Dec 6th worship

Yesterday I was out trawling the charity shops because Sam is making a film and needs flat caps and braces for his costumes !!  I must have been in half a dozen ( very pleased with myself at how successful this particular shopping trip turned out to be) and in every single one there was worship music playing.  Not Christmas music, proper worship music.    And then when I stepped out of the shops into the high street the PA was belting out someone like Beverly Knight singing O Come All Ye Faithful like her life depended on it.  It was proper praise - the real deal, not just a CD of Christmas carols.   It made me smile.

Im not sure how unusual Northern Ireland is - but just about every charity shop in the land seems to be run by Christians.  I was reflecting today that my Christian life is also a pretty normal life here.  My kids are growing up in a country in which being a born again spirit filled believer isn't unusual.  Most of the boys teachers are believers.  They don't necessarily shout about it but it becomes apparent over the years that they are.  It's not unusual here for someone being interviewed in a news item to mention prayer or church or God.   Our politicians talk about their faith and beliefs in a way which I think would be inconceivable in England Scotland or Wales. 

Worship lifts the spirit, changes the atmosphere, magnifies Jesus and does warfare in heavenly places.  At this time of year we have extra special permission to sing about and praise Jesus as we go about our daily lives.    For every ' Frosty the Snowman' there is a Hark the Herald or a Silent Night sounding out over the airwaves.   These ancient carols bring Jesus to the forefront of peoples minds and remind them of their childhoods , perhaps when many of them did believe.   Let's pray that this year the music and the Christmas concerts and the carol singing all help to open people to the gospel and soften hearts to hear Good
News.