Oh My Soul!

"Sing to the Lord, Oh my Soul!

Let the heavens shout for joy,

Great is our God! Great is our God!"

~Hillsong

"Oh my soul". Why do we use this phrase? What is our soul? What does it have to do with singing? These are the very questions I asked myself several months ago while listening and singing along with a song on the radio. I mediated on this for some time. After a while I was reminded of when I heard our soul described as our mind, will and emotion. It was then that I realized that our lives, our entire being is greatly run and affected by these three parts of ourselves.

This is my thinking on the soul (mind, will, and emotion)...

Mind: This is what we use to think and problem solve. It is what we use to process information. Our mind is constantly in motion. It tells our body how to move, it tells our heart to keep beating, it tells our body how to keep our heart beating, it tells our hands how to type. Our mind is attached to our eyes, constantly processing what we see. It holds our memories and imagines our future. Our mind functions to keep us alive.

Will: Our will is directly connected to our hearts. God has given us free will. He has given us the ability and freedom to act in response to what our heart feels and desires. Although our hearts may desire things that are unpleasing to God, we still can act upon them as we so choose, or as we will to do. Those things we do willingly are a direct reflection of our heart (this is why we sometime say that actions speak louder than words). We cannot be forced to do anything, we have to will it, it is a choice that we make based on our heart.

Emotion: We all know this one, and we all know some emotional people. Emotions are our reaction to what our heart feels about what our mind has processed. Many times when we think about emotions, our first thought is maybe tears, or anger. We think about that feeling and how it wells up inside of us until we cannot hold it in any longer. (Truthfully, holding in our emotions can sometimes hurt us more). Not every emotion is negative though. Positive emotions include happiness, joy, love, hope, inspiration, serenity, etc. These are feelings that God desires us to express outwardly.

Deuteronomy 6:5 says, "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength".
Love and worship go hand in hand. You cannot worship who you do not love. Not in the way God describes it. When we sing to the Lord it should be more than words. We use the phrase "oh my soul" because that is what we should be using: all of our soul, all of our entire being! Our mind, our every thought should be focused on the Lord. God desires it to be out of our willing hearts and not because we see others doing it, or because we think it is the right thing to do. Our hearts should be toward Him, completely overflowing with emotions, wether is is tears of release or the laughter of joy. True worship brings about peace. When we worship in spirt and truth with all that is within our being, with the fullness of who we are, we find hope. Sometimes, God works on our hearts while we worship Him, and He will even work on our situations!

These is no disadvantage. God is the one Person we can 100% give ourselves over to with ZERO risk of disappointment!! "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you"(Matthew 6:33). When I am in want, in need, or worried about a situation, I am always reminded of this verse. Then I ask, well how do I do that? How do I seek God first? Almost every time the Lord leads me to worship. I make the choice to put my concerns to the side, give them over to God. I choose to trust Him with my life and I choose to sing to Him. With all that is within me, I sing. I get loud, I dance and become entirely submerged in His presence to the point that I forget my troubles. When I am done I soon find a peace in knowing that God is taking care of me because He supplies all of my needs!
Note: I sing to the Lord with all that is within me in good times too...and blessings tend to follow!!!

So here is my encouragement:
Next time you here a song that magnifies the Lord, join in. Sing loud, clap your hands, start to dance, listen to the words, and allow your heart to react to them! God is a gentlemen, He will not impede our will. We have to make the choice to open ourselves up to Him completely!
Meditate on what our precious Lord Jesus Christ has done for us and let it manifest in the form of song, in magnificent worship, in spirit, rejoicing in the truth of our Lord and Savior and the amazing new life that He has given us! Amen and be blessed!