Pure Praise – Week 2

I know, I’ve not been staying up to date. I didn’t have chapter 2 of the book. Now I have the whole thing though, so we’re good.

Week 2 – Understanding Praise

Yep, I’m throwing the whole week together in one post. sorry.

So, how do we need to approach praise? As children… full of trust in and abandonment to God!
Last week we learned that worship needs to be a part of our everyday lives – everything we do can be done as an act of worship. Praise is a part of worship – it is the upward direction. Worship TO God. It is the worship that is obvious to the world around us.

How do we praise then?

Well, the book outlines 8 Expressions of Praise:

• Visible
  ~kneeling
  ~dancing
  ~raising hands
• Vocal
  ~shouting
  ~singing
  ~speaking
• Audible
  ~playing an instrument
  ~clapping

All of these expressions are in the bible, and all can be used to show your adoration to God! Most people think of singing as worship – ask most people who have ever gone to church and they will tell you that the “worship portion of the service” was singing. Many churches also add in raising or clapping of hands, and most also have instruments playing along with the singing. Those are the basics…

But what about the rest?

Some churches shout out regularly, while some never do. Many churches have scripture read or give people a chance to share what God has done in their lives. That falls under speaking. But what about the visual worship? That seems to fall to the more charismatic churches to use. Dancing, raising hands and kneeling are not always found, but they can be powerful ways to worship our Almighty God.

What about your private worship? Do you ever kneel while you are worshiping God? Kneeling is a sign of submission, a sign of acknowledging that God is above you. It brings a certain level of humility to our spirits. It’s also a step towards falling prostrate before God. There were many kings who forced people to kneel in their presence – some even forced people to enter into their throne rooms kn their knees! Thankfully, God does not force us to kneel before Him! But He does ask it of us…

What about dancing? The Bible says that King David danced before the Lord when the Ark was brought into Jerusalem – and that his wife hated him for it. Are you willing to worship God with abandonment, even if others look upon you with disdain? That is often a difficult one for many people. May churches do not allow dancing of any kind – ever. Remember the movie Footloose? The basic story followed a kid who loved to dance and the issues that raised within the local church (and the pastor’s daughter…). He set out to show the pastor that dancing was not evil… no, he wasn’t dancing for God necessarily, but it was a good reminder to many Christians that dancing is biblical, and we shouldn’t disallow it.

Raising hands is something that I have grown up with. I grew up in a fairly charismatic church, so raising hands was the norm (along with lots of other things!) so that one has never been an issue for me… but it’s not that way for everyone. What are we saying when we raise our hands before God? We are yielding to Him, we are submitting to Him, we are receiving from Him… we are giving Him our worship. We are lifting holy hands to the King of kings.

I encourage you to take some time to truly open yourself up to worshiping God and giving Him praise… kneel before Him in humility, dance before Him out of the overflow of your heart, lift up your hands to Him, sing, speak, shout, clap, and worship Him. Let Him show you how He wants you to come before Him. Change it up a bit! If you have never used one of these expressions of praise before, try it out! You never know what God could show you while you are offering up a sacrifice of praise.

Trust Him to lead you in the direction He wants you to take. Spend time listening to His still, small voice. Spend time speaking out the blessings He has poured into your life in thankfulness. Speak out some of His names:

• Wonderful Counselor
• Prince of Peace
• Conqueror
• Almighty
• Saviour
• Mighty God
• Justice
• Holy
• Worthy
• Angel of the Lord
• Majesty
• Baptizer
• Creator
• God
• Comforter
• Perfect Sacrifice
• Indescribable
• Incorporable
• Uncontainable
• Lover of my Soul
• the Holy Spirit
• Preserver
• Transcendent
• Without Sin
• Unblemished
• Three in One
• Elohim
• Adonai
• Alpha and Omega
• Perfecter
• Finisher
• Omniscient One
• Emmanuel
• Father
• Friend
• Healer
• Lamb of God
• Abba Father
• Salvation
• the One who was and is and is to come
• Physician
• Advocate
• Root of Jesse
• Rock
• Fortress
• Defense
• Logos
• the Author & Finisher of our Faith
• the Holy One of Israel
• Sanctifier
• Life Giver
• Daystar
• Love
• the One True God
• Dayspring
• Desire of Nations
• our Sacrifice
• Faithful
• Prophet
• Wisdom
• Ransom
• True Witness
• Horn of Salvation
• Refiner
• High Priest
• Refuge
• Gift of God
• Rabbi
• Mediator
• Passover Lamb
• Bridegroom
• Consolation of Israel
• Jehovah
• El Shaddai
• Yahweh
• Great Provider
• Rose of Sharon
• Lord
• Shepherd
• Judge
• Branch
• the Way, the Truth and the Life
• Yeshua
• Redeemer
• Son of God
• Son of Man
• Teacher
• Living God
• God of my Salvation
• El
• God of Eternity
• Glorious
• El Elyon
• Yahweh Shalom
• Light of the world
• Lion of Judah
• Advocate
• Bread of Life
• Messiah
• Shield
• Righteous One
• Everlasting God
• the Immortal One
• Ancient of Days
• God of Wonders
• the Word
• Keeper
• Christ
• King of kings and Lord of lords
• I AM…

Let the majesty and power of our Holy God pour into your heart, mind and soul and give Him the worship and praise that He is due!

It can be life-changing.

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