Sing Unto the Lord!!!

My heart is refreshed and excited today. Tonight is our bi-weekly prayer and worship time up in Bella Vista. I have been so busy in the last month and I have truly missed this time of fellowship and intimacy with my King.

I have always felt that when we sing our spirit connects more deeply with God's spirit. There is something about abandoning your self in song before the one you love that draws us closer into intimacy with Christ. Sometimes I think this is only a reality for me because singing is what I love, but deep inside know that if we can get past all of the self-doubt we have when it comes to singing, this connection is true for us all.

Today I was reading my book David by Charles Swindoll and he addresses this concept of singing and intimacy with God. As I read the words my heart was filled with joy. It was a confirmation that we are to sing from our hearts unto the Lord.

I can't summarize what he had to say without taking away from it so I am just going to quote chunks of it.

"I don't think there can be genuine worship without those two elements blending together: the declaration of the doctrines that deepen our roots in biblical truth, and then the expression of our faith in melody as it flows from our lips and our voices in song."

He talks about how music existed before the world was created, in Job it says "The morning stars sang together." The angels were singing in heaven around the throne before the world began. In Revelation it seems we will all be singing around the throne yet again with "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain." Charles Swindoll says "Since there was singing before the earth was formed and there will be singing after the earth is gone, then it stands to reason there should be a lot of singing while we are on the earth, doesn't it?" Martin Luther even wrote these words "Next to the word of God, music deserves the highest praise."

I totally agree with this statement. We should be singing our praises all of the time. But unfortunately many of us only sort of sing along on Sunday morning and we never lift our voice to sing out any other time. "A Spirit-filled saint is a song-filled saint." I agree with this statement by Charles Swindoll every person I have ever met that is truly living a Spirit-filled life know how to abandon themselves in song. Whether they are highly trained like myself or can't carry a tune, they understand the importance of lifting our voice in song to our Lord. They truly have a song in their heart and aren't afraid to sing it out.

This all connects back to David because he was a musician. He was a singer and I don't think it is a coincidence that the longest book in the bible is a book of songs written unto the Lord. "The Psalms are for folks who have decided that music is an art that requires the discipline of keen thinking and a heart that is right before God. It is music for the mature. Is is not a superficial statement. There are a few, of course, that are very popular: Psalms 1, 23, 91, 100, and parts of 119. But for the most part, only the mature spend lengthy times in the Psalms."

As I have grown in my own spiritual walk I find myself spending more and more time in the Psalms. I find encouragement, refreshment, rest, peace, and many other things in the words of the Psalms. I find myself singing parts of Psalms as I go through out my day. As I become more and more mature in my walk I begin to see things and understand more of David's heart cry. I believe that is because it takes someone who is honestly seeking after God's heart to understand the heart of David when he was writing these songs.

"Never mind how beautiful or how pitiful you may sound. Sing loud enough to drown out those defeating thoughts that normally clamor for attention. Release yourself from that cage of introspective reluctance. SING OUT! SING OUT! You're not auditioning for the church choir; you're making melody with your heart to the Lord your God! If you listen closely when you're through, you my hear the hosts of heaven answering back for joy."

God longs to hear our voice. He longs to hear us sing to him. Sing Out! Sing Loud!Don't let the enemy lie to you and tell you that music doesn't matter. That it is just for entertainment. It does matter, music truly touches our spirits whether we choose to acknowledge that or not.