Capturing the Heartbeat and Rhythms of God
Dec 1st, 2008 | By Matt | Category: Drum Articles
A few years ago I went through a challenging time spiritually. I heard people talking as if they knew God so well that they had Him all figured out. It was as if they could read his mind and know what He would say for any situation. They had, effectively and in my opinion, packaged God into a convenient travel-size package like a genie in a bottle - ready to do whatever they asked Him to. I was challenged by this approach because I did not agree with it. Had I missed something somehow? I thought, surely God’s thoughts are higher than mine, His ways are not ours…
[ "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:9 ]
The word ‘rhythm’ implies consistency, stability and motion. My personal life, my spiritual walk, has neither been consistent nor stable! But it has always been in motion. It has always been, for me, a rhythm of seeking God more, to know Him more, to hear Him more clearly. A certain car manufacturer used to have a slogan that said “Life’s a journey, enjoy the ride!” That has been my life’s subtle subtext. God’s word, who He is and what He is, is consistent and stable, the groove of His ways in our life. That is the journey, that is the ride, that is the rhythm of our God, His heartbeat.
my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts
My prayer for drummers that are still seeking their purpose in life, their reason for living, is that they would look around and see the rhythms of nature about them - a world created and designed by a creator, a master architect. My prayer is that they would be encouraged to seek out the rhythm, the heartbeat of God. I pray that they would encounter God in a way that they begin to match the beat of the kingdom of heaven and strike their drums for the glory of God.
Capturing the heartbeat and the rhythm
How do we learn a pattern or rhythm or song? By hearing it first, listening, then doing. Christianity is a lot like that: being sensitive to hear God speaking to you. From hearing the groove of the Gospel to then being able to play the groove. That’s how we learn!
Okay, enough drummer-speak! Plain English…
How do hear someone’s heartbeat? You have to get real close and put your head on their chest, then you will hear. I am convinced that when one make an effort in earnesty to get close to God, you begin to sense His ‘heartbeat’, His voice for your life. It sounds so easy but because we’re human, we like to complicate things. So when something is easy, we think it should be difficult. How do we that as Christians? We make lists.
for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
We make lists of things we feel we ‘have to’ do so we can get closer to God. But God, from what I understand in the Bible, is not into lists. His Word is clear that He accepts us from the very millisecond we believe and accept Him. The Bible is very clear that there is no way to try fulfil all the requirements laid out by the law in the Old Testament. His new covenant in the New Testament is grounded in His grace. Paul himself writes that if righteousness could be obtained by observing the law, then Christ died for nothing! What a powerful and revolutionary Gospel!
God’s grace towards us is the heartbeat, the rhythm of His love for us. If we start by accepting His grace and the fact that we don’t have to live by a long list of rules and regulations and do’s and don’ts, then we begin to hear and understand the heartbeat of God. It’s a beat so powerful that it drowns out life’s noise and booms out a rhythm that declares freedom! Aligning oneself with that groove means change, gradual change with the help of the Holy Spirit as you daily renew your mind and conform not to the patterns/rhythms of the world around you.
A heart for the lost
To be truly honest with you: I had, for many years, been so sheltered while growing up as Christian. I was not really exposed to the reality of the world around me. I did not really see people who were without God. I was in church for so long but never really grasped the need to speak to non-Christians about God. I never had a heart for the lost. I had a desire to minister, to be involved, to “go”…but no heart. No compassion. I was so ‘busy’ in church, I forgot all about the lost! It was when I moved my ears closer to His chest that I really began to hear God’s ‘heart’. Then a sense of compassion and a deeper desire to see people who did not know God, took root. “A heart for the lost” can be a cliché if there is no spiritual reality.
And in conclusion
As much sense or no(n)sense this article may be to you, realise that it has been birthed from a personal revelation of what the grace of God means to me. This is the last Christian Drummer article for 2008 so forgive me for the slightly reflective and personal nature of the writing. But I do hope that, as I pursue the rhythm and heartbeat of God in my life, that it will encourage other drummers to do the same.
We will never fully understand God in His awesomeness, never fully digest his ways or be able to contemplate His thoughts while we are here on earth. We can only draw closer to Him as our Father, so close as to be able to hear His heart, beating for us. May 2009 be a new season for us all in the rhythms of His love.
God bless you.
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I totally understand what you are talking about. I was brought up playing drums in church but I never had a personal relationship with God. It was always, what could God do for me and even when I went thru some serious hard times and questioned God; He still loved me and showed His favor. I’m at a point in my life that 4 months ago I came to know Christ and I have a hunger like I have never had before. I hunger for the word and I look forward to time in prayer and I’m ready and passionate about telling others of His love and salvation. I was producing hip-hop and r&b music for local artist and was very proud of my gear, but i sold all my gear because I felt that it was something that kept me from God and from my family. I was producing music that did not glorify God. So I told God, whatever your will is I know you have a plan for me; well a week ago a pastor called me and told me he had a drum set and that if I wanted it for me to pick it up. After talking to him I dropped to my knees and thanked god cause I knew this was a sign. The drums were not in perfect condition but i looked at it as how God was looking at my life and even though I was not anything to look at i could still be used for His glory. So now I’m getting back to my drum roots and getting closer to God cause it’s His heartbeat that keeps me going. Hope to meet some of ya’ll real soon. God bless.
Sam Cruz
God bless you! I am not a drummer, but my husband is a musician (guitar & sings). We have had a conflict over the church we go to and a family member over the drums being played in the church. That is how I found your site. You are so full of the spirit! My husband has always felt that ALL music should be welcomed in the church. There are those who put down the rap and hip hop and even heavy metal rock. But they reach the lost. If all you play is gospel they aren’t going to hear it! Anyway, I just wanted to say I keep coming back to your site now, because you make me think. You are a good writer and you are truly a tool of the Lord. Thank you.
katlupe
I understand completely, I know people like that. They think they have everything figured out, but they really don’t….. The person I know thinks she knows everything about everything. She also believes that practicing you Instrument is a waste of time, because she says that it all sounds the same to God, for one she ISN’T a musician and second, The Lord says the practice and to play skillfully for him, because if you don’t practice your just half doing it and you have to focus all of your energy to you playing, with practice you can get the ANOINTING and when you get that, you break the yolk of bondage so that people can the recieve and feel the holy spirit. So i totally know what your talking about, but i ask anyone reading this to keep me in your prayers that I can be the best that God wants me to be through playing Drums for the Lord, and i also ask you to pray for me to not get discouraged and to keep playing for the lord, and keep out churches praise band in your prayers so that we can finally feel the Anointing and break that yolk of bondage..
Thank you Matt for this wonderful article
God Bless!
PS Keep Drumming! :]
Keep being faithful to God my brother. This is a beutiful article. Writing takes time, and we sometimes take for granted the personal sacrifices that come from setting time aside to write such lengthy articles and publishing thoughts. Your passion shows in your actions. I believe that this site has already blessed many…but there is no limit on what it will do. My brother from across the waters, may you and the people’s hearts you reach be refreshed, and may we labor with God’s help to build a legacy for many generations to come.
William
http://www.heartbeatforworship.com
I really saw a little of my life experience reading this article…. I was born in church too and always just going to the services and doing a lot of things at the church . I always wanna be a drummer and play on church since when I was a child, but God starts to put something first, things about worship, compasion for the lost, about follow Jesus and not just say that I love God but show It with acts, about pray for His Kingdom come. Today I still learning about this and trying to live It too.
When I was learning about worship I start to have some contact with the instrument, I was 12 years old… God only place me on a ministry to play drums last year, now I have 22 years old. Today I see how good was wait for the God’s time !
A heart for the Lost is something that we must have! Stop just saying that we love Jesus but to start to “show” this love or live this love that we say that we have, and be able to folow Jesus and to wait and seek God’s dreams to our lives. It’s very cool that today many people have listen again and again this word that came from God to we have a heart for the lost , I hope that this open your eyes to we see that God is REAL and we must stand up, This word must change our lifes stile and It hurts a lot! We must pray to God call us atencion to Him to our love for him be a real love bigger than all, love that make us do everything we can to see God smiling and happy with us.
Love that make God our first LOve!
Read please Job 42 and Isaiah 58 this hit me a lot in last days
I’m sorry about my english, I still learn It so I hope u undestand something
Marvelous Matt,
You’ve done it again, spoke those words we all feel but just can’t seem to graps on paper. As musicians for Christ we all need to be reminded that our purpose and calling is so much bigger than we can fathom, our thoughts that we put to music are great to us, we try to please the congregation and God’s people by blessing them with what seems to us so easy to do and say, yet for those who don’t know our Jesus, the words in a song can be the link to God for them, it can be what brings them to know salvation, or what helps them through a rough period in life. If you read the Psalms written by David which are inspired by God and compare it to our songs today, there is so much that we miss as humans, our minds are not in line with Gods, because he is so much greater than us, but our hearts are big and our desires are always wanting to please Him, to serve him, to worship him and most important for worshiping musicans, to call the lost home. I have never had a great gift for evangalism, but God makes our weaknessness strong in ways that we don’t realize, because even though I’m not very good at face to face encounters when I’m playing Music, it is my heart beating for God’s people and calling the lost home, bringing hope to the hopeless, restoring faith to the weary, pouring our Joy in all seasons, sharing His Love through the Rhythms that beat His Songs.
Peace Brother, thanks for the reminder