Christian Praise has power!

Many people have read the book “The Secret” and do not realize that many of the teachings in there came from Christian Praise Principles taught in the Bible. Yes, the Bible has many things to say about the Christian Praise Principles that can be used to enhance our daily lives today.

In John 10:10 Jesus said, The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy but I came that they may have life and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows) Amplified Bible.  

As Christians we know that the thief he is referring to is the Devil. All evil comes from him. He is here to steal, kill and destroy us and our dreams if he can. But, through the power of Christian Praise, we are able to stop the fiery darts of the devil as we learn to lift our voices in praise to God who loves to pour his blessing upon all of His Children.

There is immense power in Christian Praise and the Devil does not want you to know about it. He will do all he can to keep you in a negative mindset because he knows that as long as you are dwelling on your problems, you will not be in the mood to praise God.

This is why Christian Praise is often referred to as the “Sacrifice of Praise“. We need to come out from the darkness and despair and offer to God the sacrifice of Praise. It is miraculous but as we begin to offer up these sacrifices of Christian Praise, God comes to inhabit the praises of His people and things begin to change.

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Hebrews 13:15

Yes, God actually inhabits, or lives, in the praises of His People. When we offer Christian Praise we are actually bringing God right onto the scene in our lives.

Psalm 22:3 says “But Thou Art Holy, Thou that inhabitist the praises of Israel”.

Paul and Silas when beaten put in jail for proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ could have sat there and complained. I can picture it now can’t you? “Oh great, here we are trying to get the good news out and we end up in this cold, dark jail. Where is God? Why would He let this happen to us? But they didn’t complain. The Bible tells us that they sang praises to God! Can you imagine! Even in that dark, cold gloomy jail, they didn’t think about their circumstances. No! They thought about the blessings of God and Christian Praise flowed from that dark, gloomy dungeon.

Acts 16:16-35 God sent an earthquake and all the chains from the prison doors were loosed. No one fled, they stayed right where they were. This ended up being a miracle to the jailer who thought he would have lost all of the prisoners, but this worked together for the good of Paul and Silas. Not only were they set free, but the jailer came to know the Lord through them. Lessons we can learn from this:

• When we allow Christian Praise to flow out from us, God comes to abide.
• When we allow Christian Praise to flow out from us, God sets us free.
• When we allow Christian Praise to flow out from us, God’s love is proclaimed.
• When we allow Christian Praise to flow out of us, all things will work together for our good because we love God and are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

Technorati Tags: Christian Praise, praise, sacrifice of praise, the Secret

For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, American Idol is a reality Television show which selects a top 24 amongst a large pool of potential participants. These people perform before an audience and then they are voted on via phone or text messages each week and the people with the most votes stay while those with the least votes go home. This continues on until we are down to only 1 which is then declared Americas Idol.

After each performance, the judges give their criticisms, usually very constructively, sometimes not. The Judges this year are Simon Cowell, Kara DioGuardi, Ryan Jackson and this year Ellen DeGeneres. We have been told that Simon Cowell will be leaving American Idol at the end of this season and they are looking for a replacement for him. Some people heard a rumor that it would be Howard Stern but Howard Stern told the media that it was just a joke and he had no interest in being a judge for American Idol. This means the spot will be empty and open for next season.

Is God going to be the New Judge for American Idol?

Keep reading and let me know what you think.

The contestants are between the ages of 16 and 28. These people come from many walks of life and most of them are not professing Christians, but we are seeing more and more Christians stepping up to the podium and trying to make it as the New American Idol.

I personally don’t have any problem with Christians singing secular songs and if they feel called to go into the secular field of music that is between them and God. I am no mans’ judge. I must admit that I am not so comfortable with the term “Idol” because being a Christian we have a totally different attitude about idols. I realize that the secular world is using the term loosely for someone who can hopefully lead the top of the charts in singing. The better they sing, the more fans they get and therefore the more cd’s and mp3 downloads will happen and bingo, they make money!

Is this vanity? Is this really what God wants us to be doing with the talent He has given us? These are just questions we need to ask ourselves, I am not saying they are wrong in doing it I am just questioning whether I would feel comfortable trying out for a job such as this.

You are probably asking yourselves, why is God going to be the Next Judge for American Idol?

I’m glad you asked

Last night, week 2 of Season 9, we had a few of the “Christians” up and one in particular stuck out big time. It was Jermaine Sellers turn and he didn’t get the most rave review from the Judges Panel. I can’t find his exact words but basically he said that he wasn’t worried because he knows that God is going to make him the Idol. Simon told him he would be surprised if he made it to the next week and Jermaine replied “I know God” to which Simon replied, “I guess we don’t need to bother with the phone line then.

(I wish I could find his exact words, sorry if I am misinterpreting this in some way).

My question then becomes, since when is God the New Judge on American Idol? There are other Christian singers on American Idol and I am sure that they too are hoping and praying for God to make them the next American Idol.

I personally think that this young man has his faith a little confused. There is no where in the Bible that states that God is going to give us everything we want. He is setting himself up for a big fall if he truly believes that God is going to pick him instead of any of the other Christians on the show.

True faith is believing that God is true to His word and that He is in control of our lives, but that does not mean that God is always going to work things out for our favor because we prayed and believed. Yes, the Bible says that if you pray and believe that you have received it then it is yours, but it may not come around the same way that you expected it to. It’s back to the old story of one man prays for sunshine while the farmer prays for rain. Is God to be blamed for the weather? The Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust. Bad things happen to good people! Just because we are Christians we can not expect God to give us everything we think we want.

Maybe God wants to use this man in another ministry, maybe, for reasons unknown to us God doesn’t want him in any ministry. This can only be known in time.

If God were the New Judge on American Idol then wouldn’t it be fair that all of the Christians on American Idol won? People need to get their heads on straight here. If God has given you the talent for singing, Praise God! Use it for His Glory! Don’t get messed up with the things of this world. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

Believe me, God has better things to do than to sit as the New Judge on American Idol!

Technorati Tags: Christian Praise, God the Judge on American Idol, New Judge on American Idol

To make a long story short here are the answers that I wrote to the query on Christian Praise and worship songs in a minor key on Yahoo Answers:

p.s. I go by the name of Cyberscribe on Yahoo Answers

What are some good Christian hymns or praise and worship songs that are in a minor key?

Best Answer – Chosen by Asker

Source(s):

Technorati Tags: Christian Praise, Christian Songs in a Minor Key, praise and worship songs, praise songs

It bothers me that Avril Lavigne would judge according to his position rather than his skill as a singer. The whole point of American Idol is to judge them on their singing skills, not whether they feel they can make it out on the road away from their family.I suppose we will chalk the comment up to her young age and forgive her.

Have you noticed that there have been quite a few Christians who have been auditioning for American Idol in the last couple of years. The ones that stand out to me are David Gokey, Kris Allen and this year Tasha Latyon and Jim Ranger.

I know there is a lot of slack going around about how Christians should not be going after fame and fortune but on the other hand I see how churches expect their music ministers to perform their duties and yet many of them get no recompense for doing it. There are people who say that they should do it for nothing because their reward is in heaven, but even the Levites were set aside to perform the work for God and were paid to do it.

I don’t understand how anyone can stand back and say that these people are wrong to try and provide for their families. What they know is music, and they are good at it. If we don’t want them going to “the world” to make a living then maybe we better start considering how we are supporting them as a church.

Is it any worse for a Music Pastor to get a job singing “non-christian” songs than a Pastor who tries to provide for his family by working in the secular world such as bankers or politicians?

I really think that we as Christians should stop judging what other people are doing and keep an eye on our own lives.

What do you think?

Sharron

You can view the audition here. Jim Ranger comes on at 7:55 in the video. Pay no attention to the writing on the top right corner of the video.

Technorati Tags: American Idol, Avril Lavigne, Christian Praise, Jim Ranger, Worship Pastor

I rarely watch movies, or even television for that matter, but a friend thought I might be interested in seeing this movie so there we sat, together in my living room watching “Julie and Julia”. It is a movie based on a blog written by Julie Powell who wanted to try and make her way through Julia Childs cookbook “”Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and blog about it daily. She (Julia Powell) had an admiration for Julia Childs and the movie intertwines the lives of these two women and their cooking endeavors.

It was while watching the movie that the idea struck me: Why not write/blog through the Psalms. David is certainly one of the many writers in the Bible who is totally lovable. God himself called him the apple of his eye. Who cannot relate to David? He has moments of total abandoment to the Lord and then in another moment of weakness ends up sinning and crying out to God.

David, like many of us, is totally identified with God and yet he is soooooooooo aware of his personal downfalls and even mood swings. Paul summed this up nicely in Romans 7 when he said, “We know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate, I do, and if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find this law at work–when I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law, but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7: 14-25

2 Corinthians 12:9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weakness , so that the power of Christ can work through me.

So, as Julie Powell did with Julia’s cookbook, I want to go through the Psalms with you and give you my perspective. Hopefully this will help us both to grow stronger in the Lord and in His mighty power. I don’t think I will be able to do this everyday like Julie Powell did in the movie, but I am going to try and do it as often as possible till we get through all 150 Psalms.

I will set up a special blog called “Psalms Blog” so that it will be easier to find and this will give it a special place where the Psalms are all together.

Keep your eyes open in the next few days for the first installment

Sharron

Technorati Tags: Christian Praise, David, Julie and Julia, Psalms

Here are the words:

I Command Thee Satan

In the Name of the Lord

To Drop Your Weapons and Flee

For the Lord Has Given Us Authority

To Walk All Over Thee

I do realize that we have full authority over Satan so that really does not bother me, what does bother me is that by singing this Christian Praise Song or Chorus, we are singing to Satan. I believe that if we are to offer Christian Praise it should be actual Praise to God. I can see how we can rejoice in the fact that Satan has no power over us, but to sing this song, in my opinion is singing to Satan and I really don’t feel that it has a place in the church because of that.

I am sure you can think of many Christian Praise Songs, which can be doctrinally sound, but not really appropriate to be singing in church.

What do you think?

Sharron

Technorati Tags: Christian Praise, Christian Praise Songs, Singing to Satan

“Here’s my question: Who wants 30-40+ minutes of music in worship? Who? Why? I mean…explain this to  me. I seriously do not get it.”  

My interest was certainly peeked by this question and the answers that followed. It was so peeked that I almost was late for my own Christian Praise and Worship Service   and yes, we had about 30 minutes of Christian Praise and Worship and I loved every moment of it.

In reading the responses from many of the people it was clear to me that most do not understand the purpose of spending 30-40 minutes singing in a church service. They do not realize that this is actually a very short period of time.

The Psalmist David said in Psalm 84:1-4

1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!

 2. My soul yearns, even faints,for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out

for the living God.

3. Even the sparrow has found a home,and the swallow a nest for herself,where she may have her young—a place near your altar,O Lord Almighty, my King and my God.

4. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.     

Then verse 10 says: Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

David loved being in the presence of God. His heart and soul yearns for the courts of the Lord. He says better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.

Why can’t we be like David, why don’t we all yearn for the presence of God? Where is the presence of God? In the praises of His people! Psalm 22:3

What about Zephania 3:17 that says that God rejoices over us with singing.

What about the fact that the Levites were commissioned to praise God on musical instruments…Do you think they did this for 5 minutes and then gave up?Do you think that the Glory of God would come into our presence without our praises?

Do you think that the worship in the temple lasted only 1 hour so that people could get home to make their roasts for Sunday dinner?

God says to keep the Sabbath and that it is Holy unto Him…We work for 8 hours every day, do we complain about spending time in God’s presence for 30-40 minutes?

I really don’t understand how people are complaining about praising God. Maybe I’m missing something here but I think we need more people like David who wished he could spend more and more time in God’s presence.

Just in case you wish to read the comments that were made then I will give you the link:

http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/open-mic-at-the-imonk-cafe-who-wants-all-that-music/comment-page-2#comment-518334

Technorati Tags: Christian Praise, long song services, praise and worship

Being bought up as a Baptist in the Montreal area of Canada I was used to singing hymns and nice little songs like Jesus Loves Me. This kept me on track when I was a little girl, but when I grew up and came back to God, my relationship with Him was completely different. He was no longer a God somewhere up there in the sky who was watching to see if I was naughty or nice (Kind of like a glorified Santa Claus), this time it was different.

I could feel the presence of Jesus in my life and knew something inside me had changed. I decided it was time to go back to church. Sadly, what I found in church was not what I was experiencing in my own one on one time with God.

I started to think perhaps I was strange, perhaps I was overly emotional, perhaps I was wrong somehow. Those around me didn’t get all excited about Jesus like I did. What was wrong with me?

I still continued to go to church as I knew this is what God wanted of me, and I loved learning more and more every chance I could get. Later, I met my husband and he was a Pentecostal. He told me about the Pentecostal church and I thought to my self….This sounds very strange to me…He finally convinced me to go to a meeting with him and I was totally surprised.

Please don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that Baptists are not true worshippers or have no feelings, or that Pentecostals are the only true believers or whatever. I am simply stating that the two churches I had attended were as different as night and day.

That night that I attended the church with my then to be husband was a turning point in my life. I realized as I stood there praising God with those around me that there was a presence that I had never felt in a church before. Yes, I had experienced this presence in my own prayer life, but never in a congregation. It was like I was finally home. Finally, I could see and feel the presence of God amongst those worshipping. It was like heaven came down and the glory of God filled that auditorium that night.

Since becoming a worship leader it has always been my goal to lead those in the congregation to the place where they too can feel the presence of God in the midst of them. It is only in the presence of our awesome God that people can know, without the shadow of a doubt that they are in the presence of God. As worship leaders we are like the doorkeepers to the very presence of God. We must lead them gently from the outer courts into the Holy of Holies where they can sense God and the beauty of His Holiness.

The article that I just read, reminded me of the importance of worship and its effects on the non-christian as well as those called by God to be His children.

The article is entitled: Worship and the Visitor

I think you will enjoy reading it and hopefully realize the importance of Christian Praise in our services.

Here is the link: http://www.catalystspace.com/content/read/worship_the_visitor

Technorati Tags: Christian Praise, praise and worship

(click on the play button if you wish to hear my acapella version of it )

The Horse and Rider Song 

I Will Sing Unto the Lord For He Has Triumphed Gloriously

The Horse and Rider Thrown into the Sea

I Will Sing Unto the Lord For He Has Triumphed Gloriously

The Horse and Rider Thrown into the Sea

The Lord, My God, My Strength My Song

Has Now Become My Victory

The Lord, My God, My Strength My Song

Has Now Become My Victory

The Lord is God and I will praise Him

My Fathers God and I will E-x-a-l-t Him

The Lord is God and I will praise Him

My Fathers God and I will Exalt Him!

Technorati Tags: Christian Praise, Christian Praise Songs, The Horse and Rider Song Lyrics

Many people, Christian or not, tend to look at life with a very negative slant sometimes. I am sure you know many people like this. They are always complaining about how bad things are, they are so concerned about the way that life is treating them that they miss out on the greatness of being alive. Some people are living a life of misery because they forget to look at what is going right in their lives and taking their eyes off of the problems and obstacles.

We all run into obstacles in our lives, this is a part of life. We are not to offer Christian Praise only when things in life are rosy and going well for us. For some people, life never seems to go well for them. It’s not that life is so harsh, but rather their eye’s are focused on the problems and not their blessings. We cannot condemn these people, it is a mindset that they have set themselves up in and can’t be undone unless they realize what they are doing. Don’t condemn them, pray for them that the light of God will shine in their hearts that they may be able to see what great things God has done for them.

Negative thinking is a major problem in our society today. The good news is that we have more and more people wanting to get themselves out of their negative mindset and trying to think more positively. Just look around any bookstore and you will see many self-help books based on how to think positively, how to think abundantly. People are realizing more and more that there is more to life than what they are experiencing. Sadly we see multitudes following “The Secret” or Abraham Hicks looking for more to life without realizing that God said that we receive not because what we ask for is for our own edification and glory. If we seek abundance for selfish reasons we will not receive from God, but we are promised that if we seek for God’s will then our prayers and petitions are answered. (James 4:3)(Mathew 7:7-11)

There is some truth to what they are teaching and much of it is based on Christian Scripture, but they miss the mark in that they are all about, how can I make my life happier and get the things I want. It misses the mark because Scripture teaches us that we are not to worry about food, or drink or clothing or any of the things that the world worries about. God has already taken care of that for us, but for those who do not know God, they search for a way out of their problems and end up in these messed up doctrines being indoctrinated into thinking that they are being enlightened.

As I said, they are partially true. Satan masquerades as an angel of light, trying to persuade people that this is the truth, when in reality it is only partial truth.(2 Corinthians11:14) Jesus is the true light of the world and if we ask, believing, we shall receive from Him.

If we have not it’s because we are not asking. As we become thankful for what we do have, then we will be given more. It is God’s will that we have an abundant life but we miss out on it because we forget to be thankful for what we do have.(Mark 4:25)

Without challenges, there can be no progress. Without obstacles, there can be no achievement. Be thankful for the opportunities that these provide.

For many people the theme song for their life is “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen”. It’s time to change your tune. It’s time to sing another tune in your life. Focus on what God is doing, focus on the good that comes out of the obstacles and challenges, knowing that God loves you and is in control of your life. Let Christian Praise flow out of your heart and up to the throne of God, for He is worthy to be praised in all circumstances.

Technorati Tags: Abraham Hicks, Ask and receive, Christian Praise, the Secret