Praise and Worship
One of the most misunderstood, actually misinformed areas of the local church, is the function
and place of praise and worship. For too long, the proverbial song service, or chorus time, has
been incorrectly referred to as "the praise and worship part of our service." Praise and worship
is not a "segment" of the service that serves as a buffer zone for seating late comers or a
wake-up time before the Word is brought forth. Worship is the key to unlocking the door way
into the Holy Of Holies. It is the act of our body, soul, and spirit that releases the Glory of God
and the anointing power of the Holy Spirit onto and into every area of our being. As we
sacrificially praise Him, we offer up thanksgiving for His mercy, His grace, His goodness, His
power over all, His healing, His love, His friendship, and His favor and blessing. This
"sacrifice of praise" is a concept that is foreign to the earthly, natural man. The world's way is
to worry, complain and fear their way through the circumstances of life. God's way is to pray,
praise, and rejoice through these same circumstances so that He might be glorified, so that His
Glory will shine in and through us, and so that we might attain to the fullness and joy of who He
is and the Hope of His calling. As we daily renew our minds through prayer and the washing of
the Word, and as we begin to praise Him with love and obedience, then we will begin to operate
on a higher level of victory and power. Our praise becomes a weapon of war that releases the
storehouses of heaven on our behalf.
As we start to experience the power of praise, an even greater phenomenon unfolds. We begin
to worship! You see, as we honor, praise, and have celebration with Him--we touch His Heart.
Then as the reality of His love, mercy, and grace overwhelms us, His anointing pours over us,
causing our every fiber to reverance and adore Him. Worship is our reaction to His awesome
presence. The church must come to the realization of the power of praise and worship,
incorporating both areas into the structure and vision of the body. Focusing on one area, to the
exclusion of the other, only allows a partial insight into the fullness of our God. Once we tune in
and tap into God's plan for victorious living on this earth, we will walk in the maturity and
wisdom of the warrior that He has called us to be!
Tonight, we could go off and do a complete word study of the various Hebrew words found
throughout the Bible that describe or define praise and worship. For now, let's just leave that
for the scholars and look at the topic of praise and worship from more of a practical level!
1) Praise is a conscious decision on your part. God doesn't come down and twist your arm and
MAKE you praise Him. He allows us to make the CHOICE of praising Him or not. The cool
thing is that whenever one of the Bible guys had a life and death choice to make, choosing to
praise God and serve Him, always brought victory and miracles. For instance:
a) Joseph was sold into slavery by his BROTHERS. He was wrongly acussed of sleeping
with his bosses wife. He was in prison for over seven years. All told, he was in absolute
pain and misery for 20 years! Yet, he still chose to praise and obey God. The reward for
his obedience to God---he was made the ruler of the WORLD by Pharoah--second only
to him in power. It was because of Joseph's CHOOSING to praise and follow God, that
the nation of Israel grew into the millions--out of the small tribe of Jacob that came to
Egypt--to be saved from the famine that Joseph had so well planned for. (Genesis 37-47)Praise & WorshipTeaching Outliine b) If you remember the little sketch about Paul & Silas in jail, you'll see that these two guys
were real examples of what it means to praise God. Here they were, serving God, doing
GOOD things, and they were arrested, beaten, put in stocks and then thrown in a smelly jail.
Now, if ANYONE had a right to complain--they did. They could of said, "Hey, God...what's
goin' on? We give up everything to serve you, and this is how you repay us?" Instead, they
CHOSE to praise God--not FOR their bondage, but IN their bondage. In fact, they got so
radical, that they actually forgot about their situation and started singing so loud, everyone
heard them. Then, right in the middle of this smelly jail---God showed up--BIG time! He
caused an earthquake, broke off their chains and the doors flew open. Check this out. The
Bible says that ALL the prisoners' chains broke off! To bring the reality of this home to us,
when WE praise God, as a lifestlye, He will show up and not only minister to US, but He can
change the situations of our familes and friends. It doesn't say so, but I bet some, if not
all of those other prisoners either came to know God that day, or at least asked more about
who He was! Praise and worship releases God to work on our behalf--it's HIS law! To
finish up on Paul & Silas, the jailer got saved when he saw what happened--so did his whole
family--all because of their CHOICE to praise God. They could have sat in that prison all
night, complaining or even just sleeping. Read Ephesians 5:19 & 20. Paul, a guy who went
through many hardships, beatings & imprisonments, always lived in victory, because he
chose to always worship God. We're not promised an easy, bed of roses kind of life, but we
are promised a life of joy and victory---if we CHOOSE to praise, worship & obey God!
Now, I could go on for hours talking about really cool stories in the Bible about men and women
who chose to worship and obey God--even when they were stareing death in the face. Instead,
let's talk about a few other aspects of praise and worship.
Are you ready to stretch? In the Word it says that, "God inhabits the praises of His people"?
(Psalms 22:3) Of course, that means the obvious--that He dwells with us and makes Himself
known to us as we praise Him--that He takes an ACTIVE part in OUR praise of Him! We're
not just throwing up trite, empty words and songs into the air. When we praise, we become
partners with God in a process of great spiritual proportion--intimacy with our Creator. When
we CHOOSE to praise God, even when we don't feel like it, or when our natural eyes don't see
what we're believing for, God goes to work on our behalf. Praising God in our sickness--in our
financial difficulties--in our relationships--in our every decision, gives Him the glory that
Satan is so desperately seeking. When we give in to our flesh and complain and gossip and get
bitter, then we are doing the opposite--we are attributing to Satan the opportunity to have the
upper hand in our situations--and if I can be so bold--he then inhabits our negative attitudes. For
every thing that God does or provides for us, Satan has a counterfiet for it--including praise.
Now, we could talk about this for days, but why do you think that tens of thousands of kids get
together in a stadium and scream and shout for hours over some band? It's because we are ALL
made to worship--it's in our nature. The unrenewed, unsaved mind chooses to worship whatever
they can get a hold of--because they don't know the power of praising and worshipping God.
Satan gets so mad when we worship God, so naturally, he establishes the counterfiet to worship.
To get back to our previous thought. God inhabiting our praises to Him--are you ready--He
also inhabits our praises--in general. If I say to you, "You are a really giving person. Thanks for
helping out all the time."--I have just "praised" you, right? I believe that when the Word says,
"God inhabits the praises of His people", that this is what it means also. This should push us on
to always speak positive, uplifting words to each other.
We could talk about praise and worship things from now until eternity. It's almost impossible
to even begin hitting everything in such a short time. These have just been a few thoughts about
the subject and will hopefully develop offshoots in your mind, as to which direction to pursue.
The main thing is that our youth begin to understand the power of praise and worship in their
everyday lives--as a natural function--not religious and complicated--but pure and simple!
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