my life”. And although the miracle has not yet occurred he knows that it will and thanks God b/c he really does not deserve to be rescued. He is a sinner in need of a true devotion to God, which is why he says: “teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name”.

What I like here is that this section of the psalm reminds us that when God rescues us we ought to see this deliverance as a mean to testify that it wasn’t by our strength but “because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me”.

So when it comes to worship ministry and the necessities involved, do you boast on your skills? Band members? Equipment? According to this psalm we are to recognize that what we have is all thanks to God’s “merciful, gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”.  

Psalm 139, I think this is one Psalm that a lot of us maybe needed to hear today. It’s a scripture that reminds us that to God there are no surprises on any situation that we may be facing “in your book were written, every one of them the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them”…

One way we can apply this scripture to the worship ministry is in trying our best to believe and know that God is aware what list of songs we will have planed out: “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether”. I say this because I understand how frustrating this assignment can get, especially when you are planting a church and you do not yet have an entire band filling every instrument that we find necessary and building library of songs. But then again God’s Spirit reminds us here that no matter what we are lacking musically, if we seek Him (as the psalmist is doing through this scripture) His Spirit (“presence”) will always be w/us: “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?…If I say “surely the darkness shall cover me  and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you”. And having His Spirit every time we minister is what is VITALLY IMPORTANT….W/out God’s Spirit we have no direction and our worship becomes no longer sincere (not Christ centered). Remember God’s Spirit reveals Jesus to the hearts and reminds us that we need Him not He needing us (Jn. 15:26).

As an ending note, meditate on last verses and cry out to God in desperation as David did through this Psalm: “search me, O God and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts, And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting….And remember: you cannot run away from God.

In reviewing this Psalm I’ve come to understand even more the effects of sin in our singing to Jesus (worship). The Psalm states: “O Lord open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise”, David comes to understand that sin is effecting his singing (worship) to God and causing him a great level of “bloodguiltiness” to the point that he is having a difficult time singing straight from his heart the greatness of God (Jesus). And so he is asking for forgiveness, which in this setting is equivalent to the verb “open”, because by being forgiven David can now “open his lips” and really worship God. David knows he does not deserve to be forgiven but yet pleads to God because he knows that He is “abundant in mercy”….

This Psalm continues teach us that living a religious Christianity life style will not give us access to God’s own heart in our worship. Instead, what will make our worship real is the assurance that His Spirit is operating in us in that we are recognize our need of Jesus. That in our worship we enter God’s presence “broken”, meaning that we acknowledge that we do not by any means deserve to enter his presence, that it is not the style of music or the fact that we attend church meeting that will make our worship genuine but that it is Christ’s blood, which signifies forgiveness, that will allow our “tongues to sing ALOUD” of His “righteousness in declaring His praise”. And so it is through this redemption, which has made us “whiter than snow” that now causes us to enter “His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise” (Psalm 100:1) because Jesus has become not just a character in our lives but as David states in this Psalm “God of my salvation”.

Continuing from last post on quietness, I have found in the bible that there are times when we are to be still and keep silence in our worship. Habakkuk 2:20: But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” Zechariah 2:13 “ be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.”
So during your worship time remember that there will be times when you must be gentle and all you have to do to entertain Gods presence is play/sing gently/quietly. Especially when you are trying to perceive His guidance/response, as was the case with the prophet Elijah who was in desperate need of a response from God.
1 Kings 19:11-13 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
This scripture once again reminds us of that there is strength in quietness; Isaiah 30:15, NIV. “In repentance and rest is your salvation; in quietness and trust is your strength.”…So try worshiping quietly with stillness and see for yourself the impact it will have in your relationship with Christ.