As a worship leader, music is a huge part of my life and my worship.  I love to worship through music.  And I want to share some of my journey with the Lord through music with you as well.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of songs that we could talk about.  I’ve been leading worship for over 25 years now and I feel like I’ve only experienced a sampling of the music the church has engaged with in worship over recent decades. 

There are a lot of critics of worship music out there.  It’s very popular right now to jump on the “what’s wrong with worship music today” bandwagon.  I’m not one of them.  I don’t find most of those thoughts helpful. But that’s for another post. I do have plenty of opinions about it, and we’ll get to some of those over time.  I could probably write a book (and maybe I will). 

But for now, let’s dive into some music that has ministered to my heart recently. 

You should know up front that I view songs as a gift from the Lord that give both intellectual and emotional expression to our worship that we might otherwise not have found.  Hello Psalms!  I LOVE the plethora of worship music that is available for this very reason.  I believe God gifted music to us and ordained it for use in worship to give voice and vocabulary to the Church in her expression of worship in a way that connects deeply with our spirits, and in a way that no other thing can.

If you don’t have a personal worship playlist, perhaps you can start building one today. 

Off we go…

Alabaster Heart

I have to write about this one simply because it is at the top of my playlist right now.  It is the prayer of my heart.  Here are the lyrics:

So here it is my alabaster heart
I’m keeping nothing back from who You are
No hidden treasure veiled by key or lock
You’re a lifetime worth of worship
And that’s only just the start

Here it is my every waking day
The minutes hours the years of endless praise
For You’re worthy far beyond all I could say
There’s a lifetime worth of worship
In the nuance of Your names

Let it rise like incense
My whole life a fragrance
Every ounce here broken at Your feet
Every breath an offering
My heart cries these lungs sing
Over You my worthy King of Kings

There it is Your alabaster cross
Giving all You are for all I’m not
I can’t believe that’s the kind of King You are
How could I not bring a lifetime
Worth of worship to You God

All my love
All my love
All my love
You can have it all

All my heart and
All my soul
All I own
You can have it all

Benjamin Hastings | Kalley Heiligenthal

© 2019 SHOUT! Music Publishing Australia (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)
Bethel Music Publishing

Obviously, the sentiment here is based on the story of the woman who came and broke the alabaster jar over Jesus in an act of extravagant worship.  This extravagant act of worship upset the religious spirit in the room for sure (you can read about it in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 7), but Jesus commended it. 

These kinds of songs are so difficult at times because as we sing and express the desire to give ourselves to God, we realize just how much of ourselves hasn’t been surrendered yet. 

At some point, I had to determine to begin stepping out in faith in these moments, saying, in essence, “God, I’m giving you what I know to give you right now, and in faith saying that the rest is yours as you change my heart and lead me toward deeper surrender.” 

At the same time, I don’t think prayers like this are a “one and done” kind of thing.  If Jesus said to take up our cross daily, and to ask for daily bread, then it’s likely that we need to surrender our love to Him daily as well.  So every time I come to this song, it is a fresh “yes” in the middle of whatever is happening in my life.  There is freedom in saying “yes.” 

Take a listen to the song and let me know what you think! Then add it to your playlist and surrender something to Him today.