The praise that John saw

24 Apr 2014 1 Comment

by Minstrels wife in Christian Worship, God, Jesus, meditation, Prayer, worship, worship leader, Worship leaders Tags: , , , ,

We read in Revelation that John was taken up to heaven, and he wrote down what he saw and heard. The book is amazing and one of my favourites. To see eternity and where we will be going, must have been breathtaking. I can’t wait for eternity and spending it with my Father God.

As well as all John saw, he writes down what he heard as well. He listened to the angels praising and the sounds of heaven.

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come…”

This is reality. This isn’t some dream John had. This is what goes on 24 hours a day, as a constant praise to God going on in the heavenlies. We hear lots of noise, lots of bustle and business. To go somewhere where there is total quiet to sit and wait on God is near impossible. There is music everywhere, but not the music of God. Not the music that praises Him alone.

The best we have is the praise and worship songs that are written by those who love God and some lived many centuries ago. Fill your mind with these songs of worship. Fill your mind with words of praise from the Word of God. Take your focus away from the world that is full of self pleasure and brokenness. Redirect it towards heaven and fill yourself with the images of glory that we can read in Revelation. It may cause you to fall face down in total worship and honour to the Heavenly God. He reigns in heaven and earth, and deserves our devotion.

As we worship Him more and more, we become less like the world, and more like Him who we worship. We become more like Jesus the more we devote time and pleasure to reading His word and face down in front of Him.

When we get our priorities right and put God and the worship of Him first, then everything else falls into place in our lives. As soon as that priority changes away from Him, then things can start to fall apart.

Keep your eyes focused where they should be. On the Most High God.

21 Apr 2014 Leave a comment

by Minstrels wife in Uncategorized

Absolutely!!

Quotes

God can turn around any situation.

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God Loves You This Much

17 Apr 2014 2 Comments

by Minstrels wife in Uncategorized

Psalms are our prayers

15 Apr 2014 2 Comments

by Minstrels wife in Christian Worship, God, Jesus, meditation, Prayer, sanctuary, worship Tags: , , ,

Psalms is the only book in the whole Bible that is really written to and for God Himself. All the other 65 books are for our growth, learning and development as well as warnings of what will come and what will happen in the future. Psalms was written mainly by King David and King Solomon, and is the heart of a worshipper. It is psalms of longing and love. It is full of worship and praise of who God is and how Amazing He is.

We can use the Psalms to help us pray in a way we have never done before. We can come to God just to praise and worship Him. We dont have to always bring a list of things to say or ask for. We can just bring our hearts cry. Our longing to be with Him. To know Him more.

The Psalms are not always nice, tidy or lovely prayers. They hold cries of pain, anguish and a down spirit. They hold awesome joy and laughter. They can be cries of worship and adoration. They can be bereaved or grieving screams.

At the beginning of each Psalm, there is a title, “of David”, or “of Solomon”. These prayers can be changed to “of Peter”, “of Stephen”. They are our prayers as well. I know I can relate to many of the Psalms at different points of my life. I know a lot of us probably can.

Read the Psalms with a praying and open heart, and see how they become your very own prayers. Who knows where it may lead us.

Martha or Mary?

13 Apr 2014 6 Comments

by Minstrels wife in Christian Worship, God, Jesus, meditation, Prayer, worship Tags: , , ,

We see the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10 v 38-42.

Martha invites Jesus and His disciples into her home, and both sisters were followers of Jesus as was their brother Lazarus. Mary sits at the feet of Jesus and listens to all He is saying and learns from Him while her sister Martha is in the kitchen and fussing around with bits and bobs. Mary complains to Jesus that her sister is not helping her in the kitchen and is just sat at His feet. She asks Jesus to tell her sister to come help her. Jesus replied “Martha, Martha, you are so anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her”.

Martha represents the busy, active, rushing side of us. The one who is too busy doing rather than sitting and worshipping.

Mary is the quiet, receptive side of us. The side that can see that we need time to just “be” with the Lord.

Hospitality or even service in the Church is less important than being still and knowing God. We need to be ready to do anything for Him and this does include busyness for Him, but not when it takes over and we lose the times we spend with Him.

So which do we fall into more? Martha or Mary?

Christian and Muslim Communities Work Together to Fight Terrorism in Kenya

10 Apr 2014 Leave a comment

by Minstrels wife in Uncategorized

Do we talk too “christian”?

08 Apr 2014 5 Comments

by Minstrels wife in Christian Worship, God, Jesus, Prayer, worship Tags: , , , , , , ,

So what is it that we talk about the most during the day? Do we talk about ministry, the book we are reading, the new cd we have just bought, or in some cases the new cd we have just released? Do we tell everyone how much time we spent this week in prayer, reading the Word or time spent with others in ministry situations? Did we spend an hour in a coffee shop with a friend and discuss what we watched on tv the night before, or on the film we saw last week? Do we talk about the new gear the church has just bought, the great preach we gave or the amazing conference we went to the other month?

When in all the boasting, in all the pride or all the distractions, did we talk about Jesus and what He has done for us and how we love to praise our Eternal God for just being eternal? The amount of time we spend talking about Jesus and His amazing sacrifice shows the degree in which He is placed in our lives. How many more could we give the Gospel to if we stopped talking about ourselves and spend more time with the name of Jesus on our lips? We are in danger of losing the blessings that come with working for Christ by the boasting of these events to others. If we were not full of pride in ourselves, we would not want to talk about what we have done, but what God has done. We would want everyone to know who He is and what He has done.

It may sound so spiritual to use long words in a “christian” way, and others may think we are very clever for using them, but what about those who don’t go to church and we still speak to like that? It is off putting for them, and in a way makes us look silly. We have enough media making us look stupid or radical in a bad way, why make it worse by becoming the people they present us to be?

Maybe if we are more loving and Christ like, we will have even more opportunities to reach the lost and the lonely who are looking for reasons to why they are even here. Why do we live and what do we live for? A question not just for the unbelievers I think.

who do we really glorify?

01 Apr 2014 6 Comments

by Minstrels wife in Christian Worship, God, Jesus, meditation, Prayer, worship, worship leader Tags: , , , ,

How much glory do we give our idols on TV or on the sports fields? Do we talk about them a lot, try to live like them, do the same or wear the same as them? Do we raise up Christian speakers, or leaders? Do we quote them or try to talk like them? What about the music we listen to? Can we sing the songs off by heart even though they are secular and say things that are not godly?

When does God Himself get our glory? When does He get our time, space and undivided attention? Do we talk about Him to everyone we meet on the bus, in the shops or even those we go to church with? Do we quote His Word and try to live as He wants? Do we try to speak and live in a godly way and make a stand for what is right? Do we live a holy life that doesn’t taint us or our walk?

We are made in Gods image, and are designed to reflect His glory. Do we?

We are walking adverts for the Kingdom of God and the work Jesus did on the Cross. How are we to bring others into our faith if we don’t live any differently to them? How can we tell of the work of Calvary if we don’t show the results of that work and have victory in our lives? Our souls reflect what we put in them. If all we do is put in them what we see on TV or what we read that is not godly or have inappropriate things in them, then that is what we will show to others. If we have unforgiveness, hate, unloving hearts and attitudes to ourselves and others, that is what we will show.

Jesus had victory on the Cross so we don’t have to live defeated lives. When we live in victory, we have victory over evil and lies. We show faith and total belief in Jesus and the blood He shed that gives us new life in Him. How many more people can be won for Him if we lived more like Him and less like the world?