Finding Freedom in True Worship

What happens when your rigid beliefs about worship music nearly lead you away from worship altogether? Join me as I recount my journey from the clutches of legalism to the freedom found in true worship.

LINKS FOR TODAY'S EPISODE:
https://www.honestchristianconversations.com/p/season-two/

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Chapters

• 0:00 Overcoming Legalism in Worship Music
• 9:27 Biblically Sound Music Recommendations
• 17:53 Heartfelt Farewell and Prayer

Transcript

Ana: 0:00

Did last week feel like drinking from a fire hose with all the information I gave you? Fear not; today's episode will be more of a sip than a guzzle. Let's get to it.

Ana: 0:21

In episode 3, we discussed some problematic lyrics in popular Elevation, Hillsong, Jesus Culture and Bethel songs. I know it was a lot of information and I'm sure you are still processing it. I get it.

Ana: 0:36

I felt overwhelmed during lockdown to the point that I stopped singing worship at church and at home I couldn't even bring myself to listen to Christian music. This torture went on for a long time until I started noticing a negative change in my relationship with God. I told myself I couldn't worship. I dreaded going to church because I wasn't sure what songs would be sung.

Ana: 1:01

In episode one of season two, I mentioned an audiobook I listened to by the Gettys called Sing why and how we Should Worship. In their book they discuss the importance of worship, what worship really means and who should partake in it, and when. It's a short but impactful read. Through this book, god shook me awake and transformed my thinking about the subject. My anxious heart started to relax and because of it I was able to get away from what was starting to become a self-inflicted legalism trap trap.

Ana: 1:48

Today's episode is meant to be encouraging, as I share how I overcame the near-legalistic mindset I had about the information I was downloading into my brain and heart. After that, I'm going to share some worship songs and bands you can listen to in place of the songs you are leaving behind. I want to say a special thank you to everyone who has listened to this four-part series on true worship. I have enjoyed sharing my heart and the truth with you, and I hope this series has resonated with you and helped you as well. If it has, please share the show with someone you know who would benefit from hearing this information.

Ana: 2:21

Please share the show with someone you know who would benefit from hearing this information. It's important that we care for our loved ones in the same way we want to care for ourselves. This is why I chose to talk about this subject. I couldn't keep this knowledge to myself any longer and needed to share what I was learning with others to help them stay on the right path too

Ana: 2:42

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Ana: 2:43

Legalism If you grew up in the church, perhaps you have heard this word before and know its meaning, but for those of you who don't know, or who grew up in a church where it was never mentioned. Here is the definition Dependence on moral law rather than on personal religious faith. I was blessed to grow up in a Christian family, but I will say that in our Christianity we had some legalistic tendencies. I don't want to throw my family under

Ana: 3:16

the bus either. They were supportive and loving, even still to this day, but we had flaws, as every family does. As I am working on making my spiritual journey my own, I have noticed all the areas where I have legalistic tendencies. I have been able to rid them in certain areas, but some are rooted deeper and I am still working through

Ana: 3:41

them.

Ana: 3:42

When it came to this situation with Christian and worship music, I found myself creeping back into the comfortable, my legalism. My husband was the recipient of all my revelations and new convictions and he wasn't as interested at first in this subject like I was at first in this subject, like I was. He would tell me that he worships God, not the song. While I appreciated that approach, I tried to remind him that you can't worship God with false theology. Since he had different convictions from me at the start of my journey, we would get infrequent arguments that left both of us frustrated and no one bending to the other's will. While he agrees with me on this issue some more now, he doesn't let it affect him in the way that I let this subject matter affect me, because I grew up legalistic.

Ana: 4:39

Ana wanted to please God by doing what was right, and what was right was not listening to bad theology bands and songs. My heart was in the right place, but I was Kristyn about things wrong, because some of those bands still have solid biblical songs and I don't know the hearts of each person in the band singing the songs. Here is my personal conviction in a nutshell I can't seem to bring myself to look past the band and false doctrines in these churches to listen to their biblically sound music. This is my personal conviction that I was trying to force on my husband, some friends and contemplating reaching out to the worship team to share my thoughts with them as well. It's one thing to share information to help enhance someone's life. It's another to do it with the agenda of changing them over to your team just for the sake of making yourself feel better about things. That was not my intention, but you wouldn't have known, by the way I was going about things.

Ana: 5:51

Anna how did you climb out of the musical legalism you created for yourself? I'm glad you asked my friend. I was convicted by God through the audiobook reading of the Getty's book. Kristen Getty has such a wonderful Irish accent I love accents and she has such a heart for God and the spiritual discipline of worship. In the book she mentions how worship is for God and we should do it with our whole being all the time we need to worship, whether we want to, can't sing, or whether we like the song or not. Sure, we don't sing unbiblical worship, but we are commanded in scripture to make a joyful noise to the Lord. If you can't do that because the song isn't biblically sound, then praise him with words and thank him. There is always something to be thankful for. This is my paraphrase of the content of their book.

Ana: 6:54

I realized I was making the worship experience at home and at church about me rather than God. That convicted me so fast, and I was devastated that on my journey to finding truth I had managed to get sucked back into legalism. The Lord set me free to worship him in the way I was intended to, not years ago, not even months ago, but more like a few weeks ago, to be exact, a week before my first episode of season two came out and a week before our church started a three-part series on the importance of true worship. Amazing how God works right With my mindset changed.

Ana: 7:38

I worship God, not the band, like my husband said. Band like my husband said. I Jesus make sure to keep God as the focus, not the songs or how I feel about them, and if we sing Jesus a song that seems unbiblically sound Jesus I will take the time to be quiet and reflective on the goodness of God. At home, I am more intentional about worshiping first thing in the morning. I find it makes my day a little better a lot better actually and my mood. I will sing old hymns that I remember disliking from my childhood because I thought they were old and boring, but now they are my biblically solid best friends. I even hearken back to my teen and early college years, where some of the worship was also biblically sound. The song Heart of Worship is one of my favorites from my adolescence because it defines where I am currently in my worship journey now.

Ana: 8:50

I'm coming back to the heart of worship. When it's all about you, all about you, jesus, I'm sorry, lord, for the thing I've made it. When it's all about you, it's all about you, jesus. It's all about you, jesus.

Ana: 9:25

Those are some powerful lyrics and hopefully resonate with your heart as well. I try to include my children in my worship experience at home too. I ask them which song they want to sing. Usually it's Waymaker, sometimes it's Jesus Loves Me, this is the Day, or the Bible song, the B-I-B-L-E. It's so important for me to share with my kids the importance of worshiping so they have a right mindset about it, unlike I did. I don't want them to struggle like I have been struggling. My eldest son doesn't like to sing. He says he can't. I remind him that the Bible says to make a joyful noise and encourage him to hum a song then, because God is worthy of praise and worship, whether he wants to do it or not. Here's the bottom line, my friends. Music is only half the worship experience. We should be worshiping God in our daily walk from the moment we wake up until we take our last breath. God is worthy all the time. Even if your musical influencer fails, your pastor fails, your spouse or children fail or you fail, God never fails. Now we're going to move on to some solid biblical music suggestions I found throughout the last several years.

Ana: 10:53

Number one the Gettys. They're an Irish family. A lot of their music has a Celtic bent to it, which I love, and if you love it you should check them out. Their songs are very biblically sound and they sing a lot of hymns. Their daughters also will sing as well, which is very adorable. Number two is Shane and Shane. They've been around since like the 90s, I believe. They have a few albums I listen to that I love. They sing different psalms and hymns in those. My favorite song on one of their albums is called Psalm 23,. Surely Goodness, Surely Mercy. I have heard that they recently partnered with I think it's Elevation for a musical collaboration, so you might want to keep that in mind for their newer stuff. But you can't go wrong when someone's singing psalms. They're straight from the Bible.

Ana: 12:00

Number three is Alisa, another one that if you grew up in church you should really know who he is. I like a few of his albums, but the one I love the most is called I Surrender All 30 Classic Hymns. This is a personal favorite for me because my grandma used to listen to him and used to listen to the CD all the time, so whenever I listen to it it reminds me of her. She passed away a few years ago. My favorite song on the album is called I Surrender All. It chokes me up every time.

Ana: 12:37

Number four is Alyssa Childers. I've talked about her before in other episodes. She just released a worship album and says that she allows Dylan to sing the songs royalty free. That is a plus for worship leaders who are listening right now. Number five is Chris Lizotte.

Ana: 12:58

I like his music biblically solid songs. He's got a great song called you Know my Name. His voice sounds a lot like Jacob Dillon from the Wallflowers, which is probably one of the other reasons why I like his music. So if you like the Wallflowers, you might want to check out this guy as well. Number six Caleb and Kelsey. I believe they are a husband and wife team. They have beautiful voices and they have great lyrics. You should check them out.

Ana: 13:31

Lastly, I have the Corner Room. They might be a family who produces this music. I'm not quite sure. There are some children who sing in it. That's why I think that.

Ana: 13:46

But they have great biblically based songs. They're literally bible verses in song form. This is perfect for your children to listen to if you're trying to instill Bible verses in them. A lot of times it's easier for us to learn a Bible verse through song. This might be a good avenue for you. There are some other ones that I could have shared with you, but I didn't want to be here all day with a laundry list of names when I could just try to share a link in my show notes today for my worship playlist that I listen to on Spotify. That way you can go in there and you can pick and choose what you might want to listen to. I have a disclaimer, though. I'm not going to say that every song in my playlist is absolutely problem free. I am learning through this journey to be discerning of what is heresy and what is just poor lyric choices. You don't need to take all my suggestions and run with them. I am constantly going through my music and listening to the songs again and again to see if perhaps I miss something, and then I make a judgment call on if I'm going to keep it in or not.

Ana: 15:04

As we close out season two, remember this is your relationship with God and you need to guard it. Podcasters like myself, dedicated to uncovering these issues within the Christian faith, can only do so much to guide you. It's up to you to always guard your faith. God's word says if we ask for wisdom, he will give it to us. He wants us to be wise in everything we do, so ask boldly. Don't believe something is safe simply because you heard it on a Christian radio station or at a church. Now it's your time to shine. Worship is about God, not us, so make sure you keep it that way.

Ana: 15:48

You may like a song or a band, but if the lyrics don't glorify God, is it worth your time and effort? Make sure you use your discernment tactics, that you learn throughout the episodes and also if you went deeper and listened to the resources that I listed. This process of discernment in music will be tough on you emotionally, but also a long process. I am still weeding through the songs I listen to after all these years, but it doesn't have to rule your life or alienate people because you are going on a crusade with it, like I did.

Ana: 16:28

Don't ever force your personal convictions onto someone else. They are personal for a reason and each person needs to make their own judgment calls. Their choice will be between them and God, which should free you. Lastly, have fun with the process. Don't look back, like Lot's wife did, at what she was leaving, but look fondly ahead to what new musical treasures you will find. I have discovered many hidden gems in some of these new bands and songs.

Ana: 17:03

All right, before we go, I have a few things I want to share with you. Next season starts next week. It's going to be another amazing season. I have some great guests lined up to share their testimonies, ministries, books and podcasts with you. Make sure you tune in. Thank you again for listening and sharing this season's journey with me. I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did and, if you did, make sure you share the episode with a friend, family member or both, the more the merrier. Do you want to join the conversation? Go to my website the link will be in the show notes To sign up for a weekly email list, leave a review, ask a question or leave a prayer request.

Ana: 17:53

The podcast is called Honest Christian Conversations, so let's have one. Subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already, so you never miss an episode.

Ana: 18:11

I'm going to pray and then we'll say goodbye. Lord, God, thank you so much for this time that we've had together. Thank you for the information we've learned. Thank you for the tools we now have to use our own discernment and to work on our personal relationships with you. I pray, Lord Jesus, for everyone who's listening right now, that their heart would be softened toward what you want to say to them, that they would be prepared for this journey and that they would walk in your truth and trust you through the process. In Jesus' name, I pray Amen.

Ana: 18:46

God bless you and have a good week. Bye.