This week I was invited to sing at a gathering for a wonderful community of believers. I collaborated with the worship leader that serves there each week. He shared the first half of the music and I led out the rest.
This is a group that takes an organic approach to planning. They are open to anyone bringing suggestions and working together. I liked that.
He told me what he had planned and I worked from there. As I prayed and played in my prep time my mind kept going back to what I had been studying in Exodus. Moses, in the midst of frustration, confusion and uncertainty, was relentless in expressing his desire to see God. To know that he was completely in God’s favor and presence.
God was so good to him. He allowed Moses the certainty of His care and covering for him by allowing him to experience His glory. It was exactly what Mo needed.
Back to my worship prep….so I chose some songs that prompted people to ask God to be their vision. “Open the eyes of my heart” and “Be Thou My Vision”.
What struck me as I rehearsed with the band and singers was how God had woven the songs the worship leader had already chosen. They centered on the glory of God and how being in His presence is second to none. There was this emerging theme that our time of singing and praying was about how wonderful God is. How good it is to be with Him. How much we long for the awareness and knowledge of God … being in His presence … seeing God …. recognizing His fingerprints in the context of our day and being reminded that He indeed is near and that our respect for Him and our obedience to His ways keeps us near Him.
Then the pastor spoke. He so wonderfully shared with us some amazing factors regarding Jesus. He heals the whole person, desires the glory for His work and is so aware of exactly what we need. There needs to be no fear when facing any hardship if we are near Jesus.
I couldn’t help but be impressed by the fact that God obviously had it on His heart to run this “theme” through the morning service. He wants us to want Him. He wants to show Himself to us and for us to experience how intimatley He desires to meet our real needs.
God pulled all of that together today.
As a worship leader I highly value different experiences in a variety of settings. I think it is so important to get outside the 4 walls you spend most of your time in and minister somewhere else. We may all do things differently, but God is the same. In changing our venues occasionally, we open ourselves to become reaqauinted with the movement of the Holy Spirit.
This is humbling and powerful. It reminds me that it’s not about me. I didn’t calculate the environment.
I recommend, if you are a worship leader, instrumentalist or singer, getting out and sharing your gifts somewhere else to be refreshed and reminded that we serve One God in a variety of creative ways. He never ceases to surprise me with His nearness.
