How Will You Start Singing More Today
Encouragement and commandments to sing abound throughout Scripture. Gods people have been singing for millenniaascribing praise, glory, and honor to the only One who is worthy to receive them.
If you want to sing more but dont know where to start, consider these suggestions:
- Create or find a playlist of praise music. Play it often and sing along!
- Complete chores such as washing dishes or folding laundry while singing hymns.
- End your daily devotional time by singing the chorus to your favorite worship song.
- In church, sing boldly since God is worthy of your best effort and you are singing truths to and with your brothers and sisters around you.
As fellow saints, we have the opportunity to participate in this form of worship by singing along. It is one thing we can do today that we will continue to do for eternity. We hope the next time someone asks you if you sing, youll heartily respond with a yes, and youll be able to explain why.
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Singing Follows After Suffering
Because there is coming a day the beginning of an eternity when there will be no more suffering.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
So, every saint, no matter how hard their death, can sing, or say, in that moment:
I trace the rainbow through the rain,and feel the promise is not vainthat morn shall tearless be.
Isaiah put it like this:
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing everlasting joy shall be upon their heads they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Suffering will stop, but singing will not. But suffering will not be forgotten. Because we will sing about it for all eternity not ours, but Christs.
And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals,for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.
Singing will remain, rooted in suffering, forever. The greatest song will always be the song born of suffering. We will never forget the price Jesus paid so that forgiven sinners could sing with everlasting joy.
What Does The Bible Say About Singing As Prayer
1 Sung praise seems to be Gods favorite form of prayer, for the Bible instructs us to sing to the Lord, come into Gods presence with singing, make melody to the Lord, and enter Gods courts in song. There are some 242 such exhorta- tions in the Old Testament alone.
Is singing is another form of prayer?
Singing is another form of prayer. The community is the main celebrant of the Holy Mass. Music Ministers are the ones responsible for choosing the songs for the mass. There are rules to be followed in selecting music for the liturgy.
What did St Augustine say about singing?
5. St. Augustine. St Augustine: To sing is to pray twice.
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When You Sing You Build Up Others
First, you build up fellow believers when you sing:
Note specifically here in Ephesians 5:19 that it says: Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
We see the same thing in Colossians 3:13-16: the exhortation to sing comes on the heels of bearing with one another , forgiving one another , putting on love , being at peace as one united body of Christ , and teaching Gods Word to one another .
When we do what the Bible says and sing together as a church family, we are hearing confessions of faith all around! We are hearing hundreds join with us and sing, In Christ alone, my hope is found! We are hearing hundreds of testimonies of faith all around us!
Also know that as you sing, youre helping unbelievers. In Psalm 105:1-2, the Lord is calling the Israelites to be a light unto the nations, and to do this he tells them: Sing to him, sing praises to him tell of all his wondrous works!
Think of the impact on someone who doesnt know Christ to hear those hundreds of testimonies, those hundreds of confessions of faith as we sing together! This is why Pastor Tim Keller says in his book Worship by the Book: Good corporate worship will naturally be evangelistic .
The Church’s Ministry Of Song Is For The Glory Of God
The principal direction of congregational singing is to the Lord . Music is made first of all to the Lord and only secondarily to each other. Music should communicate and express a sense of awe and wonder in the presence of God it should lead our thoughts toward God rather than toward ourselves.
God can be glorified by beautiful sounds and spirits may be uplifted by a pleasing melody, but it is primarily the joining of the tune to a text that gives meaning to Christians songs. Not only should both text and tune glorify God and be consistent with each other, but the tune must serve the text. Music is always the servant of the Word.5 Calvin cautioned that we should be very careful that our ears be not more attentive to the melody than our minds to the spiritual meaning of the words.uch songs as have been composed only for the sweetness and delight of the ear are unbecoming to the majesty of the church and cannot but displease God in the highest degree.
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Why Do We Sing In Worship
Do you worry you dont sound good when you sing? God made your voice, so good chance He wants to hear you sing even if you dont think you sing well. Its tempting to worry about how you sound, but thats probably not that important to God.
Singing worship songs with other believers is one of the sweet privileges we have as followers of Christ. Corporate worship unites believers together to sing to God. It builds up the church and reminds us of the gospel thats brought us together as one community. When you worship with other believers, youre saying were in this together.
Another reason we sing in worship is to declare who God is. Psalm 59:16 says, But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. This psalm tells us we sing in worship because
- God is our strength
- Hes our fortress that guards us
- Hes our refuge when were having trouble
God not only wants us to sing, but He explains how we can worship together. Ephesians 5:20 says.addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. . This verse tells us that when we worship, we can worship with
Benefits of singing
44. 1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
How Music Relates To Words
Theres more to say about why God wants us to sing, but first I want to make a few general comments about how music relates to words. When it comes to combining music and words, Christians tend to fall into one of three categories.
Some Christians think that music supersedes the Word, both in its significance and effect. They think that words without music and thats usually a certain kind of music are dry, unaffecting, and unimportant. They say things like, Music speaks to me better than words can, or, I cant worship unless I hear the style of music I like. For these folks, the impact of words is not only helped by music its dependent on it.
We worship a triune God who sings, and he wants us to be like him.
Other Christians think that music undermines the Word. As far as theyre concerned, any time you combine music with words in the church, youre asking for problems. They fear the power that music seems to have over people, so they want to restrict its use.
Augustine acknowledged that struggle in his own soul. In his Confessions he wrote:
I am inclined though I pronounce no irrevocable opinion on the subject to approve of the use of singing in the church, so that by the delights of the ear the weaker minds may be stimulated to a devotional mood. Yet when it happens that I am more moved by the singing than by what is sung, I confess myself to have sinned wickedly, and then I would rather not have heard the singing.
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What Makes A Song A Worship Song
In most worship songs, the balance between rhythm, melody and harmony work like a pie chart. The more complex or larger one piece is, the easier or smaller the others are. Complex rhythms and lots of syncopation can be a stumbling block, but singing everything with a straight quarter note beat is monotonous.
Musical Creativity In The Church Has Functional Limits
Heres another implication: musical creativity in the church has functional limits. The church will always be exploring new and different ways of expressing Gods glory and our response to him. But God did not assign us the task of singing the most radical, cutting-edge, creative music possible. In other words, our personal music collection is not the best place to begin when thinking about what songs we should sing on Sunday. We want to pursue a creativity that is undistracting, a creativity that unites the church around gospel-centered truth rather than dividing the church over musical innovation.
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When You Sing You Obey
Singing isnt an option in Scripture. Its a command:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart
Gods people are more than just invited to sing we are commanded to sing. When we sing, were doing what God asks of us!
Christian Quotes About Singing
Every good gift that we have had from the cradle up has come from God. If a man just stops to think what he has to praise God for, he will find there is enough to keep him singing praises for a week. Praise
God loves to hear your singing so sing.
We may sing beforehand, even in our winter storm, in the expectation of a summer sun at the turn of the year no created powers can mar our Lord Jesus music, nor spill our song of joy. Let us then be glad and rejoice in the salvation of our Lord for faith had never yet cause to have wet cheeks, and hanging-down brows, or to droop or die. Samuel Rutherford
The music of the gospel leads us home.
All of my life, in every season You are still God. I have the reason to sing. I have the reason to worship.
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Theological Reflections On The Role Of Music In Worship
Music and song continue to play a vital role in the life of Gods people today. Contemporary culture and modern technology bring new possibilities and new challenges to the music ministry of the church. Peoples lives are surrounded with musictelevision and radio, the background music of video games, the muzak of shopping malls, CDs, and synthesizers. Yet much of the time music functions as background rather than as an opportunity for serious listening, much less participation. Outside the church there are few occasions or opportunities in North American culture for people to sing together. Much of the popular music composed today is for performance rather than for participation.
The church also has greater access and has shown greater openness to a greater variety of musicfrom classical hymnody to Christian rock, from European cantatas to South African choruses. Such diversity is to be welcomed and celebrated it reflects the diversity and richness of Gods creation. But greater variety and options in music call for greater discernment and care in planning and implementing the music ministry of the church. The people of God sing what they sing and how they sing are important issues.
What Does The Bible Say About Singing Praises To God
Colossians 3 and Ephesians 5 bring this out simply but powerfully, telling us to sing to God and to the Lord because he is the object of our praise. Ephesians 5:19 says, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. It is to him and about him that we sing!
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We Sing For Encouragement
And then thirdly and finally, why do we sing? We sing for encouragement. We sing in order to encourage each other. Let’s look at Acts chapter 16. I need to give you the background here, because I don’t have time to read the whole passage. Paul and Silas are in Philippi. They’re preaching the Gospel and there’s a young girl following them who’s possessed by a kind of spirit, and she’s causing trouble. And at one point Paul turns and he casts the spirit out of this young girl, and more or less heals her.
The people who were manipulating this girl- she was telling fortunes and prophesying and so on and so forth, reading palms and all that kind of stuff. The people who are making money with her were leaders in the city, and they were very angry with Paul. And so they created a riot, to throw Paul and Silas into prison. And so when we read in Acts 16:19-24 we pick up the story and the riot is starting, so it says,
Now, do you think these guys are in trouble? I mean, this is not the era of civil rights. Paul can not say, “Hey, I have my rights.” You know, forget your rights buddy. You are lucky we didn’t kill you right there in the square. We’re prolonging your life a little bit. I mean, they’re in trouble. They’ve got no lawyer, no friends, no money, no defense, no nothing. They’ve been humiliated publicly. They were in big trouble.
Now let’s read the next verse. It says,
But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to praise to God.- Acts 16:25a
Sing Songs That Unite Rather Than Divide The Church
What does this mean for the church? To begin with, we should seek to sing songs that unite rather than divide the church. We should appreciate and, oh, how I do the diverse musical genres and styles that God has given to different cultures, ethnic groups, and generations. But music in the church was never meant to be something for everybody. Thats not what we should be advertising.
Jesus died to redeem a universal choir.
There should be a common musical style that speaks to most of the individuals in our church while occasionally introducing new songs and styles, so that we might appreciate the glory of God expressed in music in new ways. But the most important unifying musical center should be the sound of the people themselves.
God commands us in numerous Scriptures to worship him with instruments . But dwarfing those commands in number are the times God tells us to worship him with song. It seems that the primary purpose for instruments is to support faith- filled, gospel-centered, passionate singing. Thats why I always encourage leaders in the church to take time to sing a cappella, whether its a line, a verse, or an entire song.
The sound that unites the church should be the sound of voices, not a particular music style. When people are focused on that sound and the fact that Jesus has made it possible, style becomes secondary.
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Sing In Times Of Trouble
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them .
Singing in the darkest moments of our lives seems strange. However, its what Gods people should do when we are struggling in literal or emotional prisons. We sing our way free from the bondage of fear and anxietyin doing so, our faith is strengthened to press forward another day.
Singing Can Help Us Remember Words
The first thing music helps us do is remember words. Ever notice how easy it is to recall hymns you sang growing up or a TV jingle from the eighties, nursery rhymes, Christmas carols, or pop songs that you learned as a teenager? Do you ever find yourself singing along to a song you hadnt heard for twenty years?
We store hundreds, literally thousands, of songs in our memory vaults, ready to be accessed at a moments notice. Music has a powerful mnemonic ability that scientists are just beginning to understand. Theyre discovering that our minds are hardwired to recognize, categorize, and remember patterns in music better than we remember patterns in words alone.
For years Oliver Sacks has studied the effects of music on the brain. In his fascinating book Musicophilia he writes:
Every culture has songs and rhymes to help children learn the alphabet, numbers, and other lists. Even as adults, we are limited in our ability to memorize series or to hold them in mind unless we use mnemonic devices or patterns and the most powerful of these devices are rhyme, meter, and song.
In Deuteronomy 31, God himself used music to help his people remember his words. As Israel was about to enter the Promised Land, God instructed Moses to teach Israel a song so that when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness . Singing can help us remember words.
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