I love the way Jesus set up His kingdom. He makes things easy so that anyone, regardless of position, culture, race, age, or education can pursue Him. But for our fallen, darkened hearts, simplicity is often our worst enemy. The Lord operates His kingdom through principles of such simplicity that very few actually walk them out with consistency. It’s one of these simple principles that is often neglected that I want to talk about briefly. Paul writes:

“…be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.”
(Eph 5:18-21 NKJV)

He’s giving us a huge tip-off to the primary ways we release the spirit of God on our hearts. We all want to feel His presence and power on our hearts more and more. Paul is saying that if we do these things repetitively, we are increasingly filled with the Spirit at the heart level. I want to mostly address the first point Paul makes. He says “do you want a heart that’s tender, clean, washed, and receptive to the presence of God? It’s so simple. Sing.”

The human spirit is musical. Music transcends language and speech. So when we sing with our spirits or we sing the Word of God, it has a dramatic effect on our heart. And when we sing with our devotional prayer language and when the Word of God comes from our own lips, it washes our heart more effectively than any anointed preaching, music or anything else we would hear from another. As we sing, we internalize God’s Word and edify our inner man in a way that is enjoyable, easily repeated and remembered.

We don’t have to wait for the great revival or the right altar call for the Spirit to wash us, we simply need to sing the Word and sing in the Spirit. Paul says “it’s that easy.”

But it’s not just enough to sing with our spirit or to sing the Word. Paul doesn’t stop there. He says “now take your singing and apply it in life circumstances. Actually walk out the Sermon on the Mount.” We must go even further and take our most natural way of talking (complaining, accusing, boasting, either subtly or in a major way) and change it. We need to operate in the opposite spirit and give thanks in every circumstance. We must submit to one another. We must open our heart and do the will of another person. We hate the “back row”, but what Paul is really inviting us into is walking the way that Jesus walked.

I believe giving thanks and submitting to one another comes so much easier when we actually set time aside in our schedule to sing with our spirit and to sing God’s Word back to Him. This is such an easy thing to neglect, and it takes an act of our will to do it. I don’t want to just talk about it and say that it’s good, but I actually want to do it. This is something we need to do with others and do it alone. We need to do it for an hour and do it for 10 minutes. Sing with your devotional prayer language. Sing with your understanding. Sing the Scripture word for word back to God. Sing it in your own words. Make it a prayer. It’s so easy that anyone can do it. But it’s so easy that few actually do it consistently. We can’t obtain a life in the Spirit on the run. We must actually dialogue with the Holy Spirit in a conscious way as we sing. Now when the Lord makes a promise, He means it. Don’t quit after a minute or two because it’s hard. If you stick with it, His promise is that you will be filled with the Spirit in a greater measure.