Time to Rejoice!



Rejoice by The Women of Faith Worship

 I don't know about you but my May has and still will be a crazy busy month. With graduations and weddings every weekend, my whole routine has been thrown off. I didn't realize it until I opened my front door this morning (to go down and do some much needed laundry) that I hadn't gotten the mail on Saturday! I was so excited to find out I had a package on my door step and that it was my new CD to review! I was so excited to pop in the Rejoice CD from the Women of Faith Worship Team and I wasn't disappointed. I have spent all morning listening to it, and I am including my review for this CD below.

Review:
Women of Faith Worship the Rejoice album is great! The Women of Faith Worship Team (Kara Tualatai, Michelle Swift, Laura Cooksey, Janice Gaines, Allison Abbott, Jenifer Thigpen, and Jovaun Woods) put a great new upbeat twist on some of the best worship classics. My personal favorite is “You Brought the Sunshine”. It is a simply powerful message of God’s grace and love for us. It talks about how God hears all of our prayers and how He cares for us by giving us love and grace and by bringing the sunshine into our lives, and it’s all done through music!

From hymns like “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” to choruses like “Our God” the group brings a fresh taste. You will be encouraged and uplifted by the time you finish listening to just a few tracks. The joy and vibrancy in their voices just begs you to sing along and to praise God with them! Rejoice is the Women of Faith Worship Team experience brought to your home, and you won’t be disappointed!

I recommend this CD to Women of Faith fans and people who love up beat pop worship music.
This CD was provided to me at no cost by Thomas Nelson Publishing for review purposes.

BUY REJOICE TODAY!

My Emotional Journey Through Music

A couple of nights ago, I was feeling a little down so I started listening to some music videos on YouTube. The videos that came to mind formed an interesting progression and I think that they showed where I was from beginning to end. The main reason that I wanted to share with you because where I ended up really made me laugh. I have shared some of these videos with you before so I apologize if you don't like repeats. Anyway...

I present to you my emotional journey through music!

Blessings by Laura Story

Held by Natalie Grant

Stronger by Mandisa

What if Your Best by FFH

I was actually searching for the Blue song from Madame Blueberry but I came across the "Stuff Mart Song" instead and I really love this song so I decided to listen to it instead. Unfortunately embedding has been disabled so if you want to listen to this one you are going to have to view it on Youtube.com by Clicking Here to view the Stuff Mart Song.

Endangered Love (Silly Songs with Larry)

By this time I was laughing and feeling much better. I ended the night by listening to "The Biscuit of Zazzamarandabo".

The Biscuit of Zazzamarandabo (Silly Songs with Larry)

James 4: Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch

I hope you get a chuckle out the picture I am including with this weeks blog. it made me smile so I felt like I had to include it. I know that many times in my childhood I was told, "Don't count your chickens before they hatch." This is a good principle in general, but did you know that it is also a biblical principle?

Over and over again the Bible tells us to consider the cost. It's important to think ahead and know what you are getting yourself into, but there is a real difference between thinking ahead and counting your chickens before they hatch--or what we affectionately call in our house "pulling a James 4". Allow me to explain.

As Christians, we should think before we act. We should plan ahead and consider the cost and possible outcomes of our actions before we just jump into things (Luke 14:28-32). This is considered a matter of good practice and when we don't think ahead we are considered foolish. I have said it before and I will say it again--anything taken to the extreme is bad. Basically the way that I see it is that "counting your chickens before they hatch" or "pulling a James 4" is taking planning ahead to the extreme.

In James chapter 4, we are told the story of an individual or group of individuals that start to make all these plans for their lives years and years in advance...

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." James 4:13 & 14

I don't think that the planning in and of itself was what was bad. It was the attitude behind it. James warns these individuals that they don't know what their lives hold. Then he points out the real problem--these people have taken God out of the planning!

"Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil." James 4: 15 & 16

When you take God out of the planning and out of the equation you begin to rely solely on yourself. Verse 16 goes so far as to call it evil. Are you asking God what He has planned for your life or are you planning it all out for yourself? Are you assuming that you know what's best or are you relying on God to direct your paths? Don't count your chickens before they hatch. Go to God and make Him the active leader in planning for your life.

It's All in the Context

Hello, Everyone! Sorry for being late in posting this but I have been uber sick this week. So finally I am feeling better and my head is clear enough to think so I am sitting down to write this week's blog.

This morning I was reading from 1 John chapter 1. The writings of John have always intrigued me. I don't know if it's because he tended to focus on the deeper more spiritual side of things or because he wrote the book of Revelation or if it's simply because he was the only one of the twelve disciples to die a natural death. Whatever it is, I have spent a significant amount of time in my Christian life reading the writings of John.

So when I get to verses 8-10, I find their familiar exhortations familiar and comforting but then the context struck me, and I realized that I have been missing out on the big picture.

I think just about every Christian out their has heard 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us out sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This is an awesome and powerful verse. Plus confession in the life of a Christian is VERY important to maintaining an open and growing relationship with Christ.

What you miss by not reading it in context is the reason WHY we should confess our sins. Why is it so important? Why not pretend that we never sin or mess up? Why not just go on with life because our salvation is secure in Christ? Why confess? We find that out in verses 8 & 10...

1 John 1:8 says, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." If we try to deny that we sin or we pretend that we are the perfect Christians we are lying to ourselves--we are liars because the truth is not in us. We must confess our sins to keep us from being deceived and to keep ourselves honest.

1 John 1:10 says, "If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." If we lie about the sins we struggle with and the sins we commit then we make Christ a liar. The whole reason that God sent Jesus to die on the cross is because we are sinners, because we struggle with sin, and because we are imperfect. If we say that we are now perfect then we make God and Jesus liars. Plus God's Word is not being allowed to live and thrive in us.

It's all in the context.

All verses quoted today were in the English Standard Version (ESV).

Resources on 1 John