Joy and Strength (Christian life and music)

We are each of us being molded by everything that we allow into our hearts and minds. This may seem an obvious statement.  But if we stop and think about everything we watch, read, listen to, and think about on any given day, we may be surprised! First off, there is freedom in Christ.  So I'm not here to give you a to do list, or a "thou shalt not" list. When we belong to Christ, we are free to choose what we watch, with whom we spend our time, and so on. But with that freedom, which is a privilege, comes responsibility.   The Scriptures are clear on this subject.  We are either being molded by God into the image of Christ, or we are being molded by popular opinion (the mores of our culture), by others opinions of how we should live, by peer pressure, by the temporal ways of the world, by our own "grid" system (we determine right from wrong apart from God), and countless other ways there are of molding. Just a reminder that our flesh wants nothing to do with bei...

So I told the Lord yesterday that I surrender my life to Him. I have done this before.  I don't recall the earth shaking, or any lightning bolts or fireworks when I surrendered before.  I don't remember anything changing outwardly much at all.   We are to live in daily surrender to the Lord.  This means giving up our will, plans, agendas for His. If we truly believe, "Your will be done," then how does this play out in daily life for us? Are you strong-willed?  This seems to be an admirable trait according to some.  People are wowed by the most idiotic things, aren't they?   Jesus is not wowed one iota by your strong will   Jesus not once exerted His own will when He walked this earth.  Do you respect Jesus for that?  Do you? Why exactly was Jesus so powerful in His earthly ministry?  Precisely because He was surrendered to His Heavenly Father.   Jesus had no agenda of His own.  Jesus was perfectly obedi...