Refreshed and Recharged; The Power of A Musician.
Posted in Blog on June 5th, 2007 by MervynWell well well, Emerge has come and past. As much as it is physically draining, it’s spiritually refreshing. With regards to my previous entry, well I got the touch of God that I so badly needed and now I’m raring to go fight another battle again. A few changes in my life will take place which I’m not able to share here… not yet at least.. but my closer ppl already know and yeah it’s for the better.
Anyway, just had a revelation while reading Wikipedia. Yes, Wikipedia. Well, I kinda like to just randomly search on a topic that comes to my mind and I typed Shamgar which somehow led me to King David. Where one portion struck me…
David plays the lyre before Saul
Saul is tormented by an evil spirit. His servants suggest he send for David, “skillful in playing [the lyre], a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence; and the LORD is with him.” So David enters Saul’s service, and finds favour in his sight, “and whenever the evil spirit was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand; so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.
This is the verse on which that paragraph is based on..a little long but take ur time to read.
1 Samuel 16:14-23 (New King James Version)
A Distressing Spirit Troubles Saul
14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the LORD troubled him. 15 And Saul’s servants said to him, “Surely, a distressing spirit from God is troubling you. 16 Let our master now command your servants, who are before you, to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp. And it shall be that he will play it with his hand when the distressing spirit from God is upon you, and you shall be well.”
17 So Saul said to his servants, “Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him
18 Then one of the servants answered and said, “Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, to me.” who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the LORD is with him.”
19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me your son David, who is20 And Jesse took a donkey with the sheep.” loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by his son David to Saul. 21 So David came to Saul and stood before him. And he loved him greatly, and he became his armorbearer. 22 Then Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.” 23 And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him.
See the power of music? Music is essentially a language. It speaks to the mnd,soul and spirit. Especially if it’s played by a spiritual Christian who doesn’t take God’s presence for granted, like David for example. Music that’s from the spirit will directly touch the soul and spirit of the congregation. How important is Praise and Worship? Very. How important is the music ministry? Very. How important it is that the musicians are spiritual? Very. How important it is that the musicians guard their heart and the ministry so that the right spirit is found within the people in the ministry? Very important!
Just feel that God wanted to reassure me that my stepping down from a cell group leader to a musician doesn’t mean that I’m no longer a leader. This passage just shows that the ministry of a musician is just as important as the ministry of a cell leader. The difference? We “preach” our sermons through the instruments we play. The result is still the same - people get ministered!
Another point to add.. If you are still not with the flow of the church and wondering how come some musos dress more rock/funky… verse 18 says David was Handsome. Not shabby. So yes your appearance will play an overall part in your ministry as well. I don’t think I wanna play on stage looking like a nerd, with greasy hair and suspenders with my pants worn high up to my chest level.
So to those who think that being a musician is easy and requires zero spirituality, time to change in your thinking. As someone who has been both, I can tell you it’s just as important…