Naive view of Worship

In one of my previous post, I talked about corporate worship

and how it should be.  A gigantic choir singing to God of all his

wonderful character.  That's it; that's all the purpose of it should

be.  And rightfully so!  For he deserves all the praise and worship.

However, too often we think of worship as something that is in our

control.  Bob Kauflin addresses this issue in this manner: "Praise

is God's invitation to us ... to lift our eyes above trials ... and

weaknesses ... to see that we have a great redeemer."  Praise is

GOD'S INVITATION to us to come to him, despite all the

troubles and sufferings we had throughout our week.  It doesn't

state that praise is our invitation to worship God however we

please, but it is God's way of telling us to come to him despite

what happened.

Not only is it an invitation from God, but it is a way for us to

enable the Word of God to dwell in us.  Sometimes, we sing

songs of praise nonchalantly without thinking about the message

trying to be portrayed to us.  We sing because we have to sing and

is part of the routine of being a Christian.  I think everyone of us

should understand what we are singing for 1) it challenges us to

see if the songs we sing are biblically sound, 2) it helps us to

appreciate and love God deeply, and 3) it helps us to keep God's

Word in our hearts even when we praise.

Worship leaders aren't exempt from this just because they are leading

worship.  We as leaders should also question what we're singing to see

the truth.  We as leaders should help the congregation to understand

the songs we sing.  We should not assume that the congregation will

know what the songs are saying.  We should help the congregation in

whatever way we can to encourage a greater appreciation of God.

Such a naive view I had of worship before I ran into the postings 

of Bob Kauflin.  Praise God that everytime I think I'm ready to lead 

worship, He comes by, slaps me in the back of the head, and points 

at things that humbles me, putting me back in a heart of prayer to 

God to strengthen me with his power and knowledge for I can't do 

it by myself.  Praise God, for He is good all the time.