There are a lot of aspects of praise that somehow have seemed to slip from our worship over the years as we as a culture have become more "sophisticated". I am continually being enlightened on how God expects us to praise Him, so come back and check this page from time to time as I update what He shares with me. I know that this subject will create a lot of controversy and will generate some hate mail from some of you that are closed minded about changing your traditions. If you are one of these then please read on, but carefully consider the following before you reply.
2. Read Ephesians 4
3. Have you prayed for wisdom about praise? James 1:5
DANCING
2 Samuel 6:14 And David danced before the Lord with all his might......
Matthew 11:17 ...We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced...
Ecclesiastes 3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh, and a time to mourn and a time to dance.
There is much more in the Bible on the subject. When was the last time you went to Church and had a celebration and there was an opportunity to dance? Have you danced before the Lord in the privacy of your own home? The hebrew word translated as dance in 2 Sam 6:14 meant to "whirl around". David did this with all his might. By God's grace I hope I can learn to praise Him like that.
CLAPPING
Psalm 47:1 O clap your hands all ye people, Shout unto God with a voice of triumph.
Isaih 55:12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth in peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
I hope you had a chance to clap your hands when you last gathered for worship. Did you shout to God with a voice of triumph? Are you full of the joy of Christ today? When you go out do the mountains and hills break forth in a chorus before you? Sometimes God has a strange way of speaking to us. Take a step outside your door today and look for the nearest hill, shout your praise to the King, clap your hands, break out in song, then take a moment to sit back and listen for a response from the creator himself.
SONGS, HYMNS, SPIRITUAL SONGS
Ephesians 5:19 "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord".
Colossians 3:16 "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".
I would like to devote a little space to describe the types of
songs listed in these verses. First I would like to explain that I can see no way
that the verses above say that we should not play instruments in the
church. The point Paul is trying to make here is that there should be a
diversity in our worship. Psalms would refer to the Old Testament
Psalms. Many of the most inspiring praise and worship songs we sing
are straight out of the Psalms.
Ephesians 5:14 gives an example of an early hymn. Many of Pauls
letters include portions of these songs of the early church. I
think that hymns are simply the songs that we have learned and
include in our worship services.
Spiritual
songs are the songs that I believe would have been taught by the
spirit. It is possible that many of the songs we sing today began as
spiritual songs when they were inspired. I have attended worship
services where someone would break out in song as lead by the spirit.
I believe we should be just as submissive to His leading in our
worship services. I for one would love to invite the composer of
creation to join our service and teach us a new song.
RAISING YOUR HANDS
1 Timothy 2:8
Psalm 68:31
INSTRUMENTS
Psalm 150:3-6 "Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with
psaltry and harp. Praise him with the trimble and dance: praise him with
stringed instruments and organs. Praise him with the cymbals:
praise him upon the high
sounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord".
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. If you are
one of the die hards that thinks singing songs, hymns, and spiritual
songs means that we don't use instruments in our worship service then
I hope you don't get so hung up in defending your position that you are
deaf to the sound of the last trumpet (1 Cor. 15:52). Throughout the
Bible there are many references to using instruments in our praise. It
is time to stop staking our reputations on our traditions and submit to
the Word of the Lord. Jesus warned us of exactly this in Matthew 15:3
when he said "Why do ye transgress the commandment of God by your
tradition?". This Psalm commands us not only to make alot of music, but
to make it loud. Praise him with the "high cymbals" could be better
translated as "resounding cymbals". Sounds to me like God not only
wants us to make a music for him, but He wants it loud. First you need a
heart that is set on praise and a mind that is free to submit to Gods
leading.
