Think Before You Sing

Thanksgiving is a time to appreciate all the amazing gifts God has given us. These gifts come in many different forms. Large and small, physical and spiritual, known and unknown.  One of the forms these come in are miracles. I did a review on the song Miracles by Colton Dixon . Although, I was not very nice about it. In my research it seemed that one of the desired points of the song was that miracles are not always huge, massive, improbable things. But that there are indeed small miracles all around us.  John 2:11 shows us the purpose of miracles.   What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.  Whether you call them miracles or not, we do see God’s power everywhere and I believe we all have stories of that experience. One example from my life was before an early morning Christmas party for work. I was using my phone as an alarm at the time and to this day it has o...

This week I want to leave you with something to help you think. If you watched the video about the Stryper Album God Damn Evil  then you know that I had some issues with it's form. I also expressed hope that Even The Devil Believes would not have the same issues.  I have completed my research on this and will be posting both charts below for you to make your own decisions about.  These charts break down each song by the lyrics listed in the included booklet as well as what you actually hear when you Listen to the lyrics. The added lyrics are then the Lyrics that you here that are not in the book and the closing section is the final section in the song. God Damn Evil   Even The Devil Believes I - Intro V - Verses C - Choruses B - Bridge E - Ending PC - Pre-Chorus LC - Layered Chorus RL - Repeated Line There was also some issues about errors in the lyrics in the booklet disused in the video. There are some errors still in the booklet included with Even The Devil Believ...

Blinding lights is not a Christian song. It is not intended to have Christian themes. It does, however make strong connections to the human experience and those ties can be used to gain an understanding of God’s word. If you watched my review video on this song, then you hopefully remember the idea that the lights potentially have a deeper meaning. This meaning can be different for everyone but does it not stem from sin and the devil? Satan will use all he can to blind us, to turn us away from God. Satan wants our vision to be impaired, he wants us to not see clearly. Let’s look at the chorus of blinding lights I said, ooh, I'm blinded by the lights No, I can't sleep until I feel your touch I said, ooh, I'm drowning in the night Oh, when I'm like this, you're the one I trust There are a couple of ways for us to look at this. The first being that Satan is the lights and the night while God is the one we need to sleep and the one we trust. The second is...

  Earlier this week I was listening to Shadows by Nine Lashes and this line really stuck out to me: Rip out the sickness in our bones. There are a couple of things that stick out about this line. First, I love the imagery. It shows us how deep our sin really goes. And it is a call to action to remove the sin and lead a better life. What is a little disappointing is that this is not a possible task for us as humans. The next lines do address this, There is a man named Forgiveness And he will take us home . Let’s take a look at 1 John 2:1-2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And Romans 8:1-4 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from ...

I personally believe you should think about anything before you do it. If you find yourself doing it simply because someone told you to then that is not good enough. I also believe that you shouldn’t ask anyone to do anything without explaining why to them. You are free to do what you want but let’s look at some reason that singing should not be simply repeating other things. First, let’s define singing. Dictionary.com gives us the definition as a verb of to utter words or sounds in succession with musical modulations of the voice; vocalize melodically. I personally like the definition given in The Music Man where singing is simply defined as sustained talking. Are you held responsible for the words you say? Have you ever said something and then regretted it? If singing is simply talking then the same concepts apply. Words have meaning and consequences. And it is not uncommon to hear someone tell someone else to think before you speak, so why is singing any different? ...

We all experience times of doubt. We doubt ourselves. We doubt our friends and family. We doubt news sources. And sometimes we doubt God. We could stop and ask why is that? We would, of course, eventually work our way to sin as the answer. The real question I want to explore is how can we be sure we shouldn’t doubt God? How can we be sure he is taking care of us, now and forever? And where can we pull this comfort from? There are many different ways to be certain of this, but I am going to push this back to a song. The song Your Great Love , specifically the chorus. Now if you have watched my Lyrical analysis of this song then you might realize that the only references I made to the bible in the chorus are both from Ephesians 1. I want to expand on that so here is Ephesians 1:1-14 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Sp...