Play Worship Songs on Repeat: One Revolutionary Way to Listen

It feels like summer, and I sit on the step with Seph Schlueter singing through my portable speaker. Funny how you can play worship songs on repeat, but they move you forward, rather than in circles. Yes, you are essentially listening on loop, but the lyrics unravel your reservations and amplify your expectancy with every replay.

It was an accidental discovery–playing a single song until it works itself deep into my soul. First, it was “Holy Spirit You are Welcome Here” for weeks on end, during a season I was facing both fresh and anticipatory grief. I’d wake up throughout the night, praying the lyrics like I never pressed pause. 

The tenderness of this song taught my knees to bend. And there, I let go of what I wanted to fix, speed up, explain, and defend. In its place grew a hunger I couldn’t fully comprehend. Time seemed irrelevant, and I wanted only to linger, lost in worship.

Since then, I typically listen to one song at a time, for a week or more. I turn worship music on early, usually as I pray, read my Bible, and journal, first thing in the morning. When I run, I might leave the same song playing because I just can’t get over it. 

Although there are days I need silence or instrumental worship music when I write, most of the time, I have a song on repeat, loud in my Beats. If I’m driving alone, I blare the same song, with the sunroof open. And as you know if you get Tuesdays with Twyla or follow my Instagram stories, I often share the worship songs I can’t turn off. (If you don’t have the playlist, grab it below!)

My favorites are the spontaneous, recorded-live worship songs from artists who sing like it’s just Jesus in the room. These are not the radio cuts or the studio-perfected versions, but the tender, authentic worship that turns my own attention to God.

Worship Songs ReWork The Inside of Me

I’m naturally a rusher. I challenge myself to excellence, even when I’ve said too many yeses, and that means I can furrow “focus lines” between my brows. I’m guilty of eating lunch while on my walking pad, squeezing in as much work as I can before school lets out for the day.

Circles can feel counterproductive, like you’re wandering the wilderness with the Israelites. They challenge your contentment since we’re wired to fight boredom with variety. They can make you feel stuck, like you’re making senseless U-turns at the end of a dead-end road.

But also?

Playing a worship song on repeat strips away the pretense in me, strengthens my trust in God, reframes the lies that push me to self-doubt, and slows the part of me that wants to rush God’s timeline. My unconventional listening habits help me to lean into the work God is doing inside me. To offer God access to the areas in my heart that need refining. To give Him time to finish what He’s started.

As I quickly rack up listening hours, these worship songs change my self-talk and reduce stress. They remind me my worth is not in my efficiency or self-sufficiency, but in Him.  I’m learning my heart can pace with Christ even while my feet and hands stay in motion.

This revolutionary way of listening to worship music redefines my rhythms and invites grace into my day. The heavy, self-set expectations I take on ease into an eager anticipation for God’s familiar voice.

A Gentle Way to Work Out Our God-Resistance and Self-Reliance

Perhaps your compulsion isn’t to hyperfocus on the task before you, to the detriment of your relationships, but there’s something else in your life God has His finger resting on. What is it for you?

Maybe it’s something you’ve been avoiding for a while, or an area of your life where you feel especially vulnerable or defeated. Take some time right now to name it. Here are a few questions to help guide your thoughts.

Where do you feel stuck–mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, relationally?

What lies are stealing your peace or steering you away from the life God desires for you?

What do you find most appealing about staying busy?

What is sitting on your “procrastination shelf” (where we put the things we wish we could forever ignore)?

Now, imagine if, instead of beating yourself up over what you’re struggling to turn over to God, you simply turned a worship song on repeat and let it gently work out the God-resistance and self-reliance in you?

A worship song contains no special magic, but it does carry us into the presence of an unspeakably glorious and good God. One who already knows the ways pride, worry, fear, and envy edge in. One already sees the insecure, self-doubting thoughts we entertain. 

Pick a song from my playlist or choose one of your own favorites. Let it become your anthem, your praise, your prayer.

May I pray a blessing over you?

Lord, may we choose worship over worry on the days full of heavy expectations. 

May we settle into Your pace instead of rushing on ahead with our own agendas.

May we find the courage to take something off the “procrastination shelf” and lay it at Your feet.

May we bring our honest, authentic selves to You in surrender, and in sincere worship.

In Your holy name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Just a friend over here in your corner,

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What if you gave your faith the chance to ripple right into your neighborhood? These quick tips provide a wide variety of baby steps to help you begin to build friendships with your neighbors. When we get close to God and let others get close to us, the things God is working out in us can show.

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