Skillful Praise

Skillful Praise

Jeremy Riddle

Jeremy shares his journey into worship leading.

Leading people in worship, in praise, is a skill that can be learned and honed. The more you do it, the more of you that get’s to come out. Sometimes, especially early on, it’s really hard to actually worship with everything else you’re thinking about during the set. But the more you do it, the easier it gets to ignore everything around you and engage with God during worship.

Jeremy highlights this with the use of a click-track. At first, it’s really hard to play with, but with practice, you don’t even notice it anymore.

Sometimes we have those lulls in worship, where it could be the end of a song and straight on into another one, or it could be a spontaneous prophetic moment. Often we wait on the Lord but the pressure to come up with a prophetic song leaves us grasping at things to sing. But it can, and should, be better. Jeremy cites William Matthews, who always has a prophetic song ready to bust out. but as Jeremy points out, Will’s training ground was IHOP - where he constantly sang in the prophetic. he has trained and honed his prophetic singing skill. He is ready, always ready. It is definitely a download from the Lord, but it is also a skill he has worked hard on and honed.

If you want to step into those moments, that no song can take you to, it requires you to really go after it in worship. You have to risk, you have to blow the lid off what’s expected. You have to get raw, and then the atmosphere will shift. You need to be going after spontaneous praise.

Jeremy invites 3 bold students to answer a question: “Who is God?”

How much do you know about God? Is your arsenal as worshippers filled with the knowledge of God?

Jeremy encourages students to just sing to the Lord, get in front of him without music. Just pour out.

When you’re bursting with who God is, bursting with the stories about the kingdom, then you’re ready to burst into spontaneous praise. This takes time to cultivate, hours and hours alone with God.

The more specific someone gets when they are worshipping God the more effective the moment is. Jeremy gives examples but explains that details are what impact people.

Jeremy closes in prayer and encouragement for students.