God Hears Us-

God Hears Us-

Psalm 5:2 &3 states, “Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King (Melek 4428), and my God (Elohiym 430): for unto thee will I pray.”My voice shalt thou hear in the morning O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and I will look up.”

       This Psalm of David, addressed to the Chief Musician, was written to Jehovah.  The Psalm opens by David petitioning God to hear the word of his prayer and furthermore for Jehovah to consider the psalmist’s meditation or musing.  He recognizes who God is as he calls Him “Melek Elohiym” i.e. King and Supreme God.

       When a musician earnestly petitions God he or she must believe that He is the supreme and only God and King.  However if the answer does not come quickly, this musician must approach prayer like David did on this occasion.  David looked up to God and determined that the LORD would hear his voice every morning, and that his petition would be directed to the one who could answer his prayer.  So, look up musician, the fact that your prayer has not been answered yet does not mean that it will not be answered.  God answers prayer, and He will answer your prayers if you pray and look up to Him in faith.

Prayer for the day-God Hears Us

LORD, I may not hear from You every day, but You will hear from me every day.  I want to thank You in advance for hearing my sincere petition.  I am looking “up” to You because You are willing and able to answer my prayer.  LORD I pray that Your will be done in this matter.  Help me to desire Your will instead of mine.  Thank you LORD for past prayers you have heard and answered.  Thank You that You are concerned about my problems and perplexities.  These things I pray in Your wonderful 

God Cares about Your Spiritual Problems

God Cares about Your Spiritual Problems 

Isaiah 42:3A states, “A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench…”

       This servant’s song of Isaiah gives hope to one who is bruised or weakened by his or her own spiritual weakness or failure.  The reed or cane which grows in marshy places often has a weak stock and is easily bruised or crushed.

       One of these stalks that is crushed or broken, but not severed from the roots will be remembered by our Savior, because He is a caring redeemer.  God’s eternal, infallible, inspired Word tells us that our redeemer, Jesus Christ the righteous one, will not break off this seemingly worthless bruised or broken stock.

       For those of us musicians who do not always catch on the first time we read one of God’s wonderful promises to us, He not only stated that He would not break off a bruised reed but also that He would not snuff out a smoking or smoldering flax (probably a flax stalk used as a lamp wick).  God has promised to not cut off the broken Christen because He is a loving, caring, and concerned Savior and he is the divine Paraclete.

       Albert Barnes stated in his commentary on the Book of Isaiah that, “The sense is, that he will have an affectioned regard for the broken-hearted, the humble, the penitent, and the afflicted.”  Barnes’ Notes on the Old Testament, [Heritage Ed.], Isaiah, p. 100.  If you are a Christian musician who is bruised and broken and if you feel that the “Oil of the Spirit” is burning low in your soul, look up to our Redeemer who will rescue and restore you!

Prayer for the day-God Cares 

Loving Savior, I am bruised and broken.  Restore me and heal me, and lift me up into your mighty arms.  Forgive me of my spiritual failures and restore unto me the joy of my salvation.  Help me to trust that You will take care of me.  I know that I must have your help to keep ministering for you.  Help me to receive from You so that I may continue to give to others.

Thought for the day 

One has said, “I may be knocked down but I’m not knocked out.”  I say, “If you have never been knocked down, then you probably have not been the fight.”

Believing What God Has Said-Part 2

Believing What God Has Said-Part 2

       Yesterday we started a discussion about believing the Genesis record.  I believe that the Genesis record should be trusted to mean exactly what it states.  That belief includes a real six day creation.  It takes  blind faith to believe that the created plant life lived a thousand, or perhaps a million years without sunlight. 

       Again, one may ask, “Why does a musician care whether creation took six days, six thousand or six million years?”  A Christian musician cares because of the fact that if one cannot trust the Genesis record, he or she will find it hard to trust the remaining Scriptures to be accurate.  If the Bible is not accurate in what it says then a Christian musician’s truth basis fails. 

       It is no wonder that so many Christian musicians have trouble trusting what the Bible says about musicing unto God.  Why should a musician trust what the Bible says about music if he or she cannot trust the Genesis record to be accurate.  Remember that St. John 1:1 states,  under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that, “In the beginning  was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” 

This means that one cannot separate God from what He says.  Before creation i.e. the Genesis record Jesus was with God and was God.  Therefore, we can trust every word about the creation of the world.

       At this point you are probably wondering, “What is the devotional thought for the day?”  The devotional thought is that “direction determines destiny”.  When a Christian musicians goes down the philosophical path that “One cannot trust what is written in the Genesis record then there is no stopping place and the result is that one believes that the Bible is not always accurate.  With such a false philosophical basis, one erroneously concludes that the creation account is not literal and therefore not to be trusted.

       If we are going to make it into the City of God, we are going to need the comfort, guidance, and hope  of God’s inspired Word.  If we cannot trust His Word to be accurate,  then we cannot trust what God has said to us.  If one believes that part of it is accurate and other parts are not accurate, then just what part or parts can we trust?

Prayer for the day-Believing God-Part 2

Lord, thank you for your Word.  Thank You that You are the Word!  Thank You that no one can ever separate You from Your Word.  I am asking You to help me to trust Your Word and help me to start trusting it in the Genesis 1:1.  Lord I am asking You to help me to not be led astray by humanists, philosophers, agnostics, secular and theistic evolutionists.  Please let the Logos Christos dwell in my mind abundantly and in all wisdom which the Holy Spirit teaches.  These things I pray in your strong name.  Amen.

 

Believing What God Has Said-Part 1

Believing What God Has Said-Part 1 

        Genesis 1:11& 13 state,  “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.  And the evening and the morning were the third day. “

       The first chapter of the Book of Beginnings gives us a clear record of all the growing things created on the third day of creation.  On the next day God created the sun and the moon so that his creation would have the lights to sustain photosynthesis which is essential to sustenance and growth of all the plant life He had created the day before. 

       Those who believe that each day was at least a thousand or perhaps a million years apart have a hard time explaining scientifically how all those plants lived at least a thousand years without light.  I guess they have faith that God suspended his laws of nature so that all those green things could exist until a thousand years or a million years had passed. 

       Christian musicians often get sucked into this non-literal view of an inaccurate Genesis record which leaves them ripe for all kinds of exotic hypotheses about a theistic evolution.  When one considers something in the Bible to be non-literal then he or she needs to have a concrete reason why it is non-literal.

       Why should we care?  One of the reasons we should care is that if one starts to consider, without concrete logical reasoning, that the Bible record does not mean what it says—then there is no stopping place in such faulty reasoning.  We should remember that the Word clearly asserts that the evening and the morning consisted of one day.  Those who purport that a day is as a thousand years with the Lord are forgetting that we have no reason to assert that when the Word states” the evening and the morning were the third day” that it is in any way referring to a thousand years.  We will continue this discussion tomorrow.

Thought for the day-Believing What God has Said-Part 1

There is a difference between interpreting figurative language used in the Bible in a figurative manner and refusing to believe a direct statement given in the Bible in order to support a person’s philosophy of a Theistic evolution. 

Sewing with the Right Water

Sowing with the Right Water

Psalm 126:5&6 state, “   they that sow in tears shall reap in joy [or with songs of joy].  He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again rejoicing [ranan 7442, i.e. singing], bringing his sheaves with him.”

       This is a precious promise for those who bathe their ministry in tears.   Sometimes we sow and sow and sow in tears and there seems to us that there is no fruit for our ministry.  However, God’s Word promises that they that sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. 

       If you have been praying for a long time for some situation or someone, do not give up!  Psalm 30:5 promises that “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”  The night of trusting God may be a long one, but God is faithful to keep all His promises.  Weeping connotes heaviness of heart and burden of soul, but the promise that we shall doubtless come again rejoicing with singing gives us hope.

       If you are now in the long night of waiting and trusting God, keep praying and keep trusting believing that God will answer your prayers.  Are you patient?  I’m not very patient.  However, I have seen God work miracles in His time.  God knows best; His clock keeps perfect time, and He never slumbers or sleeps. 

Thought for the day—Sowing with the Right Water

Perhaps the tears a Christian Musician sheds in his or her music sowing are proper water for the crop.

Training Our Own-

Training Our Own-

I Chronicles 25:3 states, “Of Jeduthun; Gedaliah, and Zeri, and Jeshaiah, and Mattithiah [and Shimei [mentioned in verse 17], six under the hands of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with a harp, to give thanks and to praise the LORD.”

       This Scripture is a wonderful example of a godly musician in ancient Israel who was wise enough to train his own sons in the “songs of the LORD” (verse 7).  These six sons were “under the hands of” their father.  Praise God, this is a wonderful example of a musician who took time for his own family’s music education.  He did not send them to the Philistines to receive their music lessons. I believe that he had musical “massa” (4853) or burden for the musical training of his own household like Chenaniah mentioned in I Chronicles 15:22. 

       The concept of training our own is not only an Old Testament concept but also a New Testament principle.  I Timothy 5:8 states, “But if any provide not for his own [kindred-cf. Cambridge KJV], and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”  Although this N.T. verse does not specifically mention music education, I believe the conception mentioned here is broader than the care of widows.

       I am amazed that so many parents who love and serve the Lord do recognize the great need for the next generation to be “instructed in the songs of the LORD”.  Many parents who are not Christians are more consistent in training their children musically than Christian parents.

     One more concept is note-worthy in this passage of Scripture.  Jeduthun prophesied (to sing by inspiration) with his harp.  It is significant that he sang by inspiration, but it is just as important that he taught his six sons to prophesy with their musicing unto God.  He taught his sons to give thanks i.e. hold out their hands in avowal and thankfulness to God.  He also taught them to praise (halal 1984) and to show or to boast of the self existent, eternal God.

       Are your children being trained under your hands i.e. under your supervision and tutelage?  Are you personally mentoring them in how to music unto God?  Are you teaching them by example how to praise and thank the Lord through music making?

Thought for the day-Training Our Own Sept 15

I believe that it is the responsibility of Christian parents to instruct their children Christian music teacher as a proxy. 

Jesus Expects Our Help

Jesus Expects Our Help-

Mark 6:35A states, “He [Jesus] answered and said unto them [His disciples], give ye them to eat.”

       After Jesus taught the people, his disciples wanted Jesus to send those He had taught away so the people could go somewhere and buy something to eat.  The disciples were overwhelmed at the enormous task of feeding about 5,000 people.  The job was too costly and too big for them, but it was not too big for Jesus.

       Christian musicians are often just as overwhelmed at the tasks before them.   Eighty thousand dollars for a new organ, seventy-nine thousand dollars  for a new piano, two Sunday morning  worship services, an adult choir, a youth choir, a children’s choir, an Easter pageant, and a Christmas Production with a special choir ,orchestra, sets, lights and drama are definitely too much pressure and too taking. 

       It often seems that Jesus is saying ‘do it all yourself”.  What we often forget is that He does expect our meager “five loaves and fish” but when we present them to Jesus, HE BLESSES our work and HE provides for the five thousand.  Jesus takes whatever we have and when He has blessed it is enough and it will be sufficiently proper to accomplish the ministry task. 

       It is our job to give of our best to the Master, and it is His job to bless our musical ministry so that it will be efficacious.  Jesus did say that it is our responsibility to feed the souls of those who attend our worship services.  However, He does not expect us to do it with our own strength or power.  We are required to give Jesus all that we have but we must remember that our musicing will accomplish the desired task if we will let him bless and break it so that will feed all those who attend our worship services. 

Prayer for the day-Jesus Expects Our Help

I am asking you Lord to forgive me for misunderstanding You and trying to do your work in my own strength.  I need and want your help.  Here is my musical lunch.  It is meager but it is all yours.  Please break it, bless it, and feed the hungry multitude.  This I Pray in your strong name.  Amen. 

Song for the day—“Take My Life and Let it Be” by F.R. Havergal 

 

Thought for the day—Jesus Expects Our Help

Jesus will never ask more than you are capable of giving. 

Ancient Hebrew Singing Recorded in the Bible—part 3

Ancient Hebrew Singing Recorded in the Bible—part 3

          The question of importance to Church Musicians today is, should we or should we not use women in church music?  Should we consider the purported disuse of women in the music of Temple worship, and the Biblical silence about women in public worship as "proof" that women should not be used in church music today?  The Bible is silent concerning the use of women in Temple worship.  However, this silence does not implicate that women should not be used in church music today.  Remember that part of the reason that women were not used in Temple music was because of the type of music they sang and played and the association of women's music with harlotry.  However, the ancient customs of Israel concerning women did not allow for them to be used as Temple musicians.  It is safe to conclude from the research that there is no Biblical evidence to cause us to exclude women from church music today.

Thought for the Day

The New Testament statement in 1 Timothy 2:12 that is not proper to let a woman “usurp authority over the man” is not any form of New Testament prohibition of the use of women in twenty first century church music.

Ancient Hebrew Singing Recorded in the Bible—part 2

Ancient Hebrew Singing Recorded in the Bible—part 2

          The discussion of who and to whom music should be sung reveals that there is a multiplicity of reasons for singing unto God.  The Bible teaches that that there is a universal responsibility for all to sing unto God.   Those who consider religious music to be merely a vehicle to display the church musician’s talents misuse sacred music.  Rather than using it as a vehicle of communication with God, they reduce its mission and purpose to a mere hocking of a talented (or not so talented) musician’s musical wares.

          It is no doubt true that women were excluded from participa­tion as Temple musicians in both the first and second Temples.  This does not infer that women musicians were inferior in talent or intellect.  There is evidence that it was the customs of ancient Israel and the type of music that women performed which kept their species of music separate from that of men.  I have not found any implication from the study of music in the Bible that women should be excluded from church music today.

Thought for the Day

A study of sacred musicing in the Old and New Testaments reveals that sacred musicing was not conceived by the ancient Hebrew musicians to be an art form to be consumed on the church musician’s desires.

Ancient Hebrew Singing Recorded in the Bible—part 1

Ancient Hebrew Singing Recorded in the Bible—part 1

          When a musician studies learn singing in the Bible, he or she will learn that vocal music was without doubt the most important component of ancient Hebrew music.  Ancient sacred music was conceived as a handmaiden of the "word of God".  Also, singing and playing are mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments.

          The study of Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs reveals a special responsibility for church music to be theologically sound.  As I have studied sacred music in both the Old and New Testaments, it has become apparent that it was a vehicle for the word of Christ.  As one makes application to church music in this century, it becomes apparent that it may become a means of grace to the Christian.

Thought for the Day

Christian musicians who suppose that studying ancient sacred musicing mentioned in the Bible to not be relevant miss a tremendous opportunity to gain an understanding of the relevance of sacred musicing.