I was recently at a conference where I was asked to sing on the worship team. I’m not a bad singer, but I had never been asked to sing on a praise team like this before. I’ve played my flute on praise teams. I’ve filled in at church when Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C fell through. I imagined showing up ready to sing and the leader saying, “Ummm, where’s your flute?” To prevent this awkwardness, I came up with a plan to bring my flute so I would be ready just in case this was the situation. It was a great plan, except that I forgot my flute at home, five hours away from the conference. Singing it would have to be!

Here we were. Six people who had never made music together before, with 15 minutes to learn three new songs. I figured, “It’s okay, I’ll just sing the low harmony part I’m comfortable with and it will be fine.” Except that when we started singing, I found that the other female singer also sang the low harmony, and she sang it really well. This meant I was left with either the middle harmony in between the other singers or the harmony higher above the lead. If that sounds complicated, it’s okay. It was complicated to me, too. Needless to say, I was not feeling confident.

Finally, it was time for us to lead the conference attendees in worship. We started singing, and my voice was a whisper. All I could think about was what everyone else must be thinking. There were better singers here than me. There were better musicians than me. My face had a horrible acne breakout. I suddenly had zero clue what to do with my hands when singing. Worst of all, I couldn’t find the harmony. But then I remembered something the lead singer had said before our practice: “I want this to be pure worship. I want it to feel like we are just sitting in a living room together, worshipping the Lord.” With this in mind, I closed my eyes, and those other voices I had imagined were silenced. I could only hear the lead singer, and all I wanted to do was worship. And as my heart became still and my soul became full of praise at the goodness of God, the harmony line became clear to me. .

Sometimes we lose sight of what it means to worship because we are distracted by the voices around us. Instead of worshipping Jesus, we worship our worries, bringing them offerings of more energy, more thoughts, more angst, and they feed off these offerings, growing ever stronger. But if we could still our hearts for a moment and close our eyes to the distractions, we would find that true worship of the Living God is the antidote. When we are engaged in the heart of worship, there is no room for worry, fear, anxiety, hatred, or comparison. In worship, there is only Jesus on His throne. All else falls into place as we declare the authority of the Savior. If you are feeling defeated or anxious today, turn away from the distractions, physically close your eyes if needed, and try worship. Acknowledging the supremacy of God pulls our attention to Him, and there our souls are renewed.

Engage

• What does pure worship look like for you?
• What has been distracting you from worship recently?
• What is one thing you can do to close your eyes to the distractions and worship fully today?

Supporting Scripture

“But the time is coming — indeed it’s here now — when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24 NLT).

This article was originally titled “Eyes Closed Worship” in the January 2026 issue of The War Cry.