My favorite place to worship in my church is…where the kids worship. Our 4 year olds-5th graders all worship together in their own worship space on Wednesday nights. I love all our other teams and can experience the Lord wherever on our campus, but that is my favorite place to be during worship. They jump around and do some things you can’t get away with in “big” church. (some of that is for good reasons) They worship with such abandon, innocence and enthusiasm.

Something about kid’s worship always gets me. The Bible says that, “Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants you have perfected praise”. Interestingly enough, in this passage (Matthew 21:12-16), Jesus had just gotten a little ticked with the manipulation of people in the temple and cleaned house. Afterwards, the blind and lame came to Him and He healed them. What should have been beautiful about this visit to the temple is that the Messiah was finally there. He had come to bring purity and healing to His house; to re-establish it’s purpose. The chief priests, some of whom were benefiting from the scams, were furious. The children, on the other hand, cried out and were saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David”. Their innocence allowed them to see what the spiritual leaders refused to recognize.

Kids worship with a purity and innocence that is so easy to lose as you get older. When children worship, really worship not just sing songs, I find myself broken. There is nothing like seeing kids with hands raised in worship, singing like it is the most important thing they could ever do. And if they start crying as they worship; forget about it, I’m officially done leading. I can’t even continue when I see kids truly experiencing Him. Having a 4 and 6 year old seals the deal. When I hear them sing from their heart, in the car, the house or on Wednesdays at PowerKids my passion for Jesus is renewed. I love seeing kids experience God’s presence.

I was praying with Judah, my 6 year old, the other day about having a “Transformer’s Mind” (another topic) and I sensed the presence of the Lord, so I asked him how he felt during the prayer. Did he feel anything “different”? His response…”I felt kind of tingly. Like I knew Jesus was there. Kind of like spidey-sense.” I don’t know about you, but reading that just made my spiritual “spidey-sense” go off. Lord help us to keep our childlike sense of wonderment, amazement and enthusiasm for Your presence.

“I been trying to get down to the heart of the matter. But my will gets weak and my thoughts seem to scatter…” Ladies and Gentlemen, Don Henley. Modern day prophet. (said with tongue in cheek)

I had a friend call me this week with a worship team issue this week and there were so many things swirling around that it seemed like there were 15-20 issues happening at once. Generally when I’ve seen this happen with my teams, or individuals on my teams, there is one thing causing most of the other things happening. The “heart of the matter” either personally or corporately.

It is easy as a leader to diagnose and treat symptoms, but it takes guts to cut through the junk and find what is really causing the issues. Someone may ask why someone else gets to lead the band for a week or someone else leads a song. Why didn’t I get asked to do a solo? Why did you feel like you had to bring in a guest leader while you were away? Sometimes you may never hear those questions at all and someone will just become a little passive-aggressive in rehearsal and you won’t know where it came from.

This is where having relationships with those on your team is key. Let’s say that “Johnny” starts fuming that he didn’t get a guitar solo this week. What’s the root issue? The closer I am to “Johnny”, the better I’ll be able to diagnose the “heart of the matter”. It could be pride. It could be a lack of self confidence and the need for the approval of others. Maybe the last worship leader he served under didn’t appreciate his gifts. It could be any number of things ranging from private sin to a crummy day at work. Those are all very different issues with different solutions, but if I only react to the surface thing then I’ll miss the opportunity to lead “Johnny” well.

We all want to grow together as believers and sometimes that takes a willingness to dig past the surface. It doesn’t mean that it will be easier. It’s easier to tell “Johnny” you shouldn’t react that way, than it is to tell “Johnny” that God is trying to deal with him about pride or asking him to join you in prayer to figure out what triggers this in him.

One of my passions is to see God release destiny in others. If I’m to be a true agent of change and release in others, then I have to push pass my “will gets weak and my thoughts start to scatter” and ask the Holy Spirit for His discernment and clarity to help the “Johnnies” in my world and myself get down to the “heart of the matter”.

Hebrews 2:11-12 says “For both He (Jesus) who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He (Jesus) is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying,”I WILL PROCLAIM YOUR (Father God) NAME TO MY BRETHREN, IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE.”

This passage is a guiding passage in worship for me. Notice that Jesus says here that he proclaims the Name of God to us and sings God’s praise in the congregation. When we gather in our congregations, large or small, Jesus shows up to sing the praise and name of the Father.

The names of God are numerous and encompass every aspect of His character that He has disclosed to us. I believe that Jesus stands up in the midst (King James word of our gatherings and begins to declare the name of the Father that best describes what God wants to do. I have been in meetings where it was evident that God was there to heal. Based on this passage, I believe that Jesus was there singing out “Jehovah-Rophe” the God that heals. Take some time to reflect on the names of God and the character they reveal. Names like Jehovah-Rophe (healer), Jireh (provider), Tsidkenu (righteousness), Nissi (banner), Shalom (peace), M’Kadesh (sanctifier), Elohim (Lord God) and Rohi (Shepherd). The list could go on. Here’s a great site to use for reflection on this: http://ldolphin.org/Names.html

Psalms 22:3 says that He is “entrhoned on the praises of Israel”. Which literally means, He sets up His rule where He is praised. Jack Hayford said once that he felt it meant that God would “set up His kingdom rule in the way most appropriate to that situation.”

The next time you’re leading people in worship. Be listening for the song of Jesus to help you see what the Father’s desire is for the people gathered in that place.