Bible Study on Music

When I went to camp last July God put impressed upon my heart to do a Bible study with my family, so I put this together and really enjoyed the time I spent with God alowing Him to teach me. It was amazing how easily it came and how well the scriptures fit together. Some scriptures God gave me through my daily Bible reading when I wasn't even looking for verses. I thought I would post it on my blog for anyone else to read. Just rememeber, it's writen in a study type so it may be different than my usual articles. Also take into consideration that it is also written to my family, whose convictions I am familiar with.

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I think all of us agree that God doesn’t want us to listen to worldly music like rock –n- roll, rap, country, and such. But could any of us show a scripture as to why we believe that? A few weeks ago I would have had a hard time doing that. So the purpose of this study isn’t just to go over why we believe it’s wrong to listen to worldly music, but mostly to go over scriptures that give us this belief. All of our convictions should come from the word of God, not just what we think is logically or theoretically correct. We can defend our belief based on our thoughts all day long, but it is much easier to convince other Christians this is right if we have scriptures to show them.

The first scripture I want to look at is Eph 5: 18-20. "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;" I think it’s safe to say that country, rock, and rap music doesn’t fit in this verse because none of those are spiritual songs. In verse 18 Paul is talking about not being drunk with wine, but I believe the last part of the verse “but be filled with the Spirit” can be applied to all Christians regardless if they use to drink or not. (As well, there are also scriptures in Romans 8 that talk about walking after the Spirit and not after the flesh.) We see in the next verse that to be filled with the Spirit we should speak to ourselves in psalms and hymn and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our heart to the Lord. Notice that this verse doesn’t say just on Sundays, or just when you’re at church. We should always seek to be filled with the spirit, which means we should always be singing to ourselves with spiritual songs. By listening to worldly music we are walking after the flesh because if feels good, but it doesn’t make the spirit stronger. If you feed the flesh once, it’s easier to feed it again, and before we know it we will be pleasing the flesh so much that our spirit will be weak.

Verse 20 talks more about this. "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;" One of the ways we can give thanks always is to sing spiritual songs. Most of the worldly music doesn’t give thanks to God, but rather focuses on our self. Either on our broken heart, our lost boyfriend/girlfriend, or late night parties. None of that gives thanks to God.

Next I want to look at Proverbs 14:9. "Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour." There’s not much I want to say about this verse. Most of the worldly songs make sin seem okay. They talk about having affairs, getting drunk, and doing what feels good, which is fulfilling the flesh. Some worldly music also uses cuss words, which shows they have no fear of God. That’s another reason why we shouldn’t listen to that music because fools make a mock of sin.

Last week I was reading in Deu chapter 31. It was Moses’ last days on earth so God was giving Moses his last instructions that he was to carry out before he died. God reminded Moses of all that he had done for them: how he brought them out of Egypt, made the Red sea to part, and how he brought them into the land which he promised them. God said in verse 19, "Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel." Music is a great tool to help us remember things. Do you remember in Sunday school or Bible camp how we would learn Bible verses to tunes? God was using that same method to make the Israelites remember God’s faithfulness. On the flip side, do we want to constantly be reminded of the things of the world? Even if the song may seem harmless, we need to ask our self is it something that we want to fill our mind with instead of filling our mind with the things of God.

Psalms 40:3 "And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD." This reminds me of 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Notice it says old things are passed away. When we get saved or when we dedicate our life to the LORD we should put away old things, everything that bound our heart to the world, or is able to sway us, remind us of the old days, we should leave that and replace it with the things of God. Along with this thought goes 1 Corinthians 10:31 "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." We should ask our self, “Can I sing this song to the glory of God?” and if the answer is “no” then we shouldn’t be listening to it.

Now let’s look at1 Thessalonians 5:23. "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." We are the temple of God according to I Corinthians 6:19. We should try to keep our whole spirit, soul and body pure and clean, not even spotted by the world. I always try to picture Jesus sitting right there next to me. And I think, “Does Jesus want to listen to this music? Does Jesus want to watch this movie? Does Jesus want to go to this place?” Because he sees everything we do and listens to everything we let go into our ears.

When I was studying for this I found this quote by Susanna Wesley that I thought was very good. John Wesley was the one who founded the Methodist Movement along with his brother Charles Wesley. (Back in those days I’ve been told the Methodist believed the Bible more and really wasn’t very different from Baptist, but that’s just what I’ve been told.) When John Wesley was in college he wrote a letter to his Mother asking her to give him a clear description of sin. She wrote:” Take this rule: whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures [which means to darken] your sense of God, or takes off the relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself.” {Susanna Wesley, mother of John Wesley}

Someone else said, “It doesn’t matter what something is rated, or how popular it is, or how seemingly innocent it appears. If it hardens your heart toward God, if it obscures your awareness of the ugliness of sin and the holiness of God, if it takes the edge off your spiritual hunger, then it’s sin.” The more worldly music you listen to the more apt you are to think that, “Oh, it’s not too bad. “ and then you’ll be listening to music that is just a little bit worse. And then you’ll think, “Well, that movie isn’t that sinful, and it’s just a short bad part.” And because you are feeding your mind with “innocent” music written by worldly people, sin doesn’t look as ugly anymore and God isn’t quite as precious.

Along with that I think of Hebrews 12:1. "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." It’s not always easy to keep our eyes on God, especially when we live in a very sinful world. So we need to stop listening to things that take our eyes off God. And that applies to everything in our life. For example, ever since I came back from camp I’ve stopped reading all the news headlines on Yahoo and Inbox while I’m on the internet because some of the news wasn’t very clean and even if it was, it’s all worldly. It may not be a sin to everyone to read the news headlines, but it was something that got my mind off of God, so I stopped looking at it. So even if the song is harmless, like the oldies that talk about romance and blue suede shoes, it still isn’t healthy to listen to it because it gets us thinking about things that don’t really matter. With as hard as it is at times to keep our focus on God, we should try everything to keep our minds on Serving Christ. And one of the ways we can do that is by listening to Christian music that reminds us of how good God is and everything he’s done for us.

The last verse I want to read is in Philippians 4:8. "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." And that sums it up perfectly!

National Holidays . . . (the fun ones)

Several years ago our grandparents gave us a calendar with all sorts of cool stuff kids would like. It was very colorful with all the "special" days marked, usually with a picture. There were symbols that marked the usual  ggrandparent's day and earth day, but what I really liked were the squares marked "National Ice-cream Day" or "National Denim Day". I've always thought they were so fun and interesting.

So you can imagine how happy I was to hear that September is National Piano Month! While I was at Yahoo checking my e-mail I saw a headline titled, "World's Most Expensive Piano". Out of my love for anything piano I had to check it out. It was a pretty cool video with some very interesting facts about the piano and those who played it.

To celebrate the month I thought I would post links to some of the posts on the piano I have written over the years. Happy National Piano Month!

The Desire of an Eight Year Old

God Knows the Desires of our Heart

God: The Giver of all Talents

My God

I've been studying myself lately. In fact, I've been studying myself to much. I've noticed that when I am the most discouraged it is usually if not always when I am focusing on myself. I get disheartened because I see my own selfishness, my many failures, my weaknesses, and all my other sins. I'll start to feel defeated because I don't measure up. But you know what? I have a God who is longsuffering. I have a God who delights in mercy. My God is a forgiving God, and not only does he forgive my sins but he forgets them. I serve a God who will never leave me nor forsake me. I can talk to the King of Glory, the King of old. I am able to have fellowship every day with the One who created this world and all that is in it.

I may not be good, but my God is holy and righteous. And that's what really matters.

Youth Camp: 4-week Perspective

Today I was looking again at the pictures I took at camp. I look at them over and over because I want to be reminded of the great time we had and all that took place. I want to get a glimpse of the great spirit that was there all week. Pure and innocent.

It's been four weeks since we got back from camp. The first two weeks I was doing really good; many teens in our youth group were excited about serving God and it kind of spilled over into the whole church for a time. We had zeal! I wanted to hold onto that excitement so bad because I guess in the back of my mind I knew it wouldn't last forever . . . but I wanted it to. I thought that if I read my Bible enough, prayed enough, and stayed away from wickedness as much as possible then I would be eager to serve God every day and I would always be filled with an abundance of love for Christ. And I tried to do just that.

But it didn't work.

Once I was back from camp I had to go back to work. That meant I heard cussing (thankfully, it's not very often), I saw immodest dress, I saw lots of attitude, I saw coldness towards anything Godly, I heard worldly music when I went into the grocery store and restaurants, I was tempted to turn the TV on, and I was encouraged to just do what feels right. I no longer went to church twice a day, I didn't listen to 3-4 sermons within 24 hours, I wasn't around many Christians, I wasn't in an atmosphere that shunned County music and cussing, I didn't have the chance to pray with 10-60 like minded Christians throughout the day, I wasn't in a place that encouraged girls to dress modest, and I wasn't constantly reminded to read my Bible and pray. I was no longer at Bible camp and it was evident!

The first day that I didn't feel like spending 30 minutes in prayer I was discouraged. Only two weeks and already I'm slacking? But then I started thinking about an illustration a preacher once gave. Did you know that before the flood there was a canopy of water that surrounded the earth? This canopy would shield off any harmful radiation that came from outer space. This meant that people would live much longer. This makes sense when you realize that Adam lived to be 930 years old and Methuselah lived 969 years, yet after the flood the age expectancy dropped dramatically. It is also believed that plants also thrived and grew much larger and stronger all because of the environment they were in.

That's kind of how I think of camp verses the world we live in every day. At camp we are shielded from as much wickedness as possible. No TV, no secular music, no immodest dress, etc. Because we are not exposed to those sinful attractions we are free to live for God to the greatest extent. Christians should thrive in that kind of atmosphere. But once that shield is broken we have to live in a totally different atmosphere that effects every part of our lives.

But this doesn't mean that we should give into the struggles of this world and live for Christ half-heartedly. It just means that we have to try harder. Christian living isn't being given to us like it was at camp so we have to get it our self.  It isn't as easy, but it can be done. We may not be as excited, but we still need to serve God with everything that we have. We have to read our Bible and pray when we don't feel like it, we have to make our self smile when we're singing at church, and we have to go out of our way to seek what God wants us to do.

And as always . . . be reminded of the good days at camp.

Giving the Glory for Answered Prayers

Answered prayers very rarely come in the shape and form I expect them to be. Sometime I wonder if they ever turn out as I think they will. There are times when the answered prayer is greater than I could have imagined, other times I find myself thinking, "God, couldn't you have found a better way to make it happen?"

But the important thing is that God does answer our prayers. One of my favorite verses speaks of this: "I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live." Psalms 116:1-2 When God answers my prayers it makes me want to pray even more! It makes me want to give God the glory He deserves, which reminds me of a verse I was reading the other day which said, "Be thou exalted, O God, above the havens: let they glory be above all the earth." Psalms 57:11 That is a lot of glory! If I were to give Him all the glory due to him I wouldn't have time to speak of anything else. "Let thy glory be above all the earth."

Over the past several months I have seen many of my prayers answered. Some were desires that I didn't have the faith to pray for, others were specific request that I asked God to meet. Both were amazing.

A little over a year ago I stated e-mailing a girl named Katie who lives in Pennsylvania. Through the 100+ e-mails we have been encouraged through each others battles and victories and have been able to see each other grow in the Lord as we grew closer together. Ever since last October I have been planning on going to meet her and her family for the first time while they were in North Carolina on vacation. At first I was really excited, but as the time got closer I began to get nervous about driving so far with only my little sister in the car to "protect" me should disaster come. I told Katie about this and she assured me it would be okay if I didn't come, but I really wanted to meet her. I was torn between two decisions.

So I did what I've been taught to do all my life but seldom put to practice. I put it in God's hands. I believe that is the key to prayer: telling God what I need and trusting Him to supply it as He sees fit. If I were to continue to search for an answer myself or try to fix a problem on my own after I have prayed about it, I haven't really given God the chance to answer my prayer. So I didn't do that this time. I left everything up to God.

A few weeks later I heard that our church was going to Bible camp in Pennsylvania. Now honestly, my first thought wasn't "Oh, I can meet Katie while I'm there!" No, I thought the same thing that most girls of my status would. "Hmm, maybe I'll meet a nice young man up there!" Followed by, "Lord please forgive me for my vain thoughts, I know you'll send me a man right when I'm not expecting it." ☺I didn't say that I trust God all the time, now did I?

I felt God impressing on my heart to go to this camp. Without God's "nudging" I probably wouldn't have left my job for a whole week based on my own wants especially when I didn't even know if my younger sibling were going. But since I felt Got telling me it was okay to go, I signed up right away. It wasn't until the next day that I realized Katie and I might be able to meet. In a few short days we had the place and time picked and we were counting down the days!

Here's the great part: Not only did I get to spend 2 wonderful hours with Katie in Pennsylvania, but I also got to go to the most amazing Bible camp with my siblings and church family and experience God's presence in a whole new way and watch Him move in so many people's lives. I prayed for a way to meet Katie without having to travel by myself and I ended up spending a whole week going to church twice a day and falling even deeper in love with my Savior right there with my brothers and sisters who were doing the same thing!Later I found out that Katie and her family are no longer going to take vacation in North Carolina, so if God hadn't worked it out for me to go to camp I might not have met her at all this year. I expected God to give me only what I had prayed for and he more than tripled the blessing! My expectation was so low, yet he proved to me that He does answer my prayers and in a way that I could never have planned myself.

So now we're home from camp and energized more than ever! All the youth in our church are eager to see God move and God is doing just that. So Bethany and I decided to start having a Bible study once a week at home. But even in the midst of all the excitement, having that study time doesn't always look easy. We've had a three day revival last week, my room is in serious need of dusting, we were invited to a game night at a friends house, and I still haven't written in my journal about the week of camp. So this morning as I walked out the door on the way to work I whispered, "LORD, please help me find time to prepare for Bible study." Once I was at my desk answering phones, typing as fast as I could, and helping my co-workers find emergency room charts, I didn't give my hurried prayer any thought. Then mama called. None of my brothers and sisters wanted to go to our friends house for game night so mama and daddy were the only ones going and since the game we all love to play requires an even number of people, I wouldn't be able to join the fun. I was disheartened. I wanted to go, but under the circumstances the only thing I would be able to do is sit there and watch. So I said I would stay home with my brothers and sisters and let the adults have a fun night.

Then God so gently reminded me of my prayer for time. What better time to study than when mama and daddy are away and my brothers and sisters are watching a moving with brownies and ice-cream? Yes, I wanted to play games with our friends but obviously God thought I needed to stay home and study. After all, I did pray for it.

Even though that is not the way I wanted God to give me more time He should still receive the glory for answering another one of my prayers. And if he chooses to answer another (like I know He will) I will give him the glory for that one too no matter what the outcome is. For if He is to be glorified above all the earth I still have a lot of  praising to do, but plenty to praise Him for!

God is Good!

Why is God so good?

Because he let me, my brothers and sisters and church family have an amazing week of Bible camp

He spoke to my heart in great ways

I've got to see my brothers and sisters grow in the Lord

A friend of mine got some much needed help

He lead many Christian conversations

He saved our friend in the car while we were on the way home

He lead a friend of mine to rededicate herself to the Lord

He let me meet Katie who I've been e-mailing for a year

He kept us safe

He gave us joy

He brought us closer together

He gave us zeal to serve Christ

He has blessed us beyond anything we could ever deserve

For this, God is good!

It's All by Chance. . . God's Chance

The Bible is such an interesting book. Some books are written in a graceful poetic style while others bear details of astonishing wars. Some give instruction, others encouragement. Some are exciting to read . . . and some are less interesting to those who do not appreciate details. One of the things they have in common is all of them are important.

Think about this verse. "I returned, and saw under  the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all." Ecc. 9:11. Read it again, but slower. This revelation, written by Solomon, strikes me as very interesting. The more I think about it the more it makes sense.

It is easy for the swift to run the race, for the strong to fight the battle, for the wise to obtain bread, for the understanding to find riches, and it is expected of the skilled to receive favour. But what if the lame were to win the race? What would people think if the weak won the battle? Who would understand if the unlearned were to obtain bread, and the ignorant to find riches? What if the untrained received the favour? That would be supernatural, something that only God could do. When that happens we can't claim all the glory because it was not done through our own strength, but through God's strength.

The end of this verse says, "but time and chance happeneth to them all." If God wants us to do something great or have great things - weather it be a ministry, a nice house, or an outgoing personality- it will happen. There is no need for us to strive after something that was never meant to be ours. So often we stress and worry ourselves because we are not what we think we should be, when maybe that's not what God wants for our individual life. Like the Psalmist said, "Be still and know that I am God." If we will slow down and meditate on God then we will see that He is able to bring whatever He wants in our lives.

But this is no excuse to sit back and watch God work. The verse before says "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." We should all work hard, but don't get discouraged when the things we want don't come about. God is in control, "time and chance happeneth to them all."