How to Prepare Spiritually for Leading Worship on Sunday

Leading others into the presence of God is a privilege and honor, and it is something not to be taken lightly. If the Lord has given you the position of leading worship, He has given you a sacred responsibility - as well as the authority to stand as a Levite and minister to Him. Here are a few tips to prepare spiritually for leading worship:

#1: Spend time with God before leading.

Spending time with the Lord before (and after) leading worship shows that we value His presence more than our abilities. It also fixes our hearts on Him, calms our spirits, and prepares us to lead others into His presence. I typically recommend spending at least 30-60 minutes with the Lord (away from your instrument) reading the Bible, praying, worshipping, and just being in His presence.

#2: Pray for the team who will be singing or playing with you.

A worship team must be unified around the presence of Jesus, and any hint of competition destroys this unity. Before leading or playing on a team, I like to pray specifically for each person on the team - for their personal life, their walk with the Lord, and their hunger for more of Him. Also pray for unity as a team - for humility to hear and follow His voice and to submit to one another in love.

#3: Pray for those in attendance.

Pray for the congregation, for those who will be worshipping with you. Pray for the Lord to encounter their hearts, for them to hunger and thirst for more of Him, for healing and deliverance, for repentance and salvation, and for the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit to rest among the people.

#4: Give the Lord your abilities and your inabilities.

Offer to the Lord all that you are - your abilities and your inabilities, your strengths and your weaknesses. 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” Regardless of how skilled we may be vocally or on our instruments, all of us are vessels of clay, with a few abilities and many inabilities. In leading worship, we become acutely aware of our own weaknesses - but that is okay!

As we realize our weakness, we see His strength and His glory manifested through us. In that place, He alone gets the glory. Often it is in the moments of our greatest weakness that His glory is revealed. Often the sets with the most “mistakes” are the ones that are the most filled with the sweetness of His presence.

Ready to go further?

The Membership is designed to help you grow step by step in playing worship piano from a heart of worship and love for Jesus—learning chords, progressions, patterns, and full songs in a way that helps you play more freely and confidently.

If you’d like to go deeper into the heart of worship, you can also explore my book Adoration: Loving Jesus as Our Highest Calling.