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Listen while you read: "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms"1 (Lyrics) |
In January, I told how God spoke to me through others' devotionals. I've recently realized that He's speaking to me in a different way — through hymns that pop into my mind in random moments. At first, I thought that my brain was just dredging up all the songs that I've been playing at church services for more than fifty years. I've heard congregations sing the lyrics of all the great hymns of the faith so many times that they're embedded in my memory bank. But one morning, I realized that these interruptions had a purpose.
1 Thessalonians 5:14b-15 – Be patient with everyone. See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people. (NLT)
I just finished reading that Scripture when this song started playing in my mind:
- Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,
All His wonderful passion and purity,
O thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine,
Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.
– Albert W. T. Orsborn
It was too appropriate to be coincidental! Could God be placing these songs in my mind to comfort me, confront me, or give me peace when I need it?
I think that He also has another purpose for those songs. I've been asking Him to help me to remove negative thought patterns. Is it another coincidence that these songs have started filling my mind? I don't think so! When a song invades my mind, I focus on it instead of on worries or fears. "Music soothes the soul" is more than a famous saying. Music is a recognized form of therapy that can lower blood pressure and heart rate. It certainly lowers mine.
Psalm 40:3a – He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. (NLT)
It is a great blessing when we discover the different ways that God speaks personally to us, using the particular ways that each of our minds and brains work. He uses our gifts and personalities to speak to us in various ways. What works for one person may make no sense to another. What's important is that we must recognize that He does speak to each of us. Let us be alert to how and when this happens. Pray with me:
Prayer: Father, I truly want to let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. May all His wonderful passion and purity refine my nature, until, by the power of His Holy Spirit, others can see the beauty of Jesus in me. Amen.
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Monday, December 2, 2024 – In the Middle East — Pray for those who are on equipping teams, to be flexible, persevering and always growing closer to God. Pray as they learn Biblical Arabic which is almost like learning a new language from regular Arabic. Pray that they become more and more able to deal with the Scripture in the Arabic language.
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Thank you.
Thanks Sharon.
Thanks, Sharon, for the wonderful reminder.
Thank you, Sharon, for sharing this encouraging devotional with us.
Blessings.
Thank you, Sharon, for a very special devotion today. May those great hymns of the faith continue to inspire you.
Well-said, Sharon. Yay for TECH that lets us click and go back and READ the things to which you refer! How marvelous and appropriate!
Amen Sharon. God sometimes gives me a song when l am thinking or praying for someone else, allowing me to know best how to pray for them.
Blessings.
Good morning, Sharon,
I had just been pleading with the Lord to give me thoughts of Him to calm my mind. Your devotional is more than coincidental. Thank you so much.
Sharon, we share this sense of wonder and gratitude over the amazing power encapsulated in song. Scripture urges us to use that often, and you have added to the testimony.
What a blessing your devotional offers.
Beautiful message dear Sharon. I love music. Have it on 24 hours/day in this home.
God most definitely speaks to me through music. I am a major country music fan. Right now as I prepare for Church I am listening to a Connie Smith album of praise from 1966.
Blessings.
Thanks so much for your great devotion. I also play at church for 50 years and I try to play hymns that they know by heart. So many people come to tell me how they love to hear those hymns. I think they sing them to themselves while I play and get a good feeling and message. Thanks again.
Hi Sharon, I really identified with your words about how God uses memories of hymns and worship songs to speak reminders to you.
I’m always amazed how a sudden recall of many verses will emerge into my consciousness, and I always consider that as a message to me given by God.
I join you in thanksgiving for God using music to deliver.
Hi Sharon
I really enjoyed your message today and the songs. Yes, funny how the right ones pop up in our minds at the right time.
I find this now especially with the passing of my husband recently, that songs of encouragement or songs of His power and love will come to mind and calm the emotions.
God is good!
God bless.
Hi Sharon:
Thank you very much for sharing your story. Meaningful Christian hymns or songs spoke to me many times in my life, especially challenging times in life.
By God’s mercy and blessings that He blessed me with two grandsons, I spent many hours in teaching and singing hymns to my grandsons.
All glory be to God.
Good morning Sharon,
It is always great when we recognize God speaking to us and helping us along the way. It sounds like you are an organist or pianist so it truly makes sense that God would connect with you in this way. I think you are so correct in your thinking and it can be for many reasons that God is reaching out to you.
I like your prayer because that is truly who God wants us to be – a shining light of Jesus in this world.
Thanks for sharing your discovery and I am sure others will relate. Blessings and many times enjoying the hymns.
Good morning, Sharon,
Good devotional. I am not a good singer, and I don’t sing when I am alone but lately, I do have hymns going through my mind. As a matter of fact when I woke up yesterday morning some of the words of “It is well with my soul” were going through my head and they did for quite a while.
Thank you for your good words.
Blessings.
Hello Sharon,
I read your PrebyCan devotional “Songs in the Heart” today. Very interesting. As a musician myself, I often have music floating in my head, especially the past Sunday’s hymns. There is always a particular one that sticks with me and I’ve usually viewed that as: well, I just sang it solo this past service, so it’s in my head. But why is that one, or another hymn, popping up randomly in my head? I need to pay more attention to this. Sometimes I do wonder if God is listening or busy with more important matters, but He does listen and speaks to us through the medium we associate with; music, a garden, a craft, nature…
With so much conflict between nations and the war in Ukraine, I can get overwhelmed about the lack of love and democratic resolutions; and just when I’m about to burst into tears I hear the buzz of a hummingbird or the chatter of an oriole at our feeder or a chipmunk coming right up to my chair on the patio to distract me to remember the beauty in life. Then I sit back, glaze at my garden and focus on the positive things in life. A beautiful, serene little tune comes to me that would settle my heart down and lift my spirits. I never realized that this may be God answering me and calming me.
“Here is bread, here is wine” by Graham Kendrick
Thank you Sharon for sharing.
(ON)