Worship and love are interwoven. Worship can only
be pronounced on the outside when it is deepened on the inside. Worship is an attitude;
therefore the sacrifices are no longer dire. Are you a worshipper of God
yourself as a worship leader? Is worship leading a ministry for you or is it
a self-motivated task?
The Tent of Meeting in the Old Covenant signified
the place of the presence of God. It was the place of communing with God. Moses and Aaron were unable to be a blessing
to the people of Israel
ordinarily but we see here that after they went in they came out full of God’s
spirit and presence and were able to bless the people. The scripture did not end there. It says “and
the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people”.
To lead in worship is to take
God’s people to a place where they will experience the glory of God and be
filled with His awesome presence.
However, just like Moses and Aaron there is an entering in that the
Leader must do. Oftentimes, it is
assumed that to lead worship, one learns as many songs as possible, understands
the technique of putting songs together and puts on some superficial boldness
that is far from being dependent on the spirit of God but rather rests
completely in the flesh. Far more than
that, leading in worship is a spiritual duty that can only be effective if
dependent on God’s spirit to guide as we lead His people to worship Him. We must recognize that worship is a
journey. There is a destination. Otherwise we would end up being an actual
representation of a ‘noisy gong and clanging cymbal’. We would go through the
motions and yet have no reckoning with heaven neither would there be an impact
on the lives of the people.
As seen in the scripture in Leviticus, Moses and
Aaron went into the tent of meeting to commune with God. The very first step in preparing to lead
worship is to commune with the Lord, seek His face through His Word and His
Spirit to know His mind. Our God is a
God of the now and always has a word, a direction and an instruction for every
moment and hour. When we seek His face,
He directs our spirits to His intention and desire for that moment. Let’s take for instance, in the last service
probably you began the worship session with a particular song, the fact that
the congregation was greatly moved as you raised the song does not mean that
for the next service, the same song would be sung. Probably God’s idea for the next service would
be that the people should start by lifting up holy hands and blessing His name
in the spirit. Our past experience
is not a yardstick for the present.
God, His Word and His Spirit are the yardstick for our every experience
with Him.
When there is an entering into God’s presence and
a sincere seeking that we might do His will and fulfill His purpose, it is
inevitable that God Himself would meet us, for every one that asks receives,
everyone that seeks finds and everyone that knocks receives an open door. (Matt
7:7). We like Moses and Aaron would come
out and become a blessing to God’s people.
It is a common adage that ‘You
cannot give what you do not have’.
God’s
Vessel Of Honour
“In a large house there are articles
not
only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay;
some
are for noble purposes and some for ignoble.
If
a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument
for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master
and prepared to do any good work.
Flee
the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace along with those who
call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
2Tim
2:20-22
One of the missing ingredients though not
non-existent in the Church today, are true vessels of honor. There are so many in the ministry of the LORD
yet how many are truly honorable vessels in the hands of the Master? From scripture, we understand that God
reaches men through men. We are His
ambassadors created unto good works that he had prepared in advance for us to
do. We are His and created for His
pleasure. Although each one of us is a
vessel not all vessels are accorded the same honor. There are vessels of gold, silver, wood and
clay as seen in the scripture. We
discover that there are two basic types of vessels – Vessels for Noble purposes
and Vessels for Ignoble purposes. There
are vessels that bring joy to the Master and vessels that dishonor Him. However, it is the believer that
determines what kind of vessel he is.
It is the responsibility of the believer to present himself unto God as
a vessel of gold, silver, wood or clay.
Whatever he presents, that is what he would be regarded as.
Glory be to God for further on in that scripture,
the Bible says that “If a man cleanses
himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy,
useful to the Master…”. As leaders
of worship, we must cleanse ourselves of everything that would make us vessels
for ignoble purposes. One of the greatest dynamics of leading in worship is
availing and presenting ourselves as vessels of honor unto the LORD. ...to be continued
Many Blessings!!
(c) Chinelo Dillimono 2016
Follow on Twitter: @chinelodilimono
