TWLL #21: Deep Worship Leading Starts With Giving Him Our Time

read time: under 5 minutes

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I think sometimes we confuse depth in worship leading with skill or excellence in worship leading.  

And while skill can aid us in getting to a place of depth in our worship leading, skill is not what ultimately fuels deeper worship leading.

What fuels deeper worship leading, is our connection with Jesus.  And the things that build our connection with Him all begin with giving Him our time.

A Word On Practice/Skill Development 

Before diving into our time, I want to be clear and say that I’m a big believer in musical skill and excellence.  

Our musical skill really has to be at a basic level of excellence in order for the music to be a help to worship and not a distraction.

When the music isn’t strong enough to support the worship, it can become a barrier.  So I do believe in personal practice and skill development, as well as the value of team practice with your singers and band.

The Fight For Our Time

Now to our time.  With technology (phones, social media, etc) our lives have become more fast-paced and more easily distracted.

This is the opposite of what we’re wanting to do when it comes to building our connection with Jesus (which involves slowing down and focusing in).  

Which means that we have an uphill battle to fight, in order to create time that is slow-paced and free of distraction. 

As you look at your schedule and aim to carve out time with Jesus, here are a handful of things to keep in mind.

It’s A Priority.  You may have to either move around or even eliminate some things in your schedule- in order to get substantial time with Jesus.  But it’s worth it because it’s a priority.

Don’t Minimize The Small Windows.  Sometimes you might find a shorter window of time than you’d ideally like.  The temptation might be to skip over that smaller window of time. But the reality is that even 15 minutes, while not ideal, is still valuable time with Jesus.  

Guard It.  Other opportunities will come along to compete with the time you’ve blocked out to spend with Jesus.  And it doesn’t mean you can’t switch around your schedule once in a while.  But as much as possible, I think it’s helpful to guard and maintain the time you’ve carved out for Him.

How Much Time?

I don’t want to suggest a certain length of time.  But I will say your time availability will probably change from season to season- so the bigger point is to make good use of whatever time you have in your given season.

For example a single young man in his mid-twenties will probably have a different amount of time available than a mama of young children.

So don’t compare your time availability with others, or even with your own previous season of life.  Take a good look at your current season, and maximize the time you have right now.

What To Do With The Time

A few ideas for how to use that focused time with Jesus...

Leave Your Phone.  Our phones can actually inhibit our ability to focus on one thing for an extended period of time.  Make it easy on yourself, and leave your phone somewhere.

Journal.  Sometimes it helps me to form and process the things I want to say to the Lord by writing them out.  And the clarity that comes as I do this, is helpful in multiple ways.

Talk.  Verbally speak to the Lord out loud.  Unpack your heart before the Lord, like David did. 

Read.  It sounds simple, but it makes a big difference when you consistently read the Word.  Like literally just take the Bible and read it.  The goal isn’t how much you read in a sitting- the goal is connecting with Jesus through whatever passage you’re reading.

Sit.  Take a few minutes at the beginning or the end (or both) of your time, and sit before the Lord in silence.  No words, no worship music— nothing.  The goal is simply to be present to Jesus.

Conclusion

Building and strengthening your connection with Jesus is so significant, first for your own life in God, and secondly for gaining more depth in your worship-leading.  

But remember that it’s carving out the time and showing up that allows you to strengthen that connection.

Give Him your time on purpose, and then watch where it takes you.

That’s it for today.  See y’all next week!

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Whenever you're ready, there are 2 ways I can help you: 

1. The Connection-Based Spontaneous Worship Course.  If spontaneous worship has been a struggle, you might want to check out Connection-Based Spontaneous Worship.  It's a self-guided, self-paced course that empowers you to lead spontaneous worship with confidence, enables your musicians to flow with you, and helps your room engage.  

2- Join A Zoom Group.  Every 3 months I host small zoom groups- one focused on worship leading and one on songwriting.  Each group meets once a week for an hour on Zoom over a 12-week period, as we walk through the process of learning to leading worship/write songs out of connection with Jesus.  For more details about the next upcoming zoom group, including schedule & cost, email me at [email protected]