What are you singing about?

Psalm 101:1 tells us to sing of mercy and judgment.

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever:
I will sing, I will sing.
I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever:
I will sing of the mercies of the LORD.

With my mouth will I make known
Thy faithfulness, Thy faithfulness.
With my mouth will I make known
Thy faithfulness to all generations.

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever:
I will sing of the mercies of the LORD

Music by James H. Filmore

Psalm 89:1
"I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever:
with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations."

Psalm 19:7-11 has often been sung to music.

 Psalms 19:7-11  The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.   The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.  More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.  Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

Are you solemn in your music?

Psalms 92:1-3  It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,  Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.

• Sing praises to the LORD’s name
• Give thanks to the Lord at least two times a day.  In the morning remember His loving kindnesses and in the evening reflect on His faithfulness
• Praise Him with instruments – not shouting and entertainments (although our music can be enjoyable), but with a solemn sound (meditating).  Be solemn in your music – let it help your heart to meditate on the goodness of God and who He is!

Praise Jehovah for He is Good!

Psalms 135:1-3 Hallelujah! Praise the name of Jehovah; praise, ye servants of Jehovah, Ye that stand in the house of Jehovah, in the courts of the house of our God. Praise ye Jah; for Jehovah is good: sing psalms unto his name; for it is pleasant.

Psalms 135:5-6 For *I* know that Jehovah is great, and our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever Jehovah pleased, he hath done in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all deeps;

•  Jehovah is Good!

• It is pleasant to sing Psalms unto Him!

• Praise the Lord for His greatness!

• He does what please Him!

• May I be reminded to praise Him at all times!

Free Bible Music CD download for children

Teach your children Bible Truth with fun music.  You can enjoy this free download for a limited time.  Go to their site to listen to clips and/or to download this CD.  What a great way to teach Bible to your children or grand children! Take advantage of this great deal today.

Wonderful Words of Life

Isaiah 40:5-8  And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
Here is a good reminder that we are as grass.  And even if we are as beautiful as flowers, flowers too fade and pass away.  We will be gone from this earth soon! "...but the word of our God shall stand for ever.  God's Word is more beautiful than any flower and will never fade away.  It will never fail.  It will stand forever!  This brings another reminder of the great hymn

Wonderful Words of Life

Sing them over again to me, wonderful words of life,
Let me more of their beauty see, wonderful words of life;
Words of life and beauty teach me faith and duty.

Refrain

Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life,
Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life.

Christ, the blessèd One, gives to all wonderful words of life;
Sinner, list to the loving call, wonderful words of life;
All so freely given, wooing us to heaven.

Refrain

Sweetly echo the Gospel call, wonderful words of life;
Offer pardon and peace to all, wonderful words of life;
Jesus, only Savior, sanctify us forever.

Refrain

Oh, that I would want to fill my mind and heart with more and more of God's Word!  That way I can truly speak to myself in psalm and hymns and spiritual songs.

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"Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; (Ephesians 5:19)

Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus

’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus - (from 200 Amazing Hymn Stories)

       “’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus” was written by a woman, Louisa M. R. Stead. Out of one of her darkest hours—the tragic drowning of her husband—this hymn was penned.

       Louisa Stead was born in England. She felt the call of God upon her life for missionary service. She arrived in America in 1871. In 1875, Louisa married a Mr. Stead, and to this union was born a daughter, Lily. When the child was four years of age, the family decided one day to enjoy the sunny beach at Long Island Sound, New York.

       While eating their picnic lunch, they suddenly heard cries of help and spotted a drowning boy in the sea. Mr. Stead charged into the water. As often happens, however, the struggling boy pulled his rescuer under the water with him, and both drowned before the terrified eyes of wife and daughter.

       And out of her struggle with God during the ensuing days, flowed these meaningful words—“Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus.”

—Adapted from Kenneth Osbeck

200  Hymn Stories

Tune Your Hearts To God

My Song Shall Be Of Jesus

 Fanny Crosby

Though blind­ed by an in­com­pe­tent doc­tor at six weeks of age, she wrote over 8,000 hymns. About her blind­ness, she said:

It seemed in­tend­ed by the bless­ed prov­i­dence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dis­pen­sa­tion. If per­fect earth­ly sight were of­fered me to­mor­row I would not ac­cept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been dis­tract­ed by the beau­ti­ful and in­ter­est­ing things about me.

In her life­time, Fan­ny Cros­by was one of the best known wo­men in the Unit­ed States. To this day, the vast ma­jor­i­ty of Amer­i­can hymn­als con­tain her work.

~copied from cyberhymnal.org

Below is one of her hymns.  It has such beautiful words.  

My song shall be of Jesus;
His mercy crowns my days,
He fills my cup with blessings,
And tunes my heart to praise;
My song shall be of Jesus,
The precious Lamb of God;
Who gave Himself my ransom,
And bought me with His blood.

My song shall be of Jesus;
When, sitting at His feet,
I call to mind His goodness,
In meditation sweet;
My song shall be of Jesus,
Whatever ill betide;
I’ll sing the grace that saves me,
And keeps me at His side.

My song shall be of Jesus,
While pressing on my way
To reach the blissful region
Of pure and perfect day.
And when my soul shall enter
The gate of Eden fair,
A song of praise to Jesus
I’ll sing forever there.

There is an arrangement and a chorus written by David West.  You can find that HERE

What is practice?

PRACTICE

What is is not - It is not making mistakes and then fixing them.

What it is - It is avoiding the mistakes in the first place.

 I thought this was oh so very good!   If someone had instilled that into me when I was first learning, it probably would have helped so much.  I tend to be in a hurry and want to rush through something new just to hear what it sounds like.  I am sure if I teach my little ones to go slow, think, and work at doing it correctly the first time, then we won't continually be repeating to correct mistakes.  I will be working on this more with my students and am excited to see what improvement this might make with some of them.  Haste does make waste, so why not do it right the first time even though it may be slower going.  Gradually slower will get faster and will be done correctly.

Music Philosophy in a Nut Shell

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 is my music philosophy in a nut shell.  My music should reflect my new nature.  The words that come out of my mouth or my musical instruments should reflect a new song that God has put into my heart when He saved me!  As this new song is reflected in my music and my praise is given to God, this will cause many to see it and fear and to trust in the Lord!  By my song others should know who my God is!   

There is no argument about whether certain music is right or wrong.  It should be very clear whether or not that music is showing forth the new song that God has given us!   Would a child of the devil take his words and put them to the music of our great hymns and gospel songs?  NO!  Then why would a christian say it is ok to take our words and put them to the music that the world offers?  Think about it!

He put a new song in my mouth

I'll sing it o'er and o'er

Even praise unto our God

I'll sing it more and more

I pray that many will see it and fear

May my life shine forth the Word

So that others will trust in the Lord

Because of what they've seen and heard.

Psalms 47:6-7 

Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, 

sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth: 

sing ye praises with understanding.

How often are we singing praises to God?  Four times in these two verses it tells us to sing praises to God.   God thought it was important.  

We are to sing praise with understanding.  Understand who God is! He is the King of the universe, all powerful! 

Understand who and what you are singing about lest you use God's name lightly and take His name in vain!

 

 Praise Him, Praise Him

Words: Fan­ny Cros­by,
Music: Ches­ter G. Al­len 

Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessèd Redeemer!
Sing, O Earth, His wonderful love proclaim!
Hail Him! hail Him! highest archangels in glory;
Strength and honor give to His holy Name!
Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children,
In His arms He carries them all day long:

Refrain

Praise Him! Praise Him!
Tell of His excellent greatness.
Praise Him! Praise Him!
Ever in joyful song!

Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessèd Redeemer!
For our sins He suffered, and bled, and died.
He our Rock, our hope of eternal salvation,
Hail Him! hail Him! Jesus the Crucified.
Sound His praises! Jesus who bore our sorrows,
Love unbounded, wonderful, deep and strong.

Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessèd Redeemer!
Heav’nly portals loud with hosannas ring!
Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever.
Crown Him! Crown Him! Prophet, and Priest, and King!
Christ is coming! over the world victorious,
Pow’r and glory unto the Lord belong.

Grab Bag Winners

Winners already!  

Three students, Mackenzie, Anna, and Makayla have already reached the first goal.  They earned 25 pom poms and were able to choose a grab bag from my treasure chest.  

 

practice Incentive

This is not an original idea.  I found it on another blog, but cannot remember where so if you have come across it, please let me know so I can give credit to whom credit is due.  My students each have a jar on the piano.  As they practice they can fill it with pom poms.   Of course there are certain criteria they must meet in order to earn pom poms.  Below are some things they can do. 

PRACTICE

Fill out your practice time. 

4 days = 1 pom-pom

5 days = 2 pom-poms

6 days = 3 pom-poms

 MEMORIZATION

Memorize a designated song

 receive 3 pom-poms

TECHNIQUE

Play your finger patterns perfect

 receive 2 pom-poms

THEORY

Completed theory done during the week,

not on the way to lesson, earns 2 pom-poms

Win a Grab Bag Prize

25 pom-poms in your jar earns a grab bag

 This week Jared, memorized three songs. WOW!  He just about filled his jar already!

Christianity has often been referred to as the singing religion.  Well, I agree!  As Christians we have much to sing about!  We have a Savior who was crucified for our sins!  1 Corinthians 15:4  And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:  He now sits at the right hand of the father interceding for us!  That should cause any Christian to sing!


Jesus believed in singing.  He sang a hymn with his disciples as he went to his death.  Paul and Silas sang and prayed as a testimony while in jail.  "Moody, the great evangelist, said that his singer, Sankey, sang more souls into the kingdom than he ever reached as a preacher."


We as Christians should tell the story of Jesus in song.  We are told to speak to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and to sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord.  Let us share that song that is in our hearts and  carry the message of Christ to all.

"Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; (Ephesians 5:19)