There’s a tendency I notice among worship leaders.
It’s a love affair with songs. But if all you focus on in songs, you’ve got worship leading backwards.
The only reason I make this judgement is because I do it too. We mistakenly believe that the right songs make a worship set. It’s almost a cop out.
- As long as my worship set includes a hymn, “Our God”, and a repeatable chant, hands will be in the air. Worship will take care of itself.
- As long as I immerse myself in the latest and greatest music, God is pleased.
- If my songlist is stacked, the state of my heart doesn’t really matter.
The truth is, songs are a vehicle to worship. They are there to guide your heart.
What Is In Your Heart?
Focusing on songs as an end in themselves is like reading a book but not paying attention. Or going on a date and reading a script. You just wouldn’t do that.
Worship songs must lead you to bare your soul. They must lead you (and your congregation) to sold-out surrender.
Which means you need more than a well-crafted setlist.
Think about it this way. When you stand before God, will you reach for a songbook or will you pour out praise from the depths of your soul? Will your heart be full of words or will you have nothing to say? Will you heart be barren?
You need something to say. God bless the fantastic writers who serve the church with their songs. But what about you? If every worship song suddenly vanished from your memory, would you have anything to say?
3 Tips For Moving Beyond the Song
Here are a few tips for moving beyond the song:
1. Practice Crying Out – Every worship leader must learn to cry out to God. They need to learn the art of prayer. If this is boring to you, the problem is not with prayer but with you. Prayer is not boring. Your heart is boring. Practice hard. Cry out to God apart from music.
2. Focus and Forget – More often than not, we are consumed with the song – the arrangement, the guitar lick, the instrumental, the flow. This comes forth in your leadership. When it’s game time, you need to forget about all that and focus 100% on Jesus.
3. Ask Him – If you sense a boredom during worship, it’s not the time to try harder. It’s not time to muster passion from within yourself. You need to ask God. Ask Him to awaken your soul to your Maker’s beauty. This is something I pray every time I read Scripture. I echo Psalm 119:37:
“Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.”
Apart from God’s work in your heart, you won’t desire Him. Ask Him.
What is your perspective on this?
Question: How do you move beyond songs and center your heart on Jesus? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
That is the shiz bro! …such good perspective. Thanks for sharing it!
The shiz! That’s one of the more unique compliments I’ve received 😉
This post is fantastic. So many times, we tend to think picking “just the right songs,” will lead to heart-felt worship.
As you so eloquently put, it is the heart’s cry that leads to reverence, awe, and dependance on a loving, merciful, awesome God.
Thanks David!
Guilty as charged!!! Good songs, and skill are a necessity to me, but the statement “a love affair in song” is the best summation ever. You nailed it! And when you asked ” would I have anything to say without the songs?” sobering!!!! Many, many times the songs are a hiding place. Ministry can be a lonely place. Being truly in love with Jesus is all that will sustain us. That alone will take us thru the things that drowns other men.
“Being truly in love with Jesus is all that will sustain us” My first thought was “wow, how aptly put.” My second thought was “What a great song lyric.” My third…DOH!
great post man!
I totally agree. I do find that some songs seem to have either an anointing or familiarity that seems to engage people more effectively. who knows how all that works, but in the end its about your heart.
thanks for the post
Yea, a Biblically saturated lyric with a great melody is inspiring to God’s people. That’s why we need well crafted worship songs. But it’s also easy to sing a passionate song with your heart and mind elsewhere, you know?
Do you ever just start singing or playing a new song? Like writing something down, or putting something into song or verse?
To reflect, engage or digest His word and will into your life and times?
Scripture and lessons set to music makes them easier to memorize and recall and retell to some audiences. If we only hear and repeat the favorites, or well rehearsed, selected sound bytes edited for time and place, then a huge part of His message remains to be discovered and unpacked by each and every listener.
I was amazed a couple years back reading through the book of Isaiah how much of it 1) I had never read or understood (in context) and 2) at the same time how many of its verses I had learned and could recite from music. This discovery really got me hungering to know the key verses we hear all the time in context of the passage and book and complimentary passages that they are with. And I am not talking about head knowledge, but reading it for the purpose of growing and walking by His light.
It is amazing how much I learned and was helped by music that penetrated the spaces as I grew up. Whether those places were dry or shady or intermittently stormy or lazily becalmed, the songs reached in and touched, were heard and taken to heart and tested.
More than that I am amazed at how much there always remains to be discovered and applied through His word and spirit throughout all seasons and climates. He is never ending and always beginning. I am thankful He came up with the daily thing to break it down into somewhat digestible bits for us humanoids.
I wonder sometimes what will be running around in the minds of people who spend a lot of time playing video games in say 20 or 40 years from now. Maybe His word is in there somewhere too, or could be, or ought to be.
James 4:17 Romans 12:9-16 Ephesians 4:8-20
10:30 pm here and time for some shut eye this night!
Totally agree! Worship leaders should look at alternative expressions of worship to counter the culture of worship=music/songs that seems to be everywhere.
I wrote a post on this sometime ago, maybe u might want to have a look whenever u can: http://goo.gl/ByVcN
Awesome post David! We don’t want to worship “worship”.
I think the way “you move beyond songs and center your heart on Jesus” is to:
1)Ask the Lord to do that work in your heart, and
2) Receive it as a gift.
3) Believe by faith God is working it out in your life.
Love this bro! Thanks.
Your comments are always so helpful!
Love “you need something to say…If every worship song suddenly vanished from your memory, would you have anything to say?”. This is so good. I just blogged this week about what is the difference between a DJ and a worship leader. We do need something do say other than light banter and a weather report to start the service.
Psalm 119:37 great too – keep up the good work!
Great post, and I’m guilty as well. Learning to practice prayer more diligently and focusing on my walk are two things that I’m fighting for right now. And it is a fight. Really appreciate your words,
cd
How’s the fight been going?
Hey David,
Good post and I agree – mostly.
I think I understand what you mean about forgetting and focusing 100% on Jesus – however, I don’t think “forgetting” is the best way to accomplish 100% focus on Jesus.
The band and worship leaders have to spend some energy focused on the arrangement or else it will be a train wreck, right? We’ve all lead train wrecks before and worship doesn’t happen during those times. (IMO)
I agree – worship should be focused on Jesus – but He also expects our best and that requires some attention to the details – key change, instrumental, flow.
So here’s what I mean – I believe focusing on the details – is part of worship. It will help the congregation to enter into His presence and it will help to alleviate any distractions (band not together, singing the wrong words, etc.) that often cause people to lose their focus of Jesus.
Blessings to you brother.
Joshua Riggs
Hey Josh, I agree with you BUT all of that should be done in advance. In the moment, you want to forget about all that and focus on Jesus. Otherwise, you’re not leading worship. You’re facilitating a musical experience. I lot of young worship leaders I work with are so preoccupied with music in the moment that their worship leadership suffers. Does that make sense?
Thanks for the response – good discussion.
Practice is very important, no doubt.
Are you saying a WL should just worship and not worry about anything else (instructions for congregation, arrangements, etc)? The congregation will just follow?
Some leadership from the stage has to be given. Right? This requires some attention to what’s happening and some thought to what is about to happen.
There’s a balance to leading worship – first of all worship God yourself, but some responsibility goes to leading others to the throne.
But what I’m saying is – focusing some energy (not all or even most) on the details is part of leading worship – I Corinthians 14:40 – “But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.” Paul is speaking about tongues and prophesy here in worship but the implication is you should keep your wits about you – so to speak – and lead worship in an orderly way.
Appreciate your heart and sharing with us.
Blessings.
When I lead worship, I want to focus on 2 things: loving Jesus and engaging the room. I don’t want to be thinking about arrangements and how the band is doing. It’s distracting from what’s most important in the moment, which is Jesus. That means we should work very hard to prepare our teams beforehand – solid arrangements, transitions, stage presence, flow, etc. If my mind is too preoccupied with that in the moment of corporate worship, I don’t lead as well.
Well said – thanks bro.
Thank you David. This is a sobering perspective and I admit that I’m guilty of putting more focus on a song choice. Discerning the mood of Holy Spirit and moving in what he knows God desires is most important. Ultimately the state of our heart determines how we see, hear and obey.
Blessings of peace and grace be multiplied to you and your family!