By: Tyrone Ty
It is no secret that I love to sing. And since it became my profession as well, moments do come that I have to remind myself why I do it. There are moments when I lose the integrity of what I do.
There were moments that I do it for recognition, money, self fulfillment, which is fine, but if I forget that those are just effects of what the real reason of why I do it, I just end up empty.
I remind myself of how much I love to sing. That it is a gift that not everybody has.
I think it’s even more so important for us song leaders to understand the how, what, and why we do what we do.
We go in and out of Sunday service week after week and congregational practices, season after season, like now, that Christmas congregational service is coming up, and it would be good that even before we get to start working on the task at hand. It would be best to check our hearts, realign yourselves to God’s heart and mind on the matters of singing, praising, and song leading. In a word “purify ourselves.”
Example of computer: Trash in- trash out; reboot, refresh, virus scan, reformat. Nag ha-hang ka ba?
We have to go back and understand what we really do. What is Praise and Worship?
Two different things. Very similar in the way they are outwardly expressed but they are not one and the same.
PRAISE
Dictionary meaning: to commend applaud express approval or admiration
Something we direct towards God or something we express to others about God It‘s not a difficult concept. It’s part of our everyday lives.
Ex: We praise our children, our employees, our dogs, your preacher etc.
In a worship service,
-Praise is preoccupied with who God is and what He has done.
-But praise is also fitting even when there is no specific gift of God in mind.
-He is worthy to be praised solely for who He is.
-Praise is extroverted in nature. Characterized by celebration, exhilaration, expressed through singing shouting speaking forth, playing of instruments, dancing and other external forms.
Psalm 150: 1-6
1 Praise ye Jehovah. Praise God in his sanctuary: Praise him in the firmament of his power.2Praise him for his mighty acts: Praise him according to his excellent greatness. 3Praise him with trumpet sound: Praise him with psaltery and harp. 4Praise him with timbrel and dance: Praise him with stringed instruments and pipe. 5Praise him with loud cymbals: Praise him with high sounding cymbals. 6Let everything that hath breath praise Jehovah Praise ye Jehovah
- We in modern times think we are too modern, sophisticated to be emotional and vocal in our expression of praise.
We have a very dynamic God and He deserves our energetic acclamation.
We have a very dynamic God and He deserves our energetic acclamation.
- Contemplating on the wonders of God is not Praise. Meditation is not praise. Praise begins with the mindset upon of God, but then those thoughts are given to action
- There is no such thing as “my way” in praising God. There is only the Lords way.
- When I go to the concert, my goal is to enjoy the experience.
Ask my wife, when I watch a show you would see me standing even if everyone is sitting.
- You’ll be missing out if you limit your expression, you didn’t fully enjoy it!
- You can never praise with your mouth shut.
- Praise manifest before it is called praise.
- It’s audible and visible.
It’s ok to praise were you’re at. But it doesn’t mean one can’t grow from there.
There is no praising God our own way. We Christians need to do more than simply praise according to our feelings and desires. We will never grow and mature in our expressions of praise until we are willing to praise.
Many times praise is a function of our will.
Our praise will reflect on how much we are growing and learning more about the greatness of God.
Now, deserving as He is, God doesn’t need our praise. God is not insecure that He would need to hear your apple polishing. He will be praised even if none of us utter a word.
Luke 19:37-40
As they reached the place where the road started down from the Mount of Olives, all of His followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.
Bless the king who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!
But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”
He replied, if they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”
Psalm 19:1-4
The heavens tell of the Glory of God.
The skies display the marvelous craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
Night after night they make Him known.
They speak without a sound or word;
Their voice is silent in the skies; yet their message has gone out to all the earth
And their message to all the world.
Psalm 148:1-14
Praise the Lord
Praise the Lord from the heavens!
Praise Him from the skies!
Praise Him all His angels!
Praise him all the armies of heaven!
Praise Him sun and moon
Praise Him all you twinkling stars!
Praise Him skies above!
Praise Him vapors high above the clouds!
Let every created thing give praise to the Lord,
For he issued his command, and they came into being
He established them forever and forever
His orders will never be revoked.
Praise the Lord from the earth,
You creatures of the ocean depths
Fire and hail, snow and storm
Wind and weather that obey Him
Mountains and all hills
Fruit trees and al cedars
Wild animal and all livestock
Reptiles and birds,
Kings of the earth and all people
Rulers and judges of the earth
Young men and maidens
Old men and children
Let them all praise the name of our Lord
For His name is very great
His glory towers over the earth and heaven
He made His people strong
Honoring His godly ones
The people of Israel who are close to Him
Praise the Lord!
- So if God doesn’t need the praise, because He already gets enough of it then why does he command us to praise Him?
- Because we need it!
Facts on Praise:
1. It places us in a proper place with God,
The world today is so arrogant
Ex: Teens going into a home without greeting the owners or the parents of the friend they are visiting.
I don’t need the acknowledgment; I know who I am in my own home
What is sad is that people world is losing its respect towards others in general and becoming self lovers, and that’s not going to serve them any good.
Our characters, our society, is already deep into an “I don’t bow down to anyone” attitude, an attitude of Indifference, arrogance and self love that will lead to an independence of God and end up in godlessness.
With this attitude people eventually will not hear and find out who God is.
2. It helps us focus on God’s presence.
There is a misconception that when we praise, we actually call on God’s presence. That is not true. First of all, God is everywhere, every time. And everything in the world and in the known and unknown universe already praises Him. We creatures are just so easily and usually distracted by the world that we need to praise to be able to focus. Praise actually helps us to zone in into his presence, and help us prepare our hearts for worship. Praise lifts you out of yourself and places you into communion with God.
3. It allows people to learn about His Greatness
Psalm 96:1-4
Sing a new song to the Lord! Let the whole earth sing to the Lord.
Sing to the Lord; Bless His name. Each day proclaim the good news that he saves. Publish His glorious deeds among the nations.
Tell everyone about the amazing things He does. Great is the Lord!
He is most worthy of praise!
Psalm 145:1-7
I will praise you my God my King,
And bless your name forever and ever
I will bless you everyday
And I will praise you forever
Great is the Lord, He is most worthy of praise!
His greatness is beyond discovery!
Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts
I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor
And your wonderful miracles
Your awe inspiring deeds will be on every tongue
I will proclaim your greatness
Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness
They will sing with joy of your righteousness.
-with our praising, it will be harder for people to find out about God!
4. It encourages and strengthens us.
We tend to think that we can’t praise when we are feeling un-worthy.
First of all, we are never worthy.
Secondly, we praise the Lord not because we are worthy but because He is worthy all the time
Psalm 34:1-3
I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak His praises.
I will boast only in the Lord. Let all who are discouraged take heart. Come let us tell of the lord’s Greatness; let us exalt his name together.
Praise lifts you out of yourself and places you into communion with God. Praise transcends the petty issues of life and transports you in the presence of God, who deals with the issues of eternal significance,
Praise helps you enter a place of gratitude
Praise can still be genuine because we praise God for who He is even when prayers aren’t answered.
5. Praise in not emotionalism
Praise is a discipline. Although praise and worship is an emotional experience, it is not based on emotionalism.
Emotionalism is when you praise only when you feel like it.
Love is an emotion and it can be very emotional, but when you love only when you feel like it, that’s emotionalism.
Psalm 42:1-6
As the deer pants for streams of water, O I long for you O God
I thirst for God the living God.
When can I come and stand before Him?
Day and night, I have only tears for food,
While enemies continually taunt me, saying,
Where is this God of yours?”
My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be;
I walked among the crowds of worshipers, leading a great procession to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks, it was the sound of great celebration!
Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God.
I will praise Him again
My savior and my God!
6. Praise is a sacrifice
Sacrifice isn’t sacrifice, if it doesn’t cost you anything.
Hebrews 13:15
Through Jesus therefore let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise by proclaiming the glory of His name.
Praise isn’t free. It involves energy, preparation, time,
We can’t twist Gods arm to come to us, we are the ones that needs twisting to come to His presence.
Worship
Worship is kind of harder to define compared to praise.
There are many interpretations of what worship is and what it is not.
Many have struggled in finding an adequate definition of worship
And here are some efforts:
1. Worship is the outcome of the fellowship of love between the Creator
and man and is the highest point man can reach in response to the love of God. It is the first and principal purpose of mans eternal calling.
2. Worship is one’s heart expression of love, adoration and praise to God, with an attitude and acknowledgement of His supremacy and Lordship.
3. True worship and praise are “awesome wonder and overpowering love“,
in the presence of our God.
4. The heart of true worship is the unashamed pouring out of our inner self
upon the Lord Jesus Christ in affectionate devotion.
5. Worship is fundamentally God’s spirit within us, contacting the spirit in the Godhead.
6. Worship is ideally the normal attitude of a rational creature, properly related to the creator.
These definitions are all very good and beautiful but they all somehow fall short in really defining what true worship is. Why?
-Simply because it’s a divine encounter and so is as infinite in it depth as God Himself.
-Real worship defies definition or explanation. It can only be experienced.
-Worship was never intended to be discussions of text books, but rather -communion with God experienced by His loved ones.
When I was reading these definitions something clicked in my mind.
True worship can only exist between The God and His creation! Not creation to things, objects or even human relationships even your loved ones. It can only be from His creation back to God himself. It’s a relationship like no other, made by God, only for and between us and God. It is unique, a relationship that can’t apply anywhere even if you try because there is only one creator.
It doesn’t and can’t exist anywhere else.
John 4:23
Yet a time is coming and has now come when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks; God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship him in spirit and in truth.
-Take note that God is not focused on the worship alone.
-He is after the worshipper not just the worship. He is interested in a
relationship with the worshipper.
-He has a very specific type of worship that he is looking for: a worship of spirit and in truth.
-True worship can only begin with a relationship and knowledge of God.
Meaning we have Jesus Christ as our savior.
-and since as Disciples we have that relationship, we were also given the Holy spirit that now equips us to be one with the spirit of God.
Apart from these two things, true worship is impossible.
People may worship out of sincerity, they may recognize God’s greatness and worship as well, but it will never be the intimate kind that God intended it to be.
That is only reserved for God’s children.
Isn’t that amazing! This God, the owner of the whole universe and beyond wants exclusive rights to His relationship with us. He set us apart, and He wants us to set Him apart! No wonder He becomes jealous when we start worshipping something that has nothing to do with us being created. No wonder this Is the fist commandment!!!! Money didn’t create you, your spouse didn’t create you, your career didn’t create you, you didn’t create you, your parents ultimately didn’t create you. It’s a relationship reserved and only possible between man and Creator!
No wonder worship doesn’t work on anything else! It’s only made for that divine relationship between His creation (us) and God Himself. Use it somewhere else will spell disaster even if God didn’t lift a finger. You want disaster in your life; make the mistake of worshipping something or someone else.
Every time Joel is in front you will see me not looking at Joel but on Tj instead.
Because I am amazed and amused at the same time and get a kick on how much love, admiration, respect TJ has for her husband. I see her eyes literally sparkling. I tease her about it all the time. Their love for one another is so powerful it has allowed them to go through and survive tough times in their lives.
Worship is so much more than that even if you multiply it a million times.
It manifests in so many ways physically like in our praising , singing, kneeling, shouting, dancing, praying, in our obedience or just simply in our being still, worship to me is your spirit eye to eye with Gods spirit.
If praise and love can exist even through tough times, can we worship when our world seems chaotic
Oh yes. By all means! The more we need it! Because it is in those times that we need to see God eye to eye. Your worship can be the only thing that might save you from not seeing God’s loving plan for you amidst all your troubles.
If you don’t worship, it will be so much easier to miss out on the peace you get from being one with God, and remembering that no matter how bad the situation may be, God is always good and is always after what is best for you.
The topic of worship is so great, that we won’t be able to cover half of it even if we spend the whole day talking about it. It’s a great thing that Big thing as it is, worship is still simple. Not only is it simple, but it is for the simple.
It is for those who are childlike enough to just open up their hearts and respond to God in sincerity and honesty. Worship is not work. It’s fu, it’s enjoying, and relaxing, worship should be renewing, invigorating and therapeutic. We must relax if we are to enjoy the simplicity of worship relax and enjoy God’s presence.
As we go though the rest of the service remember that God is already here,
Praise, because God is worthy of it, Praise because it is but right, use its power to help you commune with God today, relax and let you spirit bring you to receive God sweet worship of God.
It takes a lot of humility to be able to raise your hands to Him in public. To not care what people will think,
If your heart is not in that condition by all means don’t lift your hands on our account, and a reminder to others that do lift up your hands, you don’t have the right to look down on people who don’t, nor do you lift up your hands to feel superior to others.
Do it only if your goal is to commune with God and God alone
Pray!
