We have an Amazing and Wonderful God! Just look at the beauty that He has put in this world! He has painted the skies with brilliant colors and carpeted the earth with lush green plants, gorgeous flowers, and untold numbers of magnificent creatures.

In just one handful of soil, there are more living organisms than there are people on the entire earth! Yet, our planet, earth, rotates around a rather small sun compared to some of the HUGE stars found in our galaxy.

There are no words in our language that can begin to describe His magnificence. He even tells us that His ways are higher than ours as the heavens are higher than the earth. He is our Creator and deserves our love and devotion.

I always end my Worship Guitar Class Newsletters with the phrase,,,

Worship Him with all of your heart because He loves you with all of HIS!

Jesus said the most important commandment was to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself.

‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ Matthew 22:37

How can we worship God? First and foremost by loving Him from the heart. Our church is going through a series this year called ‘Love God. Love People.’ All of the other commandments hinge on these two.

We can have a heart of gratitude for all that He provides us every day. He has given us wonderful bodies so intricate that if we really grasped how special we are made, how can we not thank Him?

He’s given us hands that can create. We can play musical instruments, paint pictures, write books, create crafts and produce whatever our minds imagine. He has given us creative and amazing minds.

David thanked God for how special we are made. in Psalm 139 he writes:

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

When you begin to comprehend the Love of God, our response should be to love Him in return. David also wrote in Psalm 139:

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.

I’ve always LOVED this verse. Have you ever seen a picture of the Sahara Desert? Can you count the sand? That, my friend, is how often God is thinking about just you.

 Here Are Some Ways To Worship God

1. With Worship Music. Singing worship songs to God was practiced way back in the first books of the Bible. Moses and Miriam both sang and wrote songs.
2. With Dancing. David danced before the Lord. In Psalm 149 it says “Let them praise His name with dancing; Let them sing praises to Him with timbrel and lyre.”
3. Bowing Down to Worship. We can worship with words, in prayer. Often people bowed down in reverence to worship God.
4. Serving Others. Jesus said as we serve the least among us, we are serving Him. This includes visiting prisons, clothing the poor, and how we treat our neighbors.
5. With our Work. In Colossians 3 it says: Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
6. By Studying and Doing what’s in His Word, the Bible. There’s an amazing promise that if we abide in Christ and His Word abides in us He will do whatever we ask.
7. Attending and participating in a good church. We are told to not forsake the gathering together of believers.
8. Enjoying His Wonderful Creation. Acknowledge Him in all the beauty you see.
9. Trust Him in Trials. Always lean on Him to help you with any trials that you are facing. He is faithful and can take you through them!

God is infinitely powerful and wonderful! We are each made in His image and are deeply loved! Make this world a better place because of His Love that lives in you! God Bless!

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Struggle finding time to practice? Here are 7 guitar practice tips that you may find helpful. It’s good to have a reason to practice, to know what to practice, and then make it easy to fit in your schedule.

For starters, there are many benefits to learning to play an instrument. Here is an article about the effects playing music has just on your brain.

Playing Music is Good For Your Brain

I believe the type of music you play can also make a difference. Playing worship songs, in my opinion, is one of the best types of music to learn.

You not only experience the physical benefits, but also can grow spiritually.

Here are the 7 guitar practice tips. A lot of what we do is tied to how we think and feel about the activity. Hence, the first few tips are focused with how you think about practicing.

7 Guitar Practice Tips

1. Connect practicing to worshiping and spending time with God. For me, in times of worship I always sense God is near and am more receptive to hearing from Him. Being close to God is a huge motivation for practicing. You can absolutely use your practice time as worship.
2. Ask God to help you learn to play the guitar and to help you stay focused on Him. He wants us to keep our hearts and minds connected to Him. Think of practice as a time when He can help you. This is similar to tip #1, but with a shift from worshiping upwards to receiving His help and inspirations.
3. Know that playing the guitar can reward you with emotional and physical benefits. Music has huge benefits for your brain and emotions. Think of it as a therapeutic session that doesn’t cost a lot of money! One of my guitar students told me playing worship songs on the guitar actually healed a deep emotional wound.
4. Remember that practicing will help you be a better guitar player. Without practicing you will not improve. You actually do need to spend time with the instrument to get better. If you want to be a good guitar playing, you need to practice.
5. Know what you want to practice. Have in mind what you want to work on. If you’re using one of our courses, follow the lessons in order and also the practice suggestions. If you don’t know what to practice, it’s hard to start. Have a goal in mind.
6. Make it a priority. In other words schedule it. One of my guitar students was working full-time and evenings were filled with church activities. She really wanted to play the guitar, so she practiced in her car during lunch breaks for 20 minutes a day. One of the Internet students shared that the whole family worshiped together with their Dad learning to play the guitar. Everyone was shocked at how fast he learned. Where can it fit in your day? Are mornings best, evenings? Plan when to practice and make it a priority.
7. If possible, have a special place to practice and keep it in view. I’ve always told my students to get a guitar stand and leave their guitars out. It’s also good to have a music stand with the music already on it. Now, in California we do get earthquakes and having the guitars out wasn’t the best idea. In one of our major quakes the guitars fell down and there was some damage to some of the instruments. So, you may want to leave it out inside a guitar case next to the music stand.

Those are the tips I thought might help you. Playing the guitar is not only a wonderful hobby, but can be an amazing vehicle for drawing closer to our Loving Father!