The Summation of the Portraits of Praise - June 2, 2010

Because I did not make an entry to the blog in the month of May, it is already time to review all eight portraits of praise that we have seen over the last several weeks. We will begin by looking at eight of the Hebrew words for praise and their defintions. Included is also a Scripture reference and a practical application for worship.

1. tehillah = hymn; to laud.
This specific word is found is Psalms 22:3. The physical action of worship related with it is to applaud.

2. harak = submission; to adore.
This specific word is found in Psalms 72:11-15. The physical action of worship related with it is to kneel down in a bowed position with the face to the ground.

3. halal = victory; to boast or brag on the Lord to the point of looking foolish.
This specific word is found in 2 Chronicles 5:13-14. The physical action of worship related with it is exuberance and total abandonment (ex. King David dancing).

4. hilluwl = joy; to rejoice and be merry...a celebration of thanksgiving for harvest.
This specific word is found in Leviticus 19:24. The physical action of worship related with it is to give hilariously.

5. shabach = triumph; to address in a loud voice or a shout of triumph.
This specific word is found in Psalms 63:3. The physical action of worship related with it is to shout praise.

6. zamar = to strike with the fingers; to touch the strings or parts of a musical instrument; making celebratory music that is accompanied by the voice.
This specific word is found in Psalms 21:13. The physical action of worship related with it is to praise God accompanied with musical instruments and also with dance.

7. yadah = hold out the hand.It conveys the idea of acknowledging a need combined with faith resulting in thanksgiving to God the Provider.
This specific word is seen in Psalms 7:17. The physical action of worship related with it is lifting up hands to God with palms open. This was typically practiced in the context of corporate worship.

8. todah = an extension of the hand.This word has the concept of giving praise to God as a sacrifice or an act of the will.
This specific word is found in Psalms 42:4. The physical action of worship related with it is to lift hands in adoration.

When we think of praising God, often times we view it as solely something that we offer to Him; however, there is much more that occurs in the spiritual dimension when we offer God our praise. There is a general spiritual principle that whenever we give, we also receive. Typically people associate this principle within the context of giving monetarily, but the scriptures tell us that whatever a man sows, he will also reap. That includes even praising the Lord!

If I give the Lord praise, He will reciprocate by giving back to me because it is His nature as THE GIVER. What does God give in response to my praise? He draws near to me with expressions of love, joy, hope, peace and provision. He even responds with acts of healing because He is THE HEALER too. This particular aspect of the Lord is something that I've never recognized before in worship, and so I would like to share with you an example of His healing in the midst of praise to Him.

In 1 Samuel 16:14-23 we see the account of how God anointed David and used his worship and musical skill on the harp to bring healing to King Saul's distressed soul. Specifically in verse 23 it says,

"And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him."

The use of worship music is seen as a powerful instrument to wage spiritual battle against evil spirits and bring the power of God's healing touch into a person's life.

Interestingly enough, just as David's ability to play the harp assisted the troubled soul of King Saul, even today harpists are being employed by various nursing homes and hospitals. Several medical studies have revealed that harp music played for patients in cardiac units reduces anxiety, pain, blood pressure, respiratory rates and that levels of stress hormones released are reduced by 50 percent. It has also been observed that when the sickest infants in a neonatal intensive care unit were exposed to harp music that there was a small increase of the oxygen level after the music began. If music has the ability to bring these type of physical changes, how much more could be accomplished when God's ability is invited in the midst of this powerful tool?

Isn't it just like God to take something that we offer Him and turn around to bless us beyond what we could ever ask or imagine? What He desires from us is our love and trust expressed in adoration of Him...not because He is an egotist, but because adoration demonstrates our confidence that he is willing and able to act on our behalf. When we draw near to God with praise, He will always respond by giving us Himself. He IS our peace. He IS our joy. He IS our strength. He IS whatever we need and so...He is our healing of spirit, soul and body, too. Because He is so wonderful, let us lift our voices, our hands...our ENTIRE beings in praise to the One who gave Himself for us so that we could know Him as HE really IS!

Worship Study #2 - April 13, 2010

God is in need of nothing, and yet His heart is seeking, yearning for something. What could God, the one Who spoke everything into existence, be seeking? He is seeking worshipers, but not just any type of worshiper. He is looking for TRUE worshipers.

What is a TRUE worshiper? It is a person who worships the LORD in spirit and in truth according to John 4:23-24. First, what does it mean to worship the LORD in spirit? The answer is found in the first and greatest commandment.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew 22:36-38)

True worship begins with the inner man, which includes a person’s heart and soul, or you could say the human spirit and the human will.

True worship also requires truth, which is God’s perspective on life and is meant to transform our natural way of thinking. Embracing what God says in His written word is necessary for true worship, but the word “truth” is not just restricted to the revelation of God’s written word. It is also the revelation of ourselves by way of our conscience. God requires that we approach Him with complete honesty about the way we live and relate to one another. This fulfills the second greatest commandment. Jesus said,

“And the second [greatest commandment] is like it [the first commandment]: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39)

Jesus also said:

“But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment…Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:22a, 23-24)

As we can plainly see, worship is NOT about me or thee; worship is only about Him and His commandments to love.

Because God requires that worship begin with love from our hearts, souls and minds, then how are we to corporately worship based on what God says? Colossians 3:16 gives us a clear guideline.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

Our worship should always be directed to the Lord and from our hearts. The content of our worship should be the word of Christ so that whatever is sung can be used for teaching and admonishing the Body of Christ. Our songs should be filled with Jesus’ very own words so we can be transformed into thinking and speaking like Him. Worship actually aids us in being conformed to His image!

Paul uses three different musical words as a foundation for corporate worship. The first one is psalms. The Greek word for psalms is psallo which means to twitch or twang. In other words, the songs are to be accompanied on a stringed instrument. The Book of Psalms is a literal songbook of 150 songs that were sung while being accompanied by various string instruments.

The second word Paul uses is the word hymn that comes from the Greek word humnos meaning a psalm or song put to a religious metrical composition. A metrical composition means a song that has a repetitive meter throughout. For example, the words of the hymn “O Worship the King” come from Psalms 104:1, and the meter is 3 beats to every measure.

O / wor-ship the / King, all/ glo-rious a / bove, And / grate – ful – ly /

sing His / won – der – ful / love; Our/ Shield and De- / fend – er, the /

An – cient of / Days, Pa- / vil – ioned in / splen – dor, and / gird – ed with /

praise. //

And thirdly, a spiritual song means a song that is non-carnal. The word spiritual comes from the Greek word pneumatikos. This refers to the source of the song coming from someone’s heart or regenerated spirit. This type of song is not restricted to a definite metrical beat. An example is “As the Deer.” The words originate from Psalms 42:1, and the metrical beat varies just slightly.

As the deer pant-eth / for the wa-ter, so my / soul long-eth af-ter / Thee. /

You a-lone are my / heart’s de-sire, And I / long to wor-ship / Thee. /

REFRAIN:

You a-lone are my / strength, my shield; To / You a-lone may my / spir-it /

yield. /You a-lone are my / heart’s de-sire, And I / long to wor-ship / Thee. //

These three song forms are a biblical basis for our corporate worship; however, using worship form without them flowing from the heart to God is meaningless. Jesus said,

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.” (Matthew 15:8-9)

If the focus or attention of our hearts is faced toward anyone or anything other than the Lord, it is stealing the glory that is due only to His Name, and it is not true worship according to the Scriptures.

My prayer is that we will go deeper in our worship, and that we will be found by God as true worshipers loving Him with all of our hearts, souls and minds. Only when we are true worshipers are we ready to minister to each other and to the world around us.

Worship Study #1 - April 6, 2010

The purpose for our worship study is threefold.

1. To help us gain a clear revelation of God's desire for worshipers.

2. To give us a biblical foundation of how to worship.

3. To encourage us to increase our expressions of worship.


The following scripture passage reveals the Lord's desire for worshipers.

But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:23-24) NASV

The primary reason that we gather together as the Body of Christ is to worship the Lord. It has been said that authentic worship is simply a genuine expression of praise, adoration, celebration, and thanksgiving to God in response to who He is and what He has done in our lives. We can also add to this the expectation of what He desires to do and is going to do as well. Our main goal as children of God is to become worshipers of our Father and to develop a lifestyle of worship.

As we increase in our understanding of who God really is, and what He has done in our lives, worship will spontaneously flow in response to Him. As a result of our worship, God will inhabit our praises.

God's promise to inhabit our praises is found in the following verse:

"But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." (Psalms 22:3)KJV

The word inhabitest means "to dwell...", "to remain...", "to settle...", or "to feel at home...."

In the New American Standard Version it says, "Thou who art enthroned upon the praises of Israel." The word enthroned means "one who is exalted and placed on a throne."

We can picture from both definitions that God desires for us, you might say, to offer Him the best chair we have within the dwelling place of our minds and hearts. He yearns for us to invite Him to take His rightful position as the Head of our inner dwelling place.

The last phrase of Psalms 22:3 refers to the praises of Israel. In the Hebrew language there are eight different words that define various expressions of praise. Here in this passage, the word praises in Hebrew is tehillah, which means "laudation; a hymn." The word laud means "to applaud."

It is a common practice for citizens of a country to stand and applaud their president, prime minister or king as he walks into a room to take His position of honor. We are not only citizens of an earthly realm, but we are foremost citizens of the kingdom of God. How much more should we stand and applause our King as He comes to take His seat among us as we corporately create a place for Him to sit through our worship?

Not only is the Lord Jesus to have a prominent place within us and among us that makes Him feel at home, but the Scriptures tell us that what He says should also have a prominent place inside of us.

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." (Colossians 3:16) KJV

The Amplified Version states:

"Let the word [spoken by] the Christ, the Messiah, have its home (in your hearts and minds) and dwell in you in [all its] richness, as you teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence and wisdom [in spiritual things, and sing] psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to God with [His] grace in your hearts." (Colossians 3:16) AMP

Here we have the word of God and the praise to God connected.

To recap, we first need to focus our attention on giving glory to God by welcoming Him with our applause and offering Him the best and highest position within our lives. Second, we must encounter God in a life-changing way through His word taking up residence within our minds and hearts. And finally, this will lead us to join with God as He works in the world.