TWLL #60: Leading Worship and Beholding Jesus

read time:  3 minutes

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If I was able to say one thing to a worship leader, I'd tell them to behold Jesus.  

Because if a worship leader beholds Him, it produces a deeper response of worship within them.  And when a worship leader is worshipping at a deep level- though there are other dynamics involved- that's really the best way to lead a room in worship.

But I think for a lot of us, sometimes we have a hard time wrapping our minds around the idea of beholding Jesus.  What does it mean, and what does it look like to behold Him?

I'm not a Bible scholar by any means- but I do have a couple thoughts on what it can look like to behold Jesus.

Beholding

The term "behold" is not something we use in everyday language, so it makes sense that we might not have as much of a grid for what the word means.

A simple way to describe beholding might be to really see something or someone.  Online dictionaries use terms like "gaze" or "fix your eyes upon"- both of which refer to seeing for more than a second, or more than a glance.  Going with those definitions, beholding would be something like staring, or seeing for an extended period of time. 

For our context then, we're talking about seeing or looking at Jesus in a focused way for some length of time.  And I think of two ways we can do this, that will make a significant difference in our hearts and in our worship leading.

Taking The Eyes Of Your Heart

The first way would be to take passages of Scripture that give descriptions of Him, and then use those descriptions to picture Him with the eyes of your heart.

Passages that come to mind would be Daniel 7, Isaiah 53, or Revelation 1.  So you take a passage, and then using the descriptions in that passage you picture Him.  You try to visualize and see Him based on what the passage says about His appearance.

I remember doing this specifically with Revelation 5, and trying to picture Jesus as the Lamb in the center of the throne.  It was deeply impacting as I read and meditated on the phrases from the passage- and it had the same impact a few days later when I was leading a worship set.

Meditating On Who He Is

I also think of beholding as knowing someone with a measure of depth.  

When someone says "I feel seen" it means that someone else has understood specific things about them with some measure of depth.

When you take Scriptures that talk about who Jesus is, what He's like, and what He cares about- you are, in a sense, beholding Him.  You're seeing more of His nature and His character, and it's giving you a better understanding or fuller picture of who He really is.

Some of my favorite passages that have helped me "see" Him in a deeper way would be John 1, Psalm 45, Hebrews 1, John 17, and Philippians 2.

Conclusion

If you want a deeper response of worship coming from your heart to His- begin to behold Jesus.

Take passages that describe His appearance, and meditate on them- and then picture Him.  Aim to see Him with the eyes of your heart.

And then take passages that unpack His nature, His heart, His character, and meditate on those.  Get past the surface of the familiar idea of Jesus, and into the heart of who He is.

When you do this, it will cause a deeper response of worship to flow out of your heart.  Which is what you want- first and foremost as follower of Jesus- and then secondly as a worship leader who's leading others in worship to Him.

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

1- 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 upcoming Winter Worship Leader Zoom Group, including schedule & cost, email me at [email protected]

2. Connection-Based Spontaneous Worship.  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.