the night as his friend ’ s house , and his friend woke up at four o ’ clock in the morning to hear Leonard practicing away and just shredding on his guitar . So the friend went downstairs to ask Leonard , “ Dude ! What are you doing ?” Leonard said , “ I ’ m practicing ,” and the friend said , “ Leonard , you ’ re a phenomenal guitar player . You don ’ t need to practice , let alone at four in the morning . Why are you practicing ?” And Leonard said , “ I never want to run into a moment where I can ’ t play something that I feel the Lord wants me to play .”
When I heard that , it really hit me . But that ’ s all that it really is on stage . Maybe we ’ re in a spontaneous moment and I begin to hear a little melody in my head . It ’ s about being able to play out that inspiration through your instrument . That ’ s should be a pretty normal practice for any musician , Christian or not . But I believe that inspiration comes from the Lord , and comes because of a heart posture within myself of wanting to know what He ’ s doing in the room , or seeing what He ’ s doing in the room and wanting to contribute to that with my instrument . Some might call it improvisation , but it ’ s just listening for that little melody in my head that feels moving , and then doing my best to play that sound in my head out through my guitar . Sometimes it ’ s right and amazing , and sometimes maybe it ’ s not the right thing in the moment . But I think that all of it is okay . It ’ s more about just going for it and following that inspiration .
[ WM ] Before we shift gears back to guitar , let ’ s talk about shouldering an anointing . What does that mean to you and how do you get to and stay in that place so that you ’ re ready to respond to what God asks in a given moment ?
[ Michael ] I don ’ t know if it ’ s something that I feel like I step in and out of . I think that heart posture is something that I ’ m working on and actively pursuing to stay in that place . I don ’ t want to be driving in my car and have that be less spiritual than when I ’ m on stage . Maybe it ’ s more simple than spiritual answers sometimes beg to be . My job , on that stage , is to serve the worship leader and to serve the congregation . Sometimes that means playing the exact parts that are on an album , and other times it might mean improvising , playing spontaneously , and following my own heart and head with what I feel the Lord is inspiring in me or doing in the room . Honestly and practically , that ’ s all it is . There isn ’ t an exact way to measure or say , “ This is what the Lord was doing , and you met about eighty-seven percent of that .” There ’ s no scale to measure that by . It ’ s just about having a heart posture to serve the Lord in anything that you ’ re doing . When you ’ re on stage , playing music , it could be a number of different things . It ’ s an effort , on our part , to be sensitive to what the Lord is doing , and when we feel like He wants us to do something , to be faithful to it and to respond how you feel and believe He wants us to . I think the Lord honors that and He shows up , whether we did everything the
32 June 2018 WorshipMusician . com