How do we as individuals, leaders and worship teams go from good to excellent? How do we take from the past and learn from the present to lead our congregations in passionate worship of the Lord? Here are four main areas that we can grow and work on.
1. Love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength
Loving God with all our hearts must be at the center of all we do. Here are two of the main ways we can grow in this area.
a) Reading God’s Word daily: I am passionate about the power of God’s Word to change and transform lives. That is because I have seen God’s Word transform my life. If you are not reading your Bible on a daily basis, I want to encourage you and help you make that an important daily habit in your life. Please check out my Bible Reading Challenge.
b) Praying daily: Jesus spent daily time in prayer. Praying and spending time with God needs to be one of our top priorities. Only God can change the hearts and minds of the people we minister to. What is God saying to you in your prayer times? Learn to be listen and be obedient to what He is saying.
2. Love each other
Jesus said, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” Two of the main ways we do this are:
a) We serve each other: Jesus said it this way:
“You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Two of the main ways we show our love is by serving each other and laying down our lives for each other.
b) We are kind to each other: We should endeavour to have God’s Spirit working through us in all our actions. The fruits of God’s Spirit are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness. (Galatians 5:22). None of us gets it right all the time. But our heart should be to love our fellow believer and be forgiving, just as Christ has forgiven us.
3. Grow as passionate worshippers of God
Two of the main ways we do this are through are attitudes and actions:
a) Attitude is everything: We need check our hearts and spirits and come to worship God with great attitudes: The Biblical attitudes of worship are: thankfulness, honesty, reverence, faith, humility, joy and with our whole heart. (Check out: The Attitudes of Worship). If we come with those attitudes, God is pleased and something powerful happens in our worship time.
b) Actions speak so loud: People will believe your actions before they believe your words or the lyrics of the song you sing. I believe we should use the Biblical actions of worship as our standard: Throughout the Bible, the people of God have worshiped Him through singing, playing instruments, lifting of hands, clapping, shouting, dancing, bowing down, standing and giving (their whole lives). (Check out: The Actions Of Worship). Let us never to content to do things the way we have always done them. Let us raise our worship to the standard of God’s word.
4. Work on becoming excellent singers and musicians
There are four main ways that we can do that:
a) We work hard: Becoming excellent at anything takes hard work. If you are not willing to become disciplined and put in the time and energy, you will not improve. Always come to rehearsals and services knowing your part. Learn to memorize your music.
b) We are faithful: Teams only improve by consistently working together. We need faithful people who will go the 2nd mile to be on time and be faithful to their responsibilities.
c) We accept correction: We can all improve and we all have blind spots. Each of us needs people and leaders who can challenge us and speak the truth in love.
d) We keep learning and growing: None of us has arrived. There are always new things to learn and areas to improve in. If you are not growing, you are growing stale. We all need to be pushed beyond our comfort zones to new levels of excellence.
What area is God speaking to you about? Where do you need to move from good to excellent as an individual and as a team? May we never be satisfied with just going through the motions. May we always be passionate worshipers and lovers of God.
Check out my new book.. “Leading Worship ~ Notes from a Grand Adventure’ available in Kindle or Soft Cover Editions. This is a great gift for the musician or worshipper in your life.
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Right on the mark!
Wisdom Speaks!