Why You Should Sing the Word of God Daily
Would you like to upgrade the joy in your Christian life? One simple way is to sing the word of God.
That’s what the psalmists did. They sang the Word of God…with incredible benefits.
Read Psalm 119. By their singing the Word, the psalmists’ testified how God’s word enlivened them (vv. 25, 50). It strengthened them (v. 28). It brought them salvation (v. 41) and comforted them (vv. 50, 76). It made them wiser, and gave them more insight and understanding (vv. 98-100). It became a lamp to their feet and a light to their path (v. 105) and much more.
Then listen to what Paul said in Colossians 3:16,
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.”
He exhorted us to give God’s word the adequate room in our heart by speaking it and especially by singing it.
So let’s consider this enriching practice singing the Word of God along with a number of ways to implement it in our daily Christian life.
David and Paul were patterns of ones who sing the word of God
The boy David practiced to sing the word of God to be filled with faith
You’re probably familiar with the story of David and Goliath. You may know that he was a fearless Hebrew boy that killed a giant Philistine warrior with a sling and a stone. But what gave him the boldness and faith to do it?
He let God’s Word dwell in him richly by psalming the Scriptures with his lyre—probably while he was tending his sheep (1 Sam. 16:11-18). (There is also indication that he sang the word by the fact that nearly half of the Psalms were attributed to him.) He must have sung a lot of God’s Word…even when he had big failures (Psa. 51).
The apostle Paul sang God’s word to overcome in his inprisonment
I already mentioned Paul’s encouragement to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly… singing.”
But Paul didn’t just tell us to do it. He practiced it.
Remember when he was beaten and thrown into the jail in Philippi in Acts 16. He and Silas were not there moaning and complaining. No! They were singing, even with their feet in the stocks. Verse 25 says,
“At about midnight Paul and Silas, while praying, sang hymns of praise to God; and the prisoners were listening to them.”
We need to follow the pattern of David and Paul to sing the Word
First, build up a habit of reading the Bible daily.
Here is a simple way to get you started:
- Begin with some short prayers to turn your heart to the Lord and to open to Him.
- Then begin to read a short section of verses in a sequential way.
- When you come across a Bible verse or two that touch you, simply stop and receive that word into you by means of prayer—petitions, thanks or praise, however you feel led.
- Don’t be so rigid that you miss the Lord’s supply and speaking to you. If He is there, stay to fellowship with Him. You can finish your reading later.
- For some further help in building up a vital Bible-reading habit you may want to read this post, “12 Practical Points on Bible-reading Plus One Awesome Tool.”
Second, practice pray-reading to touch the essence of God’s Word.
Don’t just pray about the verses but go further to turn the words of the Scripture themselves into your pray to the Lord. We call this practice, pray-reading. It’s a great way to pray yourself into the “spirit” of the Scriptures, to draw out the Lord’s instant words to you.
In John 6:63, the Lord Jesus said,
“The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
If we allow the words of the Bible to remain on the page, they will still be God’s sure and unchanging words. But, such words won’t be “words…spoken to us”…personally or directly.
But when we exercise from deep within to pray the words of the Bible, we may sense that the words are now words spoken “to us.”
So we need to advance from reading the words of the Bible to pray-reading them until we contact the Lord Himself in our reading and allow Him to speak a personal word to us. We can only do this by using our spirit, our deepest part, to pray as we read the Word (Eph. 6:17-18).
For more development of this point, you may enjoy reading my post entitled “12 Tips on How to Pray-read the Word of God to be Spiritually Nourished.”
Third, go on to sing the Word of God to be further saturated with it.
Yet, there is still something further, something higher. To sing the Word, or to “sing-read” it, elevates us to higher level. If pray-reading is to exercise our spirit over God’s Word, sing-reading the Word is a super exercise of our spirit.
Here’s what Witness Lee has to say in the Life-study of Philippians,
“Many of us can testify that, as we were enjoying a certain portion of the Word, spontaneously a melody welled up from within. Then we began to use this melody to sing the Word to the Lord. By singing, we were saturated with the Word and nourished by its riches. (Life-study of Philippians, Chapter 37, pp. 328-329)
“In the past I lost many opportunities to be saturated with the Word because I did not know to sing the Word. I spent a great deal of time reading and studying the Bible, filling several Bibles with notes, but I did not realize I could sing or psalm the Word…But once again I wish to emphasize that singing the Word is even better than pray-reading…I am confident that the more we sing and psalm the Word, the more we shall be washed by and saturated with the element of Christ.” (Life-study of Philippians, Chapter 40, p. 358)
If this post has touched you, I’d encourage you to try singing the Word of God. Reading God’s Word is profitable. Pray-reading it is even more nourishing. But singing God’s Word, or sing-reading it, will bring you even more saturation with the life-element in the Word. So give it a try…Then share in a comment what you experienced so that we can learn together.
Further Resources:
- For more appreciation of singing to the Lord you may enjoy reading a previous post entitled Singing with Our Spirit of Faith to Switch on the Divine Power.
- You may also enjoy reading these inspiring ministry excerpts from the Life-study of Philippians, Chapters 37 and 40; Life-Study of Exodus, Chapter 58, Section 1 and The Healthy Word, Chapter 8, Section 1. They can all be freely read online at ministrybooks.org or purchased at livingstream.com
About Tom Smith
Hi. My name is Tom Smith. I'm the writer behind Holding to Truth in Love, and I love the Lord Jesus and His life-giving Word. Please feel free to send me an e-mail through the contact page if you have any questions. I hope you'd take a moment to subscribe to the Holding to Truth blog. Then you'll be sure not to miss a post. Thanks!
The Colossian 3:16 passage speaks not simply of singing the word, as though in private, but seems to imply teaching and admonishing one another through the singing of the word. This would suggest singing in a worship assembly, would it not?
David, That is a logical consideration. But sadly, many Christians relegate singing the Word to a worship assembly missing its tremendous benefit in their daily life. Actually the teaching, admonishing and singing in a group setting should be the overflow of a daily living with such a practice. Otherwise, singing in an assembly may merely become a form. But from experience I can confirm that practicing to sing the Word in my daily life and speaking it to believers and unbelievers alike makes the singing and speaking in an assembly of believers an overflow of life, an exhibition of the Christ we’ve enjoyed in our daily living. This is a refreshment both to the Lord and to us.
I love this aspect of singing the Word of God! I have been singing verses in the Word for over 3 decades and it is fresher to me everyday!! I have to admit, sometimes it is difficult to pray, but it is always easy and effortless to sing the Word! I practice pray-reading 2-3 verses everyday. As I am reading often a phrase jumps out and I will use a tune to a song or hymn and sing it. Many times the joy is so much that I record the song and send it out to other brothers and sisters as a text!! Whoa, God in me is flowing. I love Him more every time I sing verses. At first it may be a bit awkward but who cares since I’m by myself. I have no one to impress. I’m just coming to Him and singing. Plus it’s His own words. Give it a go! Let go and sing His Word. It will have such an effect on your life!!
How awesome when the word “jumps out.” As believers we need much more of this. I know I need the reminder. Sometimes contacting the Word can become routine because we only touch the letter. Then there is little to enliven us or water us. But when we pray-read the Word and especially when we sing it…and psalm it, we get our whole being mingled with God’s Word. Bible verses become our songs and these songs become living prayers full of inspiration. When it’s His own words, how can we lose by singing them back to Him! Thanks for your strengthening comment!
This morning I was able to sing a verse I was pray-reading! I sang many times through the day.
That’s great Don! We need to encourage one another. Even though we may realize that singing the Bible verses we’re touched with is a super exercise of our spirit and a tremendous way to have our whole heart mingled with the Lord, we often forget to because it’s not yet be our habit. Let’s keep practicing to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly by singing it and speaking it, first to the Lord, to ourselves and them to one another til it becomes a daily habit. Thanks for the confirming comment.
Hi Tom,
Why Should I Sing The Word of GOD Daily, was wonderful reading and understanding for me. I would kneel down to pray to my Heavenly Father and a song would come from my mouth. I knew that the Holy Spirit put the song in me but I never knew what singing a prayer truly meant until I read your posting. My heart would leap for joy, soul would fill replenished, and tears of joy would stream down my cheeks as I would sings lyric provided to be by the Holy Spirit. I would feel so refreshed and viograted. I couldn’t stop singing praises to Him! I would go on for hours just praises Him with Songs that He put in my mouth. Again, I never knew what it meant until after reading your post – Again, Thank You!
Patricia, That’s wonderful! Glad you enjoyed the post. Mingling God’s word with singing prayers or pray-singing is a real discovery. I share your sentiment.
Sadly, as believers we often pray only according to knowledge or memory. We may have some items we want to tell the Lord. And there is surely nothing wrong with telling the Lord all that is in our heart. But to be genuinely filled and saturated with Him, our prayers must transcend our mind. We need our spirit to be filled and mingled with the Lord. Singing God’s word is an excellent way to exercise our spirit and heart so that we, as you say, become refreshed and invigorated. Thanks for your confirming comment.