Happy Friday!! Woo Whoo!! You made it through another week....again!! For this Feel Free Friday, I want you to feel free to do as Psalms 100:1-2 commands....
"Make a joyful shout
to the Lord,
all you lands!
Serve the Lord
with gladness;
Come before His
presence with singing."
Shout, Serve, and Sing in the name of Jesus!! God inhabits the praises of His people. When you decide to make an executive decision to stand on Psalms 100:1-2, God will open up a window and pour you out a blessing. Don't just stand on it, live it!! Make this scripture part of your lifestyle. There is freedom, joy, healing, etc., when you "Make a joyful shout to the Lord, Serve the Lord with gladness; And Come before His presence with singing."
Welcome to Quench Your Thirst Thursday!! Or should I say, "Happy Friday Eve!!" For my Wisdom Word Wednesday post I stressed the importance of coming into God's Presence by singing. God loves it when we serenade Him with a song of worship and/or praise.
Keeping that in mind, I thought for today's Quench Your Thirst Thursday, Martha Munizzi's song called "Sing" would be perfect. Martha Munizzi is one of my favorite gospel/contemporary christian artist. Check out the video below and let it be a blessing to you. If you know the song, sing with the video. Sing His praises in the name of Jesus.
Sing By: Martha Munizzi Verse:
Now is the time for all people
from every land to come together.
Now is the moment for worship,
we enter in withholding nothing.
He's worthy, exalted,
He's high and lifted up.
[Chorus 1:]
Sing, sing unto the Lord,
open up your heart,
make a joyful noise in the sanctuary.
Sing, sing unto the Lord,
lavish Him with love,
let the praises ring in the sanctuary,
sing.
Verse:
[Chorus 2:]
Sing, sing unto the Lord,
open up your heart,
make a joyful noise in the sanctuary.
Sing, sing unto the Lord,
lavish Him with love,
let the praises ring in the sanctuary.
Sing, sing unto the Lord,
open up your heart,
make a joyful noise in the sanctuary.
Sing, sing unto the Lord,
lavish Him with love,
let the praises ring in the sanctuary,
sing, sing.
[Vamp 1:]
Gotta open up your mouth and give Him praise,
open up your heart and give Him praise.
Lift up holy hands unashamed in the santuary.
Gotta open up your mouth and give Him praise,
open up your heart and give Him praise.
Lift up holy hands unashamed, sing, sing, sing.
[Chorus 3:]
Sing, sing unto the Lord,
open up your heart,
make a joyful noise in the sanctuary.
Sing, sing unto the Lord,
lavish Him with love,
let the praises ring in the sanctuary.
[Vamp 2:]
He is worthy to be exalted.
He is worthy to be exalted.
Picture by: Refresh Christian Resources via Toia on Pinterest
Welcome to Wisdom Word Wednesday!! For a quick review, our theme scripture for this week is, "Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing," (Psalms 100:1-2). I love the last part of this scripture...."Come before His presence with singing." The Contemporary English Version says, "Be joyful and sing as you come in to worship the Lord!" To read more bible translations for Psalms 100:1-2, click here.
The reason I love the last part of this scripture is because it expresses one of the ways to enter in God's presence, which is through singing. And, boy, do I love to sing. It's the best of both worlds. I love to get into God's presence; And I love to sing! Now, how about that!! For Wisdom Word Wednesday, we should be wise to SING to God every chance we get.
"But, Toia, I cannot carry a tune in a bucket, if my life depended on it." I am here to tell you that God doesn't care anything about that. He just loves the sound of our voices. I believe that in heaven the sound of our voices singing His praises is music to His ears. God delights in the praises of His sons and daughters. Furthermore, He will bless you when you give Him a sacrifice of praise. A sacrifice of praise is getting out of your comfort zone of your usual form of worship so that you can express and prove to God how deep your love runs for Him.
So, I encourage you to lift up your voice and sing. Let it be a sweet sound straight from your heart to His ears in the name of Jesus!! Whether you are in tune or out of tune, just SING!! Sing joyfully!! Sing with gladness!! Sing His praises!! Sing of His marvelous and glorious works!!
"Sing praises to God,
sing praises!
Sing praises to our King,
sing praises!"
(Psalms 47:6)
Dear Heavenly Father,
I am thankful and grateful for allowing me to see another day. Every day that I am alive I consider it as a blessing. My desire is to live a life that is pleasing in your sight; And that is aligned with your purpose and plan for me. I know that there will be obstacles to overcome and mountains to dismiss. However, I will rejoice in You always for I know that I won't have a breakdown, but a breakthrough in the name of Jesus.
Because I know it's all a part of the work that is in progress within me. In addition to that, you will never leave me. You are my provider, my protector, and my redeemer. You will not suffer my foot to be moved in the name of Jesus. Regardless of what I have or have-not, I will do as Your written word commands. I will make a joyful shout unto You, Serve You with gladness; And come before Your presence with singing in the name of Jesus.
I will sing to the You, my Heavenly Father a new song! For You have done marvelous things; And I know that You so much more in store for Your people. Praise be to You, Oh God. I will sing Your praises. Victory is in my praise and worship for You. I pray this prayer in the Wondeful, Mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Welcome to Manic Monday!! I pray everyone enjoyed and loved every bit of their weekend. I had my first jewelry party hosted by my beautiful sister in Christ, Sonia. Then, after that, my family enjoyed a beautiful service at church followed by a BBQ. Saturday was a full, long, and wonderful day. As a result, on Sunday, we rested, relaxed, and enjoyed some family time together.
For today's Manic Monday, we are going to focus on Serve and Gladness from Psalms 100:1-2, "Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing." You can enter into God's presence by shouting, worshipping, and singing to the Lord Most High with gladness. Psalms 100:1-2 express a command that every nation should take heed to and do joyfully. In addition to that, Christians are the main people who should set an example and entice others to praise God.
Serve - [Hebrew word:Abad; Strong's #5647] - to work for,
serve; do labor for someone; to be servant; to worship
Gladness - experiencing pleasure, joy,
or delight, pleased, very willing
As servants of God, we must be more than willing to serve God in worship. As we worship Him, God wants us to experience pleasure, joy, and delight while in His presence. In return, God will also experience the same thing as His children honor and praise Him in the name of Jesus. God delights Himself in the praises of His people.
"Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms."
(Psalms 95:1-2)
This week my dear and handsome husband surprised me by taking this week off. Now that my children have officially started school this week, this gives my husband and I an opportunity to spend time together. I'm so excited!! With that being said, I decided to take a vacation from blogging this week. However, I will still update my blog's facebook page. Have a bless week!! **Smooches!**
Feel Free Fridays seem to roll around like hot cakes!! Crazy, right?!? Be that as it may, the show must go on. For today's Feel Free Friday, I want you to feel free to believe and realize that YOU ARE WORTH IT!! You are worth God's grace. You are worth God's mercy. And you are worth God sacrificing His Son so that you won't die, but live in the name of Jesus and for His glory.
When the devil tries to get inside your head to make you think that you are worthless, you tell him with every ounce of authority you have in the name of Jesus that you are worth it. In addition to that, you rebuke the devil and inform him that you refuse to listen to his lies and that he is under your feet. Remember God's word, "....Resist the devil and he will flee from you," (James 4:7).
Once again, you are free to feel like YOU ARE WORTH IT, because guess what? YOU ARE!! Happy Friday!! =D
Are ready for Wisdom Word Wednesday?? Woo Whoo!! I know I am. Today's Wisdom Word Wednesday is GRACE. Accepting God's grace is one of the wisest thing you can do for yourself.
When reading Ephesians 2:4-5, it is important that we understand by grace [God's unmerited favor, undeserved blessing, His free gift], we have been saved. God extended His grace to us. It is essential to our salvation. God's grace is sufficient for me. It's definitely more than enough in the name of Jesus.
In the midst of our tribulations, challenges, and/or lowest points of our lives, God will provide us with grace. With that in mind, God wants us to solely depend on His power.
"Grace is a God-given resource that makes
possible "holy living" when our life, circumstance,
or character is under fire by the Adversary. God's grace
becomes his enablement or empowerment to achieve
His plan, endure hardship, or access Him. God's grace is powerful
and all-enabling to the believer. His grace facilitates our abilities
to conquer every weakness as we yield to an absolute trust
or reliance upon God, trusting His heart even when we
cannot trace His hand," ~ The Spirit-Filled Bible.
I
could not have said the quote above any better. Remember what Jesus said in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." WOW!! That's a blessing in itself. Hallelujah!! :)
Happy Manic Monday!! To those who are visiting for the first time, WELCOME!! Next Monday, in less than 7 days, my children will be returning to school. I think I am more nervous than they are, when it comes to the first day of school. It's crazy, I know, considering my children are 9, 13, and 16. YIKES!! I pray it's a smooth transition for them.
Now for today's Manic Monday. We are going to focus on two words: Mercy and Love. I need God's mercy and love every second, minute, and hour of each day. The first part of Ephesians 2:4 says that God is rich in mercy.
mercy ~ [Greek word:eleos; Strong's #1656] - compassion, tender mercy, kindness, beneficence, an outward manifestation of pity, a blessing resulting from divine favor or compassion
One of the many blessings we received as a result of God's mercy is the opportunity to be alive in Jesus. What's even more awesome,....God loved us even when we were dead in our sinful ways. Also, it was His great love that made us alive together in Christ. Thank you Lord in the name of Jesus!!
love ~ [Greek word:agape; Strong's #26] - undefeatable benevolence and unconquerable goodwill that always seeks the highest good of other person, no matter what he/she does; self-giving love that gives freely without asking anything in return, unconditional love.
Because of God's unconquerable, undefeatable, and unconditional love, no matter what we say or do, He will always love and see the best in us. Be that as it may, this is not grounds for living a sinful life. If anything, allow that to be your motivation to live a life pleasing in our Heavenly Father's sight. Amen and Amen.
Welcome to another edition of Sunday's Scripture Reading!! I hope and pray that everyone had a great and fulfilling weekend. This past weekend I was taking care of my mom. She had a cochlear implant, which was a huge success. Thank you Lord. My family and I ate Sunday dinner over her house. I cooked...Yay me!! It was delicious. I wished I had taken a picture.
But anywho, our Sunday Scripture Reading for today and this week's theme is Ephesians 2:4-5.
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)."
In these scriptures, Paul is informing us that sin no longer has power over God's children. When Jesus died on the cross, that power was destroyed. We were dead to sin, but now we are alive in Christ!! Hallelujah!!
If it wasn't for God being rich in mercy and having great love for us, where would we be? In addition to that, when we were dead, by His grace, His unmerited favor, God brought us back to life and saved us. God's grace is definitely more than enough for me. How about you?
This week we are going to dig a little deeper in the name of Jesus.
Other Bible Translations for Ephesians 2:4-5
"But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)" (nlt)
"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions;it is by grace you have been saved." (niv)
"Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us!" (msg)
"But God's mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace that you have been saved." (gnt)
"But God—so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation)." (amp)
