Sing it like you mean it!!!

 I asked my friend ‘Mimi’ to accompany me to my school to get some items I had forgotten before leaving for Easter vacation. After retrieving the items, I realized we didn’t have enough money to take a cab home, being the good-natured person she was, Mimi suggested we just take a walk home (Josites, from Baptist High School to Rock haven is not a ‘walk’ I know but for the sake of this, let us leave it at that).

Walking with my friend was fun as we chatted about different things such as fashion, boys, school, and everything that came up. Mimi was in a Federal Government all-girls school in Bauchi while I attended a mission school which was a co-education and so, we had a lot of varying topics.  As we chatted along, Mimi began to sing a very nice song. I had never heard it before even though my school was known for singing (we could literally sing heaven down when we were up for it). She looked at me and said “Sese, do you know this song?” I said ‘No! I’ve never heard it but I love it!’ the song had a catchy tune. My friend decided to teach me the song and it was all we kept singing till we got home.

The funny thing about the song is that it is a Christian song and my friend was a Muslim, so I kept wondering where she had learnt it from. Before I could ask her, she offered an explanation while laughing; she told me “I often hear the Christian girls singing it on Sundays or whenever they are having fellowship and I liked it so I learnt it.” For a kid in 9^th grade (JSS3) that explanation was good enough for me besides, it was all about the tune then.

 I never thought much about that incident with Mimi or even realized what a powerful evangelizing tool singing was till years later when I was humming the tune and the words kept coming at me. 

I guess God really wanted to make me see the power behind Christian songs that year because a few months later, while sitting in the office and chatting with my colleagues, one of them began to sing another Christian song and we were all amazed at how she knew the words so well. She and other Muslim colleagues began to narrate how they also in some weird or funny way, had heard those songs either from friends, radio or just passing some church or fellowship and had picked up the lyrics. Believe me; these songs they were singing not only had good tunes but powerful meanings. Apart from my colleagues, I have often listened to my Muslim friends tell me about songs they grew up listening to or Christian songs they liked.

Following all these encounters, I thought to myself ‘if only we Christians knew or could realize what an asset we had and an easy way to tell people about the goodness of God, we would sing in church and fellowship like we mean it and understand the truth behind the words we sing!’ rather than sing like we are being forced.

Permit me to share the song my friend taught me:

Masoyi na nai, masoyi, masoyi  na nai

shi nai yesu

Yesu nai hanya

Yesu nai gaskiya

Ba mai zuwa wurin uba

Sai ta wurin Yesu Christi

Lalalalalalala oo yeya yeya

Yesu shi nai hanya, hanyra samun ceto, ceton kowa da kowa a duniya (

In case you are wondering what it all means, it means ‘Jesus is the lover of my soul, He is the way and the truth. No one will get to the Father except through him. He is the way to eternal life and salvation for the whole world’.

I’ve learnt that anything and everything can be a ‘good weapon in spiritual warfare.’ Hence; I plan to be intentional about everything I do and that includes singing as a way of not only praising God but a way of sowing evangelical seeds in the hearts and minds of people.

So, next time you want to sing a song, be deliberate about it! Open your mouth and sing it well, sing it proudly, sing with joy and let others learn about the goodness and character of our God through it because you never can tell who is listening and who needs to hear those words you are saying.

Sese’s thoughts: I envision a day where some churches can rent the national stadium and have a concert perhaps on Independence Day or a holiday. It would be like a singing/song face-off where whatever praise song one choir sings, the other can’t repeat it. We keep singing, making our voices heard and our praises count.

Happy Easter in advance!

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