My last post – Standing in the Gap – was about intercessory prayer. Specifically, as I have experienced it, it is praying as someone, rather than for someone. It is a powerful form of laying down your life for another, of agape love. And I have experienced the deep joy of being the receiver of such prayer as well as playing that role for others.
If you have been reading my posts, or if you perused the pages of my Perils and Pearls blogsite, you know that music is integral in my experience of faith, God, and life in general.
I have a music page on my site for sharing the tunes and lyrics that move me. The name I gave that page is Sing My Way Thru, which accurately articulates how music is essential in my journey, and it has always been a primary channel of expression for me – that includes, singing prayers, or intercessory worship.
Music with a meaningful message can pull me through the toughest of times, as well as become an outlet for expressing my gratitude or joy.
It is also a means of supporting others for me. When I sing prayers for others, (many times it is scripture put to music), I am holding up their weary arms to God as they wait on Him to hear and answer their heart’s cry. I’m singing them thru.
I shared in my last post how it took time to learn and grow comfortable in praying for others, and then experiencing what it is to intercede for another. But what came more naturally for me, was finding prayers in (sacred) music.
As an Enneagram Practitioner, I believe that each of us identify, albeit uniquely, with one of the nine Enneagram Types; and likewise, I believe we are unique in the channel(s) of communion with God in which we are most comfortable.
Some people, like me, find an easy flow with using faith-filled music for relating our emotions and cares to God, and hearing His voice. Others prefer scripture reading and meditation as their go-to communication channel. While there are other faith-followers who feel closest to God in silence, or being in nature. I love picturing God being delighted by whichever channels each of us feels comfortable with in communing with Him!
When I enter God’s presence through worship music, someone may come to mind who is experiencing something similar to the writer of the song. I then picture the person singing this song, this expression of their heart cry, to God. Just as in intercessory prayer, I am singing as the person, rather than for the person. I am supporting them by singing prayers, or intercessory worship, pleading their case to God in their stead, through the message of the song lyrics.
My communion channel becomes my community channel!
I know I have felt the exhaustion – mind, body and soul - of a hard battle, or a long dark night, where my arms felt too weak to raise to Him. For instance, during over a decade of chronic pain, I had many times where the wear-down of the constancy and daily debilitation of pain brought me to doubting God’s goodness and good plan for me.
And yet faithfully, He would put my cause on someone else’s heart to pray, to lift my weary arms up; and upon hearing of their vital vigilance on my behalf, I would receive His reminder that He will never leave me nor forsake me – even when my feelings or fatigue tell me differently.
Here is a great story that creates a palpable word picture for the power of holding up the arms of another when they are in a battle of some kind and have grown weary:
Lifting up the arms of Moses – Exodus 17:8-13
The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”
So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.
When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.
Thank you for allowing me to share an intimate part of my faith journey - the channels of communion and community that come easiest for me. I hope this and the last post have stirred your curiosity about the many modes we have for expressing and nurturing our relationship with God and our love for one another as we walk out our daily lives.
Wondering....Do you have an awareness of your go-to channel(s) for communing with God? Can you describe it? How might you develop it further?
Here’s a resource if you would like to explore this topic further: Sacred Pathways: Nine Ways to Connect with God (by Gary Thomas).
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Blessed to play a part ~
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