Apostolic Music

I read this awesome site last night and now I can't find it and it's aggravating me. The guy who the site belongs to was writing regarding Apostolic Music and part of his writings captivated me. Since I can't find the site now I'm going to put it in my own words as much as I can remember.

"Apostolic music stands out in a unique way. This style of music crosses most bounderies being that you can find jazzy, country and black gospel mixed in just to name a few. People try to take this music and copy or mimic it because of the feeling that surrounds Apostolic music. They can copy the exuberance and the sound and perhaps even the worship it brings but NOTHING they do can copy the Anointing that only God can give. They try to fake it in moves and dances, they can not however fake an anointing because when God pours out an anointing on a choir, choral, trio or any artist the spirit and power you feel is only from God above."

I read that and my response was WOW and AMEN!!!!! Recently I was talking to someone and we were talking about music in our lives past, present and future. I was raised singing in church. We usually had a kids choir, youth choir and the adult choir, chorale and solo stuff. I was very involved in the music in the church I grew up. I really looked up to our director as a mentor, she gave me voice and music lessons and taught me alot. It really bothers me that today music seems to be viewed as something we sit back and watch. It seems like people try to figure everything out and disect it. In doing so, in my opinion for what it's worth, we are losing the very thing that makes Apostolic music so powerful, and that is an anointing from God. Now we try to be perfect, look perfect and we get ourselves so caught up in trying to be "great" that we forget to let God do His will.

I'll never forget my former Pastor, Pastor's wife and music director talking to me when I first started singing in our adult choir and had been asked to sing lead on a song. They reminded me that my talent is from God above and not of my own working. That I needed to always remember that any good that would come about was all to God's glory and not of my own. One of them impressed in me to pray before getting up to sing and ask God to use me, for Him to use my voice. That it wouldn't be me but that people could see Jesus through me, so that I was an instrument that He could use. I can remember the prayer meetings our choir/praise team would have before service began as we begin to ask God to use us in that service, to unite us as one voice and one mind so that He could work in that service to touch someones heart. Our desire was to be a willing vessel God could use so that someone would be blessed. I'm sure we messed up our fair share of the time but there were services when God would move in a very powerful way.

I have been asking myself where am I at today? Am I more concerned with my attire, my performance and sound than just being used of God? Something to think about.