The Amazing Music

I'm now 55 years old and having been "tinkering" with music for most of my life. I say tinkering because I've never really applied myself to music with it's discipline, etc. I can play some "licks" have a good sense of rhythm, and know how to chord around, though I am musically "illiterate", can't read. I love the joy that music brings and like to sit at the piano or organ and just drift away on a pretty progression or jazz line. It's just exhilarating! I wonder what would have happened if I had really "studied" music. I've attempted it a few times. I had piano lesson for about a year at age 10. Took saxophone in 7th and 8th grade. Took flute lessons in college for about a year. (wanted to be like Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull- glad I wasn't!) and tried taking cello lessons last year for the 3 or 4 months. (might get back to that). I just can't seem to stick with it as a discipline. Maybe I have a little ADD or just would rather make up my own music. Who knows.

One thing I have learned; Music is a gift for us to be able to give back to the Lord. It's an amazing gift which is often perverted into being used to stimulate our own egos. God made it for us to use as a vehicle to bring Him glory. The emotion in it is a good thing and can be used to elicit all kinds of worship to the Lord as the Spirit leads. We can evoke warfare, adoration, repentance, on our face worship, spiritual unity and high praise. I think as we move forward with the Lord we'll see deeper and deeper expressions of worship through music. Another powerful use of music is combining it with prayer and intersession. Creative, spirit led playing can attenuate intersession and prayer and bring it to new heights. In our church we've experienced powerful times of prayer and spirit led music playing.

The Jesus Movement

I remember an amazing thing that happened in the mid 1960's. It was the Jesus movement. It sort of popped out of the hippie movement, which had begun earlier. I think it was a genuine move to the Holy Spirit, but had little guidance and never really became a true work of the Lord. Many people were attracted to it because of the love and peace lifestyle already in the hippie movement, the emphasis on not being materialistic and they just thought Jesus was cool: with the sandals and long hair. (they really didn't get it!) They understood nothing about really being a disciple of the Lord or that he requires us to crucify the flesh and die to self! It was just sort of a cool thing to do: Dress "down", talk softly(as if you're holy), carry your bible, don't do drugs (not always the case), ok to still like rock and roll, and be non- materialistic.
I remember large groups of Jesus people who actually looked the part of how first century Christians may have looked! It was really pretty amazing; to bad it was really a work of man and didn't really have what is took to continue. Sort of a "pop culture" thing or a fad. Perhaps this helped birth the true charismatic movement; I don't know. I think some of us involved in the Jesus movement became Charismatics. I fact I now this happened. So then, we could say that God used this movement to help begin the Charismatic renewal. That's a blessing!