Worship in Personal Devotion

Seeking God and spending time in devotion away from platform is an absolute essential for worship leaders and worship team members. Plainly stated, worship should not be a Sunday-only experience. In fact it is the cultivation of our personal (private) relationship with God that is the foundation upon which we stand to lead others in worship. So how exactly do we pursue our personal devotion and worship with God?

It goes without saying that the tried and true spiritual disciplines of prayer and scripture reading/study are foundational keys. There is absolutely nothing that can take the place of the God’s Word, active, living, and true. There is no substitute for spending time in prayer and meditation, listening for the voice of God to teach and guide. However, for worship leaders, I would suggest several additional activities to be meshed with these core spiritual disciplines.

First, try spending your devotional in the Word while sitting at your keyboard or with your guitar in your hands. Then allow yourself to begin play chords and melodies while reading or even begin to read aloud while playing. I would even suggest singing the word to the chord progressions you’re playing. Don’t try to write a song or make it flow smoothly. Allow the Word to be central and the music to accompany what you are reading/singing. This can also work well during your prayer time. Simply begin singing your prayers to God. Allowing yourself to play your instrument and sing scripture and prayers will go a long way to integrate and undergird your gifting with the ability to sense God’s presence and understand His leading.

Another suggestion would be to use one of the current popular worship songs as the basis for a Bible study. Any well-written worship song uses Christian life experiences and the principles of Scripture as its core influence and lyrical content. Many will use entire verses from the Word or at least pieces of the verse for the actual lyrics themselves. Start by reading over the song that you have chosen while praying to ask God to guide you in your insight and study. Then use your Bible dictionary and/or concordance to identify the verses or sections of scripture that the song is either taken from or influenced by. (This part of the study is greatly enhanced if you are able to use a computer program or on-line program to help search out the relevant portions of scripture.) For instance, if the song talks about God’s grace, then you would start by looking up the sections of scripture that discuss God’s grace (i.e. Eph 2:8-9). A key to making this activity a relevant study is to read each section of scripture within the proper context of its accompanying chapter and book.