How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me? Psalm 116:12
Devotion snippets: "As if we could pay God back for all the good, all the forgiveness, all the sweetness of this life and His promise of something much better in the next. Here's what I think God wants from us: anything at all that's done with love and gratitude." by Mark Neilsen
Christian music: The verse for today comes from Psalms which are songs to God. This is an opportunity to encourage everyone to try Christian music. I initially moved away from pop music to somewhat more wholesome country music. I moved to Christian music now that it has the same flare as pop but with inspiring words. Let's remember the "garbage in, garbage out" concept when making choices for TV, books, and music. Please consider sharing your experiences with Christian music on the blog.
Prayer requests: The header of our blog has a link to post prayer requests (post as a "comment"). Please keep my brother Dan in your prayers today as he finishes 40 days of drug/alcohol treatment. My Mom already posted this prayer request on the blog.
Living In Faith Exchange (LIFE) blog: Links were added for "life ministries" (ref 12 Jan devotion e-mail). Currently, 19 of our 66 faith sharing group members signed up. Please sign up (~1 min) to post/update a prayer request, comment on a devotion/prayer, and simply receive notices when others comment.
Through Christ Our Lord,
Pat
Phil 4:13
* Today's Bible Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/today.shtml
* Welcome God into your day by reading Living Faith (http://www.livingfaith.com/) each morning before work (~1 min).
* If you are especially inspired by today's devotion, consider sharing your inspiration with the distro group (e-mail and/or blog).
* Consider forwarding this daily Living Faith devotion email to your friends/family or have me add them to the distro list. Let's joyfully live out the Good News and gladly spread it to those around us (Mark 16:15)!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Praise Him!!
It is so important to see God in the goodness of each new day. Life is a gift.
Many people on retreats are amazed at the clarity they feel, little miracles, and the joy of confirmation. Coincidence? I think not! Why? Because we are intuned (through prayer and in silence)with our Lord.
We can never pray enough. The Bible tells us to pray uncessingly always with thanksgiving.
Let's thank God by our everyday actions. We can speak more of his love and give him thanksgiving by our actions than anything else.
Let's make God smile today. Each one of us knows where we fail.
Gods blessing to you this day,
Kathy C
I believe that listening to Christian music was one of the key elements of my metanoia last year. I use to listen to hard rock like Avenged Sevenfold, and I can't remember the names of the other groups it has been so long. I called the music angry rock, because the singers always sounded like they were ticked off at the world; very aggressive music. I originally liked the music, because of its high energy. One day my friend, Dustin Creech, was riding in my truck with me while I had my music playing, and he asked me if I knew what the music was about. I told him I had no idea. I don't listen to the lyrics just the instrumental. He told me that it had an anti-Christian message; I was unaware of this. During Advent 2006 I decided to stop listening to angry rock. I got rid of a lot of my music CDs, including my video games; anything that was a negative influence on me. I started to replace my angry rock with Christian music, originally because it was the Christmas season and the Christian station had the best Christmas music in Colorado Springs. After Christmas though, I still continued to listen to the Christian station. I became very familiar with the songs on the radio and would sing along. I could actually understand the lyrics (they weren't being screamed), and the words made me think about my life. When I moved to Gainesville, Florida I found a really good Christian radio station, The Joy FM. I love listening to this music when I am driving or studying. I believe that it is a form of prayer for me. I have an emotional and spiritual connection with the music, and it makes me feel great. I have also found that I have a more positive attitude towards others after listening to Christian music. I recently got to attend Disney's Night of Joy last Fall. It is where several of the leading Christian bands play at the Magic Kingdom. It was an awesome experience to be jumping around to the music praising God with thousands of other Christians. The musical artists would even preach a little in between songs. Who ever thought that a rock band could be such a positive influence. Christian music has definitely changed my life.
Post a Comment