The Power of...

There are many powerful forces in this world. Money, influence, intelligence, good looks. All have impacts on various situations. But I believe there is an even more powerful force in the world...

Music.

I think it was Plato who said "If you want to destroy a culture, start with their music".

Many Christians can do a good job of railing against the "ungodly music". However, we forget that any power can be used for good or bad. Music in itself is not evil. Evil music exists. So does Godly music.

Let me share with you two recent good music experiences I have had.

I went to a church leader conference recently where each session began with a worship set. One worship set in particular was absolutely amazing. I can't really put in words how it impacted me, but it was a deep, emotional and spiritual experience. The music was a big part of that. Music that leads our soul towards excitement with lyrics that connect our mind to the King of the universe make a powerful combination. Expert worship leaders can use the power of music to lead others to a place of unexplainable worship. I thought maybe it was just me but all those with me said afterward that the worship session was one of the most amazing of their life. I wondered later how many Christians have ever been in a situation where their whole being: emotional, mental, and physical were so completely engaged in worship.

As we teach our children what it means to serve the Living God, we can't leave worship out of the equation. Some parents may be unprepared to teach their children to worship. Prepare. Find places where you can worship. Take your family with you to concerts that involve worship. Buy worship CD's. And remember that worship is more than music. Worship can be sitting around talking about God. But music is such a powerful tool why not use music to worship God.

That leads me to a more recent music experience. We went to visit family over the holidays and on the way there I was getting tired so I turned on the radio. Besides a few country stations there was not much on so I flipped over to the CD. There was a worship CD playing and as we listened my 3 year old son and 4 year old daughter got really excited. Their mother has done a wonderful job of exposing them to Christian music. As the songs played we had to turn up the volume because the kids were singing so loud. They don't understand the words right now, but they love singing songs about Jesus. It was awesome to hear such young voices so excited about music. I can't take any credit for the event, but what an example of how we can so easily lead our children towards a life of worship.

I want to encourage any parents who read this to make worship a part of your family. Here are some simple steps you can take to make that a reality.

• Engage in worship while in a church service. That means worship and paying attention during the other parts.
• Sit with your children so that they can learn from you what it looks like to worship.
• Get a CD of your favorite worship songs and listen to it in the car with your family. You can find most popular songs on iTunes.
• pray for a spirit of worship to invade your family.
  
• Engineer times in your family where you talk about how awesome God is and what he has done in your life.
• Be a worshiper. Be a worshiper. Be a worshiper. Studies have shown that children pick up on how parents ARE. You can't fake them out. If you want your kids to be about loving Jesus the most important part of the equation is YOU loving Jesus.