Worship is important to God. If you read any description of Heaven out of the book of Revelations, it describes constant worship going on around the throne. It is during worship that we become close to God, that our spirit communes with His Spirit. It's a vital part of centering ourselves. Really.
As a musician who's written and recorded a lot of music, I feel successful when I can make you feel the same spirit I was feeling when I wrote the song. If I was depressed, & I write the right kind of song I can make you feel depressed. Nine Inch Nails. If I was angry, I could get you to feel the same kind of anger. Rage Against the Machine. If I was in lust, I could get you to feel lost. Girls girls girls Motley Crue. when the Bible talks about discerning spirits, it's important to discern the spirits on the music you're listening to. It's a spirit, but is it the Holy Spirit?
When we listen to praise and worship music, the spirit that we communicate with is not lust, hate, anger, greed or anything else from the enemy, it's the influence of God in our lives, quietly rearranging our heart, and creating a new heart. The difference between wandering around reciting Tom Petty lyrics in your head, and reciting lyrics that say things like holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come, is not just some cerebral existential idea. It's the difference between involving yourself in becoming part of a lost world, and involving yourself in what's going on around the throne of God right now.
People often ask me how to hear the voice of God. It's simple, cut off the other voices that you're been listening to. Music is certainly one of them. We think of the lyrics, but it's more important the spirit that you're communing with. Listening to praise and worship music cleanses out the junk that was left behind, like dissolving the bad fuel ethanol fuel sludge out of your carburetor. When we stop reciting lyrics that come from spirits of lust and depression, we are open to hearing what the Holy Spirit is trying to say to us. When we suppress the voice of the demon on our shoulder trying to get us to do bad things, we can begin to hear the voice of the angel on the other shoulder speaking the love of God into us.
People tell me all the time that you can be a Christian and listen to secular music. I don't debate that. You can be a Christian and go to strip clubs too. I don't want to be the kind of Christian that barely squeaks into the Pearly Gates as they close, with the smell of fire on my clothes. I want to be the kind of Christian that leads a triumphant army up to the pearly gates and they throw them open wide and tell me well done good and faithful son. Who are you trying to be?
It comes down to do you want to waste time listening to things that don't strengthen you as a warrior of God, or do you want to spend time doing what Paul calls sowing to the Spirit? He says one of them will reap decay and destruction, and one eternal life. If you're dead set on being a truly spiritual man of God, full of the Holy Spirit and power, I don't see there being much of a debate here. If you want to live in the blindness of the world and the futility if their thinking be my guest. Or Satan's guest maybe. It's no skin off my teeth.
So let's break down what praise and worship music is. As a musician and a praise and worship leader, I've heard a lot of debate on these terms. Some say praise worse music is fast music, and worship music is slow music. The way I see it, praise worship is music that is talking about what God has done in your life and what you're excited about as a Christian that you're thanking Him for. An example might be the song "I'm Trading My Sorrows" . Worship music is music talking directly to God, about his attributes, music that says things like worthy is the Lamb, holy holy holy. An example might be "Here I Am to Worship", or "How Great is Our God". For the purposes of entering into the throne room and spending time with your father, I feel worship music is highly important, because it echoes the same things that the Bible says are being said around the throne of God right now.
Something I hear from people is, well that's not my kind of music. I like rap, or metal, or country. My response is I guarantee you I can find praise and worship music in any genre. In fact I have 32gb of such music. But I still challenge this as an immature response. Who cares what genre of music it is if it builds you up in your faith and brings you closer to God? The point is that you're doing it. Not that it tickles your flesh a certain way, and the musician wears the same kind of hat that you do.
I practice what I preach on this. Years ago I promised God I would not listen to secular music anymore, because that's what he asked me to do. It's made a massive difference in Who I am as a man, and in my walk as a Christian. I have a little $10 mp3 device that I plug into my cigarette lighter that broadcasts on an FM channel, so that whenever I turn my car on 8gb of praise and worship music of my choosing is automatically coming through the speakers. This way I don't have to go through any hoops of plugging my phone in or whatever, it's automatically on when I get in the car. It helps me to enter into a worshipful state, and it changes my focus without even trying.
I see worshiping God as one of the four legs of a man of God, daily word time, daily prayer time, a regular schedule of fasting, and praise and worship music. I encourage you to pray about whether God wants you to make a choice to avoid the demonic spirits attached to most worldly music, and invest in time with the Holy Spirit through praise and worship.
James Disciple Johnson
Natl President and Founder
Disciple Disciple Christian Motorcycle Club
Quit Wasting Time on Worldly Music http://disciplecmcblog.blogspot.com/2015/02/quit-wasting-time-on-worldly-music.html
