praises

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Is Music Worship?

In a day and age where music is everywhere, it should be important to those of us who are true believers to know what is and what is not worship. Sadly, many churches use music as a means to entertain their congregations before we have to get to that “sermon part” again.

In fact, I would posit that if churches were to announce that they are only going to pray and have a time of preaching/teaching that many congregations would disappear.

However, there are a few who believe that music is actually worship and that each in attendance is worshiping from the heart when they sing praises to God.

In this message from January 2016, Pastor John MacArthur addresses this topic faithfully from Ephesians 5 as his text.

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Rejoice!

Sometimes it’s good to look back down
We’ve come so far; we’ve gained such ground
But joy is not in where we’ve been
Joy is who’s waiting at the end

As I sat down to write this afternoon, these lyrics came to mind (taken from the song “Run After God With All Your Heart”). In my case, I am looking back to where my health was from January to April of this year, and I am thanking God for how far He has brought me. It’s easy to still be discouraged when I think that I’m not where I want to be yet, but why would I complain when God is continuing to do a work in my life?

Nobody likes to be around someone who is always down, and I imagine that is true for God as well. As long as everything is going well, we are full of praise and adoration for Him, but when something happens that we don’t like, we grumble and complain and fret. How that must make Him sad! After all, He is still as powerful as He was last week, but we very quickly lose sight of that.

I confess that I do this too often, but I pray to lift up my eyes of faith to see what God is doing instead of focusing on the negative that can cause discouragement and depression. I want to “rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16).

I would like to see every Believer share more praise reports than prayer requests. We have both, and I love to pray for my Brothers and Sisters, but often the needs overshadow God’s goodness. In the midst of our trials, let’s not forget to rejoice because He is good!