Sing Praises to God, guest post by Normandy

Did you know that God commands us seven times in the Bible to sing praise to Him? That is one command for each day of the week! There are many other times where David talks about singing to God in the Psalms! Singing is such an important way to praise God. I often find myself saying the words, rather than singing the words of the songs in church. I find that the best cure for this is to listen to kids sing.

I babysit a little girl named Georgia, and she doesn’t talk clearly, even though she’s three. You really have to pay attention to what she’s saying in order to understand her. She is absolutely in LOVE with her children’s praise CD! Her favorite thing to do when I babysit is blare the CD and dance around the house singing the songs. It is so beautiful to listen to her, in her jumbled up words, sing praise to God; because even though I don’t always know what she’s singing, God does, and her singing makes Him so happy. My sister (who just graduated High School) has a theory which I think is pretty valid: if everyone sang a kid’s song when they woke up in the morning the world would be a happier place.

I do children’s Sunday School music for my church and one of my favorite songs that I play (on the guitar) for the kids is “Happy Day.” The kids love it, and seeing them dance around and do the motions is so rewarding. They certainly love to follow Psalm 33:3-“Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.” They’ve definitely got the loud shouts part down! So I encourage you to be inspired by children. Let their joy bubble over into you and fill you up! Sing with joy and know that when God commands us to sing praises to Him, he doesn’t say anything about singing well, or in harmony, but only to sing with loud shouts!

James 5:13 - “Is anyone of you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.” (ESV)

Following After Christ, by Morgan

Luke 9:23 - And He said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

      It’s not an option. You can’t do away with it. If you are going to follow Christ, then you’ve got to follow Him 100%.

      Christ doesn’t take part-time followers. He doesn’t take wimps. He doesn’t take people that are on the fence. He only takes those who are all for Him. He only takes those who will give their all for Him. He demands your all.

      “Now that’s just silly!” You may say. “He doesn’t do that! If He did that He wouldn’t have any followers!” If you think that, then that is where you are wrong, my friend. He does indeed demand all, and yet millions follow Him. Why? Because those millions know that He is the only Way, the only one worthy of being followed, the only Way to God; therefore, they follow Him with everything they’ve got because He deserves everything they’ve got - and so much more!

      Following after Christ, as that verse in Luke says, takes everything. You must do three things: deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Him. What does each of these mean?

      Denying yourself means pushing aside yourself, pushing aside your own desires, wants, and needs, and focusing on something else instead of on yourself. This is definitely not as easy as it sounds. Pride and selfishness constantly get in the way and try to make you love yourself more and Him less. In order to love Christ more you must spend time with Him, get to know Him, grow closer to Him. When you are faced with a decision between spending time with Christ and doing something else that you want to do your decision will speak for the state of your heart. Don’t take me wrong though, we all fail, we “all fall short of the glory of God” consistently every day of our lives. It is only through the strength that Christ gives us that we can draw the courage and strength and initiative to go on.

      Taking up your cross daily - that’s a harder one. What did taking up the cross mean for Jesus? It meant that He took upon Himself the burden of our sins. For us it means that we take upon ourselves the burden of the lost. Christ paid the penalty for our sins. All we have to do is tell everyone about it. You can see that in comparison, the suffering that we must go through verses the suffering that our Lord went through are on two opposite sides of the chart. He went through so much for those who tortured Him. We go through so little for Him who died for us. See the contrast? “Amazing love! How can it be that thou my God should’st die for me?”

      Taking up our crosses daily means that we DAILY seek to do His will and tell others about Him and be shining lights for His glory no matter what the cost. The word “daily” implies that He is most important to you. If He is not at the top of your priorities list then He probably isn’t truly there at all. That may sound incorrect but when you think about it, it’s true. If Christ isn’t first and foremost in your life – where He should be – then can you really say that He is in you? Like I said before, He demands total loyalty or nothing.

      What does it mean to follow after Christ? Put in terms more in our understanding, what does it mean to follow after your Dad? To follow after your Dad is to do what he does, walk where he walks, say what he says – always trying to be like him in as many ways as possible and trying always to do what he wants you to do. You do this because you love and respect him, and therefore you wish to be like him.

It’s the same with Jesus. To follow after Christ is to strive to do as He did, walk where He walked (metaphorically, not physically), say what He said, let His light shine through you – always trying as hard as you can to be like Him in as many ways as possible. Following after Christ means striving to be like Him and striving to serve Him with all you’ve got.

Ever heard the phrase: “love is a verb”? It’s so true! Think about it. Is your love for Christ manifested through how you live? Do you love Christ so much that there is no doubt in the minds of those around you that He is at the top of your priorities list? That He means the most to you? That you are striving constantly to follow in His footsteps?

Are you following after Christ? 

Prayer - by Anthony

What is prayer? And how often should I pray? Do you ever ask yourself these questions? If not, I hope I can help you answer them today. Let’s start with the first question.

What is prayer? Prayer is, in the simplest terms, speaking with God. Prayer is going to the Lord to give thanks, to ask for requests, and to simply talk with God. There is no special formula as to how you should pray; you don’t have to have your eyes closed, your head bowed, and your hands lifted up. We do these things out of respect for the Lord when we speak to him, but they are not necessarily a requirement. When you pray for requests, you ought to pray for the Lord’s Will to be done in these requests. Also, it does not mean you ask for whatever you want. For example, praying that God would give you an iPod or new clothes is not respectful, and you are simply going to God for your personal gains. A prayer does not need to be a long fancy speech. You should be holding a conversation with the Lord. Many people do not like to pray in public. You may be one of them. If you cannot pray in public and be sincere in your prayers, don’t bother doing it. In Matthew 6:6 it says “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” You don’t have to pray in front of a crowd for God to hear you. If you feel that your prayers are more sincere in a private setting, pray to God in your own way. It ought to be you speaking with God, and him answering. He may answer in different ways, such as through His Word, or through other things in your life. But you cannot expect an answer without first initiating the conversation. That leads us to the second question.

How often do you pray? Do you ever go days or weeks without praying? Do you start to feel drained physically or emotionally? If you do, it’s probably because you are lacking a strong relationship with God. When we read the Bible, and we have a genuine conversation with God, he will strengthen us, and bless us. For some people, the difference in their lives is barely noticeable, whether they pray or not. But for others, it severely affects them. Either way, it should make you stop and think about how you stand with God, and how your relationship with Him is. It’s not right to go to God in prayer only when things get rough, then stopping again when everything is fine. That is not sincere prayer; it is simply you attempting to take advantage of prayer. However, it is also not right to pray because you consider it to be a chore or a daily ritual. That is a half-hearted prayer, and it will hit the ceiling and come right back down. The Lord knows everything, and the Lord sees everything. And he knows and can see exactly what is in your heart when you pray. If your prayers are not sincere, God will not answer.

In closing, I would ask that you all examine your hearts, and ask yourselves these questions. How do YOU pray? WHY do you pray? Are your prayers sincere, or just out of habit? I leave you with a few verses of scripture.

“And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” ~ Matthew 21:22

“And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” – John 14:13

Who do they see?

As teens and adults, we are being watched by those around us. You know that, no doubt, but do you use that knowledge to your help when you make choices in your everyday life?

Recently, I went on my church’s youth campout, and the theme for this year was manifesting Christ in our bodies. At youth group, we are frequently being told that we are being watched by the younger kids and that we’re being copied by the younger kids, and we all know that, but the real thing is...do we act like we know that? Do we put our knowledge to practice?

Therefore I ask you, who do they see? Do those around you see a normal teen? One who does things that they know are wrong but they just do whatever the world does? Or do they see a good person? Do they see someone who is always helping people, always caring? Or do they see a really bad person? Do they see someone who rebels against authority? Or do they see Christ? A teen so wrapped up in Christ that you can’t even see the teen anymore?

2 Corinthians 4:5-11 5For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

We all know which of the above teens we want to be, but be honest with yourself - are you the teen that you want to be? More importantly, are you the teen God has called you to be? Or are you so wrapped up in yourself and in the world that when people see you they see...well, just you?

This isn’t a figure of speech, but it’s not literal either. When people physically see you, they will see your body. But when people see the way you act, the way you treat others, your attitude, your words, and quite simply, your life, you want them to see Christ. You want to act like Christ would, treat others like He did, conform your actions, attitude and words to His.

Simple, right? Not really. For we, as sinful human beings, are so full of ourselves, so wrapped up in this world and our own desires that we care more about what others think of us than if others see Christ in us. More often than not, we want the attention drawn to us, rather than to Him.

Many, if not all, of you are probably thinking pretty hard about this. If you’re like me, you are acknowledging your behavior and attitude, and wanting to change, but part of you still wants others to see you more than Him. Denying this won’t work. We all do this at one point or another, usually when we are either younger believers, or believers struggling with their faith.

Manifesting Christ is more than words – in fact, words only make up a third of it! Manifesting Christ is what you should be doing through your words, actions, and attitude daily, hourly, and minutely as you strive to show the world who He is. Manifesting Christ is your greatest witness, my friends. There is nothing that compares to manifesting Christ through you.

You are watched, no matter who you are or what you do, you are indeed watched. And those that watch you will hear your words, and see your actions and attitude. Are you the kind of person who just gets glanced at, then brushed aside because there is nothing in you that sparks interest or draws the attention of those around you? Are you the kind of person who is not worth watching because your words, actions, and attitude are not worth copying? Or are you the kind of person that people look at and say, “wow! I want to be like them!” Hopefully you are the latter, but if not, you are hopefully going to become the latter, throwing off the former!

As you grow as a believer, you will grow to love and respect God more, and as you do, you will naturally want to become more like Him – that is manifesting Christ! Living so that others can see Christ in you! How do you grow as a believer? - Through prayer, scripture reading, and teaching. You grow as a believer just as you grow as friends with another person – by getting to know them more. As you get to know them more, you draw closer to them; it is the same with God. As you get to know Him more, you draw closer to Him, and because He is greater than you, you will want to become more like Him. It’s a wonderful process that you will never complete.

Manifesting Christ should not only be a goal, but a lifestyle. It shouldn’t be a net too high to reach, but something we strive at barely touching every second of our lives.

“From the moment of our first breath to the second we bid this world goodbye and everything that is in between was made to magnify the One who holds all things in place, the Ruler over time and space.” –Mercy Me

Adults, this article was written for you too. If you want, go back and erase every time it says “teens” and put “adults”. Manifesting Christ is not something that takes up part of your life; it is something that should take up ALL of your life! From the time you take your first breath as a new creation in Christ, to the time to breathe your last, you should manifest Christ quite simply out of your love and devotion to Him. Therefore, don’t ever stop. Don’t ever say it’s too late to begin. Don’t ever get bogged down by the weight of starting your new life late. Through Christ you are made a new creature! And through Christ you can do all things because it is Him that strengthens you.

Therefore my friends, I encourage you, stand strong in your faith, be strong in the Lord, be strong and never cease to manifest Christ in your words, actions, and attitude. Living for Christ is what we were made for. Living for Christ is more rewarding than any other life you could live. Manifesting Christ – putting ourselves behind the curtain, and letting the world see Christ instead of us – is the greatest thing you could ever do with your life. Get out there, and live for Christ.