The LORD will surely save me; so we will play my songs on stringed instruments all the days of our life at the house of the LORD. Isaiah 38:20.
Your statutes are my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. Psalm 119:54.
Now these are those whom David appointed over the service of song in the house of the Lord, after the ark rested there. 1 Chronicles 6:31.
You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. Psalm 32:7.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Have you ever thought about making your house a house of song? A household of faith should be a house filled with song. David appointed those who were to sing before Me and he called it the “service of song.” A ministry unto Me. Amazing things happen when you minister with song.
Why? What is so special about song? Heaven is filled with it and My Kingdom is one of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. So it just may be that singing songs of the Spirit puts you right, gives you peace, and fills you with joy. Do you recall how My apostle Paul advised you to get filled with the Holy Spirit? By “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:19.
I sing. I tell you this many times. I surround you with songs of deliverance. Psalm 32:7. I sing joyfully over you as one does at festivals. Zephaniah 3:17. And I tell you that I brought forth My people out of the slavery of Egypt with joyful singing. Psalm 105:43. When the prodigal son returned the father had music and dancing. And what book do you find in the middle of your Bible? The Song of Songs. It is My love song to you. It is the song of the Great Romance.
When you hear that a church is having praise and worship, what do you immediately think they are having? Music. Singing. When someone tells you, “Let’s praise the Lord,” what do you think they usually mean to do? Sing praise songs.
And what was David’s way of thanking Me, sharing his thoughts with Me, and giving Me praise? Song. Singing with instruments. And that was one of his primary projects when he became king, instituting songs of praise, thanksgiving, and prophetic utterance before Me at all hours of the day and night without ceasing. Under David, it became the ministry work that employed 288 Levites for 365 days a year 24/7. They were trained to sing My songs in My house. And you will note that under David no enemy was able to defeat Israel and they had the best period of their history, a truly golden period, from their entrance into the Promised Land till this day that they are back in it again.
Hezekiah and Jehoshaphat both employed David’s technique and won victories with joyful songs of praise. 2 Chronicles 29:20; 2 Chronicles 20:22. Nehemiah knew, and he reinstated the singers with the instruments of David to begin the ministry of song before Me when he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah 12:46.
And as you go down the ages, you will come to My apostle Paul. And at midnight in a prison, you find him singing hymns of praise. And you know the result. When the praise goes up, then the gates fly open and the chains are broken. You are released from the prison of darkness into the victory of My marvelous light.
But it is not easy to sing praise when everything looks lost and you are in pain. But that is when you need to sing with Me the songs of deliverance. And that is what Paul and Silas did. They were in pain from a beating and they were chained to the floor of a dungeon, but they understood the power of strategy.
David would sing for joy under My wings until harm passed by. “For You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.” Psalm 63:7. It put him in a secret place. A house of song. A tabernacle of praise. Psalm 27:6.
Why is it that song is so special to Me and should be to you too? Very simple. It shifts the atmosphere and puts on higher ground. Remember what David sang about what I did when he was in trouble? “He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear and will trust in the LORD.” Psalm 40:1-3.
David said he would wake the dawn with his song. Song lifted the darkness. It changes an atmosphere from fear to faith, from curse to blessing, from darkness to light, from sadness to joy. It removes the spirit of heaviness by putting on the garment of praise. It takes you to a higher level. I inhabit the praises of My people. When united praise went up, My glory would fill the temple. It becomes the wavelength of connection. You just cannot be depressed and sing songs of joyful praise at the same time. The depression has to go.
When Satan had the enemy forces united to take down Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat prayed and then put the choir on the front line to take down the enemy. And the united enemy became divided when the songs of praise went up and they fought one another rather than Judah. Songs of praise confuse and confound your enemies. The song of praise and thanksgiving had shifted the atmosphere from fear to victory.
And what are those on the higher ground of the Highway of Holiness, the superhighway of the redeemed even in this world, doing? You probably know already. They reach their goal of Zion, My dwelling place, with joyful singing. “And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” Isaiah 35:8-11.
Do you see how they enter My presence and shift the atmosphere? Singing. Then gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. That is an atmosphere shift. All by singing the songs of the redeemed. And you will note, the devil cannot go there. When you are singing praises you are in the secret place of My hand no evil can snatch you.
I love you. Enter My presence with joyful songs and shift the atmosphere up to realms where joy unspeakable and filled with glory reigns. And while you are making your house a house of song, also make it a house of joy, a house of shalom, and a house of the Book. My Book. Beth shir, Beth sasson, Beth shalom, and Beth sefer.