A few years ago, in seeking deeper intimacy in worship, I began to change the words to worship songs. Instead of “give us clean hands”, I would sing “give me clean hands”. I wanted to make my worship personal- just between the Lord and me. And that worked for a time. However, what works in one season doesn’t always work in another.
The World Race is a new season. One morning as we were worshipping in our attic sanctuary at training camp, I was surrounded by my team, but still worshipping and praying only for myself. The Lord directed my attention toward one of our team’s married couples. He asked me, “Do you think she is praying only for herself or also for her husband? Is he fighting for freedom that he may walk in freedom alone or that they together may be free proclaiming freedom to others?” I understood. My life and sense of self need to change as I commit to this community.
The Lord is moving me toward a marriage mentality. Not only do I need the Lord to free, restore, and empower me, but I need Him to do that in the lives of my teammates too. We need Him so that together we may walk, fully alive in the power of the Holy Spirit, and proclaim freedom for the captives, hope for the hopeless, and salvation for the lost.
As I am developing this marriage mentality in small ways: changing my worship songs back to us/we vocabulary, making decisions in light of “team” not of “me”, and seeking the Lord and battling for my team, I am seeing Him unify us. I can see how, through this community, the Lord is going to change forever the way we view the church as the body of Christ.
*This is just a taste of what the Lord is doing in our lives through this training camp. More insights, lessons learned, and fun team stories from training are coming soon.
