Sing throughout the day
A tip to help you be constantly aware of the Lord's presence is to worship and praise the Lord through singing and hymns.
This is often overlooked. Few people realize that singing to the Lord is a form of prayer. It is also a way to make your spirit constantly aware of His presence in and with you. In this way, the Spirit of the Lord in you can also guide, minister to and control your life.
Do you also love the Psalms as much as I do? Do you realize that the Psalms are songs with which the writer of that psalm wanted to praise and worship the Lord, or talk to Him?
Every week, in my disciplined daily quiet time with the Lord, I also read a portion of the Psalms. So, this week I am reading Psalm 65. Listen to this for a moment.
“A Psalm of David. A Song.
O God, we will be silent before you; we will praise you in Zion; we will fulfill our vows to you.
You are the one who hears when people pray to you. All people want to come to you and confess their sins. Our sins are too much for us to bear; you are the one who must take away our sins.
It is good for someone when you choose him and bring him near to stand before your temple. He will be satisfied with all the goodness in your temple, your holy dwelling.
When you do justice to us and answer us, you will do wonderful things, you, the God of our salvation.
All people know that you will help, all the people in the farthest parts of the earth and far beyond the sea.
You are strong, you are stronger than all and you have set the mountains in their place. When you speak, the sea and its waves are still, and the nations cease their roaring.
The wonders you do, let the people of the whole earth be afraid.
You make them sing joyfully in the east and in the west.
You take care of the earth, You give the rain, You make the soil very fertile. A great stream of water comes from You and You make the wheat grow, yes, You do all this. You make it rain a lot in the wheat fields, there is plenty of water where the people have plowed.
You wet the hard pieces of ground, it becomes soft with the rain.
You make the plants grow. You make it a beautiful year, everything grows well, wherever You go.
The pastures are full of grass, the hills rejoice. The field is full of sheep and goats, the valleys are full of wheat, the people shout, they sing.”
Does this also sound to you like a song that an Afrikaans farmer somewhere in South Africa could easily sing!
Listen to Paul too. He often used songs in his prayer life. Here are a few passages about it.
In Acts 16:25, the Bible says: “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.”
In Acts 13:2, we read how Paul and others “served the Lord and fasted.” Serving the Lord is simply worshiping God and even singing to Him.
In Ephesians 5:18-20, Paul tells us: “Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”