Getting Your Joy Back!

In this episode of Protect the Altar Podcast, Deborah Hong and Tim Rice sit down to discuss why the Church must get her joy back, the dangers of living under shame, and how freedom and healing are found in Christ. Join the conversation as they share biblical insight, encouragement, and practical wisdom for walking in joy again.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I remember sitting in our prayer chapel at the time and I would just talk to the Lord, just so overwhelmed with like sadness and shame because I felt like I'd missed it. And I'd go in there every day and I'd find myself, God, just forgive me. I'd do it over and over, and I'll never forget the joy that hit me when the Lord told me this. He spoke to me that day and he said, Son, I forgave you the first time you asked. You gotta learn to forgive yourself. It's a you're holding yourself in a place that I'm not even holding you. You asked, and I'm faithful to forgive.

SPEAKER_04 0:26

When we repent, when we truly turn from our ways and we're like, Lord, I acknowledge that I have sinned. Instead of walking in shame, we can rejoice because the evidence of our faith is that we believe that He forgives our sins. So if we walk in shame, we are not walking in faith. We're not walking that He his blood is enough to cover a multitude of sins. Joy actually is the antidote and is the strength that we need to overcome shame.

SPEAKER_03 0:54

Let's go.

SPEAKER_04 0:54

You know, sometimes the devil don't even need to beat us up because we're so good at beating ourselves up. He's like, keep doing it. The demons are like, keep doing it. We're like, I'm just being so oppressed. No, you are oppressing yourself. You were giving the whole demonic realm a free pass because you over here beating yourself up. Uh uh. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Welcome back to another episode of Protect the Altar Podcast. We are so excited to share today because we're gonna be talking about how to get our joy back.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Got my joy back.

SPEAKER_04 1:38

If you don't know, North Palm Worship is releasing a brand new full-length project, May 22nd of the year of our Lord 2026, and it is filled with songs carrying the revelation of getting your joy back. And with that in mind, we just want to talk about joy this month and why the church needs her joy back. Yes, because this is an important topic. We often talk about love and peace and patience. What other fruit do we talk about a lot?

SPEAKER_02 2:19

I think I've heard a little more of the long suffering than I've heard about joy.

SPEAKER_04 2:25

That's actually true.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Yeah, and you know what long suffering means though? To suffer long. Oh, that's it. That's it.

SPEAKER_04 2:31

You you you enlightened us on the last podcast. And I just thank you.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

Suff alone.

SPEAKER_04 2:36

Suffer long. You just switch the words, folks, and then you get the definition. All right, so we you know, and I made a comment last episode that I don't feel like the church talks about long suffering that much. Yet we still talk about it more than joy.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_04 2:53

I think so in my lifetime, yeah. In my in my experience, you know, but maybe for other people it could be other experience, but I do feel like joy is on the heart of God, yeah, because why are Christians so boring?

SPEAKER_02 3:08

I know, especially when your God is in such a good mood.

SPEAKER_04 3:10

When your God is the God of the universe, I mean he's outside space and time, so true. Yet you are so boring. I'm just kidding. You are not boring. Those listening, you are not boring.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

That's right.

SPEAKER_04 3:26

Because you chose this podcast, so I know you are not boring. But in all actuality, we do um in in our Christian walk, and and I I see as we take everything so seriously, yeah, like that we don't even know how to laugh.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

Yeah, and I mean, joy is serious business.

SPEAKER_04 3:48

Joy is serious business, it really is. Okay, all right. Break that down for us. What does that mean?

SPEAKER_02 3:52

Well, I mean, first and foremost, scripture tells us, if you love me, obey my commands. Joy is actually commanded in the Bible.

SPEAKER_04 4:00

Let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And and it's, you know, it's one of those things that like, you know, it you can you can actually choose joy. And so that's why it's a it's a command. Joy and happiness are not the same thing. Happiness is not a fruit of the spirit, joy is. Joy is eternal, happiness is not. People say money can buy money can't buy happiness. That's not true. Money can buy happiness, but money can't buy you joy.

SPEAKER_04 4:25

Exactly. And happiness runs out, so it buys you happiness, but it's temporary, so then all of a sudden you won't get happy anymore. All right, talking about joy is a command. Philippians 4, verse 4 says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Rejoice. First Thessalonians. You are your eyes.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

That's the oil.

SPEAKER_06 4:51

First, first Thessalonians.

SPEAKER_04 4:56

Guide, guide, listen.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

That's the oil of gladness right there.

SPEAKER_04 5:01

First, let me try it again. First, Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 16, says, Rejoice always. So joy is both a gift from the presence of God and a choice because we can choose to reside in his presence and to stay within that place where we do not let circumstances deter us and to get us out of that place of full peace in this presence and and and the spirit of God. And I just love the Bible because the Bible talks so much about joy. It talks about God as the source of our joy. So if we're lacking joy, we are we are not getting the source from God.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

Yeah, that's very true.

SPEAKER_04 5:48

And so Psalm chapter 16, verse 11, it says, In your presence there is fullness of joy.

SPEAKER_06 5:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:57

So not partial joy, not temporary joy, it's fullness. So, how many times in your life or can you think of a situation or circumstances where you have gotten outside of that joy and the Lord led you back to his presence, and then all of a sudden you found that peace and that joy again?

SPEAKER_02 6:14

Yeah, I think sometimes it is really the perspective, you know, it's like what you set your mind and your eyes on. So for me personally, and and I would I I would venture not to generalize it, but I'd venture to say that for maybe for a lot of us who feel like joy is such a distant thing in a season, is because our perspective, our eyes, our thoughts are on our maybe current situation, our ache, our ailment, our situation that we're going through. And we begin to focus so much on that, um, and that becomes the thing that stills the joy because the choice is that you can keep your eyes on the Lord. Yeah, you can set your mind on the things above, like Colossians 3 says. And when you do those, when you do that, what happens is your situation doesn't disappear, but you have joy in the middle of it. And so therefore you can count it joy because not because that you're going through things, but because you have a God who will never leave you nor forsake you, who will be with you always, and he's the point of it all. So he's the source.

SPEAKER_04 7:18

But do you believe it?

SPEAKER_02 7:19

Oh, yeah, there's no question.

SPEAKER_04 7:20

It all comes down to our faith.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:23

In through faith by grace, come on, we have been saved.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:28

And I love the old song, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. That teaches us something so monumental about not losing our joy because this is and it kind of goes on what you were just touching on with the Colossians scripture, and it also goes with the count at Joy scripture. It says, Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. So there is there is a realm that we can live in. There is a there is a way and even a perspective we can tap into that is so heavenly that the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. And I'm reminded of even Stephen in the New Testament. Literally, he lived that as he's getting stoned, yeah, he's seeing this vision, and the vision over it overwhelmingly eclipse the stoning that he's experiencing. And it's like, whoa, you mean there is a level of faith that we can tap into where we can have joy despite suffering?

SPEAKER_06 8:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:42

Where we can have like the supernatural, and that's why it's foolish to the world, because they don't have access to it. Yeah, but through Christ, that's right, through his blood and through his spirit, we have access to look foolish to the world in in spite of our despite our circumstances being against us.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

I love the the there's an old song and one of the lyrics is the world didn't give it, so the world can't take it away. And the song is all about joy, and it's just one of those situations that, like, man, like, why would I let something take joy from me that never had the ability to give it to me? You know, and this world is full of all kinds of things. Even the Lord says that you know, in this world there'll be trouble. You'll in this life you'll you'll experience that, right? You're gonna go through things. And uh regarding that that scripture in James, literally talking about counting a joy through various kinds of trials and testings because they produce things, right? And that's the thing about your current situation. You can even shift your perspective to realize that one, God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things you'll have all that you need according to the scripture. But even more so, he's able to take those trials and those tests, those situations, and he's able to produce something good in it because all things work together for good. And so the scripture says that it produces steadfastness. Yes, please, I'll take some steadfastness, right? Yes, please. I mean, in a in a world where we got cancel culture, you can't even find loyalty or steadfastness anywhere. It talks about where you're lacking nothing. And the whole point of the matter is that God is always producing something, and so He can you it's about our perspective, realizing that God is using our current situation. If we will count it joy, we will begin to see you're doing something. So when I'm tempted, I'm not like, man, woe is me. Why am I tempted to sin or do something? I'm like, God, I know that the way that this is happening, it's not that it's you doing it, but it's that you can use this. And so this is an opportunity for me to gain authority, right? And over this thing, instead of be like, why is this? Why am I tempted? You're tempted because you got a flesh, because you got a nature that that still is uh is wanting to do something other than God, it has a different will. Yeah. And so uh the the point of it is like realizing that like every day I've got a seed to feed and I have to choose which one of those I will water. Is it the seed of the flesh or the seed of the spirit? And that really starts with realizing that my current situation does not dictate my joy because Jesus is the source of my joy. When I think about Jesus and all that he's done for me, like the song says, my soul shouts out, cries out, hallelujah, thank God for saving me. When's the last time you've just been overwhelmed at the fact that you're saved?

SPEAKER_04 11:41

That's right. You know, and there's actually joy in salvation. Yes. Psalm chapter 51, verse 12 says, Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Isaiah 12, 3 says, With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. Luke 10, 20. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven. So there is a deep joy by being reconciled with God.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

I love that Luke scripture.

SPEAKER_04 12:05

That Luke scripture about names written in heaven. Why do you love that so much?

SPEAKER_02 12:08

Because this is the disciples coming back saying, you know, man, even the demons submit to us in your name. And he's like, bro, don't rejoice because of that. Rejoice because your name is written in the Lamb's book of life. Right. You know, uh it's like the byproduct, you know. And I think too, another thing that's a thing that could steal our joy is the fact that we think that joy comes from being used. And the truth of the matter is it doesn't, it comes from being known by him.

SPEAKER_04 12:33

That's good. Yeah. A lot of times we can get so consumed by wanting to be used by God that we just we don't find the joy in just being with him.

SPEAKER_03 12:44

Come on.

SPEAKER_04 12:44

And the joy in being known by him. Yeah that we're obsessed with being used because our value is directly tied to how much of is God using me, and is it am I producing, you know, what I feel is necessary in order to be valuable to those around me.

SPEAKER_06 13:00

So true.

SPEAKER_04 13:00

And there are needs inside many people. And a lot of times the enemy will use our trauma to exploit those needs, and then we lose the joy of our salvation. We lose the joy in God's presence. We lose because our we're getting our source from something else, including ministry. We can get our source from our pastors, we can get our source from our worship leaders, worship directors, or whoever else we deem as somebody important that can validate us when really God is wanting to be our ultimate source of our joy, even when we're useless per se in the eyes of man, even if there's nothing we can do, if if it's just being, then he still wants us to realize that he loves us and he saves us and he continually sees us. And that should produce an overwhelming joy in our hearts because we're like, there's nothing I can do to earn this, like for real. And I can, it's a gift that I've been given, and that is a joy to receive a gift that you don't deserve.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

Yeah, man. Like I'm gonna be like real vulnerable for a second because I I think that um, you know, I'm I'm remembering a time in my life where uh I was going through it in my marriage. We had been married for about a year, and I had made some decisions that could have really um destroyed what God was building in us. And um you know, even in moments where you feel horrible because you miss the mark, even in moments where you feel horrible because you've let people down that you love and that you um you're in covenant with and uh things of that nature. Uh I remember being uh sitting in our prayer chapel at the time and I would just talk to the Lord and just so overwhelmed with like sadness and just like shame because I felt like I had missed it. And I'd go in there every day and I'd find myself, God, just forgive me, just you know, forgive me for you know this, forgive me for that. You know, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna be right before you. I want to be, I want to, I want to walk worthy of the call on my life, Lord, and and all of this. And so I'd do it over and over, and I'll never forget the joy that hit me when the Lord told me this. He spoke to me that day and he said, Son, I forgave you the first time you asked. You gotta learn to forgive yourself. He said, You're holding yourself in a place that I'm not even holding you. You asked, and I'm faithful to forgive. You repented and you turned and I'm I'm faithful to wash it away. That's good. That's my word. And I remember the joy that came over me even in that moment. And my situation didn't disappear. The people that I let down didn't disappear, you know. Yeah, um, but I still found joy, and that joy, keeping my eyes on him, is what I think in that season is what kept pushing me and not allowing me to walk in shame. Yes. I chose, I chose to believe what the Lord said. I I I put my eyes and my focus on him, and he became my the source of all my joy because at that moment there was nothing to pull from, yeah, other than him, you know.

SPEAKER_04 16:09

That is so good because that's exactly where the people in the book of Nehemiah found themselves because they didn't even realize that they weren't following the law. And when it was revealed to them that they were so in sin, they begin to weep and they begin to mourn and they begin to be so so sad about it. Yeah, and that is when the famous Nehemiah chapter eight, verse 10 scripture comes in where it says, Hey, the joy of the Lord is your strength right there.

SPEAKER_02 16:40

That's good.

SPEAKER_04 16:40

Because the Lord will give us joy for our shame. Come on, He will take especially when we repent, when we truly turn from our ways and we're like, Lord, I acknowledge that I have sinned and I have sinned against you, and I've sinned against man, I've sinned whatever it is, and we truly repent, then the Lord He gives us joy. Instead of walking in shame, we can rejoice because it's the evidence of our faith is that we believe that he forgives our sins. So if we walk in shame, we're not walking in faith. We're not walking that he his blood is enough to cover a multitude of sins. And so joy actually is the antidote and is the strength that we need to overcome shame.

SPEAKER_03 17:25

Let's go.

SPEAKER_04 17:25

And I feel like there's a whole generation of people who are so bogged down by shame that they're not living in the joy of the Lord as their strength and walking in the fullness and worthy of the calling that they've received because they're being oppressed by a demonic spirit or by themselves, like you were beating yourself up.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 17:44

You know, sometimes the devil don't even need to beat us up because we're so good at beating ourselves up.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

Very true.

SPEAKER_04 17:48

Yeah, he's like, keep doing it. The demons are like, keep doing it. We're like, I'm just being so oppressed. No, you are oppressing yourself.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

We had the day off.

SPEAKER_04 17:57

You're giving the whole demonic realm a free pass because you're over here beating yourself up. The joy of the Lord is your strength.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

So true.

SPEAKER_04 18:06

And he sets you free from a spirit of shame. He sets you free. Walk in faith. Yes, believe the words of the Lord that his blood covers a multitude of sin. His blood and his grace empowers you to live a holy, righteous life. Yeah. And it is it is our joy, it is our strength, it is our salvation. It's in his presence, it's as we worship you. You know, as we worship the Lord, like he continually pours out his joy. Psalm 100, verse 1 through 2, it says, Serve the Lord with gladness, come into his presence with singing. Psalm 126, verse 2 to 3. Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with shouts of joy.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:47

Y'all, there's laughter. We don't have to be boring.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

I know. Why is it like when when the presence of God comes in a room, somebody always got that look on their face like something stinks in the room? You know what I mean? Just like it's just too good to believe.

SPEAKER_05 19:00

You know, it's too good.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

You can smile in the presence, you can laugh in the face.

SPEAKER_04 19:05

But I ain't judging that. I like I like the face. I ain't mad at it, but I'm just listening. If you know we're at church and a bass line just hits me, you know, oh yes, the Lord was in that bass line, or the Lord was in that drum fill, you know, it or guitar part, whatever you want to say. But it is true, like we can laugh, yeah. And I feel like that is what the Lord is wanting to restore. Yeah, and I'm reminded of how the Lord told Abraham to name his long-awaited promise laughter, Isaac. Yeah, the son, it means son of laughter. So that is incredible. That yes, joy comes when a promise is fulfilled, but even before the promise was fulfilled, he said to call it this, you know, laughter. And so we can we can tap in and we can be filled with laughter and joy even before our promise is fulfilled.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

I think joy is something too that I if we're being honest, that like it constantly matures, right? If you really think about that, like you start off with something, and maybe you're in a situation where it's like I gotta choose joy right now, right? Right, right. But then over time, when those situations start to come, the maturity in you starts to realize, like, you know, like the scripture you said is in Nehemiah, the joy of the Lord is my strength, right? And so instead of praying for strength, we pray for joy. Right. Because if we have joy, then we have what we need to walk through it.

SPEAKER_04 20:40

And so, like we can even pray, Holy Spirit, I receive your joy. Yeah, I receive it because He's it's already given to us. Exactly. So in faith, we receive it and we walk in it.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

And then over time it just becomes this thing that like the joy that you experience today is is gonna be nothing in a sense compared to the joy that you'll experience as you continue to grow in God, man. Because there's so much more to him. He's this endless savior, endless king that he's just constantly pouring out. And we never forget the goodness or act as if like it's like nothing, you know what I'm saying? Right. Because remembering those things, like uh shameless plug, we just released a song called Never Ever Forget. Never ever ever forget. Forget. I love that. Go check it out if you haven't. And that right there, that's just like one of those things. Exactly. It's one of those things that like I I find myself doing often. If I'm feeling flatter, if I'm feeling something, I just begin to think of the goodness. I can be I begin to remember all that the Lord has done, and then it begins to stir up joy.

SPEAKER_04 21:43

Why do we have amnesia? Why why do Christians have amnesia? I feel like it's like crazy how quickly we can forget what God has done for us. And we find ourselves in this place of sadness, but if we were to Like you said, go back. Go back to that place of how you felt when God first rescued you. When he first answered your prayer that you had been praying, when he first saw you and the pit of despair, when you were contemplating whether life was even worth living and he met you there. What in the world? Stay there. What life is too easy if you're forgetting. Life is too easy.

SPEAKER_02 22:23

I remember there's a time like when when that song Goodness of God first came out, and we we started, you know, singing it a lot in church. It was like, man, that I love that song still so much to this day. All my life you have been faithful, right? Like that thought process that would make me think about my life. I would think back over all the things of how many times I should have been, you know, not even here, you know, today. Yes. And uh the craziness and all of the five lives that I've lived, right? And you know, and I just think like, man, like you've been so faithful even when I didn't deserve it. And how does that not like just stir up joy in you? The fact that, like, man, I've got this God that thinks so much of me that even in my foolishness and my sinfulness, he preserved me because he knew what I was going to be versus what I was in that moment.

SPEAKER_04 23:15

Exactly. And when you're talking about like maturing into joy, I truly do believe that there it there is a maturity that comes. The more that you choose to partake in joy, you will walk in level. And it reminds me of Philippians, because you're you're you're talking about obeying God's word and you know, reflecting on your life and reflecting on what God's done. And I'm I'm reminded um even joy and community and relationships. Yeah. And Philippians 4, Paul's writing, and he said, My brothers whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown. So this is Paul's letter written from a Roman prison. So we're we're gonna talk about joy just you know, having joy despite suffering. I mean, this is the beginning of that.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

He's the guy, he is the guy.

SPEAKER_04 24:06

We're talking about maturity. This is maturity, and so he's uh writing to the church of Philippi, emphasizing steadfast joy, emphasizing unity and peace despite suffering. And he's having this call for constant joy and gin, a gentle spirit, this letter, despite his circumstance, but he had he's filled with joy, and the letter is filled with joy. Like reading this, if we didn't, if Paul didn't tell us his circumstance, we wouldn't even know because of how joyful he was in this letter. Yeah, and this is so powerful because that's and we can find joy even in community and what God has called who God has called us to, and um, you know, strengthening one another. And that's why Nehemiah said, the joy of the Lord is your strength. He's in he's strengthening his people saying, Hey, don't allow this shame to get you. Remember what God has done, he's gonna do it again. And that is a that is something that we need is don't run from community in those times of despair, run towards community because that will also find joy there.

SPEAKER_03 25:13

So true.

SPEAKER_04 25:14

So we're going to, you know, focus on the next several episodes. We're gonna be focusing on what can take our joy and what can crush our joy. And so, because this is something that I really feel like the Lord is wanting us to protect and stop being boring Christians, hallelujah. Yeah, and get your joy back, get your joy back, get your joy back, get your personality back. Get your get your drive for the presence of God back, and it everything changes and it's so incredible. Now we're gonna move into our next segment called Praise or Pass, where we're gonna react to a viral video on the internet and say whether we would praise or pass it. Dude, I'm stressed. I'm stressed watching that.

SPEAKER_02 26:49

So then let me ask you, because I feel like you got a better answer for this one. Are you gonna praise or pass that?

SPEAKER_04 26:56

I praise that girl.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:59

Good job. First of all, you kept a smile on 97% of the time. And that was what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_06 27:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:07

Because you kept your joy in the midst of adversity.

SPEAKER_06 27:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:11

And you led the people, and I think that was wonderful. The part that was hard for me to tell is like, were they in three different keys or just two? Because I was like, sometimes I'm like, okay, I'm impressed. I think she's staying with the guitar and the tracks that are in the right key, and then the piano was transposed apparently to the wrong key. That's what it said. But now I'm like, wait a second, maybe there were those were three different gifts.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

Poor girl, but she got all back on the boy was playing their own revelation, and then they just bought it in together.

SPEAKER_04 27:46

Yeah, yeah. I pass the transpose button. Why do we have a transpose button on a piano? Learn the different keys. Do it for the Lord. If you love the Lord, you will learn every key for his glory.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

Amen to that. Be excellent at what you're doing.

SPEAKER_04 28:06

Be excellent. Like, because singers can't press a little transpose key and then sing in whatever key and then it sounds like they're in E flat. You know what I'm saying? I mean they have singing the key.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

They have given us auto-tune though.

SPEAKER_04 28:17

Okay, but like people are not like completely, you know.

SPEAKER_02 28:24

That is that that is that is a I wish I had that little team pain button on my microphone every now and then, so I could just, you know, hit that thing.

SPEAKER_04 28:32

Get a vocoder.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

Just a little something.

SPEAKER_04 28:34

Okay, but that is that is cheating, musicians. That is cheating. Because you press a transpose button, you play the key of C, but then B flat is coming out. Come on. That is cheating.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

Yeah. I'm not gonna say nothing because all I can play is G chords on a guitar. So that's true. With a capo, but I'm not on a stage playing. That's just me and Jesus. So we're good.

SPEAKER_04 28:58

But capos, in my opinion, are more safe than the transpose button on a keyboard.

SPEAKER_02 29:04

The capo is the transpose button.

SPEAKER_04 29:06

It is, but it's more safe because at least you're putting it in on the right fret.

SPEAKER_02 29:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 29:13

Most of the time. I I have not seen a fail yet where someone puts the capo in the wrong place and they're playing in the wrong key the whole time. I haven't seen that. If y'all have seen that, please submit that to us because we would like to pass that as well.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

Have you ever seen those capos that like you just hit them and like you just touch them and they roll up to the next floor? You don't have to like clamp them. You just them boys just swap key real quick.

SPEAKER_04 29:37

And maybe that's it. But P I I have seen this oftentimes, keyboard players that rely on a transpose button. They're constantly transposing in the wrong key.

SPEAKER_02 29:48

Bless their heart, Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 29:49

Bless their heart, Jesus. We bless them right now with the joy of the Lord. Please get in the right key.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

No, I'm passing. I'm passing. I'm passing on on all of the craziness, but I'm um I'm praising Miss Miss Worship Leader. Because she she kept that thing together.

SPEAKER_04 30:07

She kept it together. She was like, I'm saying, and y'all ain't in the right key. That's right. And most of the people in the congregation had no idea what was going on. They just were like, something's a little off.

SPEAKER_02 30:19

At first I was like, is it the clap? No, that's not the clap. No, for real though, the piano player, I thought for sure, because he thought he was in the right key. Ain't no point, ain't no. Did y'all hear the little? He said, Oh, I can't wait. This is my part, but I'm in the wrong key.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

Bless his heart, Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 30:37

He was so in the joy of the Lord and the spirit on the Lord's.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

It was for the Lord.

SPEAKER_04 30:42

It was for the Lord. So we we we got mixed feelings about that, but we praise that girl for keep going. And that is and we've been there. We've had some moments.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

Yeah, yeah, we've had some moments. So you know what time it is.

SPEAKER_04 30:52

We're gonna leave that in the past.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

Glory to God.

SPEAKER_04 30:55

And you know what? Thank the Lord that we were not recording like that because we don't even have access. Because y'all, we would be praising and passing ourselves for real, though. If we had access to that.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

For real, if that's you and you're singing in that moment, right? Would you have just kept singing, or you feel like you would have been like, all right, hold on, we're gonna get this thing together one time and da-da-da. We're all in the same key. Okay, boom, and then go. Would you have just restarted this song?

SPEAKER_04 31:18

I I truly don't know because I don't know how it felt in her ears if she was able to hear what we were hearing, or if she was hearing the guitarist more. Like I'm I may have done what she did and just kept going.

SPEAKER_02 31:34

It's true. I mean, if you think about the song, it's very hit-driven in the beginning.

SPEAKER_04 31:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:41

So I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 31:42

Yeah, so I I truly don't know. Like, if I had the guitar in my ear and they're in the right key, I would have just kept going.

SPEAKER_02 31:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:50

And then the piano, you know, because it looked like they didn't even know who was off.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

I'd have been looking back at Thallus, like, help, please. Help.

SPEAKER_04 31:59

Was it the tracks in the wrong key? You know, like so who who knew at that moment they kept going? And in that context, it could have been the right call.

SPEAKER_03 32:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:08

So I praise it.

SPEAKER_03 32:09

Amen.

SPEAKER_04 32:10

All right, moving on to frequently asked questions from worship teams.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

All right. So frequently asked questions. We want to talk about uh and just kind of pick your brain here, Deb, as a worship leader, when everything is falling apart in a set. You got your guitars doing one thing, pianos doing one thing, or whatever the case may be, or maybe it's just one instrument kind of just off or whatever, similar to what we were just experiencing, right? How would you handle that situation? What how would you lead in that situation as a worship leader?

SPEAKER_04 32:45

Yeah. So first of all, don't allow your emotions to start steering the ship. Because if your emotions, whether it's frustration, anger, shame, whatever it is, don't allow that to take over. Because at the end of the day, even if you just cut all tracks, all guitar, all piano, all drums, and it just the voices sing hallelujah to the Lord, that is glorifying the Lord. You know, because if it's coming from the heart of worship and that place of worship, keep the main thing, the main thing. You know what I'm saying? All these other things are just add-ons and expressions, even though, you know, we know Zamar praise is, you know, the instruments praising the Lord. But if the instruments are not together, then hold off on Zamar worship. You know what I'm saying? And just let the voices carry it, you know, just make sure, you know, there are multiple expressions of praise and worship. And so keep your emotions in check and don't turn on one another.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

Oh, there you go.

SPEAKER_04 33:42

Don't turn on one another.

SPEAKER_00 33:43

Yeah, keep the unity, keep the unity.

SPEAKER_04 33:45

But the you know, funny story, you know, we're opening new campuses left and right, you know, praise the Lord for the glory of the Lord. Yes, and so with new campuses comes new new uh journeys, experiences, experiences, and so we had an opening of a new campus, and the in-air monitor systems were just being set, and you know, it was a worship night, and you know, we have an experienced, you know, MD and bass player, but because of the situation, the bass player couldn't hear the MD. And I like going where we don't even practice, like, you know, maybe uh an old chorus, you know, and so I I make sure like at least one musician, especially the MD, knows, you know, those things. And so I I remember I wanted to go to an original song and we hadn't practiced it. So the MD picked up on it and was telling everybody, all right, we're gonna go to the six. All right, one, two, three, four, play the six. Nobody played it, right? Nobody, nobody could hear it. And I'm like, okay, I can't go into the part until they start playing the progression, you know what I'm saying? Right, right, right because it would have clashed. So I'm like, all right, well, okay. And so then then he goes, All right, all right, guys, can y'all hear me? We're gonna go to the six. Yeah, and he proceeded to say that what, like four times, and the bass player, you could tell he couldn't hear because he's like going to the inner system and he's like pressing every button and he's like, They said something and I didn't hear it. I didn't hear it. And um, it was just a moment of you know, where things were not sounding the best, and it wasn't we weren't going, we weren't vibing together like the you know, normally we could just like lock in real fast, especially musicians who play together often, yeah, they can lock in very quickly, but in that moment we couldn't, and in that moment I had a decision turn around and stare at the bass player and judge him collectively, or just laugh it off and just like stay focused on the presence of God. Like, you know, where are you, Lord, in this moment?

SPEAKER_02 35:59

That's a that's a good first of all. I was there when that situation took place. And you weren't on the stage, I was not on the stage, and I will tell you from being in that position, uh, if had I not known how we move, I probably wouldn't have even picked it up. And I think that's something that's important for a lot of worship leaders to know is that oftentimes the things that we see as like the mistake or the thing that we maybe messed up or the note we missed or the bad chord we hit or whatever the case may be, we know those things, right? But oftentimes um the congregation who we're leading into the place of worship, they don't understand that stuff. Especially if you're in a moment like that where you're flowing from one song into another because you're just following the Spirit of God. That's because the Spirit of God is in the room and people are being wrecked by the Spirit of God, and their focus is on Him, not on what note, you know, we hit. Now we want to do it right. That's not an excuse, but it's just to say, you know, like give yourself a little bit of grace, you know, mistakes and things like that happen. We practice and rehearse so that they don't, but if they do, it's okay. You know, you're gonna be fine. Let's continue to host the presence of God, which leads me to my next question. How do you, in a moment where something takes place or your emotions are very high in that moment, right? Because emotions can be loud. When your emotions are really when emotions are really loud in that moment as a leader and you're trying to lead the set and you're you're feeling the the moment out, how do you not lean into your emotions and feelings and still follow the voice of the Lord?

SPEAKER_04 37:34

Choose joy in the moment. Cause I'm like, man, sometimes the train wreck is so bad you gotta laugh. You just gotta laugh. Y'all, it's so funny. I'm like, oh my gosh, that couldn't have been worse. Like that literally was the worst case scenario, but then I got joy because it could only go up from here.

unknown 37:54

It can only get better.

SPEAKER_02 37:56

You remember when we were recording uh uh power on display at the live recording, and we were all off on the claps, and we were everywhere. We were like, um, bless God, we we're gonna start that one again. If we just laughed it off, it was a live recording for an album. But we just we said, thank you, Lord, we'll just we'll just start that over again.

SPEAKER_04 38:16

We're gonna need y'all to calm down and lock in because y'all were getting it off, okay? But no, for real, that was just a joy, a joyful moment. And I think if you choose joy, that is a practical way in worship leading to choose joy, even when everything's going wrong, and and focus, focus on on the presence of God. And what is the point? Is it is it to perform great so that your pastor says, You did a great job, worship leader? Or is it to host the presence of God and say, you know what? No, it's not even about performing to the level where we can, you know, pat ourselves on the back, we sound like elevation, or we sound like this big church, or whatever. The point is to host your presence and to bring you glory that you can actually want to come into this place. Inhabit the praises of your people, inhabit the praises of your people, draw close to him, and he'll draw close to us. And so there is a there is a thing where like grab it and focus and lead, take authority. Maybe it's a spiritual confusion that's take that's coming in your team, take authority over that spirit of confusion and lead with clarity, lead with direct clarity. And um, you know, whether it could be just um immaturity, lack of uh experience, or it could be a spiritual component, it could be um witchcraft, it could be there's could be real, real things happening in in the congregation. You bind whatever you bind, you know, on in in heaven will be bound on earth.

SPEAKER_03 39:52

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_04 39:53

You know what I'm saying? So you you bind in the spirit whatever is moving, that's where the true discernment comes in. And we have to know whether this is just a lack of maturity and we can laugh it off, guys. You know, we need more experience, let's keep moving. Or it's an actual witchcraft taking place. Yeah, you gotta know your region, you gotta know what's moving. Yeah, you gotta know the strongholds of your area, and if there is any stronghold of witchcraft or any sort of thing moving, you gotta bind that, and you have to have the spiritual authority to do it. You can't be like the sons of Skeva who just tried to bind something they didn't have no authority over, and then they get beat nakedly and running off shamefully. So we need to be fasting and praying over our worship sets. And so there are spiritual components and then there are physical components. So you gotta know which one it is, you know, and stay focused on what you're doing and how you're leading.

SPEAKER_02 40:53

So I think one of the things that I've experienced and learned uh as a worship leader is that um in those moments that spirituality, something spiritual is in the atmosphere that we need to combat and take authority over, is uh and and and in every moment it's in the leading and the guiding and the following of the Holy Spirit is my sheep know my voice, right? And a stranger's voice they won't follow is the scripture. And so, you know, but you can't wait till you get on the stage in the pulpit and in the moment to try to hear his voice.

SPEAKER_04 41:28

Well, you've been listening to rejection all week.

SPEAKER_02 41:30

All week. And and the place where you become acquainted with the shepherd's voice is in the secret place, it's in that private place. If you don't know his voice there because you haven't been there, you will not hear it in the loudness of the moment. And so it's so important. Um, and that's how we follow the leading and the guiding, and oftentimes that's how you can discern in a moment what's going on. Lord, what are you saying? You know, and I've seen you do that. Uh, I've done that uh so many times, and just like when there's something in the room and then and then it we follow the Lord in that place, and it just breaks it open, and all of a sudden, freedom is in the room, and all of a sudden, you know, shame is breaking off of people. It's been powerful moments. There've been moments where just the power of testimony, and you're like, guys, just sing your testimony right now. You remember that? I mean, it's been we and all of those moments are moments where the Holy Spirit is saying, Go this way, do this. And so a part of worship leading is not just being on key and all of that stuff, but it's also being able to flow in that that place where the Holy Spirit's leading you.

SPEAKER_04 42:32

Exactly. So that is so powerful, so powerful. Thank you, Pastor Tim. Thank you. You a blessing, you a blessing, girl. Bless your heart. All right, that concludes this week's episode, and we hope that you tap into joy, not shame, not condemnation, for there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. And the joy of the Lord is our strength, so we're not gonna stay in shame, we're gonna be unboring Christians, no longer boring, joyful Christians, joyful Christians, filled with the Spirit of God with an authentic smile. Authenticity. Hallelujah. We could talk all day about joy, but you know what? We're gonna talk all month about it, so we'll let you go now. We will see you next week in the next episode of Protect the Altar Podcast.