Learning To Follow Wherever He Leads: A Blog on Leading Worship According to the Leading of the Holy Spirit

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. – 2 Corinthians 3:17

As I write this, I have only been home for about two hours. We had an incredible time of worship this morning and I have something burning in my heart to share but I want to do it with the right audience.  I have spent 21 years leading worship at least once a week in one capacity or another and before that, I spent another 8 years singing and ministering in various churches weekly to help raise support for a child care institution for orphaned, abandoned, neglected or abused foster children. I have been in church A LOT - and have been to many different types of churches. I have seen a lot of things happen and not happen. Things happen when people are open to allowing God to move among them. Things do not happen when people are afraid or disobedient or lacking in belief.  I believe that it is because of these varied experiences that I have learned to sense the moving of the Holy Spirit. I make it a point to continue working towards developing a better awareness of God's presence and His work and to remember how important it is to respond to Him in general. But, for this blog, I am making special reference to following the leading of the Holy Spirit in worship ministry.

Today, we had a powerful experience with the Holy Spirit’s presence at our church. I believe one of the main reasons for this was because we had visitors in our building over the weekend who were participating in a ministry course on how to develop a strong prayer life.  As part of the class, the students had participated in both individual and group prayer throughout the night on Friday and into the day on Saturday.  So, I did anticipate a special moving of the Holy Spirit today. However, as I was preparing for the worship service this morning, while still at my home, I suddenly began to have a very strong feeling of anxiety come over me. This was strange because moments earlier I had such peace and joy and excitement about the morning service. I soon realized that this anxiety was not from God and so I began to ask for help from Him. Within a few minutes, I felt much better but I quickly got to church and went directly to my guitar to begin singing and playing over the sanctuary until there was no trace of anxiety remaining in me.  Instead, it had been replaced again by a spirit of peace and expectancy.

As soon as the service began, I experienced a surge of energy and boldness come over me as the worship team led through a song about the holiness of God and of how he is worthy to be praised. I felt as if I was at war. This is unusual because normally the opening song is very celebratory. It is Christmas time. So, later in the service, we sang a few Christmas Carols and then moved into “Here I Am To Worship” It was to have been the last song of our set. We had plans for a choir special and the pastor had a wonderful sermon planned. However, the Holy Spirit began to move over the people as we sang, “I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross.” The realization that the act of coming to Sunday Morning worship as a way of saying “Thank you” to God for the sacrifice Jesus made at Calvary seemed to sweep over the congregation as we entered back into the chorus, “So, Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you’re my God”.  The pastor spoke for a few minutes but the presence of the Lord was so thickly manifested among us that he said he felt we needed to go back into worship.

This time I felt moved by the Holy Spirit to lead in a song titled, “Break Every Chain” which speaks of the power that is found in the name of “Jesus.”  As we sang, people began to spontaneously move towards the altar for prayer. Others moved around the building as they felt impressed to pray for certain people.   Suddenly the words to an old hymn filled my mind. I continued to sing as I allowed my mind to meditate on the name of Jesus.  I wanted to say the name over and over again to invoke the power within it to bring healing to the people.  I have learned that I should be obedient to this during a worship service. So, I began to sing slightly modified/modernized lyrics to the chorus of the old hymn, “Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus” but to the melody of the verse of “Break Every Chain”. Later, as the service was winding down, a lady came forward to share the story of an answered prayer for a child who had been in an abusive situation.  Our pastor asked us to sing one more time and as I began to lead the song again, the words to the old children’s song, “Jesus Loves Me” filled my mind.  As I began to sing the lyrics, they fit perfectly with the rhyme and meter of the song.  I adapted them again to the melody of the verse of “Break Every Chain.”  I did NOT play through it in my head first to make sure it would work. I just followed the leading of the Holy Spirit and began to sing. He made sure that the phrasing of each word was placed correctly. I felt led to sing it that way three more times until finally there was a sense of release.

I am sharing all these details with you for those who wonder about the "process" of following and the eventual outcome which you will read more about below. 

At the end of the service, a man quickly approached and said, “I opened my Sunday School Class (adult class) by singing “Jesus Loves Me” this morning and as the service was nearing it’s end, I felt the Lord asking me to lead the people of the congregation in that song again. I could not figure out how in the world I could do that given the environment of the service. As I questioned the Lord, you began to sing those lyrics to the song we were singing. I just could not believe that you were making those words fit like that.” Together, we marveled over the confirmation that we were both hearing from the Lord about this children's song being for the worship service.  A few minutes later, our pastor approached us and I began to tell him about what the man had told me.  He stopped me from going any further and said, “Now. Let me tell you the testimony.”

He then went on to explain that one of the women in our church approached our pastor after church to share this story with him. I am going to paraphrase.  The woman explained,

“When I was a little girl, I grew up in a family and in a home that was not Christian but I heard that little song, “Jesus Loves Me” and I just loved it.  So, I would sometimes walk through the house singing it but my mother didn’t like me to sing it.  She told me to stop singing the song but I wanted to sing it.  Because I would not stop singing that song, I was severely beaten.  So, ever since I was a little girl, I have carried the hurt of that experience with me and it has resurfaced every time I have heard the song.  Yet, as the worship leader sang the words to “Jesus loves Me” this morning to the tune of "Break of Every Chain", I felt the chains of hurt break off of me, finally after all these years!”

My eyes filled with tears as I realized how significant it had been for me to obey the Holy Spirit’s urging to sing the lyrics of a nursery tune to the verse of this song.

Worship Leaders, I share this story with you today because I feel that I should.  Here is my point. I notice that many of you seem to grapple and struggle with knowing how to recognize the leading of the Holy Spirit and how you should respond. That is good. You should grapple with this because this is the center of worship ministry.  This is the heart of the ministry (really any type of ministry) and the foundation upon which everything else is built.  Otherwise, you can spend years developing skills, putting together a good group of singers and musicians, improving your techniques and investing in quality sound equipment and attending seminars. You may develop an amazing strategy for producing amazingly good christian music. Yet, you may never lead your congregation in worship. 

I want to encourage you to spend time in intercession daily. Pray over your church. Pray for people to experience deliverance during the worship services.  The Bible says that God inhabits the praises of His people.  That means that when sincere praise is being offered up in the sanctuary that God comes and begins to move among us. Furthermore, the Bible says that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

As worship leaders, we are given the privilege to invoke the name of the Lord, to lift his name up in praise and by doing so, His presence is welcomed among us.  When God’s presence is welcomed among us, he can begin to work in the hearts and lives of the people to bring comfort, wisdom, freedom, encouragement, healing and guidance. What a privilege - what an honor!

Do you have a sincere love for your congregation like the good shepherd does for His sheep?  If not, ask God to begin to fill your heart with love and compassion for His people.  He longs to use you as a doorway to His presence in their lives.  Many of them will not know how to welcome the presence of God into their lives until they see you do it.  

Christ came to bring us salvation but He also came to bring us an abundant life.  Please spend time in prayer over your church, and over your people and over your worship team. Ask God to use you to minister to the body of believers that you have been assigned to. Ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit so you will have the power to witness for Him in a way that draws other people into the saving knowledge of God and brings full redemption to their lives. Learn to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and do not be afraid to operate in the gift he has given you. Don’t draw back from doing something unusual. If he moves on your heart, don’t worry about how strange it may seem to others.  Remember this is not about your agenda or your reputation. This is about God's agenda and HIs reputation. So, by all means, do not ignore Him. He wants to be glorified in you. Just go where he wants you to go. Do what he wants you to do.  God wants to use you to bless your house of believers and to draw other people into saving grace. 

By the way, after the service this morning, my pastor also remarked to me that he had wanted to sing "Break Every Chain" at the close of his sermon today. It was the song that had come to his mind throughout the week as he prepared to preach his sermon. However, he did not want to impose his wishes on me and preferred to let me listen to the Lord's direction instead. So, he had never told me.

Stepping out to do lead worship in the way we did today takes faith and it takes courage. I realize that but I had sort of forgotten it. Today, I am remembering that learning to do this truly was a process and I am aware that some people need to know about it because God is strategically placing them and they are in a season or preparation.  Here is something to consider. Most people who are filled with the Spirit know when the Spirit is prompting them to do something because it is more painful to not do it than it is to do it.  A famous minister once remarked, "When the Holy Ghost Train comes through, get on board!" In a way, it really is that simple. When the Holy Spirit moves on your heart, you feel relieved to respond to Him. But, if you turn a deaf ear to His voice, you know that you have done wrong and you may even sense His presence withdrawing.  So, the more you obey that voice, the easier it becomes to listen to it and that opens the door for the Holy Spirit to use you more regularly to bring healing or deliverance into someone else’s life. 

You can always be sure that it is God’s will to use you to bring people to redemption and to apply healing to their lives because His word plainly teaches that. Know this. If it is your prayer that He will use you to help do these things, then that is what he will do with your ministry. Just follow Him. If you are asking for bread to feed His people, he will surely not give you a stone.

I want to pray for you.

Father God, I thank you for what you have done today in my church. I thank you for the privilege you have given me to sing praises to your name in your house and to declare your wonders and your truth through music. I thank you for the abilities that you have given me and that though I am not the most skilled of musicians or singers, you accept my offering and you break it and you multiply it to make it into something valuable and nourishing for those who partake of it.  God, I want to bring up all my fellow worship leaders, pastors and music directors before you now, God. I ask that you will stir their hearts and cause them to hunger and thirst for more of you with an intensity that can only be matched by a man who has been forsaken in the dessert.  Let them become so hungry and so thirsty in Spirit that they cannot help but to cry out to you for more.  Father, you said, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of God.” We would be so honored, Lord if you would use us to build your Kingdom!  I ask that your anointing will be upon my co-laborers like it was on David. May they be a people after your own heart. May they be quick to repent and set their hearts right when they have displeased you.  May they say with the psalmist, “Create in me a clean heart Oh God and renew a right Spirit within me.” May they be men and women of integrity and may your countenance continually rest upon their faces. May they be so intent on bringing you glory and showing you worship and gratitude that like David, they will dance before you in Spirit or in the flesh with ALL their might. You know what is needed by each one of them to bring forth the seal of commitment to you and you alone in their lives. Let them be willing to say as David said to Michal, “I will become even more undignified than this!” Let all things pale in comparison to knowing you and bringing glory to you. Let them be consumed with a zeal for Your house and Your people. 

Father, I ask that You will send Your Holy Spirit upon each person who ventures to read this offering.  I pray that you will send your Spirit upon them with power and that you will immediately begin to tune their ears to your voice. Embolden them to speak truth in love and to sing the words that you put in their mouths with both confidence and humility. I pray that every sliver of pride will be completely demolished in them as they learn that whatever they do for You must be done not by human power or might but by YOUR Spirit. For, it is your delight to show your strength in our weakness. Father I pray that they will consecrate again their hands, their voices and their feet to You and You alone to bring forth Glory on the earth. 

In the matchless name of your son, Jesus who lives and reigns and rules with You and who intercedes for us now, I pray! Come, Lord Jesus. Come! Rule and Reign in us today!