Melody

 Melody

January 15, 2026

Ephesians 5:19 (NKJV) 

speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,

Psalms 98:5-6

5 Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre,

With the lyre and the sound of melody.

6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn

Shout joyfully before the King, the LORD.

We’ve talked about pitch and harmony, tempo and rhythm, but those together don’t make very interesting music. What you need to bring it all together and give the song a recognizable character is a chord progression and melody. The chord progression gives the song a mood, and the melody weaves around in the chord progression to tell a story.You can tell a happy story with a tune using major chords and fourth and fifth chords or tell a more somber or sad story with notes from minor chords and more exotic jazz chords such as minor 9ths and 11ths. How these chords are constructed gifts into more music theory, but for now, just remember the perfect 5th and 4th intervals that Pythagoras discovered. These are the basis for the happy 1-4-1-4-1-5-4-1 chord progression. 

But I digress. Our point here is not really to teach music theory, but to encourage you to sing melodies to express your praise to the Lord. You can use melodies to encourage one another and to comfort one another during hard times. Remember how David was able to play music for King Saul to calm his troubled soul. Music has the ability to influence our emotions and express what is in our hearts. So sing praises to the Lord and let the sound of melody be in your heart. Sing joyfully to the Lord.

Time and Music

 Time and Music

January 14, 2026

Acts 1:14a (NKJV) These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, …

Philippians 2:2

2make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

1There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—

Another mathematical aspect of music is time; tempo and rhythm. This is not as complicated as frequency and pitch, but is just as important. Each musical composition is written with a specific tempo and time signature in mind. To play it as the composer intended, you need to follow the clock, and play precisely 60 beats per minute, 72 bpm, 100 bpm, etc. There is also a time signature. The most common is 4/4 which is four quarter notes per measure. Now when more than one person is playing, one has to be in charge of the tempo. In an orchestra that is the conductor and in a small band it is the drummer and/or the bass player. (Of course, I think the bass player is most important, laying down both the tempo and chords progression for he band. 🤠🎸). But without this coordination, each one doing what they think is right leads to chaos. To be music, pleasing to the ear, they must be together, in one accord with one purpose. This is another way that music reflects the heart of God as He desires that all of His people dwell in unity and have the same mind and the same purpose.

Once the tempo has been established, there can be a rhythm added to the basic beat. For many years, I played with worship bands that had many black players. They used to kid me that I was the old white guy with no rhythm. They tried very hard to teach me those funky rhythms, and I tried my best. But in the end, I was indeed that old white guy with no rhythm! 🤠🎸. Anyway, I did learn to keep a basic beat and could play some syncopation on occasion. The rhythm gives a specific character to a piece on top of the basic 1,2,3,4 of the tempo. What do you think of when you hear this rhythm ?

Daaaaaa dum

Daaaaaa dum

Daaa dum Daaa dum

Da dum Da dum Da dum…

If you hummed that correctly, you should be thinking “We need a bigger boat! Jaws is coming for us!”

Bottom line is that mathematics, consistent counting, making rhythms together and being of one mind and playing together is all part of music. And music reflects the heart of God who brings order and unity to His people. So be of one accord, play in sync with one another and worship the Father by being of one mind and one purpose. That true in both music and in the Christian life.

Mathematics and Music

 Mathematics and Music

January 13, 2026

2 Samuel 6:5

5Meanwhile, David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all kinds of instruments made of fir wood, and with lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets and cymbals.

In second Samuel, we see that King David utilized all kinds of musical instruments to worship the Lord. There are stringed instruments, winds instruments, both brass and woodwinds, and percussion instruments. But what enables all these types of  instruments to play together harmoniously? As we said briefly yesterday, It is because of the underlying mathematics that determines which notes and frequencies sound pleasing together. Let us go back to Pythagoras as see how he laid a mathematical foundation for music.

One story goes that it was as he was passing a blacksmiths shop that he noticed that two hammers ringing off of the anvil sounded good together. On closer inspection, he determined that one hammer weighted exactly twice what the other did, and the resulting sounds were the same note, but an octave apart. This established the first perfect interval, which is the octave, whose frequencies have a ratio of 2:1. You can demonstrate the same thing on a guitar by first plucking a string and then touching it at the halfway point (the twelfth fret). The tone will switch to the next higher octave. This is the first overtone. 

The next simplest ratio is the perfect fifth, which has a ratio of 3:2 and then the perfect third with a ratio of 5:4. Together these form the major chord which is the simplest and most harmonious chord. (In the key of C this is C, E, G and C2). This mathematical pattern repeats with increasing complexity, and all instruments are designed to produce these same notes so they create harmonious sounds when played together. In modern music, the standard musical scale has been divided into 12 equal half tones with A2=440 Hz. Without this mathematical precision, the instruments would just produce noise like the shofar, which is not tuned but just produces a shout or blast when blown.

There is much more to music theory, but this gives you a taste of the mathematical beauty and simplicity underlying musical harmony. Such beauty reflect the heart of God who created the universe to obey beautiful mathematical laws. This order illustrated His nature which calls order out of chaos (Let there be…). And without his guiding influence, which he delegated to us when He ordered Adam and Eve to take dominion over the earth, nature obeys the law of entropy* which results in a return to chaos. Therefore, there is something about making music and worshiping the Father that pleases the heart of God as it creates harmony and order. So let there be music and use it to worship God.

* The second law of thermodynamics introduces entropy, stating that the total entropy of an isolated system cannot decrease over time, implying that heat cannot spontaneously flow from a colder to a hotter body. Entropy is a fundamental physical quantity that quantifies the degree of disorder, randomness, or energy dispersal in a system. (grokipedia.com)

Donald Duck in Mathamagicland cartoon explains mathematical music to Donald:

https://youtu.be/hl6JDv4ZG7U?si=pNmmHoIc4O8Tnhrx

God, The Universe and Music

 God, The Universe and Music

January 12

    

Job 38:4,7

4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell Me, if you have understanding,

…

7 When the morning stars sang together

And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Psalms 98:4-9

4 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth;

Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.

5 Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre,

With the lyre and the sound of melody.

6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn

Shout joyfully before the King, the LORD.

7 Let the sea roar and all it contains,

The world and those who dwell in it.

8 Let the rivers clap their hands,

Let the mountains sing together for joy.

9 Before the LORD, for He is coming to judge the earth;

He will judge the world with righteousness

And the peoples with equity.

According to Job, there was singing and shouting at the creation of the world. Presumably, the morning stars and sons of God were angels who sang together and shouted for joy as the Lord spoke the worlds into existence; the “Let there be…”s of Genesis 1. If that is the case, then music is older than the earth and there is something about music that brings joy to the heart of God.

In Psalm 98 it seems that all the earth sings for joy. The trees clap their hands and the mountains sing together. This joyful music lasts until judgement day and beyond (Ps 98:9). Perhaps music will even outlast the earth, going from the beginning of creation into all eternity. So what is so special about music?

It is said that Pythagoras was the first to recognize the mathematical foundation of the universe. He postulated music from the spheres (Latin: musica mundana) and invented the musical scales based on mathematical intervals. If music is mathematical and mathematics represents order, then music represents the divine order of a created world. Music is fundamental to the heart of God. He created the universe to have order, that can be described by mathematics and physics, and the joy of this order is expressed in music.

That’s enough for one day, but think about order and mathematics and let a song of joy rise from your heart.

Prayer and Fasting- 5- Healing

 Prayer and Fasting -5- Healing

January 9, 2026

Mark 9:17-19 (NKJV) 

17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who hasa mute spirit. 18 “And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” 19 He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.”

Mark 9:23-29 (NKJV) 23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things [are] possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it: “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!”

26 Then [the spirit] cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he becameas one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

This story of Jesus healing the epileptic boy tells a lesson on faith, prayer and fasting. Jesus has already given the disciples the authority to heal and cast out demons (Luke 9:1-6), so why were the disciples not having success in praying for the boy? Jesus seemed a little put out  by this; “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?” He also told the father “If you can believe, all things [are] possible to him who believes.”    Jesus emphasized that having faith is a key to healing. So how do we increase out faith. The disciples asked Jesus directly why they could not cast out the demon and Jesus answered, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

One lesson from this story is that we can increase our faith by prayer and fasting. There is something about denying yourself by fasting that reduces your dependence on yourself and increases your dependence on God. Jesus has given us authority to heal all diseases and cast out demons, but we need to have faith that it is His power at work and not our own efforts. With sufficient faith we can move mountains so let us build up our faith by prayer and fasting. “All things are possible to him who believes.”

Prayer and Fasting- 4- Delight in the Lord

 Prayer and Fasting- 4 - Delight in the Lord

January 8, 2026

Isaiah 58:13-14 (NKJV) 

13 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, [From] doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy [day] of the LORD honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking [your own] words, 14 Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Matthew 22:36-40 (NKJV) 

36“Teacher, which [is] the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 “This is [the] first and great commandment. 39 “And [the] second [is] like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Rememberer the three main points in Isaiah’s discourse on fasting in chapter 58:

1. Praying for others
2. Promises for pleasing God
3. Loving God

Today we come the third and final aspect of God’s chosen fast. It is arguably the most important aspect of fasting in that it results in delighting yourself in the Lord. The whole point of God’s chosen fast is to bring you closer to the Lord. Jesus said that the most important commandment was to love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. He taught that all the Law and the Prophets hang on this as well as loving your neighbor. This is something that King David understood.

Psalms 37:3-4

3 Trust in the LORD and do good;

Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself in the LORD;

And He will give you the desires of your heart.

God’s chosen fast is a lifestyle of doing good and cultivating faithfulness. This results in delighting in the Lord and also can bring you the desires of your heart. But most of all, fasting will change your heart so that your foremost desire will be to delight in the Lord. So I urge you to solemnly consider how you should pray and fast as you enter into the new year. There can be great joy and delight when you enter into God’s chosen fast.

Prayer and Fasting- Part 3

 Prayer and Fasting -Part 3- Promises

January 7, 2026

Isaiah 58:8-12 (NKJV) 

8 Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I [am.]’ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 [If] you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall [be] as the noonday. 11 The LORD will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.

Rememberer the three main points in Isaiah’s discourse on fasting in chapter 58:

1. Praying for others
2. Promises for pleasing God
3. Loving God

Today, let us look at the second point. When you live according to Gods’ chosen fast, there are many promises that follow. There will be a new light or understanding and healing and deliverance will spring forth. The Lord will hear your prayers and guide you continually. You will be like a spring of water refreshing your neighbors and a light to the world.

Jesus taught the same in the sermon on the mount*. He began with the beatitudes which taught how you should live, how you should love your neighbor, then added this passage.

Matthew 5:13-16 (NKJV) 

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all [who are] in the house. 16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

When you live the blessed life, being meek, merciful, compassionate, etc. then you will be salt and light. God’s chosen fast is to live in such a way that you will be a blessing to those around you. And when you are a blessing, you will be blessed. You will be a light, illuminating the world with true wisdom and grace, and salt, bringing flavor and salvation to those around you.

So as you prepare yourself for the coming year with prayer and fasting, remember God’s chosen fast and love your neighbor. Be salt and light to the world and look for the blessings and promises that follow for those who live in such a fashion. It is the way of the kingdom of God. It is God’s chosen fast.

————————————

*Matthew 5:1-12 (NKJV) 

1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: 3 “Blessed [are] the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed [are] those who mourn, Forthey shall be comforted. 5 Blessed [are] the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed [are] those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. 7 Blessed [are] the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed [are] the pure in heart, For they shall see God. 9 Blessed [are] the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. 10 Blessed [are ]those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great [is] your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.