The Lord has been challenging me to simply sit and be with Him in quiet, intimate moments of my life. And honestly, the challenge has been finding and making the time. I was challenged by this video from Kari Jobe teaching on worship:
Sunday morning, our team came in, set up our equipment, but we were dragging a little. Some of us had very few hours of sleep, just from life etc. I could sense a lack of energy, yet still a longing for excitement and expectation for the Lord to do what He always does: show up- and in a an incredible way.
But, we were missing something.
We fell a little behind with set up, but I really felt the Lord pressing on me to practice sitting and waiting in His presence as a team. So, I shared a little bit about what the Lord had been showing me. Then, we took just a few short minutes (2-3) and prayed, asking the Lord to speak to us, fill us, meet with us, etc. Then, we simply waited. No talking. No praying. Not even singing. We waited for the Lord individually and as a group. I could hear several members of the team whispering things under their breath to the Lord. I don't know what they were saying. I was simply caught up in expressing my own desires to Him, then listening for what He had to say, I didn't care about what anybody else was doing or thinking. All I wanted was to be with Him in those few, short minutes. We ended with a chorus to a song and then we were done.
Like I said, it wasn't very long. But after we wrapped up our waiting session we proceeded to practice the first song: and the Lord fell on each player of the team! It was one of the most beautiful practices I have ever seen on a worship team. We simply worshipped!
Sure, we had a few kinks to work out and had to retry a couple of songs. But it was not at all like a normal practice. Each song seemed to have it's own life to it. Each team member had such a confidence about them, and had so much to offer. It was like every player or singer transformed their "playing" into "creating" the music. This took worship to a whole new level! Not only the worship, but the whole service: from the message, to the special music, even to lunch afterward was awesome! Over all it was a great Sunday!
Several of us agreed that we are going to start making this a regular thing. Every Sunday morning before we start practice, we will take time as a team to not only pray, but to sit, seek and wait for the Lord Himself to come, speak and empower us.
It was a Sunday unlike anything I have seen. Not only am I challenged as a leader to make time for this practice with my worship team, but also for me personally. I would challenge you, whoever is reading this, to do the same. Just sit with Him! Wait and see what the Lord is going to do. I am willing to bet that it will blow your mind and will exceed your expectations! He certainly did this past week! I certainly can't wait for next Sunday!
"Be STILL AND KNOW that I am God!"- Psalm 46:10
