OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 1

'Sing to the LORD a new song; Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day' - Psalms 96:1-2

'Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! ' - Psalm 95:1-2

I love singing, but I don't know what it is about turning on the water to take a bath or shower, that also turns on the vocal chords. This morning, at the first chink of daylight, I gave my neighbours and the birds, a full throttle medley of 'Thank you for Giving me this Morning'....'I Stood in the Garden Alone'....'God will take Care of You,' and one or two other favourites. I did however, spare everyone my usual finale – 'When we all Get to Heaven!' It got me thinking. I can sing and praise God in safety and security, but what about the Apostle Paul? And David?

'About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them' – Acts 16:25. As a result of their praise the jailor and his family were converted. Another time Paul was removed from house arrest and put into prison. Shackled in chains awaiting execution, Paul wrote his letter to the Philippian churches....and sang hymns of praise. Paul's letter was the most upbeat of all time, looking beyond a filthy cell he urged Christians to have the attitude of Jesus and be a people of joy. He'd grasped God's promise, “Yours is the joy...your reward will be great in heaven...” This epistle gives us a unique insight into Paul's heart. Despite being on death row, he uses over and over again, the words “joy” and “rejoice.”

Perhaps the best know 'singer' in the Bible was David – in fact he wrote a whole lot of songs, you can find them in the book of Psalms – songs for every situation or mood. He sang while he was ducking the flying spears aimed at him by King Saul. '….While David was playing the lyre, Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall.' - 1 Samuel 19:10. David sang, whether in the Judean desert, fleeing for his life as he was pursued by King Saul and his army; or hiding in the cave of Adullam - songs of joy and praise and thanks.

The most astounding thing though is what a young friend of mine describes as “really cool,” and that is a verse in Zephaniah 3:17.

The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.

Every part of this verse, each of the five lines, is such a comforting promise- God will do these things- it doesn't depend on what we do or don’t do- He will do it regardless. The last line is my favourite - God takes such pleasure in me and you, that He sings for us.? The King of the universes, singing over me....singing over you! Wow, that is really cool! The ESV version says that, “He will exult (leap for joy, be extremely joyful) over you with loud singing.”

Imagine that!! It’s so easy for us to try and find our worth in things and through people…I hope this verse makes you feel as special and important to God as it does me.  We are truly blessed that at this moment in time, we can praise the Lord in peace and safety.

Tomorrow my neighbours and the birds can stand by. I won't wait for the shower water to run because I'm just itching to get stuck into that rendition of “When we all Get to Heaven!”

Oh yes, what a day that will be! Click on the bird to listen to the Gaithers singing “When we all Get to Heaven.”

       

     Housekeeping details for you

     The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.

     A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here