Songs of Scripture
I have always been a fan of songs that are singing back scripture. A lot of this probably hit me when I was hanging out at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. I have always had a lot of scripture memorized, mostly out of obligation. But when I got to college, though I wasn’t walking with the Lord, I was still always captivated by reading how God has had encounters with humans.
The other side of me is that I have always been deeply involved in music, and I have always had a love for teaching. And it is widely known that music is amazing for learning.
When I first encountered IHOPKC, I was immediately hit by how it was blatantly obvious what scripture they were meditating on as they had written the song. Some of it was straight scripture.
As worship leaders, this may be one of the most important things we can do. We may not always see ourselves as teachers or preachers, but if we work scriptures into songs, we have the ability to help people remember those scriptures. A lot of the time, I have even had people tell me that they can’t get those songs out of their heads. So it actually allows people to be able to memorize scripture easier.
So wait….So the scripture about whatever is good, right, noble, etc…I can help people do that without them feeling like I preached to them? Yup!
So…where all scripture is Spirit breathed and useful for teaching…and that the Spirit will teach us regarding all things even the deep things of God…I can enter people into that place where they can be taught by the Holy Spirit? Yup! In fact, I have personal stories and I know so many people with stories of gaining incredible insight not through hearing a teacher or studying, but by meditating on scripture and listening to worship music.
It is no wonder that about half of our album, Art of Love, is almost straight scripture. I remember sitting down one day. Elly had pulled out Psalm 139 and was playing some music to it and started singing. We wrote at least three songs right there.
Another time, a friend of mine and I were doing a 7 hour prayer watch. He was going into a time of giving some direction to the watch, and as he came out I started singing Psalm 62 pretty much straight and that became our song, "My Soul".
If you love writing music, but lyrics are hard for you to come by, this is also an awesome way for you to be able to get started doing more writing.
Blessings to everyone. Get a song and worship on.
