Praise v. Worship
Before the Lord put this topic on my heart, I thought praise and worship referred to singing – and that they were mostly the same thing. But it turns out that is not true. Praise is an affirmation of the existence and the works of God. Praise declares who God is – such as a healer, holy, powerful or redeemer. It also puts us in a place of remembrance of the Lord, which often ties into thankfulness.
Worship, however, is the response we have to God, because of who He is. Worship is an act. When we get on our knees and declare what the Lord is doing, or has done, it is an act of worship. When we raise our hands in lament, cry out, rejoice, dance or give our testimony it is an act. Even writing this article or making a video about Jesus can be a form of worship because we are speaking about God and responding to His holiness.
At first, I felt very unqualified to discuss this topic because I do not have a ton of experience in this area, especially when it comes to musical praise and worship. So I have asked several trusted friends from church and some Christian friends, who have a lot more experience than I do. Some of what I am sharing is a combination of what they have been gracious enough to share with me.
Honestly, after I first became a Christian, I really struggled with praise and worship. I refused to raise my hands in church and I didn’t really enjoy the music. I had a hard time when people were, what seemed like, gushing over God. I just didn’t get it. I knew there was a God but I was not praising or worshiping Him. In fact I thought those who were raising their hands during the music, were being showy or just trying to prove how great a Christian they were. I did not understand the Holy Spirit working through their heart.
It turns out, we can learn a lot about worship and praise from King David. It’s interesting that God said that David was ‘a man after His own heart’ (Acts 13:22). I wonder if that is because David knew the importance of praise and worship.
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.
Psalm 51:15
The book of psalms has various authors but King David wrote a large number of them. Psalms are a collection of poetry with the intention of being sung with instruments. Is it any wonder that they are in the center of our Bible?
Interestingly, if we research scripture, we find that God dwells in the space of worship. For as we see in Revelation 4:8 it states:
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.
Revelation 4:8
In the heavenly realm, the angelic beings are constantly praising and worshiping the Lord, day and night. When we worship God, it opens up the space for interaction with God. It is a doorway in a sense. As Psalm 100:4 says, enter His gates with thanksgiving. A gate meaning there is a separation between this space and another.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name!
Psalm 100:4
Public or Private
Worship and praise can be done alone or in community with the body of Christ. There is something very powerful about singing praises and worshiping in a church community. Remember when the early church was all together and they were lifting their voices and speaking of God’s sovereignty and were praying all together and then there was an earthquake! (Acts 4) Being together with the power of Jesus can shake the earth.
“And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to Your servants to continue to speak Your word with all boldness, while You stretch out Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Acts 4:29-31
Spiritual Weapon
Both worship and praise can be a spiritual weapon which is significant. When we declare who God is and we move into a place of worship, we are putting our hearts right before God and asking for Him to move in our lives or in someone else’s. This is a very powerful tool.
In Ephesians 5, before it talks about the Armor of God, it makes a distinction between unwise and wise Christians. Reminding us that we live in a fallen world and not to get drunk on wine but be filled with the Spirit addressing one another with Psalms, hymns and singing (Ephesians 5:19), giving thanks always.
In 1 Chronicles 25, there were assigned worship leaders for the house of God. The sons of Asaph (included Asaph and his descendants or students) were those who played musical instruments for the people. 1 Chronicles 25:1 explains that the sons of Asaph prophesied with lyres, harps and cymbals. A lyre is a type of stringed instrument that looks like a little harp. But isn’t it interesting that worshiping the Lord through instruments, included prophesy? Asaph and his sons, wrote many of the Psalms as well, specifically Psalm 50 and 73 through 83, many of which have prophetic meaning.
The Heart
What it boils down to is being willing to surrender to the will of God. Making our heart right and striving to align with God’s heart. This allows us to set our desires aside and accept God’s will instead. Sometimes we don’t feel like praising or worshiping. This often occurs when we have been distant or rebellious from God. Understanding that God dwells in the heavenly realm where we interact through praise and worship, may make it easier to raise our hands in adoration and worship, even if we don’t feel like it. Moving into worship and praise allows God to move in our hearts and bring us back into alignment with him.
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies Me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!
Psalm 50:23
Taking time to get right with God may seem like a sacrifice. But as Christians, we understand we must be willing to make a sacrifice. A sacrifice means that something has to die. We have to die to flesh (ourselves) and come before God to align with His will.
Let my prayer be counted as incense before You, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
Psalm 141:2
A friend from church said praise and worship is about heart posture. This makes a lot of sense because if we are willing to be humble before God, He can move through us. If we are willing to release strongholds such as pride, shame and anger within ourselves, we are willing to listen instead of being stubborn. When we open ourselves to the Lord, we can then hear what He wants to say to us and act accordingly. This actually strengthens our worship and makes our time with the Lord more intimate.
The Power of Music
What’s interesting about worship music is that before I became a Christian, I didn’t mind jamming out to worldly music at all and was constantly singing songs full of filth and profanity. In fact, some of the lyrics to some of the songs I used to love were actually very damaging to my heart posture.
Some scholars say that before Satan fell, he may have been in charge of music or had been musical in some sense (Ezekiel 28). Regardless of whether or not that is true, it should not surprise us that Satan would try to twist worship music, and as a result, try to pull us away from God. If you notice, we have music playing in our grocery stores, at the pool, in department stores, pretty much anywhere you go. And for the most part they are not Godly songs.
Music originally was intended as a type of portal connection between us and God. Because of that, we should be very careful of music that is not healthy for us to listen to. Another friend from church said it perfectly – some of our music has become an ‘adulteration of the creation of music’. This certainly seems true of some of the popular music today!
He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.
Psalm 40:2-3
Our worldly music reminds me of Exodus 32. Moses was on the mountain with God for 40 days and 40 nights and the people became impatient and combined their gold to make a golden calf. They basically created their own holiday and began to eat and drink, then they ‘rose up to play’ (Exodus 32:6). When Moses and Joshua were coming down the mountain they could not understand what they were hearing, at first they thought it was the sound of war but then realized it was singing. When Moses saw that they had corrupted themselves and were singing and dancing around a golden calf, his anger burned hot.
In a way, this scenario reminds me a lot of your typical bar scene after 11pm. Although we no longer have golden calves that we are dancing around, the intent of the party is not, in any way, aligned with God. The bar scene is full of provocative dancing, gluttony, drunkenness, sexual immorality, people raising their hands to filthy music with lewd lyrics and blaming their sin and desires on anything but themselves. Sadly, I used to be center stage. I had no idea how much this hurt Jesus because I didn’t know Him.
The realization that this is an infringement upon God’s intention of music, has opened my eyes. I share not to be judgmental but because I didn’t understand and maybe I’m not the only one. When you are at home or in your car, is the music you are listening to worldly or Godly? Before I was a Christian, I was able to recognize a song that had horrible lyrics or promoted violence or lust but I would often say that I just liked the beat. However, I was still dancing around to those songs, memorizing them and singing them in my head. If we are inadvertently memorizing songs full of trash, it can be damaging to our thoughts and pull us away from God. A while back I realized I knew more lyrics to unGodly songs than I knew scripture.
You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
Psalm 50:19
Draw Near
When we praise and worship we are turning to the Lord. This allows the Holy Spirit to move in us. It also serves as a witness to others. When we are willing to thank God or do things for Him, it is often visible to others that we are glorifying His name.
Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples His deeds!
Psalm 9:11
There is a good reason the Lord is highlighting this topic to me in the season we are in. We desperately need to draw near to God in this hour. He can heal our hearts and bodies, we need only to come to Him in praise and worship so He can align our hearts with His.
So if you’ve ever struggled with truly praising and worshiping God, like I did, just remember that this special time is between you and God. He sees everything that we do. When you raise your hand to Him in adoration and love, it brings you closer to Him. He sees you and loves you. If you have not yet given your heart to Jesus I want to encourage you to begin praying and talking to him, listen to Godly music that helps you connect with Jesus. Sing praises and worship His holy name and open your heart to hear what He’d like to share with you.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
Psalm 98:4
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