Worship Freely Tunes {25}

So it's been a while since I've shared a new song with y'all and this is totally worth it. My friends and I can not get this song out of our heads! We're just all going to Bethel one day and road-trippin it. Hear it, soak it in, and let the Spirit sing over you. It's the bomb y'all, for real!

"You Make Me Brave"- Amanda Cook

Christian Wedding Song List: English & Spanish

Instead of doing my usual "Worship Freely Tunes" this Friday, I was inspired to make a list of my favorite Christian songs that someone could play at their wedding. My best friend who is like a sister to me is getting married next Saturday and just a while ago she asked me what songs I recommend. She's honestly the best-est friend God could have sent me. She's always been there to encourage me and pray with me. Congratulations Lynette! I wish you so many blessed years with your hubby. I am so honored to be that girl's bridesmaid! So these songs that I'm sharing with y'all are my favorites and I plan to play them at my wedding someday.  I decided to do English and Spanish songs because of my bi-cultural background.When it comes to the music that I listen to (because of my relationship with God, the fact that I sing, and music is my life) who I'm inspired by musically really matters to me. The problem that I tend to see the most when it comes to a christian couple wanting to celebrate their wedding is song choice. We all love praise and worship music but couples also want romantic music that talks about their relationship and this should not have to be separate from God. God is the creator of love and music so the two should go hand in hand, glorifying Christ and bringing joy to a couple's hearts. You don't have to settle for Music that's created by people who don't have a relationship with God just because of their catchy lyrics and melodies. I really hope y'all enjoy these tunes. If you know some songs that you'd love for future readers to skim through then feel free to leave them in a comment bellow. Blessings!

[If you're looking for christian instrumental music
then I recommend buying Pianissimo Brothers' 
"50 Beautiful Songs For A Christian Wedding".]

English

1). "Dancing In The Minefields"- Andrew Peterson
2). "Chasing You"- Jenn Johnson
3). "Love Is Not A Fight"- Warren Barfield
4). "The Way You Smile"- NewSong & Francesca Battistelli
5). "My Dear"- Bethel Music
6). "Life Is Beautiful"- The Afters
7). "Closer"- Bethel Live
8). "Come Awaken Love"- Hunter G K Thompson
9). "For My Love"- Bethany Dillon
10). "My Only Love"- Matt Maher
11). "Love Will Be Enough For Us"- Brandon Heath
12). "God Gave Me You"- Dave Barnes
13). "Hundred More Years"- Francesca Battistelli
14). "Thank God I Got Her"- Jonny Diaz
15). "Love Is In The Air"- The Afters
16). "The Marriage Prayer"- John Waller
17). "I'll Wait For You"- Moriah Peters
18). "Bless The Broken Road"- Selah
19). "Happily Married"- Raymond Gregory

20). "Don't Mean A Thing"- GL ft. T'Juan
21). "You Never Let Me Down"- Marvin Winans


Spanish

1). "Amor Inusual"- Tercer Cielo
2). "Bella"- Veinte Veinte
3). "Celebremos Hoy"- Tercer CIelo
4). "Bendita Mujercita"- Alex Campos
5). "Tu Poeta"- Alex Campos
6). "Un Viaje Largo"- Marcela Gandara
7). "Yo Te Amo"- Eunice Rodriguez
8). "Tu Mirada"- Quest Ft. Triple Seven
9). "Enamorados"- Tercer Cielo
10). "Tu Amor Es Un Sueno"- Tercer Cielo
11). "Te Extrano"- Daniel Calveti
12). "Te Amo Mas Que A Mi Misma Vida"- Rojo
13). "Sol Pido"- Fuego Liquido
14). "Sentirte En Mi Alma"- Tercer Cielo
15). "Mi Ultimo Dia"- Tercer Cielo
16). "Si No Estas Junto A Mi"- Tercer Cielo
17). "Regalo De Dios"- Tercer Cielo
18). "Mi Historia De Amor"- Daniel Calveti
19). "Mis Mejores Dias"- Deborah Pruneda
20). "El Uno Para El Otro"- Tercer Cielo

21). "Lindo Viaje"- Tercer Cielo
22). "Guia Nuestro Camino"- Marcela Gandara
23). "Entre Tu Y Yo"- Tercer Cielo
24). "Exagerado Amor"- Tercer Cielo
25). "Estare"- Tercer Cielo
26). "Contigo Quiero Caminar"- Marcela Gandara

His Rain Falls When We Prepare Our Hearts

 I want to talk about those times when we lead or participate in a praise and worship service in which we feel that God's presence just didn't move. We compare one service to another or one season to another and find ourselves playing the blame game: Yup it was that out of tune guitar, those loud drums, the tired vocalists, and definitely those new songs. It's easy sometimes for us to concoct some crazy-wild explanation for something so simple. I've even found myself saying, "Lord, why? These people needed You to show up...I was dying for You to show up." I don't know if any of you can relate but this is a horrible feeling. You come home and think that you just wasted your time and even worse that you just wasted God's time and probably made Him tear up a bit from how awful that whole service turned out. I've been there and it's because I've been there that I've sought out my Lord's council. I love how he speaks into my heart so clearly. There are specific moments when I've just felt God laugh and I'm pretty sure when I've talked to Him about these things He's been just balling out, shaking His head, ready to just cradle me because the answer is so simple.

*~*~*

(Song of Solomon 1:6) 

Do not stare at me because I am dark,

    because I am darkened by the sun.

My mother’s sons were angry with me

    and made me take care of the vineyards;

    my own vineyard I had to neglect.

(Song of Solomon 2:10)

My beloved spoke and said to me,
    “Arise, my darling,
    my beautiful one, come with me.

*~*~*

What The Lord revealed to me was that we, His children, are the ones who carry His presence and He confirmed this with His Word that says that we are the Temple of The Holy Spirit, His church. We're suppose to be putting the "C', "H", "U", "R", "C", "H" in "church". The only way to do this is through our relationship with God. He is always able to move but we also have the calling to release what He has freely given us. His Spirit is waiting to be releases but if we don't feed our spirit's how can we accomplish this? It's about talking to our Father because His Holy Spirit is with us and longs to be upon all of us, it's about getting into His Word for a fresh and new revelation, and it's about intimate prayer and worship behind closed doors when no one is looking. God is tired of His unfaithful bride who is ravished by many lovers. In Jeremiah 3 The Lord tells His people that "the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen" because of their unfaithfulness. God uses the words prostitution and unfaithfulness to describe our desire to seek another's council and even our own;He refers to anything that occupies the first place in our hearts. 

*~*~*

(Jeremiah 2:13)

“My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
    the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
    broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

*~*~*

Do we not do this today? We lean on our own past understanding and at some point stop overflowing because we've traded fountains. We think we can survive with what we know but those moments are when we need The Lord the most. Only He can see a heart naked as it is. When He says He wants a worshiper in spirit and in truth, this is what He's referring to. He longs for His worshiper to lay beside Him and hear His heartbeat and the only way for us to do this is to cultivate that relationship. Sometimes we reach moments where we hide our faces from The Lord and sink back. He's calling out. Talk to Him. He just wants to talk to us. He just wants to love us. Our wells can't hold water but His can. He doesn't want us to struggle or get frustrated anymore. When you prepare your heart's garden He will walk in and spend time with you. Because you know Him He will listen and because He knows You His Spirit will be upon you ready to be released.

*~*~*

(Psalm 132:7-8)

“Let us go to his dwelling place,
    let us worship at his footstool, saying,
 ‘Arise, Lord, and come to your resting place,
    you and the ark of your might.

//We are that resting place that 

The Holy Spirit longs to dwell in.//

*~*~*

 "Learn to steward God's presence in stillness, not just in corporate worship." 

                                                                                           

                                                                                            —Steffany Gretzinger

When we do this through intimate time with The Lord our services and corporate gatherings will be in continuous overflow. His signs and wonders will be there. The fullness of His Spirit is the key and that key can only be given to us through spirit taught knowledge that comes from the secret place. My secret place sometimes looks like a locked room with soft Bethel or Ihop music playing in the background, or a locked bathroom with me kneeling at the foot of the tub, a car ride, or gardening time outside. The one thing that all these locations have in common is that I am alone with God in order to seek Him. You don't need anything fancy just a place where you can cultivate that relationship with God behind closed doors so that when you do life in the open you will be walking in the fullness of His Spirit and that rain will fall no matter where you find yourself.

Random Snippets: Spontaneous Worship, Self-Discipline, Song Choice

///Spontaneous Worship///

(Psalm 33:3)

Sing a new song of praise to him; play 

skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy.

(Ephesians 5:19)

speaking to one another with psalms, 

hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and 

make music from your heart to the Lord, 

This was something I did but that I didn't know what to call at the time. When I led worship at a church at age 18 the Holy Spirit really became my teacher. I could feel Him so near instructing me how and what to sing. Suddenly between songs He would just take over and new lyrics would burst forth without me even thinking. The Pastor called it "prophetic worship" because sometimes I would prophecy through song but the band and I would just say, "lets flow." I compare these moments to a stream of running water because there was no stopping what the Holy Spirit was doing and it was a continuous overflow of new songs. It wasn't until last year that I first heard the term "Spontaneous Worship," when discovering Bethel Church in Redding, California. The Spirit connected me to something that I'd never heard of. He thught me what made Him happy. During our congregational worship times it's great to get a perfect sound and to have beautiful voices on cue but...the Holy Spirit could care less about that if we're not letting His voice be heard. He knows what's in the Father's heart and if we're ignoring Him in our churches then we'll be stuck in an old revelation when God always has a new one to give. Spontaneous Worship isn't something you practice because it comes from soaking in God's presence and worshiping him in spirit and in truth. It's a new song that isn't rehearsed that bursts from The Spirit's heart, to yours, and then to those around you. Many churches don't allow this because they seek an "order" but God's order looks nothing like ours. I encourage you to let the Holy Spirit move the way He wants to through you. There have been musicians, pastors, and singers that I have worked with that just don't want to have anything to do with this because they seek their version of perfection, just like there's those who's spirit's discern what comes from God and respond to the atmosphere. The Lord has given me prudence to know when and where but my heart's desire is that first off, as worshipers, we can all plug into what the Spirit of God is doing. David constantly talked about singing a new song to The Lord in his Psalms because he knew the difference between sitting and writing to moving and reacting at the time at hand. He didn't have time to write during a battle between the Philistines but he could begin to praise his God right where he was by sing out, "Praise be to The Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war!" You'd be surprised to know that many of the songs that you hear now started off as spontaneous songs during a worship service or during a car ride. So I encourage you to let your spirit sing on stage and off. Let the Holy Spirit move through you, let Him be your teacher.

///Self-Discipline///

(2 Timothy 1:6-7) 

This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift 

God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has 

not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of 

power, love, and self-discipline.

You have been given the power by The Holy Spirit to discipline yourself. It doesn't matter how old you are because God's Spirit is given to anyone who responds to His call. Whether you sing, play an instrument, dance, or minister all together discipline is something that we all need to enforce in our lives. Discipline is what has now accustomed me to vocalize each time before I sing to maintain healthy vocal chords and what helps a guitar player play certain chords and memorize a musical scale. If you're like me going through preparation, through a psalmist school, or a ministry school then you know this: you will only learn what you practice. Without making yourself practice, your gift will never reach it's full potential. God always has more to teach us but we've got to be responsible and apply what has been taught to us.

*Discipline- training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character

Take advantage of all the training being thrown at you.

///Song Choice///

Just like there are numerous stars in the sky, there are numerous songs out there to chose from. We each have our own style when it comes to the way we choose music: some of us popcorn choose (so not recommended), others go check out popular songs and go for that, some choose songs that they like or that they think the congregation/audience will like. So what's the best way? I love this topic, I love talking about this. Here are some tips that I've learned and that I've been taught, so I share!

1. Pray. Ask God what He wants to tell His people. Ask Him how to guide his people because each service is different and God will always have something new and specific to say.
2. Observe. When you get to the place that you're getting ready to sing, play, or perform at look at the people. Are they sad? Borred? Fired up? If the congregation or crowd looks depressed then you want to gear more toward starting with praise songs that will get them meditating on God's power or faithfullness. If the congregation or crowd looks on fire already (which is every worship leader's/minister's dream) then take them deeper with praise or worship songs that reflect giving more of ourselves to God or songs that bring everyone together to cry out to God as one.
3. Message in Action. Now that you've prayed and God has reveled to you what He wants to say and you've observed the specific crowd, act on it. Though you may not understand why, the Holy Spirit knows exactly why so just be obedient and you'll see the fruit.

• I think song lists are a good guide but once we cling tight to it's order we tend to brush off anything that's not on the list. So be prepared to let the Holy Spirit surprise you and your obedience will have its reward.
• Don't choose songs because you love them. You need to be in constant connection during the week with God so that the days you give you truly give. Choose the songs that the people need.
• Respect the authority no matter what, even if you know better because God's anointed are protected but just like David was anointed he also recognized King Saul's anointing by refusing to take revenge out on him. Pray for your leaders but if their vision is truly not matching up with what God is constantly revealing to you then decide whether or not you want to continue with a vision that you don't share. Can to be together if they are not in accord?
• Express your worship to God with your music and gifts as if each time were the last time here on this earth.