Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Day 11 of 21 Days of Fasting

I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. 34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the LORD. Psalm 104:33-34

When I was a teen I could not understand why my parents screened my music selections. Often times I would have to surrender a tape knowing I would not be listening to the songs again. I thought my parents were just being mean and old-fashioned. Today I realize that music is very influential in our lives and we must guard our hearts against music that hinders us from praising God. Music was created by God as a medium for His creation to praise and worship Him. Music is useful for many things, but during this time of prayer and fasting allow it to prepare your heart for His will. Be careful and watchful of the music you let into your life during this time. Nobody doubts the power of music, but we will often defend our music selection even if we know it is not productive. Why? Why do people defend their music while knowing it does not edify, or encourage? The answer is often in the music itself. It is feeding an emotion or need in the persons life. Often it's feeding anger, bitterness, sadness, rebellion, or a multitude of other negative emotions. When the person stops listening or puts the music aside frustration can set in as that negative emotion tries to find another outlet. Instead of dealing with the emotion we bathe ourselves in music that keeps the emotion from rising by feeding that very emotion. If you are engaged in negative music (right now anything non-christian can be negative regarding our fast) set that music aside for the remainder of the fast. This may be difficult, but it may be the very thing that helps you breakthrough to your miracle. Substitute the music with praise and worship. This may be very annoying at first. For some, listening to worship and praise can be annoying because it is fighting the negative emotion within, causing our flesh to battle against our spirits. If you find yourself in this place, continue listening to the praise and worship. Soon it will bring comfort as your spirit rises over the flesh.

I hope and pray that we all continue to strip away more of the world as we put on more of God.
God Bless
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About Me

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Paul LaRose currently serves as the Discipleship Ministries Director for the Kentucky District of the Assemblies of God. He is also Senior Pastor of New Harvest Assembly of God in Frankfort, Kentucky. His passion for discipleship and Christian education is made evident by the fruits of his ministry labor. Paul has been involved in two successful church plants. He served as the Associate Pastor at Harmony Tabernacle AG in Dallas, Texas planted in 2001 where he developed the Christian Education program from the ground up. He currently pastors New Harvest AG planted in 2002. New Harvest is one of the fastest growing AG church plants in the Kentucky District and provides a strong Discipleship and CE program for all those that attend. Paul has been working with the Kentucky School of Ministry in course development. He wrote the course work for the Youth Leaders Tract and is finishing the Children’s Workers Tract. These courses are being used in many of our Assemblies of God Schools of Ministry.