Singing And Making Melody In Your Ministry To God

I wrote the following article back in January on a snowy day for Think Magazine and they ran it in their March addition. The titled of the addition is DO YOU THINK TO PRAY and after it was run Billy Davies called and told me that in the first time of the magazines history all the copies sold out. I was humbled and honored that I could be used by God to bless the lives of others. I hope that you will be benefitted by it so in the word’s of Billy, Bon appétit!

MARCH 2022 THINK By Don Bahr

Singing And Making Melody In Your Ministry To God,

Prayer and song, what a blessed combination! When we approach our heavenly Father with a prayer on our lips and a song in our heart, it is certainly sweet incense to Him, Revelation 5:8-9.

When I think about it, it’s kind of like “Whistling while you work.” A great example of this is Paul and Silas, who even though they were in prison, they “Were praying and singing hymns to God…” Acts 16:25.

James wrote, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise,” James 5:13.

Isn’t it interesting how closely he connected the two?

Throughout my ministry that began in the late seventies, I have always found that the combination of prayer and song has a natural way of complimenting each other. For me it hasn’t been uncommon for my prayers to lead me into the remembrance of a song that leads me to praise my God. When this happens it never fails to help my outlook and overall attitude in my service for the Lord. The neat thing about this is that I have learned that it doesn’t only happen to me. It wasn’t long ago that one of the sisters in our congregation shared with me how her prayers often lead her to sing her favorite song, “Thank you Lord for loving me, thank you Lord for saving my soul.” How often does it happen to you?

Years ago I sang in a quartet known as “The Gospel Sounds” and we made a cassette of our songs. I did say, “Years ago.” Well the neat thing about it is how our oldest son would play that old cassette while driving back and forth from work. I like to think that his days were made a little brighter and lighter with this avenue that helped him focus on God.

When our prayers lead us to sing it’s like “Poetry in motion.” It has a way of getting us more deeply in tune to our heart and thoughts. It has a way to really cause our words to resonate. It has been said by some that, “Singing is to pray twice.” So how well are you at combining these two wonderful avenues in your relationship with God? Have you discovered how your prayers can and do exceed the rafters by the way they have led you to sing? Our congregation is blessed to have a member who is a retired chief of police of our city. Now if anyone had a stressful occupation, I would think that we would all agree that his would top the list. But anyone who knows him would tell you that he always went around town singing. They would also tell you that he is one of the most grounded and pleasant godly men you will ever meet. Now being the humble man that he is he wouldn’t say a lot about himself. If he did, I believe he would say that his prayer life combined with his love to sing praise to God led to him to be the servant of the Lord that the entire community respected.

With all this being said let me ask you when was the last time you had a sweet hour of prayer that led you to sing? If there was a barometer that could measure the level of your faithfulness would it show that your “cup is overflowing” or would it show that you could use a blessed combination of prayer and song?

Let me close with some passages from God’s holy Word that will bless all of us as we combine our prayers with songs in our relationship with our loving Savior: Psalm 40:1-3, 42:8; 1 Corinthians 14:15; Ephesians 5:15-21; Colossians 3:12-17.