The Power of Praise
Week 2: How do we Praise?
Psalm 150:6 New King James Version
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!
We established last Sunday that Scripture is filled with this phrase to PRAISE THE LORD! And as we saw, it’s not a suggestion, it is something that God expects us to do! And I believe there be something to it for the Holy Spirit to put in the Bible so many times.
Today we are continuing our new series called THE POWER OF PRAISE!
Last week learned that what Praise is:
Definition of PRAISE:
Praise includes commending; expressing approval or a favorable judgment of; and glorifying, especially by crediting with perfections. (Websters)
So we know what Praise is and we understand that Praise is expected by God for us to do! How do we Praise God? That is what we are going to cover today.
How many of you have been to a concert? The last concert that I attended was The Derek Trucks Band in Augusta. It was amazing.
Praising God has many forms, all which have a common denominator: Praise is always extroverted.
In other words, praise can always be seen or heard.
For the Hebrew people, this seemed easy. The Old Testament shows that they were an emotional, expressive people. Celebration and exhilaration were regularly part of their worship service
For us in America, this is not always the case. Some Christians seem to prefer to sit and soak in church rather than be active participants. . Such behavior is not true praise. Have you ever noticed in scripture that the word ‘praise’ is usually followed by an exclamation point?
This is not to say that there are quiet times of worship but often times be like to attend concerts instead of participating in them.
We are called to “Be the concert, don’t just attend one.”
Psalm 66:8 New King James Version
8 Oh, bless our God, you peoples!
And make the voice of His praise to be heard,
Many people assume that this command refers to singing. Singing is not the only form of Biblical praise that can be heard.
We must be careful that we do NOT exclude certain forms of praise simply because we are uncomfortable with them.
Rather, we should seek to understand why we are uncomfortable, and make Godly adjustments that will challenge our comfort zone. Otherwise, how can we fully proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ that is ours?
Isaiah 40:9 New King James Version
9 O Zion,
You who bring good tidings,
Get up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem,
You who bring good tidings,
Lift up your voice with strength,
Lift it up, be not afraid;
Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”
“lift up your voice with strength”.
This certainly seems to indicate that our praise is to reveal a definite conviction and involvement.
We are not called to speak or sing in a timid manner.
2 Timothy 1:7 New King James Version
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
I believe that when we participate in Praise to our God we are demonstrating what HE HAS GIVEN US!
POWER, LOVE, and a SOUND MIND.
In other words, we have determined ourselves to PRAISE HIM!!!
Think about it, we are uncomfortable, it is difficult to be assured or energetic.
We must challenge ourselves to go beyond the forms of Praise that we have always used.
Not to be showy, but for a SHOW FOR GOD.
The absence or presence of passion for God within us just naturally becomes evident in our expressions of love, adoration, and appreciation.
As we learned last week. Praise comes from our Relationship with God.
Some of us may find a particular form of praise difficult because we prefer to be entertained rather than do the praising ourselves.
Praise requires effort. It is not something that someone else can do for us.
While others may think that they are too dignified to celebrate God with abandon.
Have you ever seen a baby run after their parents when they walk into the room to pick them up? They don’t care who is in the room. They pull away from whomever is holding them, throw down what toy that they may be playing with, and they try to push aside anyone or anything in their way to get to their daddy or mama.
Matthew 18:1-3 New King James Version
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Often we become self-conscience because we are not God-conscience.
You NEED to Praise God, and you NEED to do it with your whole being. Whenever you relinquish your will and praise God however the Spirit leads you, you will find that His presence is the only place you will want to be. It is also the only where you can find everything that you really NEED.
Matthew 5:6 New King James Version
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
Okay, so lets look at the
BIBLICAL FORMS OF PRAISE
SINGING
Psalm 30:4 New Living Translation
4 Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name.
Psalm 81:1 New King James Version
1 Sing aloud to God our strength;
Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob.
Psalm 95:1 New King James Version
1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Ephesians 5:19 New King James Version
19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
Of course, this one is the most common. In Scriptures we find that singing was part of both private and public worship. It was also a celebration following a victory that God had won.
Moses after Pharaoh’s army drowned Exodus 15
Women after David killed Goliath 1 Samuel 18:6
David after God delivered him from Saul 2 Samuel 22
The next one is
SHOUTING.
Psalm 35:27 New King James Version
27 Let them shout for joy and be glad,
Who favor my righteous cause;
And let them say continually,
“Let the Lord be magnified,
Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”
Psalm 98:4 New King James Version
4 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.
For me, this one does not come easily. However, I have found that when I do, there is a release that happens inside me. It is very freeing.
It is a less common form used today in praise.
Singing and shouting are commanded together. The Hebrew verb (ranan)can be translated into both.
Following the consecration of Aaron and his sons
Leviticus 9:23-24 New Living Translation
23 Then Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle, and when they came back out, they blessed the people again, and the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole community.24 Fire blazed forth from the Lord’s presence and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When the people saw this, they shouted with joy and fell face down on the ground.
JOYFUL NOISE
Psalm 66:8 English Standard Version
8 Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard,
Psalm 98:4-6 King James Version
4 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
5 Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm.
6 With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.
There is a place for triumphant celebration and loud worship. God is not nervous. We can and should make a noise to HIM.
He evidently enjoys it, for the Bible includes commands that we make a joyful noise.
LAUGHTER
Psalm 126:1-3 New King James Version
1 When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion,
We were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
And our tongue with singing.
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
And we are glad.
Job 8:21New King James Version
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughing,
And your lips with rejoicing.
This form of Praise is rarely seen today and even treated with suspicion by some people. Yet the Bible tells us to rejoice with laughter.
I have had this happen to me twice that I can remember. It is an amazing experience. All I can say is that you see a glimpse of how great God is and you begin to laugh at the enemy. You begin to laugh out of joy.
THANKSGIVING
Ezra 3:11New King James Version
11 And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord:
“For He is good,
For His mercy endures forever toward Israel.”
Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.
Psalm 69:30 New King James Version
30 I will praise the name of God with a song,
And will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
Ephesians 5:19-20 New King James Version
19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Thanksgiving and Praise are often used parallel in the Word. We are coming into the time of the year where our culture begins to celebrate certain seasons.
We Halloween and then Christmas. At least that seems to be the general idea as our culture becomes more and more self-absorbed. As Christians, Thanksgiving should be a year round celebration of what God has done for us! We praise HIM by being thankful.
STANDING
Deuteronomy 10:8 New King James Version
8 At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to Him and to bless in His name, to this day.
1 Chronicles 23:30 New King James Version
30 to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at evening;
Psalm 134:1 New King James Version
1 Behold, bless the Lord,
All you servants of the Lord,
Who by night stand in the house of the Lord!
Standing is a bit more common, but we need to increase our times of standing before the LORD in worship. Sometimes we get tired, but we should remain on our feet because it is an act of honor. It shows respect.
Remember in the old times, when someone walked into a room, you would stand to pay your respect?
You know what is crazy? Today we have watches that tell that we need to stand up…
KNEELING
Psalm 95:6 New King James Version
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
Ephesians 3:14 New King James Version
14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Philippians 2:10-11New King James Version
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Kneeling is a form of both humility and honor in our praise and worship. It shows our recognition that God is Lord and we are His people.
Some may still kneel in prayer, but how many have abandoned kneeling in worship of God?
Maybe, just maybe if we begin to reinstate kneeling into our worship services it would restore the sense of reverence that we are sometimes missing.
CLAPPING OUR HANDS
Psalm 47:1 New King James Version
1 Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!
Shout to God with the voice of triumph!
Psalm 98:8 New King James Version
8 Let the rivers clap their hands;
Let the hills be joyful together
Isaiah 55:12 New King James Version
12 “For you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills
Shall break forth into singing before you,
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Clapping is a show of approval and appreciation.
Interesting study done in Japan:
Show that our hands and feet contain nerves that attach to every organ in our body. When we walk, we are therefore stimulating all of our organs and giving them life.
The same is true for our hands. Maybe this is why God commands us to praise Him with clapping. He knows that when we clap, the nerves in our palms and fingers stimulate our whole body, bringing us life.
So when God says, clap, He is really saying “Get Life”.
DANCING / JUMPING FOR JOY
Psalm 149:3 New King James Version
3 Let them praise His name with the dance;
Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.
Psalm 150:4 New King James Version
4 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
I believe that the enemy has stolen this form of praise. Just like most things, he has sexualized it and made it a form of praise unto to sex or Him.
We see dancing as an expression of joy. Leaping for joy like Miriam and the other women in Exodus 15 who celebrated God’s victory.
It was also true of Jesus when the disciples He has sent out two by two and they came back with the reports of all that they had seen and done.
Luke 10:21 King James Version
21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.
The Greek word that is translated here ‘rejoice’ means to ‘jump for joy’ (Strongs G21).
I wonder how often the Lord is dancing in the Spirit but we are found sitting in our pews…
UPLIFTED HANDS
Psalm 63:4 New King James Version
4 Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in Your name.
Psalm 134:2 New King James Version
2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary,
And bless the Lord.
1 Timothy 2:8 New King James Version
8 I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting;
We often sing about lifting our hands but rarely do it. It is Biblical and it is a sign of obedience to God when we raise our hands to him.
We can raise our hands as a sign of surrender, reaction of the joy in our hearts, or just out of obedience.
SPEAKING & SINGING IN TONGUES
Acts 10:46 New King James Version
46 For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.
1 Corinthians 14:2 New King James Version
2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.
1 Corinthians 14:15 New King James Version
15 What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.
Well, this is controversial in some denominations but as you can plainly read, it is in the Bible.
Tongues is speaking to God in the spirit. We need to understand that there are two kinds of tongues. The first kind is given to someone in the congregation during a worship service for the instruction and building p of the BODY. It is to be heard by the rest of us and must be followed by the gift of interpretation.
The second tongue is for our individual praise and prayer. It is spoken to God in public or private for the building up the faith of the individual.
MUSIC / INSTRUMENTS
Psalm 150 New King James Version
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
2 Praise Him for His mighty acts;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
3 Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!
4 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
5 Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!
So there you have it! Biblical ways to Praise the Lord!!!