When you join us in one of our services (you are always welcome no matter who you are) you will find that we express our faith in a certain way. We can be an exciting bunch. We don’t believe in God from a far distance but we celebrate the very real intimate relationship God wants to have with His people. Our outward expression is a result of our inward joy we have because of the change we experienced since Jesus Christ came into our lives.
So how do we express ourselves and does the Bible have something to say about this?
Praising the Lord: The Bible has a lot to say in the Old and the New Testament about praising God and how to express it.
Ps. 63:3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. 4 Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.
Heb 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
Clap : Ps. 47:1 Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph!
Dancing:Ps. 150:4 Praise Him with tambourine and dancing, praise Him with strings and flute.
Raising Your Hands. Ps 134:2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, And bless the Lord.
Singing Ephesians 5:18-20 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
Cheering loudly and playing Musical Instruments: Ps. 98:4 Sing to the LORD, all you earth; break forth with joyful shouts, sing for joy, and sing psalms. 5 Sing psalms to the LORD with the harp, with the harp, and with loud singing of psalms, 6 with trumpets and the sound of a trumpet; 7 Let the sea roar and all that it contains, let the world shout for joy and those who inhabit it. 8 Let the rivers clap their hands, and the mountains sing together
Raising Your Hands, Clapping, Dancing, Singing, playing Instruments and Cheering loudly are all Biblical ways to express praise to God for Who He is to us and as a proclamation of the great and wonderful deeds of God. So yes we often express ourselves in this way in Power City. We are not crazy, but we are crazy in love with Jesus.
Praise is a sacrifice of faith and a declaration of God’s greatness in the midst of our circumstances. Praise breaks through an oppressive and depressive atmosphere and prepares for the atmosphere of heaven. Examples of this can be found in 2 Chronicles 20: 19-23 and Acts 16: 25-26 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
Deliverance came because of praise! Praise is Declaring God’s Greatness. Declare to the darkness, to your mountain, to your trial that Jesus has already won the victory. It also reminds you that God is greater than your situation.
When we are going through a hard time, problems, financial lack or illness, we often do not have the desire to praise God. Yet that is precisely the time to present the sacrifice of praise. The fruit of our lips confessing His Name.
Some of the meanings of Hebrew words for praise in the old testament are: raising or extending your hands (Yadah), spontaneous songs, exalting God with unrestrained joy and celebration (Tehillah), jubilant, exuberant form of praise, to make a show, to boast, to rave, often accompanied by music and dancing (Halal)
In the New Testament the words used for praise mean: Speaking well of God, and acknowledging His worthiness (Aineo), to glorify or bring honor to God, recognizing His glory and magnificence. acknowledging His supreme worth (Doxazo), speaking well or blessing God, acknowledging His goodness and benevolence (Eulogeo)
The Bible also speaks of worship. Praise and worship are different expressions in our awe and love of God, Praise mainly focuses on proclaiming the works and deeds of God while worship focuses on the Person of God. True worship focusses on and is intimacy with God and can only be done in truth when you have a revelation of Who He is.
Joh. 4:23 But the time is coming and is now when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks those who will worship Him so.
Hebrew Words for Worship in the Old Testament mean: to prostrate in homage (Shachah), kneeling down and blessing the Lord, acknowledging His greatness, yielding in reverence and submission (Barak), to serve (Abad)
The greek words for worship in the New Testament mean: to kiss or prostrate (Proskuneo), to revere, to adore (Sebomai), to minister, to serve (Latreuo), to adore God (Therapeuo)
