Music is powerful. Before professional sporting events you often see the athletes wearing headphones listening to their favorite song to get them hyped up to compete. When you are watching a movie and the new couple are in the middle of having a romantic dinner you hear soft music playing in the background to establish the mood. Or it could be music that is playing during the intro to a children television show. Regardless of the type of event, music is very powerful in moving people emotionally. For this reason, we need to be careful what we are listening to because it inevitably end up in our subconscious minds and can move us in any particular direction. As Christians we need to be careful what we listen to so that we are not moved away from Gods call on our lives.
The Power of the Subconscious Mind
Your mind is extremely powerful. It’s split up into two parts, the conscious and the subconscious mind. The conscious mine is the active and the subconscious is passive. What this means is you whatever you decide to say, do and think is a result of the conscious mind. There are also functions that you do on a daily basis that you don’t need to actively think about. These activities are controlled by the subconscious mind. An example of this is breathing, walking, or any habit that you are stuck in (good or bad). Things that you choose to do with the conscious mind end up in the subconscious mind, and eventually they become habits that you don’t need to actively think about doing anymore. You just do them. The reason this is important when it comes to music is because there are things that are said and feelings that you feel in the music that get into your subconscious mind. Once these words, feelings, or thoughts get into your subconscious mind, then then happen automatically and have the ability to control you.
Why is Music Used During Church Worship Service?
When we read Psalm 150 we see why it is important to include music in our worship services. This psalm tells us to use the trumpet, Hark, cymbals and encourages everything with breath to praise the Lord. Though worship is more than just music, music plays a big part in worship. During a worship service the biggest challenge that I think people face is keeping their minds focused on God. Its easy for your mind to wonder and think about other unimportant things or other problems. During worship we should all learn how to discipline our minds to focus on God and not our problems or anything else that may try to distract us. While focusing our minds on God singing of his goodness we magnify him in our own minds and this builds faith that He will see us through our problems or help us concerning anything that we are believing Him for. Depending on the type or style of music played it may bring a different emotion to the song. The words of worship songs should also be in line with scripture. This is where the subconscious mind comes into play.
In Spirit and Truth
Jesus was talking with the woman and the well from Sameria in John 4 and the topic of the conversation shifted into worship. In Jesus’ response, he mentioned the following, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” (John 4:23 ESV)
In these verses Jesus mentioned that worship should be in “spirit and truth”. We have to understand what that means. To worship in spirit means our outward actions reflect our inward devotion to God. Hearts overflow expressed outwardly. To worship in truth means in response to and in agreement with the Word of God. This is where I’m going to connect my earlier points about the subconscious mind and the music in the church. It is difficult to focus your mine to worship God in Spirit and in Truth when in your subconscious mind there is memories of other secular songs and other things that have a stronger influence on you than the spirit of God. If you want to move to the next level in your worship, cut off the secular music, and listen to great worship songs. Discipline your mind to stay focused on the things of God.
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Be blessed