This morning as I met with a friend, the Holy Spirit brought me back to some truths that I was searching for about a year back.The question then was:
What is praise and worship?
Praise:
Praise defined, is our expression to what God has done.
The last 5 chapters in Psalms defines praise very well.
PS 145:7 They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
PS 145:11 They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might.
PS 149:3 Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourines and harp.
PS 150:2-5 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness, praise him with the sound of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tamourines and dancing, praise him with strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbols.
Praise in the Old testiment always included these types of acts. People were responding to the good things that God had done and for what he was going to do.
Worship:
Worship on the other hand is much different.
Worship defined is our expression to who God is.
1Ch: 16:29 Ascribe to the Lord, the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
2Ch 29:28 The whole assembly bowed in worship, while the singers sang and the trumpeters played.
Job1:20 At this Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground and worshipped.
PS 95:6 Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our maker.
PS 99:5 Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.
When we read about worship in the bible, people were so filled with God's reverance and holiness that they fell down as if dead. True worship happens when we are in close proximity to the presence of God. It brings us to the place where we really see the sin in our lives and we honestly repent. Moses when he encountered God, worshipped him. There were so many other people in the bible that fell down and worshipped. I think sometimes we get lost in the definition of the words praise and worship.
As you can see the two are very different. I would be bold to say that what we experience on Sunday mornings would be praise. Worship happens when we get on our knees and realize Gods sovereignty and then the fear of the Lord shows up and our lives are transformed by the very presence of God in our lives. If we really felt the presence of God, we would be running so far away, that it wouldn't even be funny. Or we would be so aware of the sin in our lives that we would fall down as if dead in his holy presence. There is a book out there that I desperately want to purchase. It's called "In the face of God" This book talks about this very thing. I think that we all need to realize and really understand the words that we use. Praise God for his goodness and lay down in worship.
Unqualified To Drive\Live
6 years ago
3 comments:
Thank you for clearifying some things for me! Praise God that he gives us all we need and when we need it, as I felt a sense of urgency to recieve some answers to some questions I have from the Lord.
Thats ma boy, doing the digging. Dig on friend, dig on!
Blogless one:
Hello, I know you don't know me, but I thought I'd comment on your questions. If we look at his post, we see verses that worship can be a corporate (2Ch 29:28; PS 95:6) and private (1Ch: 16:29; Job1:20; PS 99:5). So, God's presence isn't restricted to the congregation, nor to just the prayer closet. Therefore, let us worship Him at home, at work, in the church, and everywhere for that matter--perhaps, it might start turning our world around? God only knows. Hope this is helpful. Ciao.
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