What You’ll Learn from This Article:
- The fundamental difference between expecting something vs. expecting nothing in worship
- Why transformation should be your primary expectation when entering God’s presence
- Biblical examples of people who encountered God and were never the same
- How to distinguish between inner joy and outer happiness in worship contexts
- Why emotional responses (like goosebumps) aren’t reliable indicators of meaningful worship
- Guidance on setting proper expectations for both personal and corporate worship times
A Fresh Perspective on Worship Expectations
As worship leaders, we’ve all been there. You’re planning Sunday’s service, and that nagging question surfaces again: Should I be setting expectations for our congregation’s worship experience? Maybe you’ve heard the debates in leadership meetings or read conflicting advice online. Some say we should come to worship expecting nothing, while others insist we should expect everything. But this entire debate has been asking the wrong question.
The real issue isn’t whether we should expect something from worship. It’s what we should expect. And when you dive into Scripture with this lens, the answer becomes surprisingly clear. Every single person who genuinely encountered God’s presence walked away fundamentally different. Paul wasn’t the same after his Damascus road experience. Moses came down from the mountain with his face literally glowing. Even the thief dying next to Jesus experienced a complete heart transformation in his final moments.
This is the pattern God established for authentic worship encounters. When we truly enter the throne room of God and draw closer to Him, change is inevitable. To expect anything less is to diminish who God is and what He’s capable of doing in our lives and in our congregations.
But here’s where many of us get tripped up as leaders. We’ve somehow conflated spiritual transformation with emotional experience. We see someone tear up during a worship song and think, “Now that’s what real worship looks like!” Or worse, we judge our own worship leading by the emotional temperature in the room. Got goosebumps during the bridge? Must have been a God moment. Service felt flat? Maybe we didn’t worship “hard enough.”
The article challenges this thinking head-on, using David as a prime example. This guy wrote some incredibly heavy, sorrowful psalms. He poured out his heart about feeling abandoned, afraid, and deeply troubled. Yet through it all, he maintained an unshakeable inner joy rooted in his relationship with God. His circumstances didn’t always spark happy feelings, but his worship was authentic and transformative nonetheless.
This distinction between inner joy and outer happiness is game-changing for how we approach worship ministry. It means we can lead our congregations into meaningful encounters with God regardless of what’s happening in their external circumstances. It also means we need to stop using emotional barometers to measure spiritual success.
The beauty of this perspective is how it frees us from the pressure of manufacturing experiences while simultaneously raising our expectations for what God wants to do. We’re not chasing goosebumps or trying to create the perfect emotional moment. Instead, we’re creating space for people to encounter the living God who transforms hearts, minds, and lives.
Essential Takeaway: True worship isn’t about the emotional highs or the perfect musical moments. It’s about positioning ourselves and our congregations to encounter God authentically, expecting Him to do what He’s always done: transform lives through His presence. When we get this right, the goosebumps become irrelevant, and the life change becomes undeniable.
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