A People Of The Presence
It is quite an odd thing we do. We gather in a room — all different kinds of people — facing a stage of some sort or sitting in a weird make-shift circle, and we sing songs together. Some sing like angels and others like ogres. Think about it from an outsider’s perspective.
You walk in, having never been a part of something like this before, and people are singing, some with their eyes open and some with their eyes closed. You look to your left and you see a man wailing with his head buried in his hands, obviously crying. You look to your right and there’s a woman singing as loud as possible with hands lifted into the air. Depending on the church, you may see dancing or jumping. You may see flags or streamers. You hear clapping, sometimes to the song, and sometimes offbeat. The music rises and falls on some sort of invisible wave. After the seventieth time, they sing the chorus, you may wonder, “Will they ever end the song?” or “Aren’t the musicians tired of playing the same four chords?” Then it gets deathly quiet and people are just standing there as if they are waiting for something grand to happen. What the heck is going on?
As worship leaders, we do some weird stuff. It is very weird to those who are not in the “club.” But thank God there is a reason we do this stuff. It is because of His presence.
Grant and I pastor a church in Nashville, TN, and I know that we would NOT do this if it wasn’t for His presence. We have done some crazy stuff for His presence. One time we baptized a lady in our kitchen with a bowl of water. Another time Grant asked some guy to touch His toes three times to get his back healed. Once we secretly left $1000 cash on a front porch of some couple’s house so they could adopt a special needs girl from Thailand. During our early church planting days, we would convert a restaurant into a church and, during worship practice, our 6-month-old would scream in his pack-and-play at the foot of the stage. Grant quit his great-paying job and left his career in banking to start some church in the basement of a homeless ministry. WE DO CRAZY THINGS FOR HIS PRESENCE! Why? Because it is ALL ABOUT HIS PRESENCE. The moment we forget why we do what we do is the moment we risk being nowhere near what He is doing.
We are called to be a people of the Presence. Revelation 5:10a states, “He has made us kings and priests to our God.” As priests and kings, we need to lead as our Savior leads, by laying down our lives in surrender to our God, through obedience, and we must minister wholeheartedly to the Lord.
Over the past year, the Lord has been speaking to us about repentance, living a life of holiness, and, recently, ministering to the Lord. We are called as priests to minister to the Lord FIRST and always. When I say minister to the Lord, I mean to sing songs to Him, about Him, to worship Him, to declare who He is, to declare His promises, to love on Jesus, and to wash His feet with our worship. Sometimes our ministry to the Lord can look like sitting in silence, making space, and allowing HIM to share His heart. And as we enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise, He will inhabit the praises of His people. He will draw near to us. As worship leaders, we must first minister in the inner court before ministering in the outer court. Our job is pointless apart from His presence.
In Ezekiel 44, the Lord is speaking to Ezekiel about two different sets of Levitical priests. One set of priests had left the presence of the Lord when the Israelites went away and wandered after idols (vs. 10). The other group had continued to guard the presence of the Lord with their lives and minister to the Lord when the Israelites had strayed (vs. 15). The Lord spoke to Ezekiel, stating that the priests who had left the presence and entertained idols would have to endure the consequence of their disobedience. They would be allowed to participate in the temple activities, sacrifices, and guard the gates, but they would not be allowed to come near the presence. The priests who guarded the presence and had continued to minister unto the Lord would be given their inheritance. The inheritance was the Presence.
“I am to be the only inheritance the priests have. You are to give them no possession in Israel; I will be their possession” (Vs. 28).
My fear is that I go through the motions apart from the presence. I do not want to be a leader who just does the job, leads a sing-a-long, and is just a cheerleader. What is the point of what we do apart from His presence? What is the point in all that we do if we do not get our inheritance? He is our inheritance. It is all about His presence.
1 Peter 2:8b-9 states, “They stumble because they disobey the message —which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praise of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
If we forget who we are, what we are called to do, and why we do it, then He will not be in it. We are priests. We are called to guard His presence with our surrendered lives. We are to serve in the inner court, to minister unto the Lord, because it is all about Him. It is all for Him. When we forget this, we will stumble because of our disobedience.
You see, the Levitical priests who disobeyed the Lord had forgotten who they were, whose they were, and wandered after idols. They forgot their first love the moment the people left, the moment the people influenced them. The grievous consequence was that they could continue in their priestly duties but His presence was not near. They went through religious motions, but with no power.
We are called to be a people of the presence. We are called to minister to the Lord. So how do we make sure we do not stumble and fall into disobedience?
- Jesus must be our cornerstone. He must be what our lives are built on (1 Peter 2:4-10).
- We must come near to the Lord to serve and minister before Him (Ezekiel 44:15,16).
- We must surrender, not strive (Ezekiel 44:17,18).
- He must be our only inheritance (Ezekiel 44:28).
We have a hard job. Our job can not be done on our own. It only works when we are in partnership with His presence. So if an outsider comes into a worship circle unaware of what is going on, but His presence is there, the change will begin to happen. A conviction will take place. Repentance will fall and lives will be changed. Our simple songs will be anthems of war against the plans of the enemy. The music we play will become strums of freedom, beats of deliverance, and trumpets declaring His promises. Our worship will become the conduit for His presence and His wonders will take place, revealing the glory of our King.
Jesus, You are Lord! You are my King, my High Priest. Thank you for interceding unto the Father on my behalf. Thank you for giving Your life for mine. Thank you for being my victory over death, allowing me now to have access to the Father. Lord, forgive me for forgetting why I do what I do. Forgive me for putting platform before presence. Forgive me for sacrificing my relationship with you on the altar of popularity. Lord, may my life be surrendered to You. Remind me of my first love. Remind me of who You are and what You have called me to be. Remind me that You are my inheritance and I am Your possession. Remind me that what I do in secret, in front of only You, is what really matters. Remind me that my life is meant to host the presence. Lord, help me to listen actively and obey quickly. Help me to minister to You first. Let me not strive my way onto a stage but surrender my life into Your presence. You alone are my inheritance, my treasure, forever.
Sarah Pemberton is a worshiper at heart, and has been leading worship for nearly 20 years. Presently, Sarah leads worship at the Nashville Vineyard, in Nashville, TN, a church she and her husband planted in 2016, and pastor together. Sarah’s true heart can be found in raising and releasing worshipers in a local church setting, along with songwriting and working to birth songs to God out of an organic, local context. Sarah is currently writing on several projects, both within the broader Vineyard movement & outside. When Sarah isn’t Pastoring, Leading Worship, or Songwriting, she is a mother of two amazing boys and a wife to an incredible husband (who may or may not have written this bio).