About Praise & Worship

What Is Praise?
Praise means “to commend, to applaud or magnify.” For the Christian, praise to God is an expression of worship, lifting-up and glorifying the Lord. It is an expression of humbling ourselves and centering our attention upon the Lord with heart-felt expressions of love, adoration and thanksgiving. High praises bring our spirit into a pinnacle of fellowship and intimacy between ourselves and God — it magnifies our awareness of our spiritual union with the Most High God. Praise transports us into the realm of the supernatural and into the power of God. “Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance” (Psalms 89:15).

There are many actions involved with praise to God — verbal expressions of adoration and thanksgiving, singing, playing instruments, shouting, dancing, lifting or clapping our hands. But true praise is not “merely” going through these motions. Jesus spoke about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, whose worship was only an outward show and not from the heart. “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:8). Genuine praise to God is a matter of humility and sincere devotion to the Lord from within.

Unpretentious praise and worship pleases the Lord. He delights in the love and devotion of His children. According to the scriptures, the various expressions of praise bring blessing to the Lord. He eagerly awaits the fragrance of our affections, desiring to manifest His sweet presence and power in our midst. “...the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him” (John 4:23).

Praise To God Is A Lifestyle

All too often, praise to God is something that many people leave at church, an event that happens only when they come together with other Christians. However, praise should be a part of a believer’s lifestyle, inter-mingled as a part of their daily prayer-life. At work, in the car, at home in bed, or anywhere; praise to the Lord brings the refreshing of the Lord’s presence, along with His power and anointing. “...I will bless the LORD at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalms 34:1).

Praise is an expression of faith, and a declaration of victory! It declares that we believe God is with us and is in control of the outcome of all our circumstances (Romans 8:28). Praise is a “sacrifice,” something that we offer to God sacrificially, not just because we feel like it, but because we believe in Him and wish to please Him. “By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name” (Hebrews 13:15).

Praise Sends The Enemy Running

Since praise manifests God’s presence, we also realize that praise repels the presence of the enemy, Satan. An atmosphere that is filled with sincere worship and praise to God by humble and contrite hearts is disgusting to the Devil. He fears the power in the name of Jesus, and flees from the Lord’s habitation in praise. “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me: and to that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God” (Psalms 50:23).

When the children of Judah found themselves outnumbered by the hostile armies of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, King Jehoshaphat and all the people sought the Lord for His help. The Lord assured the people that this would be His battle. He told them to go out against them, and He would do the fighting for them. So what did the children of Judah do? Being the people of “praise” (Judah actually means Praise), and knowing that God manifests His power through praise, they sent their army against their enemies, led by the praisers!

So, on they went, ahead of the army declaring, “Praise the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever!” And the scripture says, “...when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten” (2 Chronicles 20:22).

When God’s people begin to praise His name, it sends the enemy running! I challenge you to become a person of praise, and you will experience the release of the power of God!

Some Biblical Expressions Of Praise
  1. Declaring of thanks (Hebrews 13:15)
  2. Clapping hands and shouting (Psalms 47:1)
  3. Musical instruments and dancing (Psalms 150:4)
  4. Singing praise songs (Psalms 9:11)
  5. Psalms, hymns, & spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19-20)
  6. Making a joyful noise (Psalms 98:4)
  7. By lifting our hands (Psalms 134:2)
  8. By being still (Psalms 4:3-5, 46:10)
  9. By being loud (Psalms 33:3, 95:1-6)
What Is Worship?

It is important to have a working definition of worship in order to draw any conclusions regarding worship ministry.  Worship is complex and the following six definitions give us the broadest sense of meaning.

  1. Worship is an absorption with God rather than self.
  2. Worship is an adoring attitude toward the person, attributes, and acts of a transcendent God, and a willful desire to conform to Him through obedience to His revealed will.
  3. Worship is an act by a redeemed man, the creature, toward God his creator, in which the will, the intellect, and emotions gratefully respond to the revelation of God's person as expressed in the redemptive work of Christ.  This can only occur as the Holy Ghost makes plain God's written Word to a worshiper's mind and heart.
  4. Worship is a quickening of the conscience by the holiness of God, feeding the mind with the truth of God, purging the imagination by the beauty of God, opening the heart to the love of God, and devoting the will to the purpose of God.
  5. Worship is God's gift to us for our blessing more than His.  His objective is not the securing of our adulation but our discovery and realization of advancement in His intended purpose for our fulfillment.
  6. Worship is the means of being filled with the Spirit.  When worship becomes a way of life for you, and you begin to live in a spiritual environment on a day-by-day basis, you are going to be full of (controlled by) the Holy Ghost.  As the Spirit fills you, you can experience His control and His influence.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Do you know the true history of Lent?

Coming from the Anglo-Saxon Lencten, meaning “spring,” Lent originated in the ancient Babylonian mystery religion. “The forty days’ abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshipers of the Babylonian goddess…Among the Pagans this Lent seems to have been an indispensable preliminary to the great annual festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz” (The Two Babylons). Tammuz was the false Messiah of the Babylonians—a satanic counterfeit of Jesus Christ! The Feast of Tammuz was usually celebrated in June (also called the “month of Tammuz”). Lent was held 40 days before the feast, “celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing.” This is why Lent means “spring”; it took place from spring to early summer. The Bible records ancient Judah worshipping this false Messiah: “Then He brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz” (Ezek. 8:14-15). This was a great abomination i
Read more

Post-Election Healing: Standing in the Wake of the Lying Prophets

But any prophet who falsely claims to speak in my name or who speaks in the name of another god must die.’ “But you may wonder, ‘How will we know whether or not a prophecy is from the Lord ?’ If the prophet speaks in the Lord’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared. -- Deuteronomy 18:20‭-‬22 NLT I'm not a political person, but I can't help but recognize what's happening in the United States as the Supreme Court has just rejected a massive case trying to turn over millions of votes in four states to try and win the 2020 Presidential Election. What happens is what happens, but what concerns me the most is what I spoke about in a previous blog post. Many, many "major" and "minor" prophets have declared that Donald Trump would be reelected. They have been on TV, YouTube, Facebook, Parler, and many other mediums calling mi
Read more

Let The Truth Be Told...

Today a non-scripture laden post in favor of just us chatting with each other... There are many times where we as Christians run low on our faith. There are many times when we as people even question if God is actually out there looking out for us and actually listening to us. I've been there too and trust me it is not an easy feeling. Many times when we are going through a storm it seems that no matter how much we pray, fast or praise and worship the answers don't seem to be flowing from Heaven and nor does the relief of our struggles. Many times we get to the end of our ropes and hold on by a ripping fiber ready to plunge into the abyss and wonder "Why aren't you listening God? Don't you see that I am about to die???" The truth be told? God is listening and He is caring and He is for you and not against you. It seems hard because we expect the Heavenly Hosts to swoop in with 10,000 angels and the Hand of God pointing two fingers at you saying "Thou
Read more