I felt kind of weird that Adrienne asked me to do this devo with you guys this morning. I said sure just cause I'm used to devos during prayer time on Saturdays. But then I quickly realized that this was for MAG retreat, so she probably wanted me to share on worship. 2 words popped into my mind then: UH OH. To be honest, I know absolutely NOTHING about music, I'm almost ashamed to say that since I was in 4 years of instrumental music in high school (flunked theory EVERY year). And I know even less about worship, simply because, prior to Westside, I've never done it much.
I've been really blessed though, in sharing this ministry with you guys; seeing this team grow, from like a team patched together from NY and sauga people, to now, a 14 person team that has 12 people from Hamilton. I honestly didn't know what to share with you guys today, so I decided to look at the lyrics to the song "Heart of Worship" for ideas. As I sit back these last couple of weeks, and really got a chance to be part of the worship, to enjoy it, I really felt God saying, there's so much more, or so much less, to worship than just the music.
The song says, "Longing just to bring something that's of worth, that will bless Your heart". Sometimes we make it sound like God needs our worship. Let's not kid ourselves, we have NOTHING worthwhile of God, nothing we do can bless him, nothing we have is good for Him. That's the amazing part, that worship, about the only thing we can think of to bring to God, is as much about him blessing us, as us blessing him. It isn't just about us bringing our praises to him, it's also very much about his love, his grace, his mercy, being brought to us. Worship is a 2 way thing, that as much as He loves our praise and thanksgiving, He also wants to talk to us during worship time, to work in us and through us during worship time. Let's not let our worship "sets" become exactly what that name betrays, SET; become so scripted, so laid out, that we miss the chance to hear him, to be led by him, and to watch him work during this time.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't prepare and just go do whatever you feel like, but you HAVE to be open to being led by the spirit during worship time. That if the spirit tells you to stop and be silent mid verse, you do it. That if the spirit tells you to repeat this chorus 55 times, you do it. The preparation time isn't that you can pull off this set perfectly polished, the preparation is so that when the spirit leads you to repeat this 55 times, you will have to musicality to pull that off confidently.
There is nothing more freeing for a congregation during worship, than a worship band that is truly free. Hamilton is unique because I think we're the most relaxed campus of all 3, filled with students that are eager, energetic, and willing to raise their hands, dance around, shout and cry out to God. While we always wish that for our congregation, do we display the same sort of freedom as leaders? Do we truly feel free up there? Let's not be so concerned with what people delight in, what people want to see, what people want to hear, that we forget that worship is about what God delights in.
2 Samuel 6:16-22 says:
King David was dancing, NAKED, in worship to God, and people thought he was totally nuts, but he didn't care. It wasn't very polished, it wasn't very thought out, it wasn't very proper, but I'm so sure God delighted so much in that.
The question we need to ask ourselves is this, are we about people and music, or are we about Jesus? Should this Saturday the Spirit tells us to stop everything we're doing and do handstands because that's what God delights in, do we have the faith to obey? If God tells us to forget everything we've ever known about worship because he delights in something else, would we surrender?
I've been really blessed though, in sharing this ministry with you guys; seeing this team grow, from like a team patched together from NY and sauga people, to now, a 14 person team that has 12 people from Hamilton. I honestly didn't know what to share with you guys today, so I decided to look at the lyrics to the song "Heart of Worship" for ideas. As I sit back these last couple of weeks, and really got a chance to be part of the worship, to enjoy it, I really felt God saying, there's so much more, or so much less, to worship than just the music.
The song says, "Longing just to bring something that's of worth, that will bless Your heart". Sometimes we make it sound like God needs our worship. Let's not kid ourselves, we have NOTHING worthwhile of God, nothing we do can bless him, nothing we have is good for Him. That's the amazing part, that worship, about the only thing we can think of to bring to God, is as much about him blessing us, as us blessing him. It isn't just about us bringing our praises to him, it's also very much about his love, his grace, his mercy, being brought to us. Worship is a 2 way thing, that as much as He loves our praise and thanksgiving, He also wants to talk to us during worship time, to work in us and through us during worship time. Let's not let our worship "sets" become exactly what that name betrays, SET; become so scripted, so laid out, that we miss the chance to hear him, to be led by him, and to watch him work during this time.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't prepare and just go do whatever you feel like, but you HAVE to be open to being led by the spirit during worship time. That if the spirit tells you to stop and be silent mid verse, you do it. That if the spirit tells you to repeat this chorus 55 times, you do it. The preparation time isn't that you can pull off this set perfectly polished, the preparation is so that when the spirit leads you to repeat this 55 times, you will have to musicality to pull that off confidently.
There is nothing more freeing for a congregation during worship, than a worship band that is truly free. Hamilton is unique because I think we're the most relaxed campus of all 3, filled with students that are eager, energetic, and willing to raise their hands, dance around, shout and cry out to God. While we always wish that for our congregation, do we display the same sort of freedom as leaders? Do we truly feel free up there? Let's not be so concerned with what people delight in, what people want to see, what people want to hear, that we forget that worship is about what God delights in.
2 Samuel 6:16-22 says:
As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.
:
When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"
David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord's people Israel--I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor."
King David was dancing, NAKED, in worship to God, and people thought he was totally nuts, but he didn't care. It wasn't very polished, it wasn't very thought out, it wasn't very proper, but I'm so sure God delighted so much in that.
The question we need to ask ourselves is this, are we about people and music, or are we about Jesus? Should this Saturday the Spirit tells us to stop everything we're doing and do handstands because that's what God delights in, do we have the faith to obey? If God tells us to forget everything we've ever known about worship because he delights in something else, would we surrender?
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