I’ve had a lot on my mind over the past week. A few big projects kept me busy, but that didn’t stop my mind from racing. My heart and mind were feeling exhausted from the stress of live streaming at Crossroads Church – Boyce this weekend to the wave of emotions from reading the news about Pastor Freedom. I lead worship for a mini-conference at on Saturday morning, ending with I Surrender All. In that moment, I realized just how much I had to surrender as I sang that old hymn.
As a worship leader, I don’t just sing songs and hope others sing along. My goal is to always connect with God at a heart level first and then help others to do the same. I can’t expect to lead anyone else to the throne of God in worship if I am not heading there myself. That’s what it means to lead. You are not leading if you aren’t going somewhere. You’re just hanging out with everyone else.
At our weekend services I led the song Everything And Nothing Less, and that theme of surrender returned. I realized that I had a lot to surrender on Saturday morning, but I began to actually surrender to God that evening. I thought about all of the sadness, fear, stress, emotion, pain, love, joy, confusion, passion, hopes, dreams, sin, shame, pride, and plans. I surrender, I surrender all. Those words brought me to a place of releasing every single one of those things to God, and I sang them over and over again. Everything and nothing less, I give You…
I felt a peace wash over me as we sang the chorus of He Is Faithful to close the services. Pouring out all that I had, and nearly in tears, I sang of the faithfulness of our God.
He is faithful
He is glorious
He is Jesus
All my hope is in Him
He is freedom
He is healing right now
He is hope and joy, love and peace and life
If I had not gone through the process of surrendering all to Jesus, I don’t think I would have experienced the kind of peace I did while singing of the faithfulness of God.
Are holding anything back or have you surrendered all to God? Do you think it might be holding you back from experiencing the full glory of God? I hope to never lose this attitude of complete surrender to God. To surrender all in worship is to let your guard down and experience the presence of God as you give Him everything. Will you have that attitude of surrender?
Scott McDermott touches on spiritual encounters during the mini-conference Saturday morning. He said, “Spiritual encounters alone will not lead to maturity. We need to commit to grow.” To surrender all in worship is one step towards maturity that we must take over and over.
Dale told me something after church this weekend that is a result of what is going on in the leadership at our campus. “God is doing something big here.” I believe that is a result of God doing something big in the leaders of our campus. When I say leaders, I don’t just mean the paid staff, but the many volunteers, small group leaders, and prayer champions too. I know that God is doing something big in me, and I am looking forward to the growth I will experience at the Encounter retreat this weekend.
