Kiki's Worship Blog

Worship and God's word are not separate entities.  They are one.  Every meeting should be characterized by the Spirit's presence and God's word.  The spirit is what inspired God's word, so we should incorporate it into our worship.  We can do this by treasuring, singing, reading, showing and praying God's word.  When we treasure God's word, other people will know it.  Lyrics matter more than the tunes, so we should understand the lyrics we are singing to convey the word more.  Lastly we should obviously read it in order to show it and pray it. Being raised as Christians, it feels sometimes that reading the word has become a chore.  When chapel speakers throw lines of verse on the screen and start reading it, I unfortunately feel my eyes glaze over, zoning out to the max.  It really shouldn't be this way, and I know it.  In order to be a true worship band, we should exude the Word too.  Read it, pray it, sing it, and show it.

Worship cannot happen without the Holy Spirit.  Worshipping without the Holy Spirit empowering the band is like the power cutting out.  We should be desperately dependent, eagerly expectant, and humbly responsive to Him.  We are helpless, and God sent the Spirit to help us, which should instill feelings of humility, gratitude, and peace in our hearts.  We should be eagerly expectant that the Spirit will come through and do great things in our worship time.  We should be humbly responsive to what He is doing.  We should not rely on our own skill and music, but rely on the Spirit.  No worship is possible without Him. What's the one thing we keep forgetting?  Oh right.  That we are worshipping God.  That shouldn't be a thing.  I know I stress about my musical skill.  I practice for hours everyday because I think I should be the one helping people draw closer to God through the music.  Wrong.  The Holy Spirit does that....

In Chapter 9 of Worship Matters, Bob Kauflin reminds us that worship is all about God, and is not possible without Him.  There is nothing about worship that is not affected or defined by Jesus Christ.  We tend to forget how offensive our sins are to God because we do it all the time.  In truth, God is perfect.  When we sin, we are defiant against Him.  Jesus is the mediator we need to be saved from God's justice.  Christ's work on the cross is the only reason why we have any access to God.  Apart from Jesus, we cannot approach God.  This makes a huge difference in our worship because biblically speaking, no worship can lead people to God, only Jesus Christ can, with his work on the cross.  Our access to God is not based on our performances, for we are already accepted through Jesus.  Our own musical skill, or even heartfelt sincerity, does not make us acceptable to God, only Jesus does.  As a kind of new drummer with not a lot of ...

  It's easy to be distracted by life's ups and downs.  The magnitude of our problems makes God seem so small in our lives.  The reality is the complete opposite.  God is great, and while we ourselves struggle with remembering this, it is our job to remind others of this fact while worshipping.  If our songs are not specific about God, we tend to associate worship with a style of music, emotional state, or some other distraction that is not truly about God.  A way to see God's greatness is in His Word.  Reading the Psalms is a good way to learn about Him.  We should not simply read about Him however, we need to yearn for Him and delight in Him.  With these ways, we can lead people better and remind them of God's greatness amidst life's chaos.    My life is pretty crazy right now, with family problems and major decisions.  I pray pretty much every night, but honestly, I have been forgetting to talk to the Lord pretty freque...

Bob Kauflin drives home the invaluable lesson that we're leading worship for God.  I know I struggle with the temptation of pride and looking for praise after a performance.  We worry about the student body's response to our music.  Did they like it?  How were the instruments?  The vocals?  Did we sound good?  The truth is, God does not call us to be popular, loved, or well-praised.  He wants us to be faithful worshippers.  We tend to reap what we sow.  If our focus as a band is self-centered, we'll reap shallow compliments and ungodly comparisons.  If we focus on God, we'll reap the fruit of people in awe of God's greatness.  All my worries about wanting to be liked for my musical ability are thrown out the window when I understand that ultimately the fruit of worship is pleasing the audience of One.

Our culture is obsessed with music.  Most of us need music to go throughout our day, need it to be playing in the background while we study, need it to listen to during car rides, or need it to fall asleep to.  Similarly, many church-goers believe that worship leaders are very important.  Sure, music is important, but Bob Kauflin teaches us that it is not as important than a good biblical teaching of scripture in a pastor's message.  There is no need to attach a biblical authority to the phrase "worship leader" or exaggerate its significance.  Worship does not have to involve music at all.  Yet, every week we "music ministers" have a great opportunity to encourage people to praise God.

I definitely have my own demons that I struggle with.  I've only been playing drumset seriously for like a couple months.  Even though I worked my butt off over the summer practicing, and practicing for two hours a day ever since school started, I still  don't think I'm good enough.  I'm going to make a fool out of myself in front of the school, I'm going to disappoint my drum teacher, I'm going to let down this awesome worship team... blah blah blah.  The fact that we're doing all of this for God above all else really resounded with me.  If I really love God (and like I totally do), then this music should come naturally.  People's opinions of me don't matter, even if I screw up.  God is the most important thing in my life, and everything else is second to Him.