As a worship leader, one of our main jobs is to help our congregations worship the Lord.  But, as a worshipper, there are obstacles that often are given as reasons to why they can’t worship. What is the greatest obstacle to you truly worshipping God on a Sunday morning?

Is it the style of music?  Is it the songs?  Is it that the worship leader doesn’t lead your favorite songs? Or maybe it is that your church doesn’t sing enough hymns? Is it that the drums are too loud or that the piano is too soft?

Instead of looking to those external things, we need to take a look inward and examine our hearts. The biggest obstacle to overcome when worshipping is our heart.

Learn how to help your congregation overcome three important obstacles to worship, staring with our own hearts.

 

 

For years we’ve experienced firsthand what is called “worship wars.” This war is conflicts over musical styles, song selections, contemporary bands versus the more traditional piano and organ… These preferences have distracted us from the truth.  They have literally divided congregations and stopped people from going to church. We’ve given these topics of “Worship War” lots of airtime but far too little has been said about the worship wars that go on inside of us! And they are much more significant! 

A friend of mine used to say it’s not a style problem; it’s a heart problem. Each of us has a battle raging within us over what we love the most.  God or something else, self, work, money, lifestyle, plans, or relationships…anything that gets more of my love, attention and devotion. How do you feel when you walk into worship on Sunday morning? Are you excited to worship God? Or do you have any room for God?  

Have you been worshipping God all week long and look forward to being with your community in a corporate worship setting? Or have you even thought about God during the week?  How often have you engaged in private worship during the week? Private worship can simply be a time set aside to listen to God, read his words and pray, or you can actually sing songs of love and devotion to God…  What or whom is holding your attention?  Your affection?

If we really want to try and understand why most Sunday mornings we just don’t feel like “getting into worship” we have to ask ourselves these hard questions and be willing to examine the answers.  It’s too easy to blame it on the music. Again, it’s not a style problem; it’s a heart problem.

Whenever we love and serve anything in place of God we are practicing idolatry! Idolatry can often conjure the image of tribes bowing to images of golden cows, or stone statues. But in America we worship idols too just in a more subtle way. We worship, material comforts, financial security, sensual pleasures and entertainment, even sports. We love our idols because we think they will provide us what we need, however we know and have learned often the hard way that satisfaction and true sustaining joy only come from God.

We will worship something or someone what remains to be seen is who or what that something is. As worshippers of the One True God our primary concern has to be the state of our hearts  

It’s All About Me

Another obstacle to Sunday morning worship is looking for a me-centered experience.  – “I hope we sing my favorite songs today,” – “I hope the pastor doesn’t preach too long again today.” – “I hope the drums aren’t too loud, or that the worship leader doesn’t expect me to sing, I’m just not in the mood today.” For many, church has become all about “me”—what I ‘m seeking, what I need, what I want to learn, what I want to sing.

We see ourselves as isolated individuals all seeking personal encounters with God.  It would seem we have replaced our personal time with God for a once a week experience and we expect that to fill us and sustain us. Sadly, this reflects our individualistic, me-obsessed culture.  Rather than seeing ourselves as part of a worshipping community, we become worship consumers; we want worship on demand, served up in our own way, with our own music, or our own preferred style of preaching.

So, how do we maintain a biblical perspective of our weekly meetings? I believe it starts with not expecting the church to entirely fill your cup.  Private worship is just as important as corporate worship.  Nothing will fuel your public or corporate worship on Sunday like private worship all week long. You cannot expect a Sunday morning experience to do for you what only a daily alone time with God can do. “A worshiping community is made up of individuals whose lives are centered around the Savior they worship together each week.  A worshiping community expects to encounter God’s presence not only on Sunday morning but every day.

A worshiping community recognizes that passionate times of singing God’s praise flow from and lead to passionate lives lived for the glory of Jesus Christ.”–Bob Kauflin Another way to combat a me-centered approach to Sunday worship is to proclaim truth in our gatherings.

To proclaim is to announce something publicly and officially.  So, why do we together proclaim scriptural truths we’ve previously heard and already know?  Because we forget.  We lose track of who God and what he’s done.  This is one reason why we often start a service with scripture.  It re-aligns our thinking.  We proclaim truth together to remember truth together and remind ourselves that it is not about me but about the Lord Jesus. People come into our churches proclaiming all sorts of things with their words and actions.  

Through close-fisted giving, some are asserting how much their own personal wealth matter.  Others, by their complaining, are declaring that personal comfort matters.  Teens in the latest fashions may be proclaiming that being cool matters.  Others confirm through their smiles or frowns that their musical preferences matter.  

But, we want each of them to leave proclaiming that: The gospel of Jesus Christ matters [ctt template=”6″ link=”7Pl1I” via=”no” ] 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, (Eph 2:19 ESV)[/ctt]  

Finding God

Another obstacle we may encounter in our worship is the burden or unnecessary responsibility we think we have in “finding God.”  I think sometimes we think it is on us to get ourselves in the mood to worship God. It is on us to participate rather than spectate; it is on us to be present, but worship, simply put, is enjoying God so…  when is the last time you had to talk yourself into enjoying something you love?

We all get excited about a great football game, or a concert with our favorite artist! Yet, I have heard many people say in the different churches I’ve been in,  “I would never raise my hands in church in worship because I don’t want to be a distraction to someone else.” Can you even imagine saying that about a football game??  “I don’t raise my hands at the football game because the quarterback might get distracted and think that I mean for him to pass me the ball!

Ok, maybe you think I got a little carried away with that analogy, and maybe I did but, look at this verse PS 134:2  “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord!  Another is PS 63:4 “I will praise you as long as I live and in your name I will lift up my hands.  We have no trouble lifting up our hands in the name of our favorite football team, why do we have trouble expressing our gratitude and thankfulness and praise to God in the name of our LORD?

Here is another, I love this one, cause it makes me think of my son who is still just little enough for me to pick up, PS 28:2 “Hear my cry for mercy as I call for help, as I lift up my hands toward your most Holy place”. My son says, “Hold you, hold you” when he is scared or needs help, why don’t we do the same to our heavenly Father in worship?

After all, “worship is an outward response to an inward encounter with God.” My question in all of this, even though it sounds like I am trying to make you all Pentecostal is…what is wrong with showing some expression? We love God, we enjoy God, we know what he has saved us from and it is ok for us to use some physical expressions of gratitude in our worship.  

[ctt template=”6″ link=”7Pl1I” via=”no” ] 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. (Psa 63:4 ESV)[/ctt]

Come As You Are

The biggest obstacle to worship often times is ourselves. When we come into worship we need to simply come to God as we are. There is a plastic surgery place not far from our house and it has one of those digital signs that says, “Come in as you are and leave as you wish.”  This should be on our church signs.

If we could just learn to come as we are, not pretending, no performing, just us as we are, I believe we would leave as we wish, with hearts full of unconditional love and minds full of the truth of His Grace and kindness to us! We don’t find God.  He finds us.  He is always with us.  We don’t have to bring His spirit down or hope we stumble into His presence, God is always with us, and He lives in us.  

Who has ever heard someone pray, “Lord just be with us?”   I am so guilty of this!!  So many blessed times I have said those same words in prayer. But through the Spirit he promises to be present in his people, because of our union with Christ, the church is God’s dwelling place on the earth, the new temple, the place where God lives, (Eph 2: 19-22).  We should expect that when we meet in His name he is with us. Matthew 18:20 says that where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name I am there.  Rev 3:20 says “behold I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in.” The Holy Spirit lives in us.

He has promised to be present in our fellowship. So, He is here and believe it or not He is seeking YOU!  John 4:23 Jesus tells the Samaritan woman,  “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. Don’t miss that part, the Father is seeking you!We are simply responding to God.  Remember He loved us first.  We don’t have to go looking for Him.  He has already pursued us and continues to seek us.
 

@jamismith@BranonDempsey @worshiptt @WorshipTTU


Jami Smith was raised in Chickasha, Oklahoma and is one of the premier Christian worship leaders in the United States. Since 1995, she has been traveling the world inspiring generations with her music. Jami is also an award-winning recording artist who has produced 15 albums. Her work has helped revolutionize worship music and the definition of a “worship leader” in churches across America.  She has traveled the world using her music to connect people to a loving and merciful God. Jami is married to OKC attorney Justin King They have two children, Emory (7) and Griffin (5).




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