Musical Musings

Those of you who know me know I am a musician. I was raised with a rich heritage of appreciation for music, specifically sacred and classical. One of the things I find very unique about myself is the wide range of music that I enjoy and appreciate. I am mostly speaking of Christian music, but different styles. To be honest I very rarely listen to anything but Christian music. Recently when speaking with a teen from our church I told them they could bring their Ipod and sinc it with our new radio transmitter as long as it was Christian stuff. They told me they only had about 5 Christian songs. That honestly concerned me. I know of massive amounts of Christian artists from all different genre's. There are great theologians and a lot of fluffy stuff so you have to be discerning, but there is a lot of amazing stuff out there. My concern is that we fill our minds with good stuff.

When I listen to Christian music.... it is a lot more difficult to be stressed or sin. When I hear words that challenge my heart and direct my thoughts toward God my life pattern adjusts as well. Philippians tells us to think on things that are good, lovely, of good report etc. When I listen to Godly music I am filling my mind and heart with these things.

I want to give you a picture of some of the wonderful music I have been filling my life with the past few years. Like I said I have a huge spectrum of stuff I love, so not all of it may be for you. But my preferences are strongly driven by rich doctrine and beautiful music or powerful writing.

My first favorite is by Sovereign Grace Music, they include rich doctrine with upbeat music and they also do a ton of hymns, some in original forms and some with re-written scores. My favorite songs from them are tied between Oh the Deep Deep Love listen here amp;amp;lt;/p>

(purchase below)and a song called The Father's Love- listen here:

 I love listening to my children sing The Father's Love. I hope they understand and appreciate its meaning.


 One thing that I have had to work to appreciate is Christian rap. Several men in recent years have made it their mission to teach young people deep theological truths through rhythmic verse. It is astounding to me what teens can learn in minutes of listening to this stuff. Some of my kids would never sing a hymn through, but if you give them one of these they will have it memorized in a day. I know some may argue that rap isn't an acceptable method, but I have seen people who fill their minds with this good stuff instead of what they were listening to, and I have seen it highly helpful and instructive. If you want to hear an idea of what I am talking about check out Shai Linne and his expository of Jesus as our High Priest.Listen here
or purchase at amazon below.
 

And I am saving my favorite for last. I absolutely love the Getty's. Their song The Power of the Cross is truly the gospel in a song.

 I have many other favorites of theirs but honestly you would get tired of checking out all the links....so just go buy all their albums. It is worth the money!

Who are you listening to? Are you listening to Christ exalting, God focused music? Who are your favorite artists? Lets share our favorites and encourage each other together to fix our minds on Christ. This is just one of many ways to do exactly that.