The Revolution of Worship - by Pat Obilor

So at a point in my life, about 10 years ago... I struggled to accept the act of praising God with songs aside church services, and I will always look forward to when church ends so I can go home, even to have worship songs on my phone was a big issue. Then, I can’t imagine replacing my RnB, soft rock music or hip hop from celebrities such as Britney Spears, Celine Dion, JLO, Michael Jackson, Tupac, Notorious Big, Eve, missy Elliot, Backstreet boys, Westlife, Boys2men, phil Collins, Shakira, Taylor Swift, Dolly Parton, Alicia keys, R.kelly, the foreigner, Wyclef jean, Akon, shaggy, destiny child, Roxette, Enya, Yanni, Enrique Eglesias, sean paul, Justin Beiber, Don Williams, Spice girls, the new Lilmix, Rita Ora, Elle Goulding etc for some praise and worship songs.

I would go to church and pastor would preach and talk about not being yoked with unequal yokes and how to live a kingdom oriented life, so naturally, they would spell out your dos and don’ts which includes not listening to worldly music like the ones I have listed because it connects you more to physical emotions rather than dwelling in the holyghost in hymns but I would always turn deaf ears as all my memory cards were filled with them and I had once cried when my phone crashed, of course, I wasn’t thinking about the phone, I was thinking about losing all my contemporary RnB music.

With all that going on, because I love dancehall music too, you can imagine my predicament when Nigeria’s 2face, Mavins crew, Dbanj, Iyanya, Yemi Alade, Tiwa savage, Wizkid, Davido, Olamide, Lilkesh,BankyW etc came on board, I would always listen and dance to them in the mornings before I set out for the day. If you would ask me, dancing is one of the easiest ways to burn calories or fats in the body and the Nigerian music industry has really evolved and by God’s grace, come to stay.

In retrospect, my involvement with contemporary entertainment music was so deep in such that I would make platonic friends with anyone who had the song I wanted to hear and as a matter of fact, that was how I had my first boyfriend after secondary school. My aunty sent me tomatoes and I was passing by a building of flats and heard Celine Dion’s Coulda Woulda Shoulda, my heart skipped for a moment, I loved the beat, the sound and the lyric and out of curiosity I looked up and saw a guy looking at me, he smiled and I waved, but I continued on my journey to buy tomatoes. Coming back, he was still there and I asked, “Please could you borrow that CD player from Celine Dion? He obliged and I took it home, so every time I listened to the song, I would remember him and we became friends. Don’t ask me where he is please…kilomode mo? lol.

However, for many years now, my perception of music absorption has changed immensely and I am no longer addicted to the kind of songs I grew up listening to and this shift was not abrupt, it was gradual and I owe it to the current gospel revolution in both the Nigeria Christian movement and the international gospel acts. I still appreciate my RnB, Justin Beiber one direction and our Nigerian music acts but I feel there is more to life than just listening to music which only appeals to your flesh/ physical emotions, hence the need to my current love for Christian music. The revolution of contemporary Christian music has taken its toll on me that I cannot remember the last time I got so anxious to listen or download the next world music except for Adele’s Hello , Rihanna’s work and Beyonce’s Lemonade and that was like after few months it came out and it was due to the propaganda behind the songs besides my personality as a media person.

Now this is where I am going to. It has often been said that the spiritual controls the physical, although we live in a physical world, we are spiritual beings and as such, most of the things we do or become is first formed in our inner man before it finds expression in the physical realm and I strongly believe in this (deep). Physical things will only feed your emotions but spiritual things will feed your soul and the more apt you are in the things of the spirit, the more easily your physical life gets. Worldly music will only boost your emotions and even lead you to unnecessary sexual crescendo but good Christian music will keep you sane, calm and joyful in a world of chaos and recession.

Therefore, looking at everything around me and the mystery of waking up each day and how things sometimes work or doesn’t work for my favour, I no longer ask if there is God because it is evident. I am of the opinion that there is some force that controls the universe and that force gives you time to accept your realities or the things the society expose you to just like it gave me time to accept or enjoy a new revolution of Christian worship. Christian worship today teaches us a lot of things about our spirituality, the sovereignty of God and the universe, the mystery of man and the possibilities that lies in a new day or in the things we desire if we position our hearts aright. Today, I no longer think of the next RnB song that’s out because my phone and tablets is preoccupied with kingdom sounds from the likes of Natahniel Bassey, Frank Edward, Sinach, don Moen, Steve Crown, Donny Mclurkin, Enitan Adaba, chris Tomlin, Buchi, tope Alabi, Ayefele , Gloria Braimoh, Lara Goerge, Sammie Okposo, Micah Stampley, etc. 

In a nutshell, my writing is a testament of my current glow in God’s presence through the revelation that comes via worship, it is not as though I have no challenges, but I have learnt to praise in the middle of the storm. I don’t know who you are or what you going through but I need you to have an understanding that what you are going through is not greater than what you will become of you. You might not be able to understand some of this songs but the truth is, praising God or appreciating that there is some unquestionable force that could help you when you show gratitude or reverence him could bring you to a state of peace and tranquility needed to scale through your life’s hurdles.

Please note this; the first thing any negative force will do to keep you down is to take away your inner peace and joy. It only takes someone who is grateful for something to stay happy and hopeful for better things to come. So the best way to maintain your sanity in these perilous times is to have a joyful and grateful heart and you can achieve that by singing hymns or songs that keeps you in awe of God’s wonders on earth. Personally, I have songs for every situation and you can too by looking out for the songs that applies to your situation per-time. I understand this post has a global reach, Music is also a universal language and you can connect with it if your heart is ready but in case you don’t know any of the songs below or don't understand some of the dialects i used in writing,kindly copy and paste it on your browser.

Now let’s sing, worship mood… When you want to just show gratitude to God for his goodness in your life, just sing Frank Edwards “O Ghene Doh”, when you are faced with a difficult situation and it seems as though there is no way out, just sing Don Moen’s “ God will make a way” , when you are confused about why you are still alive after all you have been through, just sing Nathaniel Bassey’s “ You are the reason why I lift my hands…” , anytime you marvel at creation, probably you see a beautiful woman, a handsome man, a huge ocean, or you just conquered a very serious battle that worked in your favor, just sing Steve Crown’s “ You are great” or Elijah Oyelade’s “Glorious God, beautiful king” knowing that everything about you is great and beautiful.

Whenever you travel and you are six thousand feet above sea level, scared for whatever reason and not sure if the plane will land, instead of remembering who your next of kin is and how they will squander your hard earned money, just sing “You are the pillar that holds my life…or you sing "Baba gbope mi,nigba mowa laaye 2ce,Oku mi kole yin o o”…

Now when you are on the verge of achieving something great, maybe planning your wedding, building g a house, applying for a visa to visit a country, pursuing a huge contract, organizing a big event, meeting an important person etc, just sing “ Maa joba lo, Oluwa 2ce, oba ta kole ro loye” or Oluwa eto bi, 2ce kose ni tale fisakawe re o… Also, whenever a situation seems bigger than you or anything is trying to play god in your life, just sing Nathaniel Bassey’s” I have no other God but you” etc.

 Anytime you are in need of a miracle for anything, maybe for fruit of the womb, job, restoration of your relationship/marriage, health etc, just sing Nathaniel Bassey’s “Onise Iyanu…“ or Gloria Braimah’s “Your name is Yahweh 2ce, you are a miracle working God…”. When you want him to bless the works of your hands, sing “ Open the floodgate, in abundance”, anytime you feel like giving up on God or on that situation which seems impossible, just sing Dawin Hobb’s “He’s able“ or Preye’s “Ebezina o, chukwu nonso…” and when God has done the impossible in your life, don’t hesitate to sing “What a marvelous God2ce, he has done marvelous things for me…”

When it looks like you have been stuck in a place or circumstance for too long, just sing Don Moen’s “Arise…5ce, take your place, be enthroned”. When it looks as though you have not been in his presence for a while, just sing Chris Tomlin’s “When the music fails and all is stripped away, and I simply come…” And when you feel you have been judged wrongly, just sing Sinach “Why should I fear, what people say, they don’t know what you mean to me.” Whenever you question who you are (Identity in christ), just sing “I know who I am”. When you need the hand of God in what you are about to embark on, just sing Gabriel Eziachi’s “Aka Jehovah” etc.

This act is called (PUSH), praise until something happens! There are so many songs but let’s stop there, so you can add yours. As human beings, we are happy when we are involved with other people’s progress in some way or when we do something tangible for people and they actually return to say thank you. In fact some of us get so elated that we want to do more for that person, which is how God feels when we show gratitude in worship. So look out for worship concerts in the year such as #TAPE, #XPERIENCE2016 etc where you can spend time to praise him. God is God whether we praise him or not, sometimes I would wonder how he answers everyone at the very points of their needs and also wonder how he gathers the broken pieces of our lives and make it whole again but instead of pity him, I just worship him in joy, expectation and truth.

Also remember, he doesn’t need other gods, he is God all by himself and anything contending with the will of God for your life, will not stand because he said in his word that: he will contend with them that contend with you. From today, I urge you to have a heart of gratitude to God and always bring him to every situation no matter how worse. He will not judge you or leave you in that state. Also, all this ado about praise and worship is not to debunk the fact that you shouldn’t pray, you must continue to pray without ceasing, prayer is the key but as you pray, you must also praise God. When you praise God after prayers, you are saying thank you in advance for the thing he will do in your life.

Finally, this might not make sense to you but I hope it does as I have actually struggled with writing and posting this for a while but who am I not to yield? You are blessed in Jesus name, Amen.