I hope you’ve been enjoying my posts recently, I’m slowly but surely starting to enjoy this whole writing process. In this post, I’m going to attempt to paint my view on a topic we are all too familiar with, and that’s MUSIC! And then transition into some spiritual truths. One of the most pre-eminent elements in society is music, right? I’m sure we all have our favorite tracks stored up on our devices. Everyone has their own sense of music. We’ve got several genres of music as well— classical, rock, contemporary, progressive, EDM and so on. What’s your favorite?
Hold that thought…
Music & Lyrics…
If we voyage through History, we see how music has played such an impact through time. Let’s go back a bit and take a journey through the decades…
In the 60’s… we had some classics like ‘Hey Jude’ from The Beatles and the Rolling Stones and many more…
In the 70’s… we had ‘Another brick in the Wall’ by Pink Floyd, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen and many more…
In the 80’s… came Phil Collins with ‘Another day in Paradise’ and ‘Born in the USA’ by Bruce Springsteen and many more…
Then came the 90’s… with bands like Pearl Jam and ACDC…
In the 00’s… remember ‘21 Guns’ by Green Day, ‘Yeah’ by Usher, ‘I gotta feeling’ by Black Eyed Peas and many more…
And Very recently… we’ve had the likes of Gangnam Style by PSY, the groovy Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars, Shape of you by Ed Sheeran and Despacito by Luis Fonsi- which is currently the most watched video on Youtube. Before I forget… Drake as well! (KIKI…)
Here’s what I’m trying to get at— each generation relates to a tune, each of us have our favorite jams too right? There’s a beat we all can relate to. When it comes on the radio or any public setting, there’s this familiar expression on everyone’s face and it gets everyone going. Especially when a song gets released and hits the charts, we all tend to binge on it. After a while, it gets inscribed in our minds and we tend to hum it subconsciously. Can anyone relate to what I’m saying…?
Let’s talk about Lyrics for a moment, over the course of time, there have been some famous lines written. Lyrics carry something. Somewhere, in the depth of our soul, we can all relate to the words of a song. It usually takes us on a journey, partnered with emotions of all kinds. I’m sure you can relate to what I’m trying to say. Eventually, we tend to remember these lyrics and sing along when it comes on.
All this being said, I want to bring up another genre/type or another sound. There is a sound when released, brings about a revival, an awakening… and that’s Praise & Worship! So, what is Praise & Worship? To me, it is simply an expression of our reverence and adoration to something that takes a prominent position in our lives. You see, we all Worship whether we know it or not, there is that one thing that seems supreme. For some of us, it may be our jobs or relationships, or even our digital screens we’re all so wired in. Here’s a question to ask— what is on your throne? That, in essence, is what we worship. But now, I want to make a spiritual transition…
Praise & Worship
Here’s the thing, from the very beginning of time, we were created to release a sound to Heaven. God intended for us to release a sound to Him (see Psalms 150:1-6). This was our original design. In fact, Psalms 106:5 says “Let EVERYTHING that has breath Praise the Lord”. Now, before we go any further, you can ask, is there a difference between Praise & Worship, if you dig deep enough, yes there is, but I’ll not address that in this post. If you’re interested, you can read about it in Chapter 6 of the book— Foundations, Track 1, it’s a free resource from our Church Website (All Peoples Church, Bangalore). However, what I’m trying to say is this must be our heartbeat, our focus, and our anthem. Somehow through sin, spiritual blindness and busyness, we have forgotten what it means to release this Sound to heaven.
There is so much that happens when we Praise & Worship. God is enthroned when we Praise Him as a people (see Psalms 22:3). Meaning, when we come together and Worship, God is right there bringing forth all of His Kingdom. There is so much freedom, liberty, joy etc. I just cannot do justice to through this short post on all that God brings to us when we Praise and Worship our King. One of my go-to books in the Bible, the Psalms, also keeps this topic as a common theme.
A couple of Instances from the Bible…
King David can teach us a lot about Worship. David had this uncanny attitude to Praise & Worship God whenever he could. In the Psalms, we see David worshipping God in his peak and in his absolute worst. He would worship God with an undignified heart, scripture even mentions him dancing before the Lord with all his might (see 2 Samuel 6:14). He made Worship his everything, regardless of who he was or what he did! Something we all can learn and inculcate…
Acts 16:16-34, one of my favorite passages in context to this topic. Paul & his buddy Silas are in prison for no fault of theirs. Which tells me, at times, this is a team effort, we need some close friends even in prison to Praise & Worship our King. The text says at midnight they decide to release a sound in the form of song and hymns towards heaven in that dark place. This passage goes on to mention about chains falling off, not just for Paul & Silas but to everyone in that place. That’s that power of releasing this sound!
Beyond Music & Singing…
When you hear the word ‘Worship’ or ‘Praise’, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? In most cases, there’s this image of people together in a gathering typically a church setting with a band leading them right? While this is a crucial aspect of our spiritual journey, I want us to get a bigger perspective on this topic. Worship is not just limited to Music & Lyrics. We can Worship God in the simple, ordinary, mundane things of life; in the very words we speak; in our actions; in our relationships and so on. In essence, we can worship God in EVERYTHING we do. This is true Worship to me (see Romans 12:1-2).
In Conclusion…
Our Generation needs an anthem, our Generation needs a sound. May this be our Jam so to speak, may this be the heartbeat of our soul. Not just for a moment, but consistently, in our everyday living. We were in fact called before the foundation of the Earth for this High calling.
I know at times it can be dry, you may not have the ideal surrounding, but can I encourage you, let it start with you, we’ve got to start somewhere, Zechariah 4:10 says— Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin. God Honors your Worship, no energy spent towards Him will go unturned or unheard. That should give us the confidence to Praise & Worship our King no matter what. Further, the world needs to experience this kind of Worship that we have access through Christ Jesus. May we be the Instruments of Praise in our society, city, country and the world.
I’m praying that this would be our song & story…
I hope you have been blessed with this short post. Feel free to share this with friends and family.
God Bless!
– Sam D. Mathews
Worship and praise is a beat that is relevant to every generation, can be used in any season and doesn't need a reason, and is free for every person. well written, Sam!