HomeARC ML 2645
WEEP FOR THE SHEEP! DO 2645 9/90
--While Listening to Family Members Sing!
1. Some of you need to put more feeling into your singing & be thinking more about others. You need to have more compassion upon the poor to whom you're singing & not to think so much about yourself & how you're singing. You really need to put more spirit into it! You really need to weep over your hearers!
2. One of the very greatest things that I felt that I could accomplish when singing was if I could even be moved to tears, & especially if my listeners were moved to tears. I really believed in emoting to stir them! You've got to feel for your audience, to move them, to get through to them, in order to truly comfort them. If I could make people weep, that was almost the ultimate, & if you have that much feeling yourself to where you're almost weeping, they will weep with you!
3. You can even have perfection, a professional perfection of quality, of singing, but not enough emotion. Like my vocal teacher said to me, "Practice the perfectionism, but when you get up to sing, forget it & just sing to touch the hearts of your listeners! If you practice the professionalism & the quality enough, it will just come naturally!"
4. Music is a real ministry that can reach people & move them! (Prophecy:) "Give them the love & the emotion, Lord, the feelings of their father.--A desire to comfort & save the lost!"
5. You should think about the people you're singing to, some of whom are so desperately hungry! You should think about them & sing to them! Sometimes I would pick out somebody in the audience that I thought really needed help & I would sing to them personally, & it almost always did it, they'd weep. Even if you're recording in a studio, you should still think of somebody, think of the people on your mission field or those in Eastern Europe, think of somebody specifically, people who really need your song, & sing to them!
6. Music is a ministry that I took seriously to really really reach people! Music was my ministry & I would sing until I would cry, & they would cry! Then you knew you were really reaching them! Just like you know that when I cry I'm sincere, & when I'm angry I'm sincere! Emotion! You've got to really emote! Well, I've already told you those things in the Letters, so why should I go on talking about it? (See MLs #32, 92, 166 etc.!) I guess because it's still needed.
7. Maybe you need a little more deepening. Maybe your singing is a little shallow. Then you need to get more serious & really sing to them, & remember that you're trying to win them. You're trying to help them, comfort them, love them!
8. Some of our singers have real feeling! But if you're more conscious of yourself than of others it will show in your music.
9. The worst thing you can do as a singer is to be conscious of yourself & your singing: "How good am I singing? How am I coming across? What do the people think of me?"--To be conscious of the opinions of men. "Am I singing good enough? Am I singing right? How's my perfection? How's my quality? How's my professionalism?" My God, if anything, you've got to forget yourself & just think of them! My Lord, help them to not think of themselves, but to think of others!--To think of those who need their songs, & sing to them!--Sing to them to try to win them!
10. You've got to quit thinking about yourself & how you sound! You need to think about the person you're singing to: "Am I reaching them? Am I getting through to them?" (Tongues & weeping) "Oh, that they might have the love of David their father, to reach out with such compassion & love as he thinks of others!"
11. It's only the Lord Who's given me such compassion for souls. You need to really pray for compassion! When Jesus was so tired & He wanted to rest, He came out, & looking upon the multitude He had compassion upon them. As tired as He was, He just had to heal them, because He was so sorry for them, He had such compassion for them!--Mark 6:34.
12. You need to pray to God for that compassion for those to whom you're singing!--Not have your mind on yourself, "Am I singing beautifully? Am I blending well? Am I harmonising nicely? Is this sounding nice?" Forget about all that! Just think about the ones you're trying to reach & win & comfort & bless & save!
13. Some of you need more heart, more soul, you know?--Real feeling & compassion for your listeners! All of us can stand more of that!
14. When you're in a studio especially, I know you have to be conscious of the melody & the music & the harmony & the quality & the recording & all that, but you've got to sort of almost forget all that when you're recording or singing to someone! Like my vocal teacher said, "When you get up to sing, forget it, & just pour out your heart to your listeners!"--Feed them! Are you feeding them? Are you thinking about feeding the ones that you're singing to? That's what you need, you need to really ask the Lord to give you great compassion on the multitude, to feed your listeners. That's what our songs are for, to feed them! It's part of the feeding of the sheep. You must be inspired to really love those to whom you're singing, you know?
15. You just have to have real love & compassion! It's a feeling for the poor lost sheep that need your help. I really had feeling. Even if I didn't have a live audience, I would sing till I wept!
16. It's spiritual, it's inspirational! Before you sing you've got to pray & really ask the Lord to inspire you! It's inspiration! It's an emotion of God's Love, feeling such love for the lost & the people you're singing to that you weep for the sheep! It's literally a weeping for the sheep. Perfectionism is no longer important then, you just need to weep for the sheep. It's literally a weeping for the sheep!
17. What good is it if you're not weeping over the sheep? You have to weep for the sheep! You have to forget yourself. Even if you're professionals, even if you know all the ropes & know all the fine points & practices, when you get ready to sing, you have to put that all aside & just remember you're weeping for the sheep! That's what I'd call it, weeping for the sheep. You need to weep for the sheep!
18. Oh, Jesus! You must learn to weep for the sheep! You need to really weep for the sheep! (Tongues) "Oh, that they might have the compassion & love of their father David, that they might grieve for them as does their father!" That's what constraineth me, "the Love of Christ constraineth me!"--2Cor.5:14. He weeps for the sheep! You know? You shouldn't be nearly so conscious of your perfection & your music, your vocal professionalism, as you are for the sheep. When you're singing, above all you must think of the sheep to whom you're singing. You must think of the sheep! You must have the compassion of your father for the sheep.
19. I think that's one thing the Lord has given me from the very beginning, I wept for the sheep! (Weeps) You were so pitiful, sheep without a Shepherd, & I told the Lord I'd be willing to be your Shepherd. And you flocked to me because you knew I loved you & I had compassion on you, I cared for you! I fed you, I longed for you, & you knew it, you knew that I loved you. It was Jesus' Love, of course, but I showed it & you knew it, & you came to me, because you knew I loved you. You loved me & loved Jesus. I can't even speak of it now without crying. (Tongues) TYL! "May they sing with the emotion & the feeling & the love & compassion of their father David!"
20. Lord, give them the compassion & the heart of their father for the lost, that Thou hast given me!--In Jesus' name, Lord! Help them to sing for the love of souls!--No self-glorification at all, Lord!
21. Bless all those that sing & the musicians that play, Lord! The Lord's so good to us to give us all these musicians to sing songs everywhere to encourage the poor in spirit & to love them to Jesus. But they've just got to get away from the idea that they're merely entertainers, & they need to weep for the sheep!--Really weep for the sheep & love them to Jesus!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
