A Worship Leader’s Prayer.
I want to start blogging each Sunday about the songs we sing at FBC Olney. I will post the mornings worship set list and then a few thoughts about some or all of the songs or key points of the service. I welcome any and all comments from members of FBC or even random blog readers.
Here is the Set List (order of worship) for this morning October 11, 2009:
Call to Worship
“Crown Him with Many Crowns”
“Sing to the King”
Worship through Tithes and Offering
“To God Be The Glory”
“Not To Us”
“My Tribute”
Message
Response & Invitation
“Take My Life Lead Me Lord”
Benediction
“The Family Prayer Song”
I want to center on two songs this morning. The song “Not To Us” and “My Tribute”.
Here are the words to “Not To Us”
The cross before me the world behind
No turning back, raise the banner high.
It’s not for me, it’s all for You!
Let the heavens shake and split the sky.
Let the people clap their hands and cry.
It’s not for us, it’s all for You!
Not to us, but to Your Name be the glory
Not to us, but to Your Name be the glory
Our hearts unfold before Your throne
The only place for those who know
It’s not for us, It’s all for You
Send Your holy fire on this offering
Let our worship burn for the world to see
It’s not for us, It’s all for You
Not to us, but to Your Name be the glory
Not to us, but to Your Name be the glory
The earth is shaking, the mountains shouting! It’s all for You!
The waves are crashing, the sun is raging! It’s all for You!
The universe spinning and singing! It’s all for You!
The children dancing, dancing, dancing! It’s all for You, It’s all for You
Not to us, but to Your Name be the glory
Not to us, but to Your Name be the glory
After we sing this we will lead into the chorus of the song “My Tribute”. Here are those words:
To God be the glory, to God be the glory
To God be the glory for the things He has done
With His blood He has saved me
With His power He has raised me
To God be the glory for the things He has done!
I’m so excited about this little worship set. First of all, we are singing a prayer. . .”Not to us, but to Your Name be the Glory! for YOU have done great things!” I think I like these two songs together because it reminds me of Bruce Leafblad’s definition of worship. Dr. Leafblad says, “Worship is communion with God in which believers, by grace, center their mind’s attention and their heart’s affection on the Lord, humbly glorifying God in response to His greatness and His Word.” We commune with God. . .WE Meet with GOD. . . .First of all how awesome is that! God is allowing us to meet with Him! The Creator and Author of the universe wants us to meet with HIM. If that doesn’t blow your mind keep reading on. . . . We center our mind’s attention. . . nothing else should matter (no, not even the roast cooking back home) and we center our heart’s affection. . . our LOVE, our PASSION, our ONE DESIRE. . . .is centered on the Lord. And We humbly glorify God (NOT for US, but for GOD) because of his GREATNESS and His WORD basically because of who God is in our lives, and His Word is what He has done!
Amazing huh? When we realize that it is not at all about us, but about the Father and about giving Him the praise that He deserves, then we are Worshiping God for who HE is, and for what HE has done. I don’t know about you, but this is my prayer for today. That I don’t just sing a song or two this morning, but that I truly Worship God. Worship Him for who HE IS, and for WHAT HE HAS DONE!
MY PRAYER THIS MORNING:
“Lord, I don’t want to lead worship for man, I don’t want to be just a song leader. I want to lead people to worship you and you alone. I want to meet with You and center my minds attention and my hearts affection on You. I want to humbly glorify who You are because of Your greatness and because of Your word that you have for me today. Lord, strip from me any selfishness, any pride, any negative thoughts this morning, and allow me to focus entirely on You. Father, please bring your people to your throne room today. Speak to your peoples hearts. Convict, Forgive, and Renew your church this morning. Thank you Lord, for loving me, showing me grace and mercy, and allowing me to lead your people in worship. In Your Holy Name I pray. . . Amen!”
If you are a member at FBC I hope that God speaks to you through out the day today. Ultimately my prayer is that You will draw near to God through the entire time at church this morning. . .in the bible study, in the fellowship with other believers, in the music, in the offering, and in the message. If you are not a member of FBC Olney, I hope you have a wonderful day in Christ!
Like I said in the first part of the post I would like to do this each week. I would love to hear your comments so please feel free to do so!
Also, this week PB and I will be at the Engage Europe Summit in Forney, Tx. Please be praying for us as we go to this conference and learn more about mission opportunities in Europe. I will try to post some things we learn at the conference throughout the week!
In Christ,
Wow!!! How blessed we are to have you and PB as worship leaders (and friends) in our church! Thanks for this insight into your heart. I will be praying that prayer for myself and for our church as a whole!