Thursday, May 31, 2007

Psalms

Psalm 47:6-7
"Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing to Him a psalm of praise."

I want to focus on the wonderful gift of music for a few days. God has bestowed this beautiful artform to the human race, and there is no better expression of this artform than to return it to Him in praise as the Psalmists did.

It is an absolute privilege for me to be able to aid in the corporate worship of His body. I am thankful for the opportunity to sing praise to God and inspire others to do the same.

Whenever I am called upon to plan out a service at church, I approach it with prayerful consideration as to what direction God would like it to go. I always try to compliment the message by preparing our hearts for what is to come while bringing all who would come to the throne room of God.

Sometimes God impresses upon my heart early in the planning process a specific message to convey, but there are other times when I don't understand the meaning behind certain choices until I actually get to Sunday morning. It is always a blessing.

What I love so much about singing worship songs is that so often they are quoting scripture and bringing the ancient text alive within my heart. And music is such a powerful tool, that it ties our emotions in with the words of adoration so that it becomes a very memorable experience with the King of Kings.

As a worship leader, I often wonder which songs really aid in people's worship experience. Would you mind sharing which songs really touch your heart? I appreciate your testimonies as to how God may use music in your life to bring you closer to Him.

7 comments:

Julie said...

Sharon, you have such a gift with leading worship! I love this post. I can't really say that I have a particular song that moves me ... a lot of times it's just how God is speaking to my heart that day. What I do know is that I'm thankful for people like you who have a real gift for leading worship in song! Not only do you have the most beautiful voice EVER, you are truly a beautiful person, too! ~Julz

Anonymous said...

I love any song that points directly to the Throne. It's hard for me sometimes to let everything else go on Sunday morning and TRULY worship, so I like songs that speak of God's attributes and take the whole focus off of me and on to God-I need that reminder moment by moment!

And I agree with Julie, you have an amazing talent for leading worship.

Molly said...

I could say so much. You know that, don't you?

Giving worship to God is my favorite thing. He is so worthy. Because I have zero talent in music I am deeply thankful for people such as yourself. My expirence would be small without the body sharing their gifts.

"You are God alone" is one of my favorite songs. Songs that lift up God and down play me.

More than any song choice, I find it is the heart of the worship leader that matters most. Sharon, I know you spend time with God when you lead. Step aside and watch Him work. It's awesome.

Great topic, I will quiet down now.

momaof4 said...

Oh, wow. I have so many, and I don't know the names of them...Darren and i love worship CD's. We have them playing over and over in the car.

When I was in HS, I went to a pretty "outgoing" church. At first I thought they were a bit nuts. But as i grew in my relationship, I soon learned what worship was and that I LOVED worshiping!!! Raising our hands to God, giving it all up to Him. And maybe even a bit of hip movement! (did I just say that?!) It's true. 70% of the church were African American and they know how to move and worship.

I do know I have gotten out of that habit...and miss it. I know that one day again, I will be able to come to church and my focus will be all there. Instead of relief that we even made it there that morning.

Thank you for all you do! I love listening to you sing.

Alida said...

O.k. I have to comment,even though I don't attend the same church as all of you. Just this morning a song from long ago popped into my head for apparently no reason.

I attended Catholic school from 1st through high school. We attended mass every tuesday morning.

As a child my favorite part was the singing. We sang a song called
"We Gather Together."

I think it went like this:
We gather together to sing the Lord's praises.
To worship the King, Jesus His Son.

I've been humming it all day and then I read this post.

Lion Heart said...

Right now my favorite worship song is "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban I can't wait to hear it in church someday! It would be awesome because Brian plays the violin and it would be cool to see him do that more often. I also really like "Oceans From The Rain" by Seventh Day Slumber. I know those two are pretty modern but they are great songs. Oh one traditional church song I do really like is "Amazing Grace". I love hearing and seeing you worship on Sundays you have such a great gift and I'm so thankful you are willing to share that with us.

Lion Heart said...

I re-read your post and forgot to testify as to how God can use music to bring me closer to him. So I would like to add that each of the songs I picked as favorites are songs that remind me that no matter how hard life gets we serve a faithful God who is always worthy of our praise and worship.