Private Devotion Before Public Worship: Let’s Not Forget
How do we prepare ourselves for worship? And secondly, how does this effect our private times with the Lord? The truth is that without the first aspect, the second action will be rendered ineffective. We must intentionally prepare ourselves with prayer, bathing the worship service in it. Let’s not forget that in order for us to be prepared for the worship service — from welcome to music, from the sermon to the invitation — we must set our minds and hearts entirely on God and about God.
It is so very easy for us, as ministers of music, to “check out” when the last song is done before the pastor’s message. We can critically analyze the service up to that point — how did it sound? Were there any mistakes in the lyrics on the screens? Was the volume too loud? Or we can focus on the “end” of the service — the verses of the invitation song; or does my wireless pack have enough battery power left? How can we avoid this, and what do we need to do to focus entirely on the Lord?
A vital aspect is our private devotion, or “quiet time,” alone with God. Personal spirituality — our spiritual lives with God, the way in which we live our lives, the very habits we have formed over years of discipline and intentional behavior — will determine how we worship. It will determine what we focus on, and it will drive our motives for all the actions in our lives. The affections we have formed throughout our lives — those things we find beautiful and engaging — must be oriented on God, reflecting His beauty. It requires the total attention and renovation of the heart. As we concentrate on these, they lead to a personal spirituality and focus oriented on God, and in times of worship this will be our compass — leading us to Him.
Worship — this focus on God in all aspects of our lives — will harness our emotions and help guide us then in our private devotion, apart from the church. Our minds must be oriented on right things — as Paul says in Philippians 4, “whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things.”
One of the problems with spiritual discipline is that we try to establish this ourselves — as Kyle Stroble says in Formed For The Glory of God “if you do X, you will stop struggling with Y.”. We have a problem, so we try to fix it ourselves. But it cannot be fixed without the grace of God — and we must be focused on communion with Him. We are to desire communion, to be with, around, and in Him. In this sustained communion comes habit-forming spiritual disciplines that orient us toward God, allowing us to worship genuinely.
So how do we do this? What methods should we employ to focus our hearts and minds on the Lord? Jonathan Edwards listed some of these “means” because they have the tendency to move our affections — “such books, and such a way of preaching the Word, and administration of ordinances, and such a way of worshipping God in prayer, and singing praises, is much to be desired, and has a tendency to affect the hearts of those who attend these means.”
Private devotion must be fueled by a desire to be close to God — but also with an intentionally planned effort of quiet time and prayer, along with time for reading the Bible. Jonathan Edward’s means are great examples of ways to engage the Lord and draw closer to Him. For worship leaders, especially, preparing for worship begins in quiet times alone with the Lord. This fuels our public worship, with a heart focused on God, and this in turn powers one’s private devotion — a circle of prayer, worship, and devotion.
