Song-Prayer and thought for the Day

Song-Prayer for the Day 

Come Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,

And lighten with celestial fire.

Thou the anointing Spirit art,

Who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart.

Thy blessed unction from above

is comfort, life, and fire of love.

Enable with perpetual light

the dullness of our blighted sight.

Anoint and cheer our soiled face

with the abundance of thy grace.

Keep far our foes, give peace at home:

Where thou art guide, no ill can come.

Teach us to know the father, Son,

And thee, of both, to be but one,

That through the ages all along,

This may be our endless song:

Praise to thy eternal merit,

Father, son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Thought for the Day 

How would you feel if someone was in your presence and yet refused to communicate with you?

 

God!—Part 2

God!—Part 2   

         Early in the Genesis record God communed with his human creation.  He communicated with both man (Adam) and woman (Eve).  God communicated with his human creation not because He had to walk and talk with them in the garden, but because He desired to have fellowship with them.  It seems to me that they did not even slightly realize the significance or importance of this divine-human connection established by God himself.  In the garden god could have sent one of His angles to communicate God’s message to them.

         I believe that God’s establishment of divine-human communion is of great import to our worship of the Trinity.  Elohim, God in plurality, desired and desires to communicate with both men and women in this life.  Worship communication, both public and private, corporate and individual, is a God thing.  Although we marvel that Adam and Eve transgressed and broke off that wonderful communication of the Garden of Eden, many people repeat history and transgress Gods law and precepts and therefore break off that wonderful communion between god and mankind.

         Many Christians who remain mute when the body of Christ is musicing, are refusing to commune with God.  Although these Christians do not mean there silence as a form of rebellion against a God established communion, their silence is without a refusal to commune with God.  Since the Bible is fraught with references to the necessity of communing with god through music, it is the responsibility of every music minister to catechize the congregation on the significance and importance of musicing together unto God.

 

Prayer, Chorus, and Thought for the Day

Prayer for the Day    

“Grant, we beseech thee, merciful God, that thy church, being gathered together in unity by thy holy Spirit, may manifest thy power among all peoples, to the glory of thy Name;  through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the same Spirit, one God world without end.  Amen.” The Book of Common Prayer, 1953, pg. 185   

Chorus for the Day       Great Is the Lord by Michael W. Smith    

Thought for the Day   

 

Since God has proven Himself to be an awesome God to generation after generation, why should we not trust him to be god in the twenty first century?

God!--Part 1

God!--Part 1

          Genesis 1:1 states without apology or without reservation or hesitation “In the beginning God…”  We mention his name with great comfort, respect and with great expectation.  We worship God because of His worth-ship.  Christianity is different than other world religions in that we do not worship statues of a great person who was but rather, we worship the only true God who not only was but is.

          In Exodus 3:14 God was communing with Moses, “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”  We are under the authority, guidance and protection of the same God who is at this very instant.  Christians who music the name of God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit are calling on the same currently alive God as Moses communed with thousands of years ago.

         Depending on how a Christian musician perceives God, he or she will either music the name of God with authority or timidity and some doubt.  In the Book of Isaiah in chapter one verse one Isaiah recorded, “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.”  Isaiah received much from God because he had a correct concept of who God is and what He is capable of doing. 

          God ordained that the Bible would begin with who God is, i.e. his nature, and His relationship with those whom He so carefully, and wonderfully created.  Think of it, God was transcendent from the time of man’s creation.  We know that He walked and talked to Adam and eve in the Garden of Eden because Genesis 3:8 states, “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.”

         God’s relationship with mankind has been relational from the time God created humans on this earth.  Musicians who believe the Genesis record have a great assurance when they music about the only true God who was not only relational then, but also seeks to have relationship with us today! 

 

Prayer, Song, and Thought for the Day

Prayer for the Day   

Lord, I am asking you to help me to care more for others.  Help me to care for them like You care for Your children.  Lord You know that I love those who love me, but I am asking you to help me to love those who do not love or care for me.  Help me to reach out to those who need my help the most.  I am asking that my musicing will express your love to others.  These things I ask in Your wonderful name.  Amen. 

Song for the Day   O to Be Like Thee by Thomas O. Chisholm  

Thought for the Day  If we want to really be like Christ we are going to have to put our Christian love into action because he who loves acts.

 

Those Who Love God Love Others—Part 1

Those Who Love God Love Others—Part 1  

From the Revelation of St. John the Divine, Chapter 3: 7-8 and 10-11, “And to the angel of the church of Philadelphia write; these things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.  Vs. 10- Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.  Behold, I come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” 

The churches of Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea were rebuked in the Revelation of St. John Divine.  The church of Smyrna was said to be poor but yet rich in the sight of God.  The church in Philadelphia, “the brother lovers,” had no charges against it in the Book of Revelation but rather was given several precious promises.

Therefore, I want Christian ministers of music to consider emulating this church. First of all, they loved each other. One of the most important thing for Christian musicians must do is to love others.  Do not be like the baby boomers of my generation. You can do better.  You can purpose in your heart to love and work with each other.

 

Prayer, Song, and Thought for the Day

Prayer for the Day   

Lord, I believe that singing your praises will bring your children great joy.  Please help me to lead them in meaningful praise through musicing out of a heart of genuine love for You.  Help me to guard my heart so that I may be a pure and holy musical servant.  Give me a greater passion for musicing unto your wonderful and worthy name.  These petitions I bring to You believing in Your powerful ability to bring joy to your children.  Amen. 

Song for the Day— Jesus is the Joy of Living by Alfred H. Ackley 

Thought for the Day   Perhaps a Christian Musician’s musicng is not completely the sacrifice of praise until it is done in the time of trouble.

 

 

Teaching Joy With Music--Part 2

Teaching Joy With Music—Part 2   

Yesterday we discussed briefly that the Ancient Levite musicians taught the Word of Jehovah with joyful singing of the Word.  Psalm 27:5 & 6 also tells us about joyful singing and playing of sacred music:

Vs. 5   For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion [5520, cok (soke) a tabernacle, a protected place] in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me upon a rock. 

Vs. 6   And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifice of joy; [8643, teruah, acclamation of joy, jubile, rejoicing, shouting] I will sing, yea I will sing praises unto the LORD. 

            In the time of trouble David prayed that God would hide him in a protected place.  He further stated that God would lift up his head.  Did David feel like praising God?  Probably not, but in verse six David declared that in the midst of trouble he would give God the sacrifice of joy.  Although he probably did not feel like it he declared I will sing, yea I will sing praises unto the LORD.

            We church musicians are probably the must emotional, moody people on the face of the earth.  We go from the highest joy to the slew of despond in a matter of moments.  When we hit bottom emotionally then it is time to give God the sacrifice of praise. 

            We know that a sacrifice costs us something or it wouldn’t be called a sacrifice now would it?  When we are in our highest moment of joy our musical offering doesn’t cost us nearly as much as it does when we come to Sunday morning worship so low emotionally that we believe that we could walk under a closed door without bending over at all.

            When we look at the Hebrew word Teruah and understand that it means that in the time of trouble David declared that he would not merely sing the praises of God but that he would SHOUT the praises of God.  You probably are thinking now, Mr. Wolf, I’m just not like that.  I don’t shout even when I’m happy.”  Well, I say to you, get like that because it’s in the Bible.  If you pucker up in choir like a green percimin, when you are going through heaviness, you are not acting like a Bible believing Christian. On the authority of God’s Word he has promised to see you through your heartache, sorrow, and depression if you will shout his praises whether you feel like it or not.

 

Prayer, Song, and Thought for the Day

Prayer for the Day   

I want to thank You Lord for the gift of music.  Thank you for this wonderful part of Your creation that that is one of the sources of our spiritual strength.  Thank you that you cared for us enough to provide this beautiful aid to memory that is both practical and meaningful to our spiritual lives.  Help me as I lead others with this means of grace to lead them in such a way that they will understand your Word and precepts more clearly.  Help me to lead their musicing with passion, joy and understanding.  These things I Ask in your wise and wonderful name.  Amen. 

Song for the Day—Joy Unspeakable by Barney E. Warren   

Thought for the Day   

Since the joy of the Lord is the source of the spiritual strength for all Christian musicians, more musicians should tell their face that they ate happy on the inside.

Teaching Joy with Music-Part 1

Teaching Joy with Music—Part 1  

In Nehemiah 8:7-10, it states, “Also Jeshua, and Bani and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hadijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand [995, biyn, to separate or distinguish mentally] the law; and the people stood in their place.  So they read [7121, qara, call out, proclaim] the book in the law of God distinctly, [6567, parash, to separate, to specify, to declare, show] and gave the sense [7922, sekel, success, discretion, understanding], and caused them to understand [995, see above] the reading.  [4744, miqra, something called out, a rehearsal].  And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha (governor), and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites that taught [995, biyn-to separate or distinguish mentally] the people said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep.  For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” 

In these verses we see that the Levite musicians who taught the people distinctly the sense of the Torah caused the people to understand God’s word.  I believe that all this elaborate use of words like understand, reading, distinctly giving the sense, causing the people to understand, teaching the people, refers to more than a mere talking or saying of Scripture.  I believe the Levite musicians sang or cantilated the Scripture to the people.  The people left the meeting with great joy because they understood the Torah.  The Levite musicians taught, in other words, sang, (cantillated) the word of God to the congregation with joy for this joy of the LORD was the source of their spiritual strength.  I believe that one of the greatest things about joyful singing of the word of Jehovah is that it causes the congregation to remember and understand God’s precepts.

Prayer, Song, and Thought for the Day

Prayer for the Day  

Thank you Lord for your word!  Your Word has this day at this very moment warmed my heart and given me new assurance that you are faithful to your children.  Although you do not always pay up on Friday night, you do reward Your faithful ministering servants.  Thank You for the eternal interest you are compounding to my eternal account in heaven today.  Also, I want to thank you for yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that, and all the days before that you have kept accurate records.  I am sorry Lord, but I keep forgetting to thank You for the bountiful supply of goodness that You keep providing for me each day of my life.  Thank You, thank You, thank You!  In your bountiful name I pray.  Amen.  

Song for the Day—It Pays to Serve Jesus by Frank C Huston  

Thought for the Day—You may not always get paid a fair wage in this life, but our heavenly Father will without doubt reward you perfectly when you get to heaven.

 

 

If You Save You Lose

If you Save You Loose  

St. Mark 8:35-37 “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.  For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?  Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

            Most Christian musicians are not well off financially.  Much or these musician’s time is often spent on a second or even third part-time job just to make ends meet financially.  You may be in a place in your life where you are afraid that you are going to come up on the short end of the stick financially.  So maybe I should label this little pep talk the “profit-loss ledger”.

             As one takes a careful look at verse thirty five above one can deduce that if you save you lose, and if you lose you save.  So, what does your profit-loss ledger look like?  Jesus said in verse thirty four “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me.”  You will often need to remember why you are working as a ministering musician and for whom you are working.  

            The ideal for life is to come to the end of your career with a good-looking profit-loss statement.  You have chosen to lose this world’s goods so that you can lay up treasures in heaven.  Matthew 16:26 reminds us that, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?  So, be sure that you are laying up treasure in the right place.  Never forget that that you have made the right choice even though it may not look like you have when the going gets rough.

            Remember that “market timing” does not matter as much as “time in the market”.  What that means in Kentucky Greek is that as you stay in God’s work you are laying up quality investments (treasures) in heaven.  Even though you are not able to see God’s ledger, believe me, your eternal investments are recorded there.  When you get to heaven you will see clearly that “It pays to serve Jesus, It pays every day”. (I think that this song means that your eternal interest is compounded daily.

 

Prayer, Song, and Thought for the Day

Prayer for the Day

Lord I cannot help but pray that You will remove my thorn in the flesh.  Though I have asked you many times to remove or solve my problems, I am asking You now to help me to be willing to spend and be spent for others.  Please help me to love more when I am understood less.  These things I ask in Your name.  Amen.

  Song for the Day—He giveth More Grace by A. J. Flint 

Thought for the Day—If you were Satan wouldn’t you keep after a Christian Musician who was about to quit?

A Thorn in the Flesh

A Thorn in the Flesh 
II Corinthians 12:7,  “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.”
            For centuries Christians have speculated about St. Paul’s thorn in the flesh.  Among the hypotheses is the belief that his thorn in the flesh was poor eyesight. This belief is predicated on Paul’s statement in Galatians 6:11 “Ye see what a large letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.”  We know that the epistle to the Galatians was not one of his longest letters, so some believe that he wrote in very large Greek letters because of his sight problem—i.e. his supposed thorn in the flesh.  However, no one has with any solid evidence concerning Paul’s thorn in the flesh.
            If St. Paul had been a choral director it probably would have been a soprano with an extremely strong piercing shrill voice who had a very wide vibrato.  It could have been a tenor who sang slightly under pitch or sang the soprano part an octave low.  It could have been a bass guitar player who always played I, IV V, I regardless of the chord progression of the song.
            Most church musicians have someone or something about their job that qualifies as a bona fide “thorn in the flesh”.  Sometimes ministering musicians feel that this person or situation is actually “the messenger of Satan”.  Do you have a thorn in the flesh where you minister?
            St. Paul’s attitude encourages me when I read II Corinthians 12:15, “And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.”  Being a minister of music is not about being loved and appreciated but rather about loving others and loving God enough to keep going even though there are things about your public ministry that are truly a thorn in the flesh.

Prayer, Song, and Thought for the Day

Prayer for the Day—The Juniper Tree
  Lord I am thanking you for the practicality of your precious Word.   You love us so much that you have provided excellent advice for your ministering musicians.  Lord help me to take my own advice.  Help me to love you so much that I will take care of my body which is the temple of the Holy Ghost.  Help me to understand that you do not need to send Your angel to give me advice because your Word has already spoken to me.  Lord, help me to understand that my musicing will be much more efficacious if I will “come apart” for a day or two before I emotionally come apart!  These things I pray in Your wonderful, loving, caring name.  Amen. 

Song for the Day—It’s Just Like his Great Love, by Edna R. Worrell  

Thought for the Day  

If we have a musical instrument that needs repair we fix it, but we hesitate to take care of our bodies which are far more valuable than any musical instrument.  So, take time to tune your heart and take care of the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Under the Juniper Tree

Under the Juniper Tree  

I Kings 19:5-7, “As he lay and slept under the juniper, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.  And he looked, and behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruise of water at his head.  And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.  And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.”  

            You may be in a situation that is somewhat analogous to the one recorded here in I Kings.  You may be depressed and feel that Jezebel and Ahab are after you again!  Perhaps you are simply exhausted physically and emotionally.  You may be so depressed—musicians get that way at times—that you do not know how to get up and get going again.

            How did Elijah get out of the pit of despair?    He did four things. He listened to the angel of the LORD, he slept, he ate and he drank lots of water.  Now those things seem too simple to work don’t they?   Elijah had just gone through a very strenuous time, so he went a day’s journey away from the source of his anxiety where he could really rest.

            Think of it, an angel of the LORD came to minister to him.  All the angel did was peck Elijah on the shoulder gently after he had taken a good nap, and tell him to eat and drink.  The angel did not give him any other advice or do anything dramatic.  God loved his servant enough to send an angel to give Elijah some simple advice that Elijah would have figured out on his own if he had not been so exhausted and depressed.

             Chief musician, perhaps the reason you are in trouble emotionally is because you need to get away from where you minister (about a day’s journey) and sleep, eat, and drink water (not diet pop).  Now does this advice seem too difficult to manage? 

 

Prayer, Song, and Thought for the Day

Prayer for the Day—Harps on Willow    

Lord I am asking you to give special help to that Christian musician who feels “used up” and is burnt out.  Help that musician to take immediate advantage of musical praise which is a means of grace to that troubled Christian.  Help that musician to “sing one of the songs of Zion” as an act of praise and adoration to You—even if he or she does not feel like praising Your wonderful name.  Let this act of musical worship be a sincere “sacrifice of praise’ unto You.  Lord, I am humbly asking You to replace that musician’s sadness, melancholy, and self pity with the simple joy that comes when a Christian musician sings and plays one of Your songs.  These things I am praying in your name.  Amen. 

 Song for the Day—Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee by Henry van Dyke  

Thought for the Day—The next time you are depressed think about the fact that you have been chosen to praise God with music, and that sometimes people even pay you to do it!

 

 

Hanging Our Harps upon Willows

Hanging Our Harps upon Willows  

Psalm 137:2-3 “We hanged our harps upon willows in the Midst thereof.  For they that have carried us away captive required of us a song: and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing unto us one of the songs of Zion.”  

            These musicians from Jerusalem had been taken captive into the land of Babylon.  For some reason, they were allowed to take their hand held lyres with them.  In God’s great mercy, He impressed Israel’s captors to let each musician take his instrument of praise with him.  Instead of being grateful to god, the musicians hid their kinnorot (3658) among the thick branches of the willow trees.  Instead of playing these instruments, to the Glory of Jehovah in this strange land, they became depressed and refused to play them. 

            How many times have you and I, as Christian musicians, hung our harps on a willow?  When a musician gets hurt by other Christians this musician feels used up or abused by those the people and the Christian organization to whom he or she has been ministering.   Musicians who are depressed often believe that others have wronged them and have wrung them out like a wet dish rag and still “requiring a song”.  Worse yet, this organization is requiring “mirth” by expecting these Christian musicians to get up on Sunday morning and “sing and play with a smile”.  

             The Hebrew word translated mirth is simchah (8057) means gladness, joy, or rejoicing.  Like these Israelite musicians, Christian musicians who are burnt out often find genuine praise to God to be a hard pill to swallow.  The sad fact about this account recorded in the Sepher Tehillim (book of praises) is that these musician’s captors ask them to do the very thing that could have been a means of grace to their troubled hearts—but they refused to praise Jehovah.  Their captors simply asked these musicians to “sing one of the songs of Zion”.

 

Prayer, Song, and Thought for the Day

Prayer for the Day-- Songs and Joy 

Our heavenly Father I am asking You to help me to saturate my mind with songs of everlasting joy.  Help me to lead others in experiences of musical worship that will bring everlasting joy upon their heads.  Help me to continually recognize how powerful songs of joy can be in bringing everlasting joy and gladness to your people.  These petitions I bring in your strong name.  Amen.

Song for the Day—Therefore the redeemed of the Lord by Ruth Lake

 Thought for the Day—Songs and Everlasting Joy  

Only the redeemed shall have songs of everlasting joy because only the redeemed will have everlasting joy.

 

 

Songs and Everlasting Joy

Songs and Everlasting Joy  

Isaiah 35:10, “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads:  they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

            Did you ever stop to think that Christ’s peaceable kingdom will include music?  Music is one of the things we have in this life and will have in the life to come.  There aren’t very many things that we have in this life that can be taken to heaven with us.  A few of those things are those whom we have helped to win to the Lord, other “treasures” (not money) that the Bible teaches us that can be laid up in heaven.  St. Matthew recorded that Jesus said, “Lay not up to yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doeth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth or rust doeth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 2:20-23)

            Only the ransomed of the LORD will be able to take music with them to the life hereafter.  The Bible states that those who reign with Christ will have music and everlasting joy upon their heads.  I believe that one of the ways that God will allow saints to obtain everlasting joy and gladness will be through music.

            In heaven sorrow and sighing will have to flee in the presence of Gods bestowed gladness and joy.  I believe that this continuous gladness and joy upon the heads of the saints will be expressed through musicing unto God eternally.  So, Christian musician be sure to prepare yourself and those to whom you minister musically to store up good music because I believe that it can be taken to heaven. Catechize every saint to music unto God in this life as a preparation for the life to come. 

Prayer, Song, and Thought for the Day

Prayer for the Day-God’s Night Song

Lord please help me to store up your word in my heart.  Help me to guard my heart and not store anything there that will hinder my spiritual walk when I am called to go through the “nighttime” of life.  When I am troubled, help me to remember your precious promises that are stored in my mind.  I am asking you that “Your Song’ will lift me up spiritually and emotionally when the nighttime of life is surrounding me.  I am asking You that Your powerful song will defeat Satan when he comes in like a flood and tries to destroy me.  I know that Your song will be efficacious when I need it the most. I want to thank you Lord for caring enough for me to give me a song in the night.  These things I pray in your wonderful; name.  Amen.

Song for the Day—All Your Anxiety by Edward Henry Joy

Thought for the Day--  God will not always let us escape the night but He will always be our “song in the night”.

 

 

God's Night Song

God’s Night Song

Psalm 42:8 “Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.”

            In this psalm Jehovah has promised to enjoin His loving kindness to his children in the daytime of life.  However, our walk with God is not always a “daytime” walk.  Sometimes Christian musicians go through the “nighttime”.  There are times of misunderstanding, trial, persecution, sickness, financial hardship, and even depression.  These times require trusting God even when we do not understand why things are happening in our lives.

            Jehovah has promised that His song will be with us no matter how dark or discouraging life’s night may be.  If we are going to be able to call to remembrance god’s song in the time of trouble, we must hide “His song” in our hearts during the daytime of life.  So, we must be very careful to hide the right kinds of songs in our hearts when things are going well. We must be sure that the songs that we have hidden in our hearts will lift us up in the nighttime of trouble.

            If we have hidden “his Song” in our hearts, we must ask God, when we are discouraged, depressed or misunderstood, to help us recall His Word that we have hidden in our hearts.   Remember that Psalm 119:11 states, “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

Prayer, Song, and Thought for the Day

Prayer for the Day-God Hears  

Lord please help me to music unto You and Your church.  Help me to lift up Your name before the congregation of saints and sinners in order that you may use my music ministry to draw Your children closet to You and sinners to repentance.  Please open your dark sayings to saints and sinners as I music unto You.  These things I pray in your powerful name.  Amen.  

Song for the Day—“We will Glorify:” by Twyla Paris 

Thought for the Day—You have a choice to make!  You can glorify God with your musicing or you can glorify self.

 

God Listens to his Musicians

God Listens to His Musicians

Psalm 49:4 States, “I will incline my ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the Harp.” God has promised to open the hidden and hard to understand mysteries of the bible through music.  Matthew 13:35b also declares that, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.”  As we know, Jesus spoke many parables to his disciples and to the multitudes that he taught. 

            Music has historically been a vehicle upon which the word of Jehovah could ride into the hearts of the common man.  Sacred music has a historically been a means to an end—not an end in itself.  All of the Old Testament has been notated precisely by the te’amim (the musical signs below and above the Sacred Text).   

            Why was the entire Old Testament notated and intended to be sung?  It has been faithfully transmitted to us in “sweet tune” over thousands of years in order that it could be understood and remembered by the common man.  Everyone knows that music is a wonderful aid to memory.  So, it is no mystery that our loving heavenly Father made special provision for us all to understand and remember His Word.

            Christian musician why do you sing and play music in and out of God’s house?  Is music strictly a performance art to you?  Do you perform and lead others in musical performance for your and their personal pleasure?

            Christian musicians should sing and play to one another and unto God in order that the body of Christ may be drawn closer to the blessed Trinity through a greater understanding of biblical principles of holy living.  Christian music should reflect the nature and holiness of God as well as His love and directions for his church.  Our musicing should lift up God; tell us more about who He is, and what He does.

            As we lift up the Trinity through our musicing, sinners should be reminded of their low estate, their spiritual condition as well as being made aware of God’s justice, judgment, love and forgiveness. 

 

 

Thought for the Day-Music’s Meaning- Part 20

Thought for the Day-Music’s Meaning- Part 20

The musical discourse in Ephesians 5:15-19 admonishes Christian musicians to walk circumspectly, be wise, gain musical understanding, be filled with the Spirit, and to only music unto God with non-carnal music.

 

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 20

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 20
            Before we finish this discussion on musical sounds, we must consider 1Corinthians 14:15-16 “What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?”  The word understanding is translated from the Greek word nous (3563) which means with the intellect or mind.  The writer of the first letter to the Corinthian Christens was careful to include pneuma (4151) and nous as essential when musicing unto God. 
           Although musicing under the divine influence of the Holy Spirit was and still is the sine qua non of musicing unto God, musical understanding is also a vital part of sacred music.  Without belaboring the point further, I believe that this musical reference to musical understanding is a Bible principle of musicing unto God.  Why would St. Paul instruct the Corinthian Christians to music with understanding if he knew that it incapable of communicating any meaning whatsoever?
            We should also be reminded that although this part of his letter was a discussion of clear speech in a language; he used a musical reference to explain his point. I see absolutely no reason to believe that his reference was restricted exclusively to singing alone.  I base my belief on his choice of Greek words.  The word used in this verse is psallo (5567) not ode (103).  Psallo means literally to touch the strings of a musical instrument which connotes the production of instrumental musical sounds.  Ado refers to singing.  If he had not intended to refer to singing and instrumental sound he would no doubt have used the word ado. Again I am drawn by this Bible principle of musicing to conclude that St. Paul was saying, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that music communicates meaning which is absolutely essential to having musical understanding.
            So, in conclusion we are brought back to the thought that every Christian musician has the responsibility to “know” what the “joyful sound’ is and to make continuing distinctions between sacred and profane religious music.  Also, every Christian musician must music unto one another and unto God with only non-carnal sounds...  I will bring this discussion to an end with the admonitions found in Ephesians 5:15-19,  "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord."        
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Thought for the Day-Music’s Meaning- Part 19

Thought for the Day-Music’s Meaning- Part 19

Since music is not a closed system and since it has the capacity to communicate meaning, every musician will have to give an account at the judgment for how he or she influenced people with music.

 

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 19

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 19

           .Peter Kivy made a statement about strict formalist’s musical believes that is worthy of our consideration in this discussion of musical sounds.  “But isn’t that exactly what the formalists is saying that absolute music is?  Isn’t she saying that the symphonies of Beethoven, the string quartets of Haydn, the organ fugues of Bach are ‘meaningless noise’?  And what greater condemnation could there be of a human enterprise?  You spent your life making meaningless noises.”  Introduction To A Philosophy of Music by Peter Kivy, p.137.  Surely the Christian musician should understand that if religious music is to be considered amoral because it is part of a “closed benign system” that is incapable of communicating meaning, then that Christian musician is spending his or her life producing meaningless noises

           To me, the “music sounds are amoral” theory just doesn’t make any logical sense philosophically.  Musical sounds do matter because they communicate meaning to everyone who hears them.  Furthermore, I cannot find a shred of evidence either in or out of the Bible that would support the theory that musical sounds are a part of a “closed system”.  If this was true the musician could, contrary to the teaching of the Bible, “live and die to himself” when it comes to the task of producing musical sounds.

Thought for the Day-Music’s Meaning- Part 18

Thought for the Day-Music’s Meaning- Part 18

Many times the sounds of a worldly style of music have become addictive and a source of spiritual failure to the sinner. It seems strange to me that a thinking music minister would want to contribute to this sound addiction using the same harmful music.

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 18

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 18

My belief that some musicians will be damaged more because they understand the musical sounds more than others does not put a premium on a Christian’s ignorance of a particular; genre of music; I am merely stating that those who are the most entrenched in worldly styles of music will possibly be the ones who receive the greatest emotional and spiritual damage from performing and listening to it.  This is all the more reason to not pander to the worldly seekers addictions to spiritually harmful styles of music.

 Christian musicians also must be aware to the sound addictions that some seekers have.  It gives strong impetus to the church to provide the un-churched seeker a diet of “new song” which will be music of a higher renovated character than the music with which they have surrounded themselves.  There is no doubt about it, many sinners will need a renewing of the mind which will not be possible if  church music sounds feed their sinful lusts by that triggering lust and passion.

At this point in our discussion I find it germane to return to the school of music philosophy called formalism.  When considering the well known philosophy of strict formalists, it is generally understood that they believe that the meaning of “absolute music” [music without words] is meaningless outside of the music itself.  What that means is that in the real world, the “meaning” of the musical sounds produced from the music written on the score are actually meaningless marks on the  page since they supposedly have no meaning in the extra-musical world and are incapable of communicating anything practical or referential.