I love sitting down with my guitar and coming up with a song. Granted, I am not a great singer or a great musician, in fact, I’m probably one of the worst around. Nonetheless, to spend time with God and giving praise to him, there is nothing I’d rather do. The Bible says to ‘make a joyful noise to the Lord’; being in tune is just a bonus. Over the past few years, I have written quite a few songs, and I have to thank a friend at university for getting me into the habit. We used to come up with some song ideas, and then he would turn them into something amazing. Now that we live in different parts of the country that’s rather hard to do, so I’ve learnt the guitar to a basic standard and have a go myself!

What do we centre our hobby on?

When someone writes a song, it should be about something they are passionate about, for the Christian, what greater passion than Jesus? I find myself with little desire to write about anything else, even when I tried, I found the songs lacking. Jesus is what we are all about; he has brought us alive, he has set us free. When I write these songs I feel it’s giving back a small offering to God. An amazing thing about our Saviour is that there’s no list of do’s and don’ts (Colossians 2:20) no set religious pattern or legalistic ties we have to follow, no sin offering we have to bring before Him. All we do is, trust in Jesus Christ, giving us a desire to live our lives for him, and in my case write songs to glorify his name.

Experiencing the Holy Spirit

There is however no point in forcing a song out. I have tried and it has come out as a mess. Rather I decide to write when I feel close with him, when I feel led by the Holy Spirit to write one. A song written with the power and presence of the Spirit is amazing, like all things done in the presence of the Spirit. It some ways, for me, writing music and feeling the Spirit makes me desire the Spirit more and more, it’s a unique but wonderful feeling, it’s so amazing that you never want the experience to end, and you have the desire in your heart for more. Song writing really helped me look to Jesus and the Spirit and the Father and just allowed me to pour out my heart in worship to God.

When I have been in tough times at university, the Spirit comforted me and gave me a strong desire to write, and at certain times whilst back home I have had times where songs have poured out. Sometimes, that desire has gone, in some cases, when I allowed sin to rule my heart, the songs completely dried up, but also sometimes after a lengthy writing period, the desire tamed, a lesson was learned or an aspect of God was opened up in glory. I think that is the purpose of song writing, for me. It teaches me, it encourages me to read the Word, and it helps me to experience God in power. And when I look back at these songs, I am reminded of lessons, of times, and it helps me focus my eyes on Jesus more and more.

Finding God in our hobbies

I write this, because do we look for God in our hobbies? Do we find him all around us?   Whatever our hobby; big or small, God can be in it. Do we aim to glorify God in the life we lead, in the hobbies we take part in?   Sometimes it can be difficult to find God in what we enjoy, but perhaps we are putting the hobby before God in our heart? There is nothing wrong in our hobbies, just ensure that they don’t overtake God. God uses our hobbies and life experiences to teach us, we don’t just learn from the Bible. God is alive, he’s not confined to a book (although the bible is extremely important in our lives), and don’t you start quoting about the passing of these experiences in 1 Corinthians 13; nothing is perfect yet. God will use our life, our experiences to guide us, teach us, train us and this certainly applies to our hobbies.

I am no great guitar player or song writer, but I have been blessed with what God has given me. The Spirit of our Lord is amazing and I am thirsty for more. We have read from an article by Josh, of how important it is to read the Bible and rightly so, and also how important is it to be thirsty of His presence? To thirst for the gifts, God has given us, whether spiritual or supernatural? Song writing has opened so much to me and it’s all down to God. In our all hobbies, God can teach us, he can guide us. Christian, are you putting anything in the way and stopping the outworking of the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19)?