Earlier this week, I invited you to submit your favourite praise songs or hymns. The full list is below. Thanks for sharing! Perhaps there is something in there to uplift you. God can use music to do just that!

In The Shawshank Redemption, an inmate named Andy goes into the office of one of the guards while he is in the bathroom and locks him in his stall. Andy goes over to a record player and puts on a duet from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. He flicks some switches so that the music is broadcast all over the prison. Inmates stop in their tracks, gaze heavenward, and stand transfixed at the music. 

Another inmate named Red (played by Morgan Freeman), says: “I have no idea to this day what them two Italian ladies were singin’ about… I like to think they were singin’ about something so beautiful it can’t be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared. Higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away… and for the briefest of moments, every last man at Shawshank felt free.”*

Friends, Jesus Christ is the one who makes our voices soar, higher than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. But he has locked the door on Satan forever; it’s just that sometimes, with the help of music, we need the reminder. 

“My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you—I whom you have delivered” (Psalm 71:23).

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Song Listing: 
How great thou art 
Look up – Lauren Daigle
Jesus loves me
Joy is like the rain, Miriam Therese Winter
What a friend we have in Jesus
Good Good Father
Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul
What wondrous love is this
Stronger, Roy Tosh
Make me a channel of your peace
Is it I Lord? (I, the Lord, of Sea and Sky)
Great is thy faithfulness 
Abide with me
10,000 Reasons 
The Voice of Truth (Casting Crowns)
God will make a way
Trust in you, Lauren Daigle 
In Christ alone
The solid rock
Turn your eyes upon Jesus (Hillsong)
In the garden
Now the green blade rises
The Blessing
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
We shall go out with joy
The psalms (sung a cappella) 
Take Cover, Remedy Drive
Never have I ever, Hillsong Young and Free
Cambridge choir, Florida Georgia Line, Holy
Reba McIntire, Back to God
Moving On, Love & The Outcome
Gentle Voice by L. & S. Dengler
The Carpenters
Jesus stand by me
Holy, Holy, Holy, Santo, Santo, Santo
His mercy is more
Amazing grace
Will your anchor hold
It is well with my soul
Can I pray for you, Mark Bishop
All creatures of our God and King 
In the bulb there is a flower
King of heaven

–“We know who God is, but WHAT is God?” Here’s the answer I provided to this question which came through Westminster Church’s Q & A Forum.

–*The Shawshank Redemption was released in 1994 by Castle Rock Entertainment. Written by Stephen King, screenplay by Frank Darabont.

–The Up Devotional is published 5 days a week (Monday-Friday) and returns on August 2, 2021.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.