Other times, my worship flows from deep inside my being. I'm "plugged-in" to an invisible energy source, and I feel like I could keep going for hours…maybe even forever.

So what's the difference? Of course, there are the obvious things like how tired or hungry I am, or that argument with my wife that hasn't been resolved yet (oops!) But more fundamentally, I think it has to do with what I've been doing with my heart.

My heart is the "real me" – the part that aches, the part that soars. I spend much of my life concealing my heart, living out of my rational mind – the part of me that tells me what I "should" be thinking, feeling and doing. So when it comes to leading musical worship, it can be hard to switch gears and let my heart control my thoughts and emotions. The performer remains in control, and my worship experience is shallow.

Reading the Psalms (and putting some of them to music) has helped me worship more from my heart. The psalmists (particularly David) did not worship from reason, they worshipped honestly, from the depths of their hearts. In Psalm 13, David starts by saying "How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?" If David had been speaking from his rational mind, he might have said, "God, I know you never forget about me, so it must be some sin of mine that makes me feel forgotten." Instead, he allows the pain in his heart to flow freely in a true heart-felt expression, leading him eventually to make the joyful declaration (also from the heart, not the head) "I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me."

Now, congregational worship may not be the best place to start out with a song about being forgotten. (Then again, it might be…) But if I make it my personal habit to pour out the contents of my heart before the Lord in daily acts of genuine worship, I'll be much more likely to be in that mode of expression when I'm in front of the microphone on Sunday morning.

So, how's your heart doing today? Your Father wants to hear about it.