“I was blown away by the singing from the very first song!”
That was the testimony from one of our men who attended Men’s Prayer Advance for the first time last week. Singing is one of the blessed ingredients of three days of the Advance in accordance to the Word of God.
Psalm 13: 6 – I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Psalm 30:4 – Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
Psalm 47:6 – Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises.
Psalm 89:1 – I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 149:1 – Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.
Acts 16:25 – And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
Colossians 3:16 – Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
There are two threads woven through these Scripture passages. First of all, singing is mentioned in each verse. The second the point of this blog post. These and many other references found in the Bible mention men who sang. Some of these were David, Heman, Ethan, Jeduthun, Asaph, Paul, Silas and a host of others! These men were not weak men, but men of God who fought, endured hardships, and stood for righteousness!
Men should be the spiritual leaders in every area of the Christian walk, and therefore, we should also be the leaders in singing praise to our God!
In John MacArthur’s commentary on Ephesians 5:18-19, (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Ephesians [Moody Press], p. 256) he writes, “The first consequence of the Spirit-filled life that Paul mentioned was not mountain-moving faith, an ecstatic spiritual experience, dynamic speaking ability, or any other such thing. It was simply a heart that sings.”
“Joyful, exuberant, heart-felt singing is one evidence that a church is Spirit-filled.” (Steven Cole, Spirit-Filled Singing, Bible.org)
Imagine being in a group of 500-700 men lifting their hearts and voices in song to God in praise and thanksgiving for Who He is and what He has done!! That’s Men’s Prayer Advance! Every service is one of anticipatory, expectant singing that causes you to long for Christ and the glorious worship in Heaven! Hands are raised, tears flow, shouts of joy ring out as men are edified and encouraged and God is glorified!!
Men, may I challenge you to be th e leader in singing at home and in church? Will you join us this April 7-9, 2022 or January 2023 for Men’s Prayer Advance. I have experienced this gathering over and again, and it is a bit of heaven on this side!
From A Pastor's Heart 