Kingdom Lifestyles: The Way of Singing

"Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! "Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED." -Revelation 5:11-14; 15:3-4

At a young age I started singing in children's choirs, took piano lessons, and started singing in the adult choir by the age of 12. My real passion was the guitar... secretly I wanted to be a rock star one day. I had two older cousins that played the guitar and were in a band, and I absolutely adored them. I got my first guitar when I was 12, a few lessons, then God took me the rest of the way. I began to write music and lyrics. Life has been dark most of my life, I struggled for many years with severe depression, mental issues, learning disabilities, social skills where I didn't make friends easy and as a result I was made fun of most of my childhood. Life was very lonely. God began to comfort me putting lyrics and music into my heart, some new, some ancient from the book of Psalm. King David, a musician and guitar player too, wrote the majority of the Psalms. He knew about loneliness, affliction, and depression even. His cries and music to God were my cries too, his passions and desires about and to God were mine.
20 years later and I haven't stopped singing, I'm still writing music, and have written well over 100 songs. I'm still singing in the choir, and still giving that guitar a strum here and there. If you are Redeemed, if you know Jesus, you sing all the time. We sing songs that angels cannot sing, and sing right along with them sometimes. There is a joy deep in our heart that has to get out. How ever it gets out, we have a hard time being quiet. Singing is an ancient practice, there has been singing before the creation of the world. God is the originator of music, and it's HIS song He puts in us. He is singing along with us and to us. There is never-ending singing in the Kingdom of Heaven, it hasn't stopped, and so there is a never-ending song in us whose hearts are full of Jesus. We sing because of what Jesus has done, redeemed us from Adams fall with his own blood, beat death and left the grave, to give us life. We sing because of who Jesus is. The Light who stepped into our darkness, the Word who preached Truth to our sin captive souls, His faithful loving-kindness in our unfaithfulness, He is eternally unchanging, The Healer who binds up our wounds and broken hearts, A friend who is always there.
The discipline of singing keeps us reminded of where we have been, and what God did. This is a song of thankfulness and gratitude, and keeps God on the throne of our hearts, reminding us that we are not God. Singing keeps us in scripture. All throughout The Bible we read of Gods people singing, when we don't know what to sing, scripture is full of lyrics, and connects us to people like Moses in His song of deliverance, Kings, Prophets, Disciples, and Jesus Himself.
There was a time when commoners like you and I didn't have the Word of God. Then a man who was a theologian, singer, and songwriter by the name of Martin Luther came along in the 1500s. After nailing the 95 thesis on the Wittenburg door, he translated the Bible into the people's language, and the birth of congregational singing began. He was determined to restore congregational singing in the German language to the Church. Luthers beliefs were so passionate about music and worship that he wrote these fiery words:

"Next to the word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our hearts, minds and spirits. A person who does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs!"

What are you singing? What is your story and song? What has God delivered you from? Maybe you're like me, a prodigal, you've been living in the pig pen listening to "the grunting of hogs" and want to come home. Tomorrow we will gather in our respective houses of worship and we will sing, come home and sing, but don't let your singing stop there! Open your heart to Jesus and from the depths of it proclaim, I once was lost but now I'm found, this is my story this is my song. You can't loose your salvation, but sometimes we can loose our song and joy. Ask God to give you a song again. Seek the Lord and SING!



Sing to the LORD a new song; Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. Psalm 96:1-2
Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts, Whose name is the LORD, and exult before Him. Psalm 68:4
Sing for joy to God our strength; Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob. Raise a song, strike the timbrel, The sweet sounding lyre with the harp. Psalm 81:1-2
Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, And His praise in the congregation of the godly ones. Psalm 149:1
Break forth, shout joyfully together, You waste places of Jerusalem; For the LORD has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. Isaiah 52:9