LISTEN

READ

Oh Lord, here I am to lay down
here I am to lay down, You lift me up.
Oh Lord, all I have I give You
all I have I give You, You fill me up
Oh Lord, with all my soul I trust You
with all my soul I trust You, You hold me up

My life is in Your hands.
My life is in Your hands.
Break my will Lord.
All my soul is at Your command.

And even though the enemy waits
at the gates of my soul I know…

REFLECT

This song is about surrendering yourself to Lord.  It is simple, but powerful, and depicts true worship.  What comes to mind when you hear the word "worship"?  If your thoughts turn directly to music, I pray that you will take a moment to reflect on what true worship really is.  I believe I can say this confidently, because I write music and could (in my own eyes) justify my own work by calling it worship.  Though it may be an expression of my worship of God, the music itself is not worship.  If it were, then it would be dependent on my flesh.  But true worship is in spirit and truth.[John 4:24]  For those of you who wish you had gifts in music, this should be encouraging.  If being a worshiper was dependent on musical ability, some of us may never know the joy of truly worshiping the Father.  I am thankful, that the Bible is very clear about what worship is, how we are to worship, and how we are to lead others in worship.
I could probably talk about this subject for days, but I will try and limit the scope, and just mention a few key aspects that may minister to you.  Check out Romans 12:1-2, and Philippians 3:3.  Those are some of my favorite verses on worship.  Did you notice any mention of music?  Were those verses written to musicians?  No, they are applicable to all believers in Christ.  God desires us, a living sacrifice, offered in faith.[Psalm 51:17]
So, what does that mean for you and me?  It means, that if we are truly worshiping God, then our lives are changing.[Romans 12:2]  We surrender our will, and put our trust completely in the Lord, because without faith we cannot please God.[Hebrews 11:6]  Furthermore, God gives us the faith, and that faith is counted as righteousness.[Romans 10:17][Romans 4:5]  One translation of Psalms 119:7 reads, "I will praise you with my righteous living". 
Hmm, it seemed a lot easier when we could just sing songs.  But here is where it should hit home, especially for "worship leaders"(we should all be worship leaders).  If worshiping God is not about singing songs, is leading worship about leading people in singing "worship songs"?  No, it most certainly isn’t.  Leading worship, requires us to lead others towards a life submitted to God.  In fact, if a person leading in singing is not actually worshiping God in spirit and truth, as described above, then he is not leading people in the worship of God at all, but rather, himself.  If we are leading someone, then they are headed in the direction we are going. 
Philippians 3 is perhaps one of the best lessons on leading worship.  Paul asks others to be imitators of him, not that he was perfect, but he pressed on towards Christ.[Philippians 3:17][Philippians 3:13-14]
Finally, you must ask yourself if you are worshiping God.  There cannot be any compromise, Paul counted all things as loss for the sake of Christ.  Do you?  Since, worship is not constrained to music, or church organizations, or church buildings, or ministries, it should permeate your whole existence.  And the expression of that worship is righteous living, praise to our Father.
Just a side note, this explains why, when I play for people, it could be called leading worship.  But I have no intention of playing for the sake of giving believers something to sing, but rather directing them towards a life of faith in Christ.

In Your Hands by Brian Wetzel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.