Power of Prayer

Most every Sunday night I get the privilege and blessing to lead worship for the High School youth ministry at Harvest Bible Chapel in Elgin, IL. I am repeatedly humbled by God's working through me in this area. I did not think in a million years that a guy who leads from the piano (not the most cool/exciting instrument for the high school demographic) would be able to bring 130 high school students in the presence of God in worship. I tell you what. God is so good and can use even me to lead from the piano ;-). Last night was a little different. I wasn't presented with a band that I was used to playing with and was worried on whether or not we'd be able to get the music down and focused so much on the music that I was forgetting about the worship! I felt terrible and disturbed after the rehearsal, which was cut short because of a whole peripheral set of circumstances, adding even more frustration.
After the rehearsal, I separated from everyone and grabbed a Bible and turned to the Psalms, turning right to Ps 127. The first verse reads, "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain...." I then realized my problem and confessed my sin of mechanizing a way of life: worship. I also felt like my band was left in the dark and needed to be brought together as one body to "build this house" by allowing God to build it. I gathered all of them up and said, "Let's go up and pray together before tonight's service..." This didn't end up being a typical "pray before we go up" sort of prayer. I confessed to them what I was going through and apologized to them if I offended them in the rehearsal in pursuit of getting the music right, and then we prayed. It was an amazing time that was SOOOOO needed.
We got up on stage a few minutes later with a completely different mindset as a band and God worked in a powerful way in worship that evening! No, the music was not perfect, but the worship was genuine. A very wise man, who I'm indebted to in the wisdom he's given me told me this one time, "You can't lead a person anywhere where you are not going yourself..."(A.Rozier) What he meant by that statement is this: if you are leading worship, you MUST be worshiping yourself.
I hope this encourages anyone who needs the encouragement.