Make a Joyful Noise

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, 
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your 
requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends 
all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds 
in Christ Jesus. 
Philippians 4:4-7 


What is the noise that is happening right now in your home?
Are you the kind of person that has to have background noise on while your kids are playing?
Is that noise from the television, the radio, or is it praise and worship music?
What kind of message is the noise we are listening to sending our children?
What is it saying to us, to our souls?

I have a very good friend that is a stay home mother to two wonderful children. She hates having the house quiet while the kids are playing. She almost always has the television on. It often is just whatever is playing on a certain channel. That channel, from my experience, has some pretty terrible shows. But during the day they keep it pretty tame.  But they do show the ads for the shows that come on later in the day.  How many times do you think the kids see those commercials, or even just hear them?
And what are they learning from them?

Have you ever just sat in silence and enjoyed the noise that your children make? Have you really enjoyed the joyful noises they make as they learn a new game, accomplish something or have a new toy?

My daughter loves to talk.  She started making cooing noises and trying to copy our sounds before she even hit a month old. By one year she was communicating over 300 words clearly and in full sentences. God really has blessed her with the gift of communication.

She also loves to sing.  Most of the words that she started to use early on in life were words from songs that she loved to have sung to her and signed using ASL.  Now she sings all the time.  If she isn't talking she is singing.

She wakes up in the morning and doesn't call out for us to come and get her, she sits in her bed and sings. The best way I have ever been woken up was when she woke up and started to sing:
"My God is so good,
God is so good,
God is so good,
He is good to me."
Isn't that such a great message in the morning. That our God is so good to us.

Have you ever spent the day playing worship music? Even just had it play as you got ready in the morning?

I used to work in a school with some very frustrating children and co-workers.  One day one of the kids pointed out, " Mrs T, we know when you are mad, cause your eyes get really big, like this." He then made a terrible impression of what he thought I looked like when angry.  I then came to a realization that I wasn't being joyful at work. I wasn't showing the children God's love for them, and I wasn't praising Him with all that I did.

I then began to start my days with prayer and worship as I got ready for work and as I drove to work. It made a world of difference. I noticed a change in my attitude and how I approached the children. I started to see them the way God sees them and that he made each of them special and with a purpose.

When we praise the Father, he fills us with joy. We need to become like children and worship him in all that we do. When we spend our days living out worship we are connected to the Father and he will speak to and through us.  When you are feeling distant from God or struggling with your relationship with him, turn to him and praise.

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, " I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. 
Luke 10:21

My lips will shout for joy 
when I sing praise to you- 
I whom you have delivered.
Psalm 71:23

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 
Psalm 100:1-3