I recently received a message from a worship leader asking me what I do to prepare to lead others into worship. I thought it might encourage a few people if I posted my response:

My view on being prepared to lead other people in worship is simple. the key is abiding and just knowing Jesus (John 15). All the time. You have to stay connected to the Source of Life (Jesus) as much as you can if you are going to be properly prepared to lead and minister. You have to actively dive deeper and deeper into God’s heart. The key is relationship. The more intimately you know Him, the more you can lead others into intimate encounters with Him. The key is to spend a ton of time in the secret place – just resting in Him, listening to Him, enjoying Him, reading and believing His Promises through His Word, allowing Him to stir and move in you and then rightly responding by pouring out your heart and life to Him in worship. Out of that place (the overflow of intimate relationship with Jesus) you will be most aware of who He is and what He’s doing and that’s what will bring all the power and anointing to your ministry. As you have freely received from the Lord, freely give it away to whoever you minister to or lead in worship (Matthew 10.8b). That's it - to able to minister, you first have to be ministered to (by the Father). The best part is that as you abide it’s just natural to lead others into His Presence! You don’t have to overly pump yourself up to get ready and “put on your super-spiritual worship leader cap”….you just meet with Jesus and flow in the Spirit like you do all the time! 

I would also say that actively being aware of God is a huge key to being prepared to lead others into His Presence in worship. You have to be aware of His nearness and goodness if you're going to lead others into His Presence. Being close and intimate with Jesus in relationship automatically heightens your awareness of Him but it’s also important to take intentional time during the week to just fix the eyes of your heart and mind on Him and His goodness and allow yourself to realize His nearness – in the most routine, normal and mundane places (like at school, work, while driving, etc). Practically, I think that looks like just slowing down your day randomly to realize the power of Jesus in you and focus on His goodness, wherever you’re at.