“Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” (Eph. 5:19 ESV)

Songs stuck in your head

Have you ever had a song stuck in your head with the same lines of the song repeating over and over? I have, many times. Some who have studied this phenomenon call it a “brain itch”, and similar to a mosquito bite, the more you scratch it the more it itches. They say when you listen to a song, it triggers a part of the brain called the auditory cortex. Researchers at Dartmouth University found that when they played part of a familiar song to research subjects, the participants' auditory cortex automatically filled in the rest -- in other words, their brains kept “singing” long after the song had ended [source: Prokhorov]. I personally believe God has given us this ability for a very good reason, so that we can “make melody in our hearts to the Lord” so that we can worship and praise Him (Eph. 5:19). We are the ones who choose which songs get stuck in our heads by what songs we listen to. Our brains are similar to computers and are programmed by what we put in to them. Whatever we put in though our ear gates, that’s what our brains play back to us.

Sing with your mind

“What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.” (1 Cor. 14:15 ESV)

Singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Col. 3:16 ESV)

Singing praises with your soul

“My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed.” (Psalm. 71:23 ESV)

God is seeking such people to worship Him

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” (John 4:23 ESV)

“We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” (Rom. 15:1 ESV)

Follow Christ’s great example

The Scripture passage, Rom. 15:1-11, (written out above and below) is the example of Christ that we must follow as His followers.

Please your neighbor

“Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” (Rom. 15:2-3 ESV)

To give hope and encouragement

“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Rom. 15:4 ESV)

Live in harmony with one another

“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus,” (Rom. 15:5 ESV)

So that you may glorify God

“…that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 15:6 ESV)

As Christ welcomed you, welcome one another

“Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (Rom. 15:1-11 ESV)

“So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.” (Rom. 14:19 ESV)

Encourage and build one another up

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” (2 Thess. 5:11 ESV)

Consider how to stir one another up to love and good works

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Heb. 10:24-25 ESV)

Build each other up with what you say

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” (Eph. 4:29 ESV)

Therefore…

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Col. 3:16 ESV)

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” (Lam. 3:22-24 ESV)

The above passage contain multiple promises

• God’s love is steadfast
• God’s Love never ceases
• God’s mercies never come to an end
• God’s mercies are new every morning
• God’s faithfulness is great
• He is your soul’s portion
• Therefore, you have hope in Him

And, we can proclaim with confidence…

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3 ESV)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Cor. 5:17 ESV)

Put on the new self, created in the likeness of God

“To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Eph. 4:22-24 ESV)

God is doing a new thing

“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert..” (Isa. 43:19 ESV)

God’s plan for you

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jer. 29:11 ESV)

 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23 ESV)

Gift of love to you is Jesus

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 ESV)

Gift of the Holy Spirit

“And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38 ESV)

Thank God for His inexpressible gift to you

“Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” (2 Cor. 9:15 ESV)

Therefore…

“Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.” (Rom. 12:11 ESV)

“‘My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,’ says the Lord. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts’” (Isa. 55:8-9 NLT).

Do not lean on your own understanding

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” (Prov. 3:5 ESV)

Set your mind on things that are above

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Col. 3:1-2 ESV)

The Spirit of God gives understanding

“For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor. 2:11-16 ESV)

“The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.” (Psalm 145:18 NIV)

Ask God…

“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matt. 7:8 NIV)

Ask according to His will

“This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” (1 John 5:14 NIV)

“Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” (Jer. 29:12 NIV)

So that the Father will receive glory in the Son

“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13 NIV)

“Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” (Heb. 13:16 ESV)

Open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor

“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’ (Deut. 15:7-11 ESV)

When you give to the poor you are lending to God

“Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.” (Prov. 19:17 ESV)

God loves a cheerful giver

“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (1 John 9:7 ESV)