"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of the truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before Him in their worship. God is sheer being itself-Spirit. Those who worship Him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."
Year 1:
So when I took on the role of leading the youth worship, my initial goal was to have them do great worship music and have some prayer time. That was about it, it worked fine. We had some great sets and we had some OK sets but the group itself didn't seem to be truly meshing. In fact, there was a few times when there was definitely a divide amongst the group and an individual or two. Can you truly be worshiping God when the relationships here on this earth are causing stress and a division amongst your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?
Year 2:
This year was going to be different; more organized, more prayer, more communication, less rehearsing - more bonding. So this was how I addressed the lack of meshing. We lead worship once a month and then the following rehearsal was all about bonding with the group - we had a movie night at my house, ice cream at DQ, game night, etc. And I believe that as a group of people we did get along better but I still noticed a disconnect at prayer time - when asking for prayer requests things got very impersonal. People would ask for prayer for doing well on a test or for a friend who is struggling but never anything very deep or personal (now remember I am working with high schoolers here) so my thought was this - they don't trust one another! Can you truly worship God when you are standing beside a group of people you don't trust?
Year 3:
So I knew that I didn't want to approach this year with the same style and it struck me to go back to my roots as a teacher and make lesson plans for the first 8 rehearsals and focus on what WORSHIP is all about. I realized the music will only be amazing if our hearts our worshiping God. We can be the best musicians ever but playing for ourselves or playing for the congregation is not what worship is about - we have to worship first and be musicians/friends/confidants 2nd.
The first lesson: The Heart of Worship
When Christians use the word "worship" today, we are most likely to think of 6 to 10 people up on stage playing rock music that praises Jesus while lifting our hands to the heavens. But here is what I found at Dictionary.com:
Wor-ship
[wur-ship] - Reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred.
Hmmmm, so it doesn't say anything about guitars, drums, singing, mics, sound boards, etc. So worship can be done through all sorts of acts: singing, dancing, meditating, genuflecting, etc. OK, so our method of worship is going to be through music but where does true worship come from?
So I sat my crew down and handed out a paper with these questions.
1.
Why do we use music to worship God?
2.
Look at the words of these two “worship” songs
–
a.
Are
they appropriate for worship?
b.
What are these songs about? God? Me? Does it
matter what the focus is on?
c.
Just because a song is written by a Christian,
does it make it a good worship song?
1.
I can
only imagine what it will be like, when I walk by Your side...
I can only imagine, what my eyes will see, when Your Face is before me!
I can only imagine. I can only imagine.
Surrounded by Your Glory, what will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you, Jesus? Or in awe of You, be still?
Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing 'Hallelujah!'? Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine! I can only imagine!
I can only imagine, when that day comes, when I find myself standing in the Son!
I can only imagine, when all I will do, is forever, forever worship You!
I can only imagine! I can only imagine!
[ Lyrics from: ((http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/m/mercyme/i_can_only_imagine.html ]
(Written by Bart Millard of Mercy Me)
I can only imagine, what my eyes will see, when Your Face is before me!
I can only imagine. I can only imagine.
Surrounded by Your Glory, what will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you, Jesus? Or in awe of You, be still?
Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing 'Hallelujah!'? Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine! I can only imagine!
I can only imagine, when that day comes, when I find myself standing in the Son!
I can only imagine, when all I will do, is forever, forever worship You!
I can only imagine! I can only imagine!
[ Lyrics from: ((http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/m/mercyme/i_can_only_imagine.html ]
(Written by Bart Millard of Mercy Me)
2. You are
God of every nation
You are Lord of all creation
You are King now more than ever
Lord, You reign forever and ever
You are God
You command the oceans
You ride on the heavens
You restore my soul
You are God
You are robed in brightness
You are pure and righteous
You restore my soul
You are God, faithful and holy
You are Lord, so full of glory
You are King, wonderful Father
Lord, You reign forever and ever
You are God You move mighty mountains
You rule kings and kingdoms You restore my soul
You are God
You resound like thunder
You are clothed in splendor
You restore my soul
You are Lord of all creation
You are King now more than ever
Lord, You reign forever and ever
You are God
You command the oceans
You ride on the heavens
You restore my soul
You are God
You are robed in brightness
You are pure and righteous
You restore my soul
You are God, faithful and holy
You are Lord, so full of glory
You are King, wonderful Father
Lord, You reign forever and ever
You are God You move mighty mountains
You rule kings and kingdoms You restore my soul
You are God
You resound like thunder
You are clothed in splendor
You restore my soul
(Jeff Deyo, Jeremy McCoy, Fred Williams)
3.
What is in a great worship song?
4.
Are there any worship songs that have impacted
your spiritual life?
5.
God knows your heart at ALL times, He knows
when you are fully worshipping with your heart and soul and when you are just
playing music.
a.
Why, when we are leading, do our hearts have
to be in it?
b.
Why can’t we just play great worship and let
the words and the music draw the congregation to God?
6.
How can we pray for you tonight?
Personal
reflection – this question is just between you and God.
We know the right words to say about being leaders of worship but
if God was answering on our behalf would He say that our hearts are truly
worshiping Him?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I always wanted to end our discussion time with prayer requests and praying for each other, nothing builds trust and community better than sharing the things that we want prayer for (unless you're still holding back on personal prayer requests). And a "reflection" question. This is meant to take this discussion to a deeper and more personal level. It's also meant to help the kids develop a real relationship with Jesus.
Relationship with Jesus? What can that mean? I hadn't ever thought of my faith in this respect until about 5 or 6 years ago. I was going through many of the motions but not truly thinking of Jesus as a friend, a personal confidant, but He is and that is something that helps me to truly worship with my heart - knowing that my words, whether spoken in a prayer or sung in a song, are speaking to my friend Jesus. This is something that I want anyone who worships to realize, He is more than an invisible entity, He is real and He is listening.
Lastly, I have to mention the title of this series and this particular blog, The Heart of Worship. Anyone who has been a Christian involved in church for the past 10 years has heard this song and I'm sure many have sung it, maybe even to the point where the words are no longer thought about but sung by rote. Well at the end of this discussion, I played Heart of Worship written by Matt Redman and just let the kids meditate on the words. So simply stated, "When the music fades, and all is stripped away and I simply come. Longing just to bring something that's of worth that will bless Your heart. I'll bring you more than a song for a song in itself is not what You have required. You search much deeper within throughout the way things appear. You're looking into my heart. I'm coming back to the Heart of Worship and it's ALL ABOUT YOU, ALL ABOUT YOU JESUS. I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it when it's all about you, all about you Jesus! I used the song as a punctuation mark for the discussion and immediately the kids stated that they wanted to do this song as part of their worship set and we did, unplugged and it was really a wonderful experience for me and I hope for them and most of all for God.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Zp586pvZgMatt Redman's Heart of Worship
I always wanted to end our discussion time with prayer requests and praying for each other, nothing builds trust and community better than sharing the things that we want prayer for (unless you're still holding back on personal prayer requests). And a "reflection" question. This is meant to take this discussion to a deeper and more personal level. It's also meant to help the kids develop a real relationship with Jesus.
Relationship with Jesus? What can that mean? I hadn't ever thought of my faith in this respect until about 5 or 6 years ago. I was going through many of the motions but not truly thinking of Jesus as a friend, a personal confidant, but He is and that is something that helps me to truly worship with my heart - knowing that my words, whether spoken in a prayer or sung in a song, are speaking to my friend Jesus. This is something that I want anyone who worships to realize, He is more than an invisible entity, He is real and He is listening.
Lastly, I have to mention the title of this series and this particular blog, The Heart of Worship. Anyone who has been a Christian involved in church for the past 10 years has heard this song and I'm sure many have sung it, maybe even to the point where the words are no longer thought about but sung by rote. Well at the end of this discussion, I played Heart of Worship written by Matt Redman and just let the kids meditate on the words. So simply stated, "When the music fades, and all is stripped away and I simply come. Longing just to bring something that's of worth that will bless Your heart. I'll bring you more than a song for a song in itself is not what You have required. You search much deeper within throughout the way things appear. You're looking into my heart. I'm coming back to the Heart of Worship and it's ALL ABOUT YOU, ALL ABOUT YOU JESUS. I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it when it's all about you, all about you Jesus! I used the song as a punctuation mark for the discussion and immediately the kids stated that they wanted to do this song as part of their worship set and we did, unplugged and it was really a wonderful experience for me and I hope for them and most of all for God.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Zp586pvZgMatt Redman's Heart of Worship
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