King David, who was a Psalmist also, received from the Lord the design of the temple, but he was not allowed to build the temple himself. The design which he received from the Spirit, in writing, is called  „the ordinance of David".

The Song leader

First of all I would like to draw your attention to someone in this ordinance of David, who was named Chenaniah ( 1Ch. 15:22)  He was the song leader.

His name means: Jah has planted (appointed). He was placed by God, in this position because he was skillfull. He had discernment and he knew the mind of the Lord.This is very important, if we want to do things God’s way.  The song leader must know the mind of the Lord and be able to discern, what type of praise should be offered at certain times.

For example, it could be that there is a heavy demonic presence in the meeting which is hindering the people as they are trying to enter into praise and worship. The song leader will discern this and lead the psalmists to move into a warrior anointing at that particular time. By the way, this man Chenaiah did not play an instrument, he must have been a singer, but a musician could also be a song leader. Again we need to learn to discern and recognise each other and then respect the other person’s calling and make room for them.
Being a song leader has nothing to do with position, it has to do with function. And the Holy Spirit might not want to use the same person in every meeting. We need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in this matter.

Actually all the Psalmists and singers and musicians are able to flow in each of the three different anointings, but the Psalmists have a specific flavor as it were. I believe that God equips them with the right characteristics to be able to flow with what He has called them to do. When I look at a man like Carman for example, I see a specific anointing to evangelise.

Kim Clement ministers mostly to the Body of Christ but he is not a shepherd. His music and style are clearly those of a warrior Psalmist. I would say that Don Potter has more of a shepherd anointing. When he ministers , people repent , get healed and delivered and are taught to worship . All three of them are Psalmists. The Holy Spirit instructed me to pay close attention to the names of the different Psalmists and their  sons and it was through those names that He revealed to me that there were different types of Psalmists.



In the „ordinance" of David in the first book of Chronicles we find three types of Psalmists. The warrior, the evangelist and the shepherd/teacher.

King David himself was a Psalmist, he was also a man of war. There is such a thing as a warrior Psalmist.

Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse saith, And the man who was raised on high saith, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel: (2 Sam 23:1).

But God said unto me, Thou shalt not build a house for my name, because thou art a man of war, and hast shed blood.
(1 Chron 28:3)


I am going to share with you now what the Lord showed me about this type of Psalmist. Our type in the Bible is Jeduthun, who was also named Ethan. Like David he was a  warrior.

Jeduthun means: to give thanks, to confess, to cast down, shoot (with arrows), to praise.

Of Jeduthun; the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, and Zeri, and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun with the harp, who prophesied in giving thanks and praising Jehovah. (1 Chron 25:3 )

Jeduthun had six sons which were to prophesy with their instruments.

The number six is the number of man. Actually in this verse only five of them were named. Somewhere else in the ordinance of David we are told that one of Jeduthun’s sons was a gatekeeper. I believe that the Holy Spirit wants to show us something here.When Jesus died on the cross, He cried out : „It is finished!" The battle was over, and we cannot add to what Jesus did for us there. Five of Jeduthun’s sons were warriors like their father . Five is the number of grace. It is by grace that we may enter into  the promised land, our full inheritance in Jesus Christ.

When we look at the meaning of the names of the five sons of Jeduthun, we will discover what it means to be a warrior Psalmist in the Kingdom of God.

The rootword of the name Gedaliah means: to honour, promote, to magnify , to boast like a madman, to proudly speak about.

Zeri means: to crack as by pressure, but it also means: balsam

Jeshaiah means: Jah has saved, delivered, brought victory, set free.

Hashabiah means: Jah has regarded, been concerned about,
been attentive to.

Mattithiah means: gift of Jah

From the meaning of these names we see that the warrior Psalmist is a gift of God to the Body (Eph 4 - a prophet). This ministry brings healing and deliverance and as the warrior Psalmist boasts about His God and magnifies His name and brings to remembrance His mighty deeds, wildly, like a madman (wow), the Lord will regard His people and takes care of the enemy.

How does this work?  We see a good example of this in the Bible.

Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of Jehovah in the midst of the assembly;  and he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat: Thus saith Jehovah unto you, Fear not ye, neither be dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.  To-morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the ascent of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel.  Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of Jehovah with you, O Judah and Jerusalem; fear not, nor be dismayed: to-morrow go out against them: for Jehovah is with you.

And when they began to sing and to praise, Jehovah set liers-in-wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, that were come against Judah; and they were smitten.
 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.  And when Judah came to the watch-tower of the wilderness, they looked upon the multitude; and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and there were none that escaped.  And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches and dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much. (2 Chron 20:14-17,22-25)

The Battle is the Lord’s

And Jehovah will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, and tempest, and hailstones.  For through the voice of Jehovah shall the Assyrian be dismayed; with his rod will he smite him.  And every stroke of the appointed staff, which Jehovah shall lay upon him, shall be with the sound of tabrets and harps; and in battles with the brandishing of his arm will he fight with them.
(Isa 30:30-32)

Did you notice that it said  that God moved against the enemy with the sound of tabrets and harps?

A preacher I once heard, told us that Satan craves worship and he just loves it when we sing about or to him, be it negative or positive. As long as his name is mentioned he feels he receives the worship, he craves so much. So we must get away from singing to the devil, even if it is to tell him that the Blood of Jesus is against him. We are no match for him, we cannot see him. But God can and His angels are mighty. One of those angels, the Bible tells us, can slay 185.000 men in one night.

So when the musicians and psalmists, as one man, under the direction of the Holy Spirit start boasting about God, declaring His mighty deeds, the Lord will set ambushments against the enemy and he has to flee and that without any attention drawn to him or songs sung about him. God Alone gets all the glory!

King David , who was also a warrior Psalmist, used to play his harp before king Saul, who was troubled by an evil spirit and when he played the evil spirit departed from Saul.

And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took the harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. (1 Sam 16:23 )

Music or songs, sung by a warrior Psalmist have this same effect. When played in a house where there is an unholy presence, the demons leave the house.

2. The Evangelist

Our type in the Bible is Asaph. Asaph means: to gather together, to collect, to harvest.

Asaph had four sons. The Biblical number four refers to the whole world, the four corners of the earth.  So the harvest has to be brought in from all the four corners of the earth. When we look at the meaning of the names of the sons of Asaph we find a description of this specific anointing or ministry.

Zaccur means: to call to remembrance, mindful, to make to be remembered. It is the task of an evangelist to reconcile men to God. He reminds them Who God is and also shows them their sinfulness, to bring them to repentance before God.

Joseph means: Jehovah has added; to cause to increase.
It is God Who brings in the harvest. In the days of the first church people were afraid to join the church by themselves. They had seen what had happened to Ananias and Sapphira and the fear of God was in the church. But then the Bible tells us that God added daily to the church those that needed to be saved (Acts 4). We also see in Ezekiel 37 a picture of the end time church and in that chapter the Lord says, I will place them, I will multiply them. He was talking about the multitude of people which would be set free from captivity and brought back to Him.

Nathaniah means: given of Jehova.
The Evangelist is one of the ministries , mentioned in Ephesians 4, which the Lord gave to the church.

Asalerah means: right towards God; to go straight, to set right.
We see here again how the Evangelist reconciles men to God. This ministry brings the good news to the people so that they can be reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus and also tells them that God wants them to be whole.

So when the Psalmist with an Asaph anointing sings and plays and tells the people about Jesus, God’s Spirit will convict them of their sins and they will repent and get saved. Their hearts will be touched by the music and God will do great wonders and miracles in their meetings.

I mentioned Carman before as an example. You will see that this type of Psalmist leads a life of worship and will sing to the people, while the other Psalmists will sing to the Lord in their meetings.

3. The Sheperd

Our type in the Bible is Heman.

Heman means: Faithful; to support, confirm, uphold, nourish, carry like a father, nurse like a mother. Heman was a seer, a singer and author of Psalm 88.

All these were the sons of Heman the king's seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn. And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. (1 Chron 25:5 )

The ministry of this type of Psalmist is a ministry to the Body of Christ, to prepare the Bride of Christ for her Bridegroom. To nurture the Body of Christ. The first thing this Psalmist teaches the people is to worship God. When they are in the church they will not play and sing to entertain the people or sing to the people,  they turn to the Lord and worship Him. And as they do so, the Lord will move through their music and heal and deliver His people.

Of Heman: the sons of Heman; Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamtiezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth:  All these were the sons of Heman the king's seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn. And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.  All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of the LORD, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God, according to the king's order to Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman. (1 Chron 25:4-6 )

Heman had fourteen sons and again a study of each one of their names reveals to us how this ministry or anointing functions.

Bukkiah means: Jehova has emptied; to empty out, to lay waste, to devastate, to make void.
Bukkiah was a musician and when he played God broke down barriers of human resistance.

I remember an instance in my own life. I was still a young Christian that time. The Lord wanted to do a work in my life and brought me to another country for that. While I was visiting I met this Psalmist. It was a woman. The Lord told her that I had a hardened heart. She took me with her to her home. I felt something was coming and I was afraid and talked non-stop to her, she had no chance to say anything. She made me something to drink and then got her guitar and started to worship the Lord. She was not playing to entertain me. I sat listening to the music and then she would stop suddenly, and share with me a word of knowledge from the Lord and my heart was already softened by the music and I repented. We spent much time together, about two weeks and God did a wonderful work in my heart. This woman flowed in the Shepherd anointing at that time. I call it the Heman anointing.

Mattaniah means: Gift of Jehova. This anointing to minister to the Body of Christ is a gift from God.

Uzziel means: My strength is God; to be strong, prevail, to make firm, strengthen.

Shebuel means: Captive of God. The root word means: to repent, turn back to God, turn back from evil, to bring back, to restore, to refresh, repair; to take captive.

Jerimoth means: He is most High; to lift up, raise, exalt, set on high; to bring up, to cause to grow.

Hananiah means: God has favoured; to be gracious, show favour, pity.

Hanani means: gracious; to have compassion.

Eliatha means: God has come; to be willing, to be gracious.
This is good news for the weary soul.

Giddalti means: I make great; to praise , magnify, to bring up

Romantiezer means: I praise the Helper; to raise children, to cause to grow up; one who helps, supports.
This is about the Holy Spirit Who has come to help and support.

Joshbekashah means: seated in hardness; to show stubbornness, to be difficult, to be hard; to harden, to be strict.
I think that discipline is part of the work of the Shepherd.  Love is not afraid to confront.

Mallothi means: I have uttered.
He was a singer. Jesus sings over us the Bible says.

The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. (Zeph 3:17)

Hothir means: abundance; to preserve alive, to cause to excel

Mahazioth means: visions; to see, perceive, prophesy.

The Psalmist is a prophet and will be able to see in the spiritual realm and prophesy.