In Exodus 15:20 Miriam, Moses’ sister, is described as a “prophetess” as she leads the women in singing a new song composed earlier in the chapter. We are not told that she composed the song, but it is interesting to see the term “prophetess” used in the context of sung praises to God. In no other context is she called by that term.
In Deuteronomy 31:19 God gives Moses (the prototypical prophet) a song to sing to the Israelites. Why? He wanted them to learn this song so “that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel.” [NKJ throughout] In other words, this song was prophetic. By Deut. 32:44 Moses writes the song that very day and begins teaching it immediately.
In 1 Samuel 10:5 Samuel tells young Saul that he will meet “a group of prophets coming down from the high place with a stringed instrument, a tambourine, a flute, and a harp before them, and they will be prophesying.” In I Chronicles 25:1 several descendants of the Levites are said to “prophesy with harps, stringed instruments, and cymbals.” Asaph, David’s choir leader, was a composer (Psalm 50 and Psalms 73-83), and a prophet (1 Chron. 25:2).
I hope by now that we have established that songwriting in church may be one manifestation of the gift of prophecy. It may manifest other gifts as well. It may surprise us to note that when scholars come together to discuss the Biblical books of wisdom, one mentioned almost universally is the book of Psalms. So in Matthew 24:33, when Jesus mentions that He is sending “prophets, sages and scribes to witness against Jerusalem, He could be including songwriters in any of those categories.
In 1 Corinthians 14:26 Paul notes that there seems to have been a problem in church because too many people wanted to participate at once. In many churches we seem to have solved the problem of disruptive participation at the expense of spontaneous or inspired participation with the gifts described in 1 Cor. 14:1-6, 12 & 1 Cor 15:4-11.
Wouldn’t it be great if new songs – written by local church members – became a normal part of church life? Paul even suggests that Christians can “speak” to each other with “psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit” in Eph. 5:18-20 and similarly in Col. 3:16. Let’s talk about how that might happen in a local church…
Writing new songs in the Spirit, even by non-professional musicians in the congregation, might be just what Jesus intends to use to correct a congregation, witness against sin or injustice, discern spirits, or teach wisdom to the people of God in our present generation.
A new kind of “dark ages” seems to be on the horizon, where suppression of Christianity will be conducted in the name of “tolerance.” We need to prepare to be a people who will hear and respond to the lead of the Holy Spirit. At that time those trained in recognizing and exercising the promptings of the Spirit will be able to remain bold in their Lord and Saviour.
Even if you believe the church will be raptured before the Tribulation, the church has endured persecution around the world for as long as there have been Christians. There could easily be a period of pre-tribulation persecution in which the formal church is targeted. You need only see what happened to a churches here in Canada that were literally shut down, with pastors arrested, under the guise of Covid-19 health policies. It would be easy for the church to go from “non-essential” to “anti-government” in the right political climate.
There is no time like the present to begin training to be the underground church. Writing new songs for the church may be one way to explore and perhaps revive the gift of prophecy (among other gifts) within a church that now faces increasingly challenging times.
Let’s use well-known hymns illustrate some basic techniques Christian songwriters can use to craft new songs.
In All Praise to Our Redeeming Lord, Charles Wesley re-uses the tune of O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing and puts new words to it. I used the tune from an Irish melody “My Singing Bird” for a song I wrote called “In My Gracious Lord.”
Ah, Lord God and Seek Ye First use scripture passages directly. The rhythmic structure of the verse or paraphrase as spoken by the composer usually gives the passage enough of a musical phrasing that it inspires a melody. A member of my own congregation used this in her song Put on the Armour of God, based on part of Ephesians 6.
Others can be based on Christian prose or poetry. Another member used an Isaac Watts poem in his song God Our Shepherd. Neither of these two members had written songs before we had a sermon similar to this one in our fellowship a few years ago.
Some truly gifted people are capable of coming up with a melody line and harmonies before any words come to them. Wanda plays piano by ear and has a few melodies to her credit, but she prefers to leave lyrics to me. Here is an example based on Psalm 8, What is Man?
Some more theological songs are often used for both praise and teaching, so they tend to be longer and often have more verses. Notice that some of the techniques above can be combined in the same song.
It is important to remember that once the initial inspiration for a tune or a lyric (usually a poem of some type) comes into your head, there is still much work ahead to craft it into a worship or teaching song. First of all, we will need to remember it. For those of us not familiar with music notation (almost all of us here at Wascana Fellowship) that probably means writing down the words in poetry form so that at least the rhythm and meaning are preserved long enough for more work to be done. Another method is to have a (preferably portable) recording device handy to catch those moments of inspiration as they occur. I don’t read music, but that does not stop me from using Music Notation Software or a chord chart.
It is a good idea to consider working with someone else who has skills that complement one’s own. For instance, not many people can write good lyrics and also write a good tune. Combining talents with people we trust can work in unexpectedly great ways.
The silliest advice I have seen is “add some scripture.” If you aren’t living and breathing the Scriptures already, why are you bothering? The Scriptures will be the bedrock and source of your inspiration most of the time if you are spending quality time with them and in prayer.
Just to show that anyone can do this, here are links to our Wascana Fellowship “Songs” page and our Wascana Fellowship Youtube channel. Once you see these, you will probably think, “These people are such amateurs! I can do better than that!
May blessings be upon you if you take up the challenge of creating spiritual songs!
John Valade 
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