Sing Loudly To God!

Today I wanted to talk to the kids about worshipping God through singing praises to Him. I was having difficulty finding what I thought God was wanting me to talk about. I prayed about it asking God to please bring the ideas to my mind and the words to my mouth, and to help me find the supporting verses to share with the kids.

I started writing on Thursday. And God was flowing the ideas through my mind. By Saturday, I had everything that I wanted to say, and God had given it all to me. The talk would be about the where, when, why, and how to sing praises to God.

Where should we sing to God?

The bible says in Hebrews 2 that we should sing in church. Well that's no supprise. 2 Samuel 22 says to sing among the non-believers. The only thing the kids could think about was standing up on the cafeteria table in school and belting out Jesus Loves Me. That's not going to happen. Psalms 108 says to sing among all nations and Psalms 149 says that we should sing loudly in bed. So, what is the point here? God is telling us to sing everywhere!

When should we sing to God?

Well, again, Hebrews 2 says that we should sing when we are in church. But, Psalms 104 says to sing all the days of my life. But, what about bad times? What about the times when we are down, angry, upset, hurt, or humiliated? What about those times that we just don't feel like singing? God knows about those times and he gave us examples in the bible for us to follow. Acts 16 is one of those examples:

The Apostle Paul and Silas were going to a town to offer prayer. They angered the magistrates and the people when they refused to give time to a fortune teller. They were attacked by a mob of people, beaten, and whipped. They were then imprisoned and chained.

I asked the kids what they would have done if this had happened to them. Most of the answers were to cry, feel sorry for themselves, regret being there, feel badly. But what Paul and Silas did was amazing! They prayed to God and they sang praises to Him! THEY SANG PRAISES TO GOD! WHAT FOR! Well, let me tell you what for! After hearing the praises sung, God shook the ground so violently that the prison cell doors fell open and the chains fell off! God Likes praises sung to Him!

The Point here is this: It is easy to sing songs of praise to God when amazing things are happening and all is good. But in bad times, we have a choice: We can either say "Woe is me" and feel sorry for ourselves and focus on us; or we can focus on God, giving the whole situation to Him, and fill our heart with Him, and sing praises to Him. This may not always solve the situation at hand, but it will definately make us feel better inside, while God is working the problem to the Glory of Him!

Why should we sing praises to God?

I asked the kids to think about taking final exams at school. What is required?
1) Study hard
2) Study all material that will help them with the test
3) If there are any areas that you require help, ask the teacher for help in those areas
4) Form study groups with other classmates to help study the material

Be completely inundated with the subject of the test so that you will know all the answers and do well on the test. This is EXACTLY what God wants us to do too! This is exactly why we sing praises to God.

1) Keeps us in God's presence
2) Keeps us thinking about God and praising God
3) Keeps our attention and focus on God's plan for us
4) We are less likely to stray from God's will when we hold God close to our heart and mind.

How should we sing praises to God?

The bible says in Nehemiah 12 that we should sing loudly! I asked the kids when they go to their favorite ball team's game, do they whisper "go team" to cheer them on? Or do they shout at the top of their lungs "GOOOOOOOOOOOO TEEEEEAAAAAAMMMMMMM!!!!" It is obvious what the answer was.

Ok, so we are supposed to sing loudly to God. One of the kids asked, "What if we can't sing?" That is an excellent question. I know this because I can't hold a note to save my life. I had searched the bible for an answer to this question, and found that there is no-where in the bible that says anything like, "sing praises to God, unless, of course, you can't sing, then God doesn't want to hear you." No, in fact, God knows all of us. He knows how many hairs that are on our heads. And if he knows that crazy number, then I am certain that He knows if we are able to sing well or not. And I don't think that He cares one bit one way or the other!

So, sing praises to God, in fact, shout praises to God loundly! After all, if we are Christians, we have something to sing about. We have been saved! So, put your all into it, sing loudly!

So, where are we here then. We are to sing everywhere, sing all the time, and sing loudly. Again, visions of standing up on the cafeteria tables and singing loudly terrified the kids. But, I eased there minds with this:

This is what I do to keep God in my heart, praises streaming to Him, and listening for His will. I turn the radio on to my favorite Christian radio station. I sing along...loudly...with the songs I know. I listen to the words and listen to what God is saying to me. When I feel bad or upset, I turn the radio on and sing to God. Almost immediately, God takes my bad feelings or anger away and I start to feel better. The problem that caused my frustrations or anger may not be solved yet, but I feel better because I know that God is with me!

Surround yourself with God on the outside, and on the inside, and sing praises to Him! God Bless You!