Play Skillfully

Are you making good use of the gifts God has given you?


Psalm 33:1-3 says we are to “Sing joyfully to the Lord” and to “play skillfully” to Him. 

These verses serve as a great reminder for everyone to make good use of the gifts God has given them.

For us musicians, it reminds us to seek to serve the Lord through our singing or playing by doing so with excellence. But in striving towards skillful playing, we must not lose our joy in the process. 

As musicians, we tend to focus primarily on musicianship. We learn our instruments through what can be years of practice. We then begin to develop our own style and sound. But what if “playing skillfully” was more than simply playing our instrument or using our voice well?

The Hebrew definition of the word “skillfully” is to be good, to be well placed or do thoroughly. As a worship team, your worship, your playing, your words spoken, your actions and your visual expressions should be well thought-out for them to be “well placed” and “done thoroughly”. It takes love and devotion to commit to the process in order to “play skillfully” and to provide worship experience to share with your congregation.

With the leading of the Holy Spirit and some effort on our part, I believe our talents and gifts can be used by God to change people’s lives! It could be your drumming, your singing, your guitar playing, your piano playing or your words shared that may be used to reach somebody. 

Here are some ways you can start putting in the effort to “playing skillfully” in all aspects of your worship on the platform:

  • Practice. You should be playing your instrument and using your voice throughout the week as much as you’re able to. For vocalists, doing vocal warm-ups everyday should be a priority.

  • Rehearse as a group as if you’re leading worship during service.

  • Work on purposefully communicating with your congregation.

  • Make the most out of every given opportunity to connect with your church body. 

We should play skillfully…

For Others

Playing skillfully provides an enhanced worship service for your congregation that is free of any preventable distractions of us looking unprepared or nervous, playing wrong notes, struggling vocally or forgetting song lyrics.

For Ourselves

Playing skillfully helps us to be prepared and leave us feeling comfortable and confident on the platform. It also allows us the freedom to worship.

For Our Father

Playing skillfully should ultimately come out of our response to God for who He is, for what He’s done and for what He’s continuing to do every day. We should give our best to Him because He gave His best for us.

Put in the effort today and see what the Lord does next Sunday.

Are you interested in diving deeper into these areas for YOUR show? I’d love to get to know you and learn about your journey in music! Let’s schedule a FREE discovery call today!

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Purpose Live

Equipping and empowering singers and musicians to genuinely connect with their audience.

http://www.thepurposelive.com
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Worship Is Worth It

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Love and Devotion - Pt. 2