Weekly e-news April 5, 2019
Hey, everyone!
I know you’re having a rain-filled Friday morning, but I hope you’re having a praised-filled one as well!
Y’ know, there’s nothing you can do about atmospheric conditions outside your house, school or office, but there’s nothing like praise for changing the conditions of the atmosphere inside your heart!
Nothing helps like praise goin’ up when the rain’s comin’ down!
And I’m not just talking about the power of music.
I’m not just talking about…
“Singin’ in the rain! Just singin’ in the rain! What a glorious feeling! I’m happy again!”
What I’m talking about is the power of praise to change how you see everything!
There are a lot of people who know a lot about music and singing, but who don’t know about the secret of praise. And even though they wrote the songs we hear or even sing, a lot of times, they weren’t any happier for having written them.
Here’s a sad story.
One morning in January, 1864 they found a guy bleeding badly on the bathroom floor of a NYC “flop house” where homeless people and alcoholics could spend the night for a few pennies. The dude had seriously cut himself trying to shave when he was in no shape to attempt that. No one knew who the poor soul was. They took him to Bellevue Hospital, where he died three days later. All he owned was a dirty, old raggedy coat with 38 cents in his pocket…and a scrap of paper with the words, “Dear friends and gentle hearts”.
“Hmmm…what could these words mean?...”
Turned out, they were the words to a song.
A song he himself was writing.
In fact…turned out, he had written a lot of songs.
Songs like…
“Camptown Races! Sing this song! Do-dah! Do-dah!”…
and…
“I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair”…
and…
“Beautiful Dreamer”…
and “Oh, Susanna!”
and “My Ol’ Kentucky Home”
and “Old Folks at Home”
and a whole lot more.
It is SO sad to think that even though Stephen Foster had so many pieces of music flowing from his heart, he never found how to get peace to flow INTO his heart!
Praise is so much different than just listening to or singing along to your favorite song!
Praise is singing to our awesome God what we believe and know to be true about Him! Something happens when you’re singing words of faith…singing to Him what you believe and trust about Him!
You not only fill your car or your house with these words…
You fill your own heart!
Singing “Halleluyah!” does for you what “Do-dah! Do-dah!” never could!
Exodus 15.1 says…
“You are our strength and song!”
Hebrew scholars tell us this could be translated, “You are our strengthening song!”…
as in…
“When I sing to You, I’m strong!”
Here are the words to a song by one of my favorite song writers…
“I am a child of the Maker of stars.
Oh, the One knows everything hand-made my heart.
He cherishes, treasures me,
Gave life and blood.
He is my Friend
and I am His beloved!”
If you know the tune, why not sing them?
You can’t do much about the weather outside, but you can do something about “weather” you’re happy inside!
Praise.
Don’t leave home without it.