Music Dependence?

Hello, blog world! My name is TJ Walton and I’m from Alabama (please don’t be a hater). I’ve read several blogs, but have not done much blogging of my own. I consider the opportunity to write for this blog an honor and I’m thankful for the chance to be heard.

I was talking to a good friend the other day and the topic of our dependence, as Apostolic Pentecostals, on music was brought up. For some reason, maybe because I’m a musician, I got defensive about it. But after thinking about it, I realized that maybe we have become too dependent on music to lead us where we need to be or where we want to be.

We talked about how sometimes, it’s like pulling teeth to get people to raise their hands, clap, shout to God, or even come to an altar without the music. Surely, we’ve all been in a service where there was not music at some point other than the preaching and it felt like there was something missing. This might have made it a little uncomfortable for people to lift their hands and worship freely. Then there are services where it is clear that the music needs to stop and God desires time with just us lifting our voices. You may ask, “Why are you talking about our dependence on music if we still have services like that?” The thing is, those services seem to have become a rare occurrence.

My friend pointed out that it appears Saul would call upon David to play instead of seeking the counsel of Samuel early on, which to him signified choosing music instead of God or God’s Word to help him through whatever problem he was facing. I agreed. It made sense; maybe there is something to this needing the music before seeking God. Please don’t misunderstand. Music is, without question, a way that God truly desires to be worshipped. No one is questioning the significance of all the Psalms or the hymns and spiritual songs cited in our Bibles. There are simply people who are concerned that we may not be able to worship God without music and there are some who are afraid we’ll, eventually, just be worshipping music or the singer/musician instead God.

A lot of people will say that you have to watch musicians because that was Lucifer’s job when he was in Heaven. Some will say that it’s the spirit of music that causes folks to be distracted from God. I firmly disagree! God created Lucifer and God gave him the gift of music. What he did with that music was his choice! So, it’s not the spirit of the music that is our concern, but the spirit of the person playing or singing the music. If you’re a singer or musician, please cover yourself in prayer before you get up to lead your congregation in song. Ask God to not let you be glorified, but to let Him be glorified through you and we will see more of those services where the music stops and it just seems to be God and me, or God and you all alone in the room.

God Bless!