Sing praises – play the instrument of your voice!

Be ‘vocal’ & sing praises to Jesus…it’s a great way to be ‘instrumental’ in serving the Kingdom of God!

Don Moen’s India Tour a Big Hit

O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth. – Psalm 96:1

Gospel music star Don Moen’s tour of India this year was a big hit! He conducted a concert and a ‘Worship Seminar’ each at Chennai, Shillong and Mumbai.

I attended the concert at Mumbai since I live in Mumbai. It was a “Wow!” experience for me right from the time I reached the venue to the time I got back into my car. The stage, the sound, the choice of songs and the audience participation – all were of a very high level. To top it all, Don Moen and Team’s performance was excellent! The best part though, was that Jesus Christ was glorified throughout – a great practice session before we worship him forever into eternity. I often feel that one of the reasons why eternal life is eternal is because eternity is what we need in order to thank, praise and worship the Living God! Anything short of that simply wouldn’t do.

Coming back to the event, the tour was organised by The Friendship Club (TFC). TFC is a charitable trust that conceives and manages events surrounding the projects they undertake, like the current Project Friend.

A bit about Project Friend…

Project Friend is an initiative to help cancer patients cope up with tough times. It is not restricted to Christians. It covers cancer patients irrespective of religious affinity. TFC believes that cancer patients, especially the terminally ill, have multiple needs. Not all of these can be met by their families. What use are family members if they cannot support the patient emotionally simply because they are forced to look for funds to treat their loved one? TFC solicits charitable donations for Project Friend from various sections of society (in return for an annual membership to TFC) so that the funds collected can be used to arrange for day care nurses, medicines and other such needs. The TFC team can also periodically visit the patient and pray for them as well as counsel them. Who knows – some or all of them can actually recover completely and may even get saved in the process!

I request you to keep the TFC Team and Project Friend in prayer so that precious human souls on the road to an eternity in hell are saved and spend that eternity in Heaven instead – in the presence of God our Creator. I know how important it is, because just December last, I had lost my first cousin – my best friend – to leukaemia. After all, those other cancer patients too are somebody’s first cousins – somebody’s best friends!

Praise and Worship: A Lifetime is Not Enough

“God is great!” We have often heard this expression. It’s true. He is so great; you could go on singing His greatness all your life and it would not suffice. But is that really so? Let’s find out…

Lazarus should know
Lazarus – Mary and Martha’s brother – was dead and in the tomb 4 days. Yet Jesus gave him a command to come out of the tomb, and there he was…wrapped up in graveclothes (John 11:44). He lived thereafter. Imagine how thankful he must have been to the Lord for raising him back to life!

I have personally been very sick in my childhood. Had pricks on my arms and foot, tubes in my waist and nostrils and a scar to show on my abdomen. I have been through some pain and yet I say that my pain was nowhere near what Jesus endured for you and for me. When I look back at what Jesus did for me, I cannot help but thank God over and over again – He has taken me out of pain and sin and placed me on the rock of safety viz. Jesus. Jesus is the rock of my salvation, indeed. Read more about what Jesus did for you – here

Tornadoes Flee in Jesus’ Name
Kenneth Copeland shares the story of one of his ministry partners who lived right in the path of a tornado. This person reported a miraculous escape when he and his family commanded the storm in Jesus’ name to depart from their way! The storm passed their house by and went further up and flattened several other structures. Now this man surely would tell you how much indebted he is to God for fulfilling the promise in Psalm 91, verse 7: “A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.” In a single act of faithfulness, God fulfilled another verse for this family:

“Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) The family stood its ground, resisted the adverse situation in Jesus’ name, and overcame. While they stayed in the house, the tornado fled!

God is so great, lovingkind, slow to anger and abundant in mercy, that in order to fully praise Him for what and who He is, our earthly life was not enough. So God rightly gifts us everlasting life in heaven if we receive His Son Jesus. In heaven, we will keep glorifying Him. Our pastor once said, “In Heaven we won’t magnify what we did while we were on the Earth. We will magnify what Jesus did.” Truly, one lifetime is not enough. (This does not mean we reincarnate – the Bible says there is only one earthly life. We will look at the reincarnation myth in a later post.)

If you love Praise and Worship music, read this post

Praise and Worship Music – its Benefits

Praise and Worship through music is often underestimated when it comes to prayer and fellowship. If you think (as I used to, once upon a time) that praise and worship music is not for you and the pastor’s message is enough, you will likely change your thinking after reading this post.

Benefits of Worship Music:

• Glorifying God is the very purpose of our existence. When you sing His praises, you are actually aligning yourself with God’s plan for your life. This releases His blessings over and into your life.
• Praising God is something the devil just cannot bear. If you are oppressed by the enemy in any area of your life, your best bet is to stand up (if you can) on your feet and start singing praises to God. The devil will hate it! His survival in your life will become tough and he will feel miserable. Even playing Christian music in your home every day and often will in itself help a lot.
• When the pastor preaches, how many people are speaking in favour of God and against the devil? Only 1 – the pastor himself. But when the whole church stands up on its feet and sings, how many people are working for God’s Kingdom? You got it – the entire gathering!
• Worshipping God (aloud or silently) edifies you. Edification means “building up” in the context of strengthening your faith. You literally become what you speak. The Bible says “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9, 10) If confessing with your mouth can take you right up to the point of salvation, I think heartfelt praise and worship can do similar things.

There are many more benefits, of course, which can best be experienced than listed. You can experience them by singing or even by listening. Click here to buy Praise and Worship songs. Whether or not you have a great voice, you must praise Him every day – and open the door to His blessings. So sing aloud and proclaim, “Jesus is Lord!”