Sing Your Blues Away

Martin Luther said, "The devil takes flight at the sound of music, just as he does at the words of theology, and for this reason the prophets always combined theology and music, the teaching of truth and the chanting of Psalms and hymns." "After theology, I give the highest place and greatest honor to music."

According to a secular study of singing found in www.SixWise.com, Singing Improves Your Health in many ways:

If you ever have the desire to break out into song -- in the shower, in the car, maybe at your neighbor's infamous karaoke night -- you should embrace it whole-heartedly. This ancient art not only feels good, it can enhance your well-being, reduce your feelings of pain and even prolong your life.

You don't have to be a professional to reap the benefits of singing.

Using your voice to sing, rather than simply carry out a conversation, offers unique benefits. "When we sing instead of speak, we have intonation, melody line, and crescendo, which gives us a broader vocabulary to express ourselves," says Suzanne Hanser, chair of the music therapy department at Berklee College of Music. "Because singing is visceral (relating to, o

r affecting, our bodies), it can't help but effect change."

Some of these benefits are

1. Singing for Seniors

Singing, particularly in a chorus, seems to benefit the elderly particularly well. As part of a three-year study examining how singing affects the health of those 55 and older, a Senior Singers Chorale was formed by the Levine School of Music in Washington, D.C.The seniors involved in the chorale showed significant health improvements compared to those in the control groups. Specifically, the arts groups reported an average of:

•30 fewer doctor visits

•Fewer eyesight problems

•Less incidence of depression

•Less need for medication

•Fewer falls and other injuries

The seniors themselves also noticed health improvements, said Jeanne Kelly, director of the Levine School of Music, Arlington Campus, who led the choral group. The seniors reported:

•Feeling better both in daily life and while singing

•Their everyday voice quality was better

•The tone of their speaking voice did not seem to age as much

•Easier breathing

•Better posture

2. Singing Boosts the Immune System and Well-Being

In another study, members of a choir filled out questionnaires to report their physical and psychological reactions to singing. The choristers reported:

•Improved lung capacity

•High energy

•Relieved asthma

•Better posture

•Enhanced feelings of relaxation, mood and confidence

3. Singing Reduces Stress and Pain

Studies have linked singing with a lower heart rate, decreased blood pressure, and reduced stress, according to Patricia Preston-Roberts, a board-certified music therapist in New York City. She uses song to help patients who suffer from a variety of psychological and physiological conditions.

"Some people who have been traumatized often want to leave the physical body, and using the voice helps ground them to their bodies," Preston-Roberts says. "Singing also seems to block a lot of the neural pathways that pain travels through."

4. Singing and Alzheimer's Disease

Taking the feel-good effects of song a step further, Chreanne Montgomery-Smith of the Alzheimer's Society founded Singing for the Brain, a singing group for those with dementia, memory problems or Alzheimer's disease.

The part of the brain that works with speech is different than the part that processes music, which is what allows people who can no longer converse to still enjoy music, said Clive Ballard, director of research at the Alzheimer's Society and professor of age-related diseases at King's College, London.

"People seem to enjoy doing something jointly with other people and there is a lot of evidence that being socially engaged is good for people with dementia," Ballard added.

According to the Bible, singing did not just produce physical benefits but spiritual benefits as well. Jehoshaphat was besetted with problems. In 2 Chronicles 20:1-30, we read the story of success through praise. From The Problem to The Peace, Jehoshaphat and the people of God learned to sing to the Lord that brought them victory over their enemies.

1) The Problem – the condition in our lives. All of us without exception have problems of some sort.

It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat.2 Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, "A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar" (which is En Gedi).

2) The Prayer – The cry of our hearts. When we call out to God, He will hear us. Panic is not our response, prayer is. In prayer we should be honest to God about our problems and not deny them. Always turn your eyes on the Lord and not to the people we think that could help us.

3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. 5 Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, 6 and said: "O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? 7 Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? 8 And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, 9 'If disaster comes upon us--sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine--we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.' 10 And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir--whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them-- 11 here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. 12 O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You."

3) The Prophecy – the answer to our prayer. When we pray, expect God to answer us with His word. John Wesley once said: “God does nothing but in answer to our prayers.” If you talk to God, He will definitely talk back with the answer you need. Singing did not seem to be a good answer. Many would expect God to send weapons or politicians to solve their predicament. However God is in control and we just have to sing about His goodness. That was enough.

13 Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord. 14 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. 15 And he said, "Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: 'Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's. 16 Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. 17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!' Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you."

4) The Praise – the action we should take. Singing was the way the Lord wanted them to take during this time of crisis. The Bible says, Arise Oh God (through our praise) and let Your enemies be scattered (Psalm 68:1)

18 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord.19 Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high. 20 So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper."

21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: "Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever." 22 Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. 23 For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. 24 So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.

5) The Prosperity – the result of our worship. Our praise unto God will bring the provision in due time. If we center our attention to God’s mercy and goodness, the Lord will reward His people with prosperity.

25 When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much. 26 And on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berachah, for there they blessed the Lord; therefore the name of that place was called The Valley of Berachah until this day. 27 Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go back to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. 28 So they came to Jerusalem, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, to the house of the Lord.

The name Berachah came from the Hebrew root word בּרכה b^erâkâh (ber-aw-kaw’) that means benediction; by implication prosperity. The Hebrew word שׁלם shâlôm can also be translated as “prosperity.”

Conclusion: The Peace – the final outcome of our lives.

29 And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. 30 Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around.

May the Lord teach us to praise Him in the midst of troubles. Let us not worry but be worshipful in times of trials. So just sing your blues away! The Lord is always with you. He inhabits the praises of His people. Then our lives will be filled with quietness and rest.

God bless and may we enter into the presence of the Lord today with singing.

Ps. Edward Barcial

Pursue What is Prized by: Sis. Leonor Fernandez

Philippians 1:9-11

And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.

As employees, we are appraised by our superiors to gauge how competent we are in our particular line of work. As Christians, if we are to be evaluated on our prayer life, what would our mark be?

Personally, how would you rate your prayer life? If you had to give yourself a grade, would it be a 100%, 90%, 75% or would you choose the word "incomplete". Let's phrase the question into a multiple choice question:

Is your prayer life, A) Excellent, B) Above average, C) Average, D) Below average or E) "I need help!”? Probably many of us would choose E because we feel our prayer life truly does need help.

As we think about prayer, let's begin with three simple statements:

1. Prayer is both the easiest and the hardest discipline of the Christian life.

2. Almost everyone prays. Believers and non-believers, and almost everyone feel he can improve in this area.

3. Prayer presents us with both theological and practical problems.

"Prayer is the very sword of the saints," said Francis Thompson. If that is true, why do we often keep the sword in the scabbard? Lee Robertson called prayer "the Christian's secret weapon, forged in the realms of glory". Why, then, do we not use it more effectively? Often we simply don't know what to say when we pray. I'm thinking especially of those moments when we begin to pray for others beyond our most intimate circle. What do you do when you have a large list of people to pray for, including loved ones, friends, neighbors, co-workers, missionaries, and others whom you hardly know at all? Lord, bless uh..uh..uh “Lisa" then we go to the next name “and bless Jim" then we go to the next name: "Lord I ask that You really bless the missionaries in Africa" And on it goes.

As one man remarked, if we took the word "bless" out of our prayer vocabularies, some of us would never pray again. While I believe it is perfectly appropriate to ask God to bless people, I think we can move far beyond that and, in so doing, dramatically increase the effectiveness of our prayers. Let us look closer to Paul's prayer for the Philippians and use it as blueprints for powerful praying (with the aid and guidance of the Holy Spirit of course).

Paul's prayer includes three points: Three P's

1. PROSPER

V9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment.

Abound in love:

The word ABOUND comes from the Greek word περισσεύω perisseuō (per-is-syoo'-o) which means to superabound (in quantity or quality), be in excess, be superfluous; also (transitively) to cause to superabound or excel: - (make, more) abound, (have, have more) abundance, (be more) abundant, be the better, enough and to spare, exceed, excel, increase, be left, redound, remain (over and above).

As a proof of his great affection for the people of Philippi, Paul puts this petition on their account; which supposes that they had love, as they must certainly have, since the good work of grace had begun in them, for wherever the work of the Spirit of God is, there is love. Imagine an empty cup slowly being filled with water. When the water reaches the brim, it begins to overflow down the sides of the cup. That’s the picture Paul has in mind- love filling the hearts of the Philippians until it overflows. If you would notice, almost all prayers of the Apostle Paul begin with a petition for love. That’s because love is supreme of all Christian virtues.

…And (grow) in Knowledge and in Judgment

The word KNOWLEDGE Gk ἐπίγνωσις epignōsis (ip-ig'-no-sis) meaning: recognition, that is, (by implication acknowledgement: - (ac-) knowledge (-ing, -ment).

Paul's prayer continues with a request that the Philippians might grow in their knowledge of God. This sort of knowledge goes beyond factual information. It is a kind of knowing that comes from a deep, personal, and intimate relationship with another person. In context, Paul is praying that their love express itself in an intimate knowledge of who God is.

JUDGMENT αἴσθησις aisthēsis (ah'ee-sthay-sis) means perception, that is, (figuratively) insight.

If knowledge is the accumulation of facts, judgment however, is an advance upon knowledge. Judgment is the correct use of the facts. In other translations, they used the word "insight", which in Greek speaks of moral discrimination, the ability to look at various options and say, "This one is good. That one is better.”

As a tiny rudder guides a massive ship, our lives often turn on small decisions and unexpected events. We like to think that these decisions don't matter, but they do because each decision is connected with other decision, like so many links in the chain of life itself. This one is best "This leads to the second point in his prayer.

2. PRUDENCE:

Prudence means the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason.

v 10 That ye may approve things that are excellent, KJV (that you may have the gift of true discrimination, NEB)

APPROVE δοκιμάζω dokimazō (dok-im-ad'-zo) means to test (literally or figuratively); by implication to approve: - allow, discern, examine, X like, (ap-) prove, try

There is a process of testing metals, such as gold ore and coins, to find out what they were worth. There is gold and "fool's" gold. It looks like gold to the naked eye, but it isn't, and it's not worth anything. Too many Christians settle for "fool's gold" in the choices they make.

EXCELLENT διαφέρω diapherō; (dee-af-er'-o) means to bear through, to “differ”, or (by implication) surpass: - be better, be (more) excellent, be of more value.

Paul prays that the Philippians old have such love and insight that they would continually make wise choices in life. He prayed that they would not be satisfied with the status quo or with spiritual mediocrity but push on to true spiritual excellence. In a sense he is asking God for the gift of "spiritual discrimination"-the ability to make wise choices under pressure.

His prayer continues with the results that flow from the above points mentioned, which leads to the third point.

3. PURITY - Unmixed with any matter, spotless, stainless

That ye may be sincere and without offence.

SINCERE εἰλικρινής eilikrinēs –(eilik-ree-nace') >heilē (the sun’s ray) and judged by sunlight, that is, tested as genuine (figuratively): - pure, sincere.

A broken pottery in the Ancient world was often covered with wax and painted over. People were deceived into thinking that they were buying sound vases. However, if they were to hold this vase up in the sun, the sun would reveal the cracks. To be pure means to live in such a way that the truth about who we are is clear, that when we are held up to the light of the sun of who God is, there is nothing to hide. "No wax" of pretense and hypocrisy can be found in our lives.

WITHOUT OFFENCE/BLAMELESS ἀπρόσκοπος Aproskopos (ap-ros'-kop-os) >, not leading into sin; passively faultless, that is, not led into sin: - none (void of, without) offence.

This is derived from a Greek word which the opposite meaning is Scandal-originally referred to the bait in a trap that would catch unsuspecting animals. It came to mean a lifestyle that caused others to fall into sin, In contrast, a blameless person is free from moral scandal-you don't stumble into sin and you don’t cause others to stumble because of your sins.

FRUITFUL LIFE

The Bible often uses the metaphor of a fruit tree to describe both life of the righteous and the life of the wicked. Regarding false prophets, Jesus declared that by their fruits we would know them. This is precisely what Paul is praying for-the fruit of visible Christian character. A fruitful life is one that is distinctively Christian on every aspect

Conclusion:

Let us be encouraged, inspired and challenged by the prayer of the Apostle Paul for the Philippians. He prayed the life of Christ be in the soul of these people.

He prayed that they would have overflowing love and wisdom to choose the best things in life, and he did not mean the best things in general, he meant God’s best for them. He prayed that they would pursue what is prized and prize what is of value.