Out of The Excess

A few months ago I was watching a teaching by Kari Jobe online and she said something that resonated with me. Lately God has been bringing me back to what she said. She was teaching about leading worship (obviously) and said that when she leads worship, she does not expect that to fulfill her or meet her spiritual needs or be her deepest most intimate worship. She has to have her own worship time and then she is able to minister out of the overflow or excess from her personal time with God. (Maybe that's not exactly how she said it, but that's what I got out of it anyways.)

It made me start thinking about why I sometimes get frustrated with how worship goes and don't feel free to worship on Sunday. Besides the fact I am a facilitator or trying to hold it all together, the real issue is my expectation. If I am depending on Sunday worship be my deepest worship, where I am able to be refreshed and ministered to and I spend all my efforts leading others and really receiving nothing in return, I leave feeling disappointed. But as a worship leader, I should come in filled up, already having had my time in God's presence during the week and then my personal expectations are lower and I am less personally disappointed. And I am free from the distraction of my own spiritual needs/expectations and can better lead and minister to others selflessly.

This is the difference between leaders, teachers, preachers, pastors etc on Sunday and the other church members/congregants. Yes, everyone should be having daily time with God, but as a leader, it is even more important that you are getting deeply fed at a time other than when you are in ministering.  Your public ministry should be out of the overflow of your personal spiritual walk. As a leader, more is required of you so you should expect to do more, spend more time in preparation. You are living under a different standards. Where leaders err is that when time is cut short, because life is busy, the things that are seen by others (your public ministry service) becomes the focus and you are not able to invest in your spiritual walk/relationship with God like you should. This is one of the reasons that leaders get burned out so often. What really should be primary has become secondary, and while that will affect those you minister to, it can be devastating to the leader.

I'm not at all saying that those in leadership aren't also ministered to when the believers come together weekly or aren't able to worship or enter in. Of course your worship leader should be worshiping  and your pastor should be hearing what God has spoken to him even as it comes out of his mouth. They just shouldn't expect that to be their primary source of spiritual food and refreshing. The Spirit of God lives in us and we can be in his presence every day and should be as believers, but for leaders, it's pretty much non-negotiable. If you feel frustrated with your ministry, check your own spiritual growth and development. If you feel overwhelmed or overlooked, check your time with God. If you feel lonely and underappreciated, check your devotion to daily time with God and in his presence. Because ESPECIALLY AS LEADERS, our source, our sufficiency, our spiritual health must be maintained personally, aside from our ministry, so that the excess of things God has been pouring into you on a personal level can overflow to others around you as God intends.