Worship

     God called me to be a worship leader.  I’ve known this since I was a little girl.  I can sing worship songs to God for hours and hours and not even miss a beat…and I’ve been like that all my life.  It’s just in me.  So, when I was asked to lead worship for our Wednesday night mid-week service a couple of years ago, I thought to myself, “this should be a piece of cake!”  Boy, was I wrong.  In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth.  It wasn’t easy at all…and mostly it was because of the fact that I really didn’t understand what it meant to truly worship God. 

     Ok, so I’ll start from the beginning.  When I was growing up, my dad was the “Song Leader” at my church.  That’s what we called it.  Our Pastor would say, “Ronnie, you’re leading the singing tonight, right?”  And my dad would say yes.  And to “lead the singing” it seems was to sing two or three songs from the hymnal, and then follow it up with a couple of fast chorus’s and then a couple of slow chorus’s.  It never dawned on me until fairly recently that I was not called to be a song leader.  I was called to be a worship leader.   

     And while theoretically, this position is the same thing as a worship leader…I never really understood what the word “worship” meant.  I thought I did though…If someone would have asked me the difference between praise and worship, I would say…Praise is the fast songs and worship is the slow songs.    And I definitely wouldn’t have said that worshipping God was anything other than singing songs to him. 

     But here’s the truth.  This is what I have realized…and what you need to grasp a hold of.  Worship has absolutely nothing to do with singing (although we are called to worship God through music.)  Worship is a lifestyle.  It’s all about humbling ourselves before God our creator, and offering our lives as living sacrifices.  It’s all about saying, “God, here I am.  Take me.  All of me.  And use me for your glory.  I lay myself down before you, and I ask that you take complete control of my life.”  THAT, my friends, is worship.   When we give ourselves completely to God, that’s the moment he is able to transform our lives from something average into something extraordinary.    From dull and meaningless to something wonderful and glorious. 

     And so I’m called to lead people into worship, and it was a lot easier before I knew the truth.  Because well, ANYone can lead songs…to stand on a stage with a microphone and tell people to open their books to page 333.  But as a worship leader I’m not called just to sing, but to teach people how to completely devote their lives to God.  It's not an easy task, but that's what God has called me to do...and I want to serve him to the best of my ability.

     That’s what this blog is about.  I have a lot of things going on inside my mind all the time, and so I thought maybe someone will read what I write and be encouraged…or at least be encouraged to ask questions.  Believe me I’m far from perfect, (I know, I this surprised me too.)  I mess up on a daily basis, and I also have a lot of questions…but I’m learning.  God is teaching me what it means to truly worship him in spirit and in truth.  I believe when we finally reach the realization that it has nothing to with religion but everything to do with worshipping and having a relationship with Jesus Christ, we will experience a worship revolution like we’ve never seen before.  God is about to do something amazing in the church…and I just want to be a part of it.  I’m ready to let God have complete control.  How about you?

Feel free to post questions or comments you may have, or email them to me if you wish.  Also follow me on Twitter @mkdallis.