Ephesians 5:18-20 ESV
“…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, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Colossians 3:16-17 ESV
“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 whatever you do, in word or
deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the
Father through him.”
Testimony
Beginning April 6, 2011, through January 16, 2020, the Lord
Jesus gifted me with the ability to write 185 such songs as what are described
in these two passages of Scripture, and for the full purpose for the
encouragement of the body of Christ, and for no other reason. These are not “top
of the chart” songs by modern definitions. They are very simple songs of faith
expressed in very simple ways, and they are all in the public domain. I profit
nothing from any of them, but only that I may encourage the body of Christ.
What the Scriptures Teach
Now I believe that many modern-day gatherings of the church
are missing out on what these two passages of Scripture are teaching. For what
is happening in many of these gatherings is that we have hand-selected singers
and instrumentalists who pick out the songs for the congregation to sing for a
time of “praise and worship.” But that is not what these two Scriptures are
talking about. For the songs these verses are speaking of are to be sung by us
to one another, for each other’s encouragement.
And they are to be songs that the Lord gives us to write
and/or to sing or to speak to one another which teach the biblical principles
taught in the Scriptures, but not just to make one another feel good, but for
the instruction and training in righteousness and in holy living of one
another. For we are instructed in the Scriptures that we are to exhort one
another daily so that none of us are hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. And we
are to speak the truth in love to one another so that we are not led astray by
people in their deceitful scheming (Hebrews 3:13; Ephesians 4:11-16).
And we are all gifted of the Spirit of God with spiritual
gifts, including song writing and singing, and we are all given our parts in
the body of Christ by God, and we are all to be ministering to one another so that
we remain faithful to our Lord, so that we walk in fellowship with him, so that
we obey his commandments (New Covenant), and so we live holy lives pleasing to
him, and so that we no longer walk (in conduct, in practice) in sin. And this mutual
encouragement happens when every part is working properly as it ought to be (Romans
12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; Ephesians 4:11-16).
So, this is an encouragement to everyone reading this to be
about the work of the ministry to which all believers in Christ are called to
do. The gatherings of the body of Christ are for this purpose that we might
encourage one another and that we might provoke (stir up) one another to agape
love – a love preferring what God prefers and is based in moral preference – and
to good deeds, the works God prepared in advance that we should walk in them
(Hebrews 10:19-25; Ephesians 2:10; Titus 2:14).
One of the Songs the Lord Jesus gave me to write in 2012:
This passage from
Isaiah 55 is an urgent call to come to or to return to the Lord and to be
restored to a right relationship with God. The people, evidently, were
complacent and settled in their worldliness and wickedness, like some of us may
be today. So, God asks us why we waste our money and energies on what will
never satisfy us. He counsels us to come to him, and to receive his living
water welling up in us unto eternal life, i.e. the Spirit of God, or else to
receive spiritual refreshment and renewal.
The call is urgent,
because we never know if we have tomorrow. We must turn from our sins and turn
to God via faith in Jesus Christ. God’s word will be fulfilled. He will pardon
our sins when we turn from our wickedness, and we experience his grace and
mercy. Then he will restore us and will bless us with great spiritual
blessings. The return to God will be accompanied by much joy and peace and will
produce much spiritual fruitfulness to the glory of God.
Seek the Lord
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Based off Isaiah 55
“Come to Me all you
who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and
eat what’s good today,
And your soul will
delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and
you will live.
I have made an
eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of
the Lamb.”
Seek the Lord while
He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked
forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the
Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons
him.
“For My thoughts are
not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My
ways,”
declares the Lord,
our God.
“My word that goes
out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return
to Me unfulfilled.
My word will
accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal
I intend.
You will go in joy
and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will
burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees
clap their hands.”
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