The Spiritual Song - Exploring Prophetic Worship by Mike Herron

and directive in spiritual warfare as represented by the trumpet. Mankind can express all four of these expressions with our bodies. Clapping our hands is percussive, making melody with a single syllable or whistling is like the flute, our vocal chords are made of strings that produce sound and we are called at times to lift our voices like the trumpet. In Corinth, there was a Temple dedicated to Apollo, the son of the Greek god Zeus. The priests in that temple prophesied under the power of demonic spirits with the instruments mentioned in these passages. In his letter to the Corinthians Paul is calling for true Holy Spirit inspired prophecy in the church perhaps accompanied by these instruments. The church is the true Temple built by Jesus the Son of God. ‘...I will sing in the spirit, and I will also sing in words I understand. For if you praise God only in the spirit, how can those who do n’t understand you praise God along with you? How can they join you in giving thanks when they don’t understand what you are saying? You will be giving thanks very well, but it won’t strengthen the people who hear you.’ (14:15-17) Praying and singing in the spirit (tongues) are both powerful means of building up your inner person but they do not benefit anyone else who hears you as they cannot understand the language. I would suggest praying and singing in tongues to yourself as a prelude to singing a public prophetic song. As verse 16 says,