Recently I gathered a group of worship leaders from Living Stones together on a Friday evening. My purpose in doing so was simple. I wanted our hearts to be united together and focus on what God has called us to do which is to lead others in worship. I’ve often said this and heard it repeated with different variations; yet, the theme is the same – “you can’t lead someone to a place you’ve not gone to on your own.” The principle is simple. As worship leaders, we must learn to enter and remain in His presence before we can lead others there.
As I prepared for everyone to gather at my house that evening, I viewed a video that impacted me in many ways. There were a lot of great stories, but the following message stuck out to me and is still impacting me. Often times in worship we experience a “space” in worship. We’ve all experienced it. There are times when we do everything humanly possible in order to experience the closeness of God. Yet, try as we may, there is a space. The revelation for me was that this space isn’t created by God but is created by us. God hasn’t grown distant even though we feel as though He has. We have stepped back because of our own sin. It was our stepping away that created the space. He didn’t move. We did.
So, how do we close the gap? The answer is simple and is found in the amazing gift of repentance. The key to closing the space is our repentance. Repentance is simply saying that my sin has caused a space between God and me, and I desire Him to come near again. The cry of my heart right now in worship is for a Him to come closer. No matter how near or far He may seem to you or me right now, He longs to come closer. Why not ask Him as you worship, “Jesus, would you come a little closer?” And remember when you think He’s moving, it’s actually your repentance and brokenness that narrows that space just a little more.
