Praise first and feel it later...

I Worship When I Sing to Him!

What an awesome week this has been! This week in Kid’s Connect we learned about how we worship God when we sing to Him. The kids found the book of Exodus in their Bibles and we read about Moses breaking into song after freeing the Israelites and swallowing the Egyptian army into the Red Sea. [Check out Exodus 15!] Or check out the Psalms, which continually encourage us to “sing for joy,” and “sing a new song!” [Check out the Kid’s Connect Memory Verse this week, Psalm 33:1 and keep reading through verse 3!] The Lord loves music and He loves it when we sing to Him. God doesn’t care about what your voice sounds like. Singing is an overflow of your spirit and the Lord encourages that overflow! I know there are many times in life when we just don’t feel like singing. Sometimes we just want to sit in His presence quietly. There is definitely a place for that; there are times to “…be still and know.” But check out another story about two men named Paul and Silas. In Acts chapter 16 they have been stripped, beaten with rods and thrown in jail with their feet secured in chains. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but I have a feeling Paul and Silas felt pretty miserable and in lots of pain at this point! Romans are not known for being wimpy floggers! But in verse 25, probably only a few short hours later, they were praying and singing hymns. You know they were still in pain…do you really think they felt like singing? NO! Of course not, but they knew that God was with them regardless of the storm they were currently roughing and they chose to praise God through singing anyway. Beth Moore says it best when she says, “praise first and feel it later.” You may walk into church on Sunday morning and not really dig the music or maybe you just don’t feel like you’re in the mood to sing, but when you obey the scriptures that say to pray and to praise (to SING!) even when you’ve been FLOGGED, friends, you will feel the spirit move and the Lord will be pleased with your worship to Him. So I challenge you this week, sing to Him! Pop in some worshipful music in your car and have a family sing-a-long. Lock the door to your bedroom and sing scripture to Him. (The Psalms are great for that!) And what I have found is that when you sing out louder in a congregational setting, others are willing to sing out a little more, too. Have a great week, but if you’re not…keep singing!

Praising first,

Jordan