Worship Wars - The Style of Music

It is hard to find the perfect balance between old and new songs without getting into "wars." That is why our focus HAS to be on the Lord and not on the STYLE of the song. If a song leads us to the King, then it doesn't matter what song it is - the destination is more important. The songs and music are the vehicles that carry our hearts into the presence of the Lord. Church culture, national culture, different generations, etc. all influence what style of vehicle we like...but if we reach the destination of God's presence then we have achieved the primary goal of worship. 

It is possible to have authentic worship with contemporary styles of music, ancient hymns...or no music at all. Whatever songs are able to take your congregation on a journey into God's presence are the "right songs" for your congregation. Worship is not about the music - it is about pouring our hearts before the Lord and communing with Him. We should "fight" to have the presence of God - not to have our particular style of music.

Our problem comes when we fall in love with the Lord as we sing various songs. Those songs become our "friends." they take us on the journey into His presence again and again. Subsequent generations come along and their "friends" are different - they discard our old songs and strike up with new songs that are foreign to our ears. That is why younger people need to have RESPECT for older saints and older folks need to be CHAMPIONS for the music and sounds of subsequent generations. Bottom line: focus on the King - the destination of worship...not on the music which is simply a tool to take us to His presence.

Music Out of Garbage

This is one of the most amazing videos I have seen in a long time. It shows children from a landfill (garbage dump) in Paraguay, South America, who have made musical instruments from the garbage and learned to play them. This is such an inspirational story – I hope you take the time to watch the whole thing (11:45 mins long)

The name of the orchestra is Landfill Harmonic (great name!)

It makes me think about all the things we take for granted in our lives. What a privilege it is to play music – we even take the gift God has given us for granted sometimes. These children literally turn garbage into a beautiful offering:

I am challenging all of us as worship musicians and singers to look at this and see if we sing and pay before the Lord with this amount of passion. Do we have hearts that play out of sheer gratitude that the Lord gifts us with music and we have the privilege of serving with our talent?

Psalm 150

1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary;

Praise Him in His mighty firmament!

2 Praise Him for His mighty acts;

Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!

3 Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;

Praise Him with the lute and harp!

4 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;

Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!

5 Praise Him with loud cymbals;

Praise Him with clashing cymbals!

6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 41:1

Blessed is he who considers the poor;

The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble

Music Is A Friend That Leads Us To God

Ps. 59:16 But I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; For You have been my defense And refuge in the day of my trouble.

The Lord uses any and every means possible to reveal Himself to us and win our hearts. Think about how much we love music and how often He reveals Himself through it. Music stays with us through the day and continues to sing in our heart – reminding us of truth and drawing us to worship…so I say:

God gave us music to be our friend…

So that through music

We could make God our friend

Dios nos dio la música para ser nuestra amiga ...

Para que así que a través de la música hagamos

nuestro a Dios nuestro amigo
(Thank you Josue Valero for translation
I would love to see this in Norwegian...please...Astrid?)

Ps. 71:23-24 (Message) When I open up in song to you, I let out lungsful of praise, my rescued life a song.

All day long I'm chanting about you and your righteous ways, While those who tried to do me in slink off looking ashamed.

Christmas Music

I just wanted you to see/hear some excellent Christmas music that my friend Richard Oddie posted on You Tube yesterday.

Check this out:

If the clip doesn't play for you - go here: Richard Oddie

There are other guitar selections from Richard right here: More from Richard 

Richard is a great prophetic artist. This is just one of many instruments he plays. I'm so proud of my friend!