Not only is the Lord waiting, but the World is watching... will you sing today?

I love music.  All kinds really (except for heavy metal), love me some Michael Buble, I enjoy country too.  My favorite songs are those sang with a purpose, filled with passion.  I love music that praises my Jesus!  As I look back over the past couple years I can name songs which were the cry of my heart for the Lord.  Simple truths, that were very relevant to my life song for the Lord- which helped me continue to cry out to Him.  While I was at the Institute the song I listened to over and over and over again was "From the Inside Out" wanting the Lord to continue to change me from the inside out, replacing the un-needed things with thing of Him and His word. 

Praise and worship songs are often passages of scriptures turned to song.  I love that I can sing along to a song, and that I've memorized (and hidden) God's word in my heart.  A lot of my favorite scriptures are about living a life of worship and praise to the Lord, a song of praise if you will (and you will!)

Psalm 100:1-5

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 30:4, 10-12
Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones,And give thanks to His holy name..."Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me; O LORD, be my helper." You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
 
Psalm 95:1-2
Come, let us shout joyfully to the LORD,shout triumphantly to the rock of our salvation! Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout triumphantly to Him in song.

Psalm 98:4-6
Shout to the LORD, all the earth; be jubilant, shout for joy, and sing. Sing to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and melodious song. With trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn shout triumphantly in the presence of the LORD, our King.

1 Chronicles 16:23-27
Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place.

Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

I think we often get caught up in what worship looks like, or how we worship- instead of just letting our whole, complete life be lived unto the Lord (this is worship)... which is exactly what He wants, and desires from us!

The summer before I started high school, I had the awesome opportunity of going to Super Summer in Shawnee, Oklahoma.  This was a week of listening to an awesome speaker teach the world, great worship, and being in family groups to experience small group fellowship.  The year I went Louie Giglio and Charlie Hall were there to speak and lead worship.  It was pretty incredible.  I still to this day remember that Louie spoke from Psalm 24 (The Earth is the Lords and everything in it..) the whole week.  Charlie Hall provided a wonderful atmosphere of laying everything at the feet of the Lord.  I remember thinking as I sang my heart out one of the days, "Lord, I wish I could do this every day of my life!"  I wanted to literally dedicate an hour a day to worshipping before the Lord through song (only an hour.. silly me).  The thought immediately followed, "Andrea, you can do this everyday- Your life is to be a song of praise for Me!"  An eye opening, life changing, experience this was, yes!  Living a life for the Lord allows you to experience the joy of living a song of praise and worship for Him EVERYDAY! (yay for singing everyday unto the Lord... I LOVE singing... and how fun my life can be that for the Lord).

Can I say that everyday since then in the  past 10 ish years has played out to be a beautiful song for the Lord from my end.  No.  There are often times when I look back on times in my life that a very sullen, not upbeat song played (I was choosing to take things into my own hands, or buy into lies that the world was selling me).  However, when I hand these sullen songs to the Lord and allow His to fix a couple of notes here and there for His purpose (filled with His grace & forgiveness, with lots of teaching and growth) He can turn a dark song into one that dances right off the page- which allows me once again to sing a song of praise to Him in Thanksgiving for caring enough about me to cover my flat notes to make them match the melody that is played through my life when I am following Him. 


We are giving a chance to sing a song of praise to the Lord everyday as we go to work, interact with people, pray, give thanks, give of our time, our talents, through our words, the way we dress, in our school work, etc.  Are you choosing to sing a song of praise as you get up out of bed every morning?  Choose a verse to pray and meditate on today as you do everything today.  Let that be the focus of your song- not only is the Lord waiting, but the World is watching.  Will you sing today?   

John 4:23-24
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.