Spirit – Music-Practicing – Spirit Music Meet-Ups

 

 

 

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Video – Intro to Spirit Music Meetups

 

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As part of our Mission Statement, we are dedicated to help YOU:

 

To fully surrender control of:

 

YOUR own “might and power” external resources and internal abilities to:

 

Exchange this for God’s “promised Spirit” resources and abilities in order to:

 

LEARN & PRACTICE and perform MUSIC by the means of the Holy Spirit, even:

 

Spirit drum-practicing and Spirit drum-performing – not just:

 

The skill of technical drumming, but for:

 

Anointed, Prophetic, and even Spontaneous MUSIC & drums that:

 

Worships the Lord by the means of singular Spirit and singular Truth!

 

 

 

How does Practicing Music fit in with being led by the Holy Spirit?

 

 

After everything warned about the many dangers of putting your trusting-relying faith in your skill and professionalism based on the might and power of your flesh, and all the incredibly positive aspects of playing Anointed, Prophetic, and Spontaneous music “by-the-means-of the Spirit” you will see on those BLOG pages, how does the idea of practicing music or for that matter practicing your preaching/evangelizing, teaching, prophesying, or any of the grace-gifts of the Holy Spirit fit into our ministry?

 

If we put our trusting-relying faith solely “by-the-means-of My Spirit“ instead of our “might and power” skill per Zechariah 4:6 does that mean we show up to performances totally unprepared and just “wing it?” Does that mean we just start preaching/evangelizing, teaching, prophesying, or performing any of the Spirit’s grace-gifts “in the heat of the moment” in public when we have never done so before?  Do we jump off the temple and see if the angels will catch us before we hit the pavement?  Are we greater than Jesus with His great trusting-relying faith who was tempted to do this but said to Satan, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” (a)?  <Notes> a) Matthew 4:7.

 

Remember that Jesus didn’t say or do anything unless He saw the Father first say or do it (a).  So if the Lord shows or tells you to do something and you are confident it is actually Him and not a deceiving spirit like 1 Timothy 4:1 warns us about, then that is absolutely the time to “step out in faith” and “just do it,” even if it’s your first time!  We all need to get much better at listening in proseuche conversational-prayer and simply “Trust and Obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to Trust and Obey” <Notes> a) John 5:19.

 

 

 

 

But what about Practicing Music before performing it?

 

 

What I see throughout the New Testament is the idea of God as a unconditionally-loving Father teaching us as little children to learn how to walk “by-the-means-of the Spirit.”  We will explore this more in a minute, but God has also showed me through many dreams and visions His great pleasure in seeing us go on an adventure to explore creativity, like a child going on long bike rides in the country, or a child on the beach making a magnificent sand castle only to wipe it out with a crashing wave or his own arm, and then start making another one!  He loves to see us “in the zone” lost in the joy of our adventures!  I’ve seen Him smile from ear to ear with the pride of father saying, “That’s my kid making those things!”

 

I’ve seen the Holy Spirit, like a squiggle of colored light floating like a butterfly into my childhood carport and then dance from drum to drum to cymbal to tom-tom right before my hand suddenly moved to play on it, but I was unware, simply “in the zone” staring at my drums as my hands danced about.  I’ve physically felt blown or swept away by music that was played “by-the-means-of the Spirit” in a few rare church experiences.  It was completely free-form with little or no predetermined music structure, program, or other agenda!  It was Anointed, Prophetic, and Spontaneous – what a powerful combination!

 

 

 

 

Be thankful as you Learn & Practice Music as a little child by the Spirit:

 

 

I also know that God loves it when we are full of gratitude and give Him thanks for the privilege to learn & practice music.  Remember 1 Timothy 4:4-5 says that “everything created by God is kalos ‘so beautifully-attractively good that it inspires other to embrace it’ and/thus absolutely-in-fact-NO thing is to be rejected [if/when] routinely lambano ‘grabbing hold of to receive’ meta ‘together-with in a way that affects change’ thanksgiving, for it is presently/ongoingly made-holy/sanctified thru-the-realizing-channel-of [singular] [gospel] logos message of God and/coupled enteuxis ‘childlike trusting-relying faith in approaching God in prayer‘.”

 

So I would say that God absolutely loves it when you learn & practice your instrument “by-the-means-of the Spirit“!  He absolutely loves it that you are willing to surrender control of your worries, concerns, and ambitions to acquire more “might and power, fleshly” skill and learn how to surrender-control by “letting go and letting God” to explore how to be “led by the Spirit as ‘like-Father-son’ huios sons (a) of God” so that we are no longer under the bondage of following the commandments of the Torah Law of conditional-favor (b).  This is how Jesus zao genuinely-lived (c)!  This is how we zao genuinely-live or poreuomai ‘travel port to port’ or peripateo ‘walk all around’ by-the-means-of the Spirit (d) – by following so close behind the lead of the Spirit that we keep in step with This Commander (e). <Notes> a) huios: mature, like their father, ready for their inheritance, b) Galatians 5:18; Romans 8:14, c) Matthew 4:1; Luke 4:1, d) Acts 9:31; Romans 8:4; Galatians 5:16, 25, e) Galatians 5:25.

 

 

 

 

Look UP to get your Skill:

 

 

As a little child it took a lot of practice for us to learn how to physically walk, leaning less and less on our parent’s arms, furniture, and walls.  It will take lots of practice to “lean not on our own understanding, but in all our ways to experientially, relationally know (a) Yahweh to make our paths straight and smooth” (b).  It takes time to learn this and our unconditionally-loving Father gives us unconditionally-loving-favor-of-grace to learn this.  He will do everything by His Spirit’s power to help us move more and more from the flesh to the Spirit, and He absolutely loves it when we practice this!  Finally, God is not like many human fathers that yell, tease, criticize, berate, or beat kids for their failures!  He is nothing but unconditional in His unconditionally-loving favor, only gently teaching and encouraging us, and is quick to applaud our successes!  The exact meaning of Parakletos “Helper” describing the Holy Spirit is “close-beside comforting, consoling, counseling teacher,” and one of the 8 ‘flavors’ of the “[singular] fruit of the Holy Spirit [that] is-defined-as/exists-as Unconditional-Love” is gentleness (c).  That’s what this Spirit Music Meet-Ups ministry is all about – learning how to do this together in fellowship!  <Notes> a) yada, ginosko, b) Proverbs 3:5-6, c) Galatians 5:22.

 

 

 

 

Meet-Up with God and others to Learn & Practice Music:

 

 

I believe that God wants us to confidently “walk all-around in the Spirit” and that means practicing this, just like a little child would!  However, I don’t think that means He wants us to use other people as guinea pigs (how unloving) as we struggle to “let go” of our flesh and “let God” take control of us “by-the-means-of His Spirit.  He wants us to use ‘training wheels’ on our brand-new ‘Spirit bicycle’ so that we don’t run into people and cars and who knows what else, hurting ourselves and others (how unloving).  That’s why we need to Meet-Up with God in our private practice time to make it a holy space.  We need to spend a lot of time in there learning directly from the Holy Spirit, learning how to surrender control.

 

As we develop more confidence in our private practice, we can take our ‘training wheels’ off and Meet-Up with with other like-minded people in ‘our neighborhood’ where it’s safe, riding with those who also have ‘Spirit bicycles,’ so our group practice time also becomes a holy space.  As we grow more confident in our ‘Spirit group,’ then we will be confident to race as a “Spirit team” to Meet-Up in public, whether to the saved or unsaved, still keeping this time a holy space.  By the time we get to this point, we will have very little, if any flesh, left to confuse or hurt others (how unloving), but instead we will be filled by the Spirit to play Anointed, Prophetic, and even Spontaneous music.  Can you see that “trusting-relying faith and unconditional-love” must go hand-in-hand, just as 1 John 3:23 combines them into only 1 New Testament commandment to carefully-watch-over-to-keep?

 

 

 

 

How many Worship Teams know how to “Let Go and Let God” to experience the Spirit’s music?

 

 

Yet, after 15 worship bands since 1980, I can say that 90% of church musicians know very little of this experience about “letting go” surrender of all their pursuit of skill and professionalism they work so hard on in their practice room and with their worship bands, and simply “letting God” when it comes time to worship “by-the-means-of [singular] Spirit and/coupled by-the-means-of [singular] Truth” as God desires in the assembly of the saints (a).  They are still glued to their music stands, so concerned about getting it all just right to “honor God.”  I’ve seen Christian groups get more bent out of shape in band rehearsals than the 25 secular groups I’ve played in!  All this self-reliance and prideful striving is actually dishonoring to God, and the performance/showmanship of many church services actually grieves God – I’ve felt my insides just break down in tears!  Just because you can’t feel this, doesn’t mean it’s not going on! <Notes> a) John 4:23-24.

 

I had one bass player at a huge church just rail on me for not playing my charts, especially after I told him that I would rather the Lord lead me in worship.  He told me it was “dishonoring to God and so unprofessional.”  I laughed under my breath because he didn’t know that I have a 1000 charts in a huge accordion file from the 37 bands I’ve been in, and teach drumming professionally, but chose not to put my trusting-relying faith in the charts I did make and did practice before I got there!  Boy, was his judgment really off base – that “log of criticalness in his own eye” needed to be removed before he was qualified to pick specks of dust out of my eyes (a)!  Since those days, I’ve relied less and less on charts even in my practice time, deciding I would rather practice playing a song over and over by the Spirit than spend 30 minutes writing a chart out only to have my eyes glued to it while playing – even in the assembly of the saints!  <Notes> a) Matthew 7:3-6; Luke 6:41-42.

 

A telltale sign of trusting-relying faith in the flesh is the lack of proseuche conversational-prayer!  In several church groups I’ve played with, they prayed very little or not at all before rehearsals or church services!  How sad is that!  I even asked the worship leader at one church to do this but he never did!  Yet many churches have stressed following their stage clocks to the minute so that every service would end exactly on time!  If you ran over much at all, you would practically get yelled at by the pastor!  That’s because they have to fit 2, 3, or 4 services in a day.  Seems like greed to me!  The results of a poor conversational-prayer life are devastating, whether in your own practice time, group time, or public time.

 

 

 

 

Well, instead of griping about what’s broken, let’s look at how to get back on track:

 

 

 

 

Learning by Revelation:  This is how I’ve been learning from about 2010, but especially since about 2018!  You can learn so much more and faster this way than you can using your own “might and power” fleshly skills (Zechariah 4:6).  It’s also a great way to learn and practice privately how to play Anointed, Prophetic, and Spontaneous music & drums, which is the whole purpose of this website. This is the New Covenant way of doing things – directly from God, bypassing all the middle-men!  I will be exploring this method/process much more so look for more parts to this in the future!

 

The KEY attitude/action that opens the door is your “let go and let go” confession and surrender of your own pride, control of and trusting-relying faith in your own “might and power” external resources and internal abilities in exchange for having trusting-relying faith that if you A.S.K. God then He will GIVE you His “self-control/mastery!” (Galatians 5:23). You can’t have one without leaving behind the other, just as you can’t fully experience the New Covenant unless you leave the old covenant behind. I explain why!  Chadash/Kainos “New” is an unused, unprecedented, completely different-in-kind, superior invention!  If you have trusting-relying faith in the Law you will never experience Grace.  If you have trusting-relying-faith in your own work/effort, you can never experience God’s work IN you!  If you want to go forward, you have to stop dragging stuff from the past forward!  This is one of the ways to build The Great Wall quenching the Holy Spirit.  A.S.K. = routinely Ask and it shall indeed be given to you, routinely Seek and you shall indeed find, routinely Knock and the door shall indeed be opened to you.

 

If you feel pushed toward some “moving goal post,” stressed, strained, guilty, frustrated, impatient, irritated, depressed, angry, cramping, or even experiencing pain, you are “in the flesh” and not “in the Spirit.”  Working and Trying Hard is the old covenant way.  Rest and Peace is the New Covenant Way!  Understand the difference by understanding your Identity!  Like going on a pray walk:  You can be in motion with your drums playing an exercise or whatever and “zone out” on the mechanics of what you are doing, as you are optonamai “staring with wide-open eyes” or horao “observing/perceiving-knowing/discerning” internally while you are proseuchomai conversational-praying with God, watching with the “eyes of your heart to be enlightened” and “listening with your inner ears so that you may akouo hear to understand/know for God to dialogue with you because you have trusting-relying faith after you did your A.S.K. part!  For more about discernment – see New Covenant Ways – BT16.  You drew near/close to Him, so you are patiently-waiting for God to fulfill His promise to draw near/close to you (a) and that God is the rewarder of those who are earnestly seeking Him (b).  <Notes> a) James 4:8, b) Hebrews 11:6.

 

So you don’t have to JUST “Be Still/Quiet in order to Yada/Ginosko experientially know Elohim, the Majestic ‘US’ God.” But you can be distracted by outside noise or motion, so try to limit unexpected distractions. Mute your phone, shut your door, etc. Stop trying or working hard – this the old covenant way of “might and power” flesh!   Rest in the Peace of the Holy Spirit and “let God” GIVE you revelation, enabling-power, and skill!

 

Turn off the “Analyzing Mind,” rest and feel the Pleasure and Joy of the Lord!  More on this:  If you feel intense Joy, Peace, Patient-contentment, Curiosity, or Desire to explore to discover to know the Truth, as I did, then the Lord told me that you are actually feeling Him in order that you can know Him more deeply and naturally be more grateful and loving to Him in return. That’s what a intimate relationship is about – sharing experiences with one another!

 

 

 

Keep a Journal for Revelations you’ll get during your Music-Practicing to Learn faster:  Don’t forget to keep a music journal handy, because the Lord will reveal “mysteries kept hidden from the so-called wise and learned,” because you have decided to become like a “little child” and like Mary, “doing the better thing of watching and listening at the feet of Jesus.”  Praise the Lord!  You will be taught so much that you will fill one journal up after another!

 

 

 

Learn as a little child by creatively experimenting and keeping it fun!  See the YouTube video description box for details.

 

 

 

Here’s an example exploring Drum-Flams with childlike curiosity & adventure, and Learning by Spirit Revelation. See the YouTube video description box for details.

 

 

 

Focus on the Holy Spirit’s Unconditional-Love when practicing music & drums to be on track:  The Apostle Paul declared in Galatians 5:22-23 that “the [singular] fruit/nature of the Spirit is Unconditional-Love.”  I knew in Greek that the following 8 words are all adjective nouns acting as descriptive ‘flavors’ of the singular fruit called agape Unconditional-Love:  “Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith/faithfulness, gentleness, self-control/mastery.  Against such things there is no Law.”  No rules are necessary when you have God’s Unconditional-Love – when you have the Spirit!  Unconditional-Love is also the singular direct object of the singular verb “ongoingly exists as or is defined as.” Unconditional-Love is the focus of the sentence – the point!  Jesus said “a tree is known by its [singular] fruit” and so is the Holy Spirit of Jesus and the Father.  The Triune God is simply Unconditional-Love per 1 John 4:8, 16.

 

THAT is a big enough revelation concerning Music by the Spirit!  But then God hit me with how the “flavors” are signposts or proofs that you are genuinely experiencing Unconditional-Love, the Spirit. The ‘flavors’ are not our focus but a witness that we are heading in the right direction as we “walking by-the-means-of the Spirit,” nearing the Lord!  Our focus is experiencing the Lord by walking by-the-means-of the Spirit,” who is Unconditional-Love.

 

 

 

Keep the God’s Joy in the Journey or end up with an Urn full of a dead-man’s ashes – Your own:  Joy is the primary ‘flavor’ of the “[singular] fruit/essence of God’s Spirit that is Unconditional-Love” (Galatians 5:22-23):  “Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control/mastery.  Against such things there is no Law.”  Joy:  Keep the Joy in “JO…urne… Y!”  Adventure. Explore. Curiosity. We must remain as little children going out to play with our best friend, the Lord!

 

 

 

Peaceful-Rest is a sign you are on the right track practicing and playing music & drums.  The ‘flavor’ of Peaceful-Rest comes after Joy in the tasting of the “[singular] fruit/essence of God’s Spirit that is Unconditional-Love” (Galatians 5:22-23):  “Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith/faithfulness, gentleness, self-control/mastery.  Against such things there is no Law.”

 

Peace:  rest, calm, tranquility, satisfaction, contentment, and gratitude.  No “blood, sweat, tears” work or strain or toil or burden – that is the demon taskmasters driving you to build Egypt’s vain monuments of pride, that are today’s moving goal-posts of this world.  For more about directly learning from the Lord, check out the knowledge page.

 

 

 

Peaceful-Rest after Exercise to build muscle memory:   Here is a Drumming example:  Exercise (katergazomai from Philippians 2:12-13) the stick’s rebound by playing rebound- or full-strokes, what I like to call “HH” strokes for starting High and ending High.  Start by slapping the wrist down but with the fingers keeping the stick tightly against the palm, what others call a “power-stroke,” though I also teach that is a “fishing-pole stroke,” because it’s how you would throw a fishing rod!  Notice that in order to get the stick back up in the high starting-position, you will have to lift it back up with your wrist.  This is inefficient because you aren’t using the energy of the down-stroke!  Now gradually loosen your grip until the stick flies back out of your hands like a bouncing rubber ball!  Pick up your stick, but this time apply just enough pressure until it stays in your hand.  Keep your fingers lightly on the stick so they are just “going along for a ride” as the stick “see-saws” in your 2-finger fulcrum grip.  You can lightly tap the fingers during the wrist-stroke, but don’t pull them into your palm tightly or it will turn into a “down- or control-stroke,” which would require lifting your wrist.  However, if you do pull the fingers into the palm lightly, you can do what I call a “throw-up stroke,” where the rebound pushes the fingers out while the wrist remains bent down, then pull the fingers & wrist up together to the starting-position!  This creates a stronger 2^nd stroke for inverted doubles RRLL.

 

 

 

Having long-tempered-patience with your/other’s mistakes is part of God’s Unconditional-Love:  Unconditional-Love’s ‘flavors’ of the “[singular] fruit/essence of God’s Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23) are:  “Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith/faithfulness, gentleness, self-control/mastery.  Against such things there is no Law.”

 

Patience:  This is not “long-suffering” as some bibles say!  If I flub up (sin – miss the target), STOP, admit (surrender and confess) that your actions aren’t working and they need to be erased/cleansed from your memory/life.  Doing them faster won’t fix the problem – you will make more.  Admit you obviously lack self-control/mastery!  Ask for the Holy Spirit’s self-control/mastery.  Open your hands and Let GO of your “might and power” inability and receive His enabling-power by trusting-relying faith.

 

Think about the correct action.  Go SLOWER than you did before.  Give your mind a chance to create a new, better memory.  Make it a habit, really consciously focusing on the correct action.  When it is correct for awhile, test it by going a little bit faster.  Crawl, walk, run, and fly in that order.

 

 

 

Show Productive-Kindness of God’s Unconditional-Love to yourself and others, even in music:  Unconditional-Love’s ‘flavors’ of the “[singular] fruit/essence of God’s Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23) are: “Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith/faithfulness, gentleness, self-control/mastery.  Against such things there is no Law.”

 

Kindness:  The Greek word chrestotes means:  a kindness that is well-fitted for what is really needed, thus it is useful or profitable because it meets real needs. Thus, it is closely related to the next word agathosune for inherently good that stresses the kindly rather than the righteous side of goodness.

 

1 Corinthians 13:4 says, “Unconditional-Love is patient and/coupled kind.”  In Luke 6:35, Jesus tells people to go beyond the “Unconditional-Love your neighbor as yourself” commandment by “unconditionally-loving your enemies and/coupled do good . . . and you be sons of the Most High for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”  Now Paul in 2 Corinthians 6:6 links “patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, and genuine unconditional-love” as behavior of their ministry team.

 

Watch your words to yourself:  Are they positive & encouraging or critical & berating?  Talk to yourself as if you were a little child – kindly.  Kind words get the job done. Critical words are self-destructive.  If you want to do the “right” thing, then be kind to yourself.  If you feel “pushed” or “whipped” or “berated” this is the evil spirit of the Egyptian taskmasters.  Rebuke them in the name of Jesus!  Tell them to get lost!  And then speak kind, unconditionally-loving words of encouragement to yourself.  You may have fallen and skinned your knee, but you will be okay.  You can get up and continue to move forward, one step at a time.

 

I highly recommend going very slowly and speaking to yourself the “useful, productive” steps you want to take. Get mentally coordinated first and take it one step at a time.  Be kind to yourself.  Go slowly enough for your mind to form all the chemical bonds it needs to create a good, solid memory.  Only turn the hose on more after the water has really soaked in. This is really the fastest way to get fast – it’s not by being “impatient or unkind.” This is NOT good!

 

 

 

Going to a Good God in prayer is good: Unconditional-Love’s ‘flavors’ of the “[singular] fruit/essence of God’s Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23) are:  “Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith/faithfulness, gentleness, self-control/mastery. Against such things there is no Law.”

 

Goodness: The Greek word agathosune is only used 4x in the New Testament and not at all outside of the bible.  It means that which is healthy, effective, efficient, beneficial or useful, excellent quality, beautiful, honorable, and praiseworthy.”

 

Play until your music looks and sounds “beautiful, efficient, effective, excellent, quality, and thus useful” like the Creator would make it.  The Lord told me that He can be known more deeply when gazing into the beauty of His creation, even a sunset!  So gaze into your exploration of music’s beauty.  And you will feel really Good.

 

On 12/14/2020, the Lord gave me a vision about GOing to a Good God in prayer and this is really the best, good thing you could do to really get the “Doing or Working” to happen – check out the details on this page.

 

 

 

God’s love is full of enduring faith:  Unconditional-Love’s ‘flavors’ of the “[singular] fruit/essence of God’s Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23) are: “Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith/faithfulness, gentleness, self-control/mastery.  Against such things there is no Law.”

 

Faith/Faithfulness:  Pistis comes from verb pisteuo, which means to have trusting-relying-faith.  Although it comes from peitho, to persuade, it means much more than that!  Sure God may have persuaded you mentally so that you believe, but it goes much deeper. Pistis was a Greek god from Pandora’s Box, “The Trustworthy One.” Thus it was used if something was trustworthy or guaranteed, like a warranty.

 

However, in biblical use faith is a relationship word. It is rarely used in the Old Testament, but there it means steadfastness of trust, so trustfulness or faithfulness.  Although “it does not in itself contain the notion of belief, it must necessarily presuppose it.” The book of Romans is based on Habakkuk 2:4 “The righteous shall live by pistis faith.”  Paul adds, “from faith to faith,” a common idiom for 1 step to another of trusting-relying faith – see Obedient Steps of Faith.

 

In Galatians 5:22, God’s Unconditional-Love is full of trust, trust in Himself, and He is steadfast in it.  He has no intention of giving up on us.  His promises are sure.  He is dedicated to finishing the race.  He is faithful to us even as we falter!  In the New Testament, pistis trusting-relying faith also goes beyond belief to a conviction of trust.  It’s unfortunate so many translations use the word “believe” for pisteuo!  So much is written about enduring faith so it carries that idea of “full of faith or steadfast faith or trustfulness to the end.”

 

God gives each of us the same “measuring-cup” (metron) of trusting-relying faith – God is impartial!  We are at the starting line of the Christian faith as equals.  But what do we do with it?  We are each held responsible.  Our act of trusting-relying faith in Christ is the victory that has overcome the world – and the Judgment Day will prove this!  However, as we “work WITH God” in koinonia fellowship instead of against Him, we grow in our trusting-relying faith because of the work of the Holy Spirit in us.  Like the disciples, we can ask: “Lord, increase our faith.” That’s a prayer that God will always answer because it’s definitely His will!

 

Application to Music:  The race is finished only IF you quit – you must go across the finish line.  Don’t give up on yourself or what you are tackling. You can take a break, but come back fresh and tackle it again. The elephant can be eaten one bite at a time.

 

One thing I notice about little kids: They fall down a lot, cry, etc. but before long they are back up playing.  Let’s be like little children and get back to having fun playing!  We can also trust God that as we do, we will keep learning and He will get us to where He wants us.  God is faithful!  Enjoy the journey!

 

 

 

Be gentle with yourself as you learn:  Unconditional-Love’s ‘flavors’ of the “[singular] fruit/essence of God’s Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23) are: “Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control/mastery. Against such things there is no Law.”

 

Gentleness:  The Greek word prautes only used in Galatians 5:23 and 1 Timothy 6:11.  It is divinely-originated (a) because it is a ‘flavor’ of the [singular] fruit of the Spirit that is Unconditional-Love. It comes from the wisdom of God (b).  Gentleness is a balanced meekness, a gentle strength/force that expresses power with reserve and gentleness, thus mildness from the word praus (gentle). A related word is praotes, similarly means temperate, balance of force and gentle reserve, showing a strength in gentleness where unnecessary harshness is avoided without compromising or being too slow to use necessary force.  Both of these are passive, an attitude toward others in view of their actions.  It is not weakness but exercising God’s strength/power under His control/reserve. When facing evil people, instead of of being self-assertive and fighting for our own self-interest, the Holy Spirit powerfully-enables us to have trusting-relying faith in God’s goodness and ultimate self-control/mastery over the situation, so we need not return evil for evil. <Notes> a) Galatians 5:23; 1 Corinthians 4:21; Galatians 6:1, b) James 3:13.

 

Epiekeia is distinctly active form of mildness/gentleness with the emphasis on equity or fairness, one’s deeds toward others, a relaxing of strict legal requirements of others, yet doing this in order to more fully carry out the real spirit of the Law, thus clemency in such a way there is no weakness or injustice (Acts 24:4 and 2 Corinthians 10:1).

 

Gentleness is linked to Unconditional love, the essence/nature of the Spirit (a).  It is linked to humility and patience  (b).  It is linked to being peaceable and showing complete courtesy to all people (c). Thus Christian ministers are to pursue this (d) – there is much spoken prohibiting argument with your opponents (e), even for Christians giving a defense of the hope that is within them (f).  <Notes> a) Galatians 5:23, 1 Corinthians 4:21, Ephesians 4:2, b) Ephesians 4:2, Colossians 3:12, c) Titus 3:2, d) 1 Timothy 6:11, e) 2 Timothy 2:23-25, f) 1 Peter 3:15.

 

Christ is our perfect example of gentleness (a).  And such followers will inherit the earth (b). There is an inner beauty to a person with a gentle and tranquil spirit (c).  Christ’s way of teaching is based on this gentleness and humility (d).  Gentleness is how little children are taught – see The Least Among You page. It’s how the Holy Spirit teaches God’s children, Christ’s “little children” disciples.  It’s to them the secrets of the kingdom are revealed. <Notes> a) 2 Corinthians 10:1; Matthew 11:29, 21:5, b) Matthew 5:5, c) 1 Peter 3:4, d) Matthew 11:29.

 

Application to Music:  Therefore speak to yourself as if you’re a little child – gently. Don’t play into or past pain. Tension is Evil. Cinch by the inch instead of hard by the yard. Break it down into simple parts. Crawl, walk then run. Take obedient steps of trusting-relying-faith to be led “by-the-means-of the Holy Spirit.” Crawn, then walk, then run – all “by-the-means-of the Holy Spirit.” Be systematic, methodical, simple, and patient.  Say what you want (count & sing) for mental coordination before physical coordination. Create muscle memory for auto-pilot.

 

 

 

Be Gentle – Stay relaxed – Tension is Evil – Here is an example in Drumming:  Keep your fulcrum as relaxed as possible, again apply just enough pressure to keep the stick from twisting or sliding back and forth as you play.  I’ve found that this unnecessary movement usually means there are other technique problems with your grip – the position of the fulcrum fingers aren’t making maximum frictional contact with the stick, or the other fingers aren’t positioned correctly to help maintain maximum control of the stick.  God invented physics and it behooves us to not resist His ways!  The Lord told me to “go with the flow.  If you fight Me on this, you’re going to have problems.”  Yes, Lord!

 

 

 

Surrender control to the Master’s control for to acquire music & drumming skill much faster:  Unconditional-Love’s ‘flavors’ of the “[singular] fruit/essence of God’s Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23) are: “Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith/faithfulness, gentleness, self-control/mastery. Against such things there is no Law.”

 

The Greek word egkrateia means:  self-mastery dominion, restraint, control that proceeds within oneself outward. We don’t control ourselves from the outside – we release it out of us! This is a ‘flavor’ of the [singular] fruit/essence/nature of God’s Spirit that is Unconditional-Love.

 

The way to get God’s self-control/mastery is to realize and confess we don’t have it nor ever will have it by our own “might and power” but can receive it “by-the-means-of My Spirit” according to Zechariah 4:6.   Ask the Lord for His self-control!  In the Surrender Control page, you will find much about “letting go and letting God” – exchanging your obvious lack of self-control, your weaknesses, for the self-control of the Holy Spirit’s Unconditional-Love described in Galatians 5:22-23.  It is ultimately where experiencing the ‘flavors’ of the Spirit’s singular fruit of Unconditional-Love will ultimately take you!  Holiness or sanctification is the work of God!

 

But you can’t be ignorant or in denial of your flaws, your “missing of the mark” or sin!  Instead, be in agreement with God about them, i.e., confess them, and let the blood of the Lord Jesus wash all that failure away. Receive the divine propitiation, atonement, or exchange of Christ’s perfect self-control for your imperfect, severely flawed self-control.  Receive this not only for your moral failures but also for your physical weaknesses, even your music ones.

 

Routinely “Ask, Seek, and Knock” (A.S.K.) for the Lord’s self-control and you shall actually “receive, find, and have that door opened to you!” Remember that the Holy Spirit is the “Action Hero” of the Triune God – the Doer or Worker. He is the Supernatural Powerful-Enabler!  So call on Him to do this for you!

 

 

 

Surrender – ‘Go with the flow’ of energy – An example in drumming:   Lambano receive the rebound!  Accept the rebound!  If your grip isn’t “in the way” of the stick due to over-pressure, or your wrist isn’t stuck in the “down” position, the stick should rebound with nearly the same energy that it had throwing it down to the surface.  If you stop the natural rebound by over-gripping or holding your wrist down, all that energy has to go somewhere – unfortunately into your wrist, up your forearm into your elbow, up your arm into your shoulders, and then into your neck.  If you play as much as I do, you will be in the hospital in a week.  “Tension is evil,” the Lord has shown me many times!  The Lord isn’t ‘into’ you working, but Him working!  Surrender control – “Let go and Let God!”  Find that peaceful-rest of God in your playing!  It’s “not by might nor power, but by My Spirit, say Yahweh of ruling armies!”  Let your wrist gracefully move up with the energy of the rebound, and your fingers “go for a ride” as the rebound energy pushes the fingers back out to the “start position” for the next stroke – always moving to where they need to be next!  Now you can pull the fingers back into the palm as the wrist slaps back down for the next stroke.

 

 

 

Surrender – Lambano receiving of promised gifts of God by grace in order to epignosko experience them thru koinonia sharing – a Revelation on 12-23-2021:  The English word “receive” meaning “to get or be given something, to react to something in a specific way, to welcome someone in usually a formal way” does NOT reflect accurately the 2 different Greek words used in the New Testament, so English bibles have really confused matters by translating both “receive!”  Dechomai is passive and accommodating, but Lambano active and aggressive.  Dechomai is “warmly-welcoming as with a fond friend,” but this can vary from a visual or verbal greeting from afar to a simple or firm handshake to even a hug or a kiss, so the context may give a clue!  Lambano “grabbing hold of to possess for yourself” goes further by ‘bringing it in’ so para close-beside you and inside you that you take personally ownership of it!  All the important Truth of the New Testament has to go beyond dechomai and deeper into lambano for you to actually genuinely, experientially, relationally epiginosko know how agathos ‘excellently good, joyful, and beneficial’ these grace-gifts are, because it takes this level of meno ‘abiding connection-to’ them through koinonia intimate-fellowship with them and the Giver!  He showed me 3 responses to His grace-gifts that produces 3 results.  He gave me 7 steps to apply this.

 

 

 

Surrender – Go with the “living water” flow of the Holy Spirit’s plans, programs, and schedules instead of yours:  Going with the Flow is “letting God and letting God” by surrendering control.  We have to “Let Go” of our own plans, programs, and schedules and “Let God” give us the Spirit’s plans, programs, and schedules. We need to watch, listen, and feel in proseuche conversational-prayer so we can get God’s will for our day, our worship service, our music, and our drumming. This is the nature of prophecy – receiving the Rhema Word of God.

 

The Lord drove this point in at the tail end of this video when a homeless man came and interrupted the video. I quickly ended it. I had my plans to make more videos, but I could tell after about 5 minutes that the Lord had other plans. I’m so glad that I surrendered to the Lord’s plan. We ended up talking for an hour and the Lord gave me so many words “in that very hour” to decree and declare in prayer into his life. I was able to share my return to the Lord in 2008 and my Spirit Baptism at that time.  He was very excited and as it got dark it was time for him to leave. We were both very glad to have met. I could see the effect of the Holy Spirit on him. And was able to cover him in prayer together with him.

 

I have rarely ministered like this but it seemed quite natural as the Lord was moving through me. And this video is my grateful exuberance!  It really changed my day!

 

As it’s almost dark the Lord gave me so many prophetic messages about drumming to His creation and my shadow silhouette against the background lighting was a reminder of the shadow of the Old Testament, so only 2.6% of the OT was used in the NT and only to convert Jews to Christ.  The other 97.4% of the OT is Law-based, the shadowy veil over Moses’ face that blocked the glory of God from the people, so that it hardens their hearts and causes sin to multiply.  Only by turning to Jesus is the veil removed so we can actually be transformed.

 

Then the Lord reminds me from January 2021 that “an avalanche of truth is coming that will shake the earth” – the Light will overcome the darkness. Some people will not heed the warning and will get buried and perish by it, for the Lord has repetitively said, “Repent or you too shall perish.”

 

 

 

A mirror is worth 10,000 words:  A picture is worth more than a 1000 words – it’s worth 10,000!  Ask the Lord to show you what He wants you to eido mentally ‘see’ to perceive/know  – this is prophetic vision’s New Covenant Way to the genuine, experiential, relational epignosis knowledge of God.  Watch your technique carefully, especially in a mirror, and ask the Lord to teach you how to “obey His laws of physics” instead of working against them!  You will also see the Joy of the Lord come upon your face when His presence comes!

 

 

 

Progressively, systematically, methodically build your music & drum knowledge by experience:  The genuine knowledge of/belonging-to God is progressive!  That’s what ginosko, epiginosko, and epignosis knowledge have in common in their definitions of “experiential, relational knowledge.”  Even the “surpassing gnosis info-knowledge that belongs to Christ” that Paul says in Philippians 3:8 he “counts all things as a loss for” is revealed to us progressively piece by piece.  That’s because the genuine knowledge of God is not acquired in a lump-sum event, but it “grows and expands progressively” through fellowship with the Lord.  The Holy Spirit feeds God’s “little children” one meal after another, especially as we “routinely Ask, Seek, and Knock (A.S.K.)” during conversational-prayer.

 

Many of the revelations about Music the Lord gives me are about progressively learning Drum Technique.  Praise the Lord that He gives us systematic methods to explore Music, if you will but akouo listen to understand/know Him!  Often the Lord makes great non-sequitur sunesis ‘connect-the-dots’ understanding for you.  Wow!  Isn’t God awesome?!

 

 

 

Be Progressive – It’s Hard by the Yard but a Cinch by the Inch:   Learn Music faster by breaking it down and rebuilding it step by step:  So many things are hard if you try to jump in and try to do it all.  Better to break up a Yard into 36 inches and do 1 inch at a time. How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time!  So here I do this with Drum Single Strokes 1, then 2, then 3, etc. on one side, then the other, then alternating – using uneven and even counting by smaller and smaller Time subdivisions.  This is great for Mixed Meters for Progressive music, but also good for Mixed Time Feels by phrasing within the same Meter. It’s great for Accent Stick Control.  There is a great video on Focus is Fire – Focus is Power that is uses the Cinch by the Inch idea.  I also break down rudiments and rebuild them stroke by stroke,  or by Hand-Isolation.  You have any ideas?

 

 

 

Be Progressive – Add variety because it is the spice of life, even in Learning Drums but do this progressively step by step (22PWG).

 

 

 

Be Progressive when you Use it or Lose it to work the new stuff you learned into the old stuff you already know (22PWG)

 

 

 

Focus – like a magnifying glass focuses the rays of sun on this cold day into a small beam that could set fire to anything and that fire, like so many sources of fire, can create power, the focus of our mind’s thoughts will do the same.  I show you how I apply focus to drumming, but can’t you do this in singing or on another instrument?  I have many videos that speak of this, as you will see.  Do you have some ideas?  Please add them to the comments below. That’s what koinonia fellowship/partnership is about. I use pieces of tape as targets for what I need to hit to help me with Technique – Stick Control.  We need focus to ignore all the distractions in the news!  I use mirrors to help me focus on technique.   Focus on the weak link or bottleneck and then progressively work into and out of the problem – see below.  Focus on the Holy Spirit’s Unconditional-Love for you as you practice to really flow in the Spirit – see above.

 

Even as I learn Drum-Set Grooves of 4 limbs, most often 1-3 limbs are a repeating Ostinato I can practice enough until it becomes ‘auto-pilot’ in the ‘back-stage’ of my mind so that I can focus on 1 limb that is playing something that is less steady, like a ‘melody.’ This is getting the ‘spotlight on the frontline of the stage’ in the front of my brain. I practice every combination of 2 limbs to build this coordination, focusing just on 1 limb. Then I do this for every combo of 3 limbs. Then finally I’m coordinated for 4 limbs! This is explained here in that video.   For Ostinato vs Melody video see here in that video.  I use counting for the left-brain and singing for the right-brain to focus my thoughts on the ‘melody’ limb, see here in this video.  It’s hard by the yard but cinch by the inch, see here for that video.  If you run out of ideas, routinely Ask, Seek, and Knock (A.S.K.) for revelation to learn Music by the Spirit!

 

 

 

Focus on the weak link or bottleneck in music to fix the chain and assembly line:  If two trucks pull on a chain, where will it break?  You know how many blank stares I get when I ask my students that?  Of course, it breaks at the weak link!  That’s also where the problem will be in your music!  If you want to speed up production in a factory making cars, do you spend all your time and money improving the efficiency of each person on the assembly line through training programs, or just focus on the ‘bottlenecks‘ in production, those 1 or 2 people that don’t know how to work at the same time they are talking – or are they texting on their phones?

 

Most people only have so much time to practice, so if you want to make the most out of your time, ask the Lord where your weaknesses are, so through the revelation of the Holy Spirit’s sophia wisdom and sunesis ‘connect-the-dots’ understanding and genuine, experiential, relational epignosis knowledge and His dunamis Spirit-enabling-power, your ‘weak links‘ or ‘bottlenecks‘ will be strengthened.  Within a short time, you will see vast improvements in your playing!  For example, I’ve found that most problems in drumming are fundamental issues like your fulcrum, grip, and rebound.  All the pros in every field will tell you:  “Master the fundamentals!”  For RH-players, the LH is usually the weakest, so spend way more time leading with the LH and doing drills that really work it!  Check out the Technique – Stick Control page!

 

 

 

 

 

Please follow the BLOG Etiquette Guidelines for these Spirit – Music-Practicing BLOG Topics:

 

 

BT1:  A powerful vision about the no-guilt value of exploring practice

 

BT2:  Spiritual checklist based on the website’s BLOGs to prepare for Spirit-Practice

 

If you have learned from the Spirit while practicing music, let us all know below so that we can all “weigh in on it, learn from each other, and be encouraged” per 1 Corinthians 14:29, 31.

 

More to come!

 

 

 

Thank YOU for visiting:  Spirit – Music-Practicing