Praise, Worship, and Christian Attitude

From my earliest years as a Christian I can remember hearing the words coming across the pulpit of many a preacher, "Worship isn’t just a Sunday thing, it’s a lifestyle thing!" And as one who enjoys worshipping God, especially through music, I have to say that I agree. But what about our praise to God? Where does that fit?

One book in the Old Testament that has some great examples of beautiful praise and worship lyrics is the book of Psalms. Though King David didn’t write all of them, he wrote most of them. And as I researched the authors various uses of the words "praise" and "worship", I made some interesting discoveries.

The book of Psalms was originally written in Hebrew. Throughout that entire Old Testament book, there’s only 1 word that means worship – but the word praise has 7 different word choices. And being the curious soul and lover of praise and worship that I am, I wanted to know about each fascinating word. In a nutshell, here’s what I found.

Praise and Worship: Psalm Style

Psalm 7:17 says, "I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness…" The Hebrew word here is "yadah". This use of the word praise means to hold out the hand, or to give thanks. It’s the one used most often in the Psalms, and was typical of both their corporate and personal praise to God.

Another great way to praise God is with a hymn. In Psalm 22:25 it’s written, "My praise shall be of you in the great assembly…" And the Hebrew word here is "tehillah". Even today there are many churches who still use hymns as a way of declaring the greatness and glory of God, and His ability to do the miraculous. Another interesting fact about "tehillah" is that it could also be used as a musical notation that gave the musician insight into the song’s dynamics.

The praise word "halal" was quite an extensive display of praise to God. "Halal" means to praise with vivid sound and / or color. It could also include singing and bragging about God’s greatness. Some great examples are found in Psalm 148:1-13, and all of Psalm 150. Every single word for praise in these passages is the Hebrew word "halal". Another interesting point about the praise word "halal" is that it also referred to a bride being given in marriage.

"Zamar" is a praise word exampled in Psalm 108:1-2. "O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn." This use of the word praise refers to touching the strings or parts of a musical instrument. It also was the word used for instruments that accompany the voice, and always implied lively songs of celebration.

Many of us who have been Christians for a while know the old song by Martin Nystrom entitled, "As a Deer". Back in the 1990’s many church worship teams and choirs sang this song which is rooted in Psalm 42:1. And moving on to verse 4 of Psalm 42, it states, "…I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast." The word for praise here is "todah", which means a choir of singers and can include extending one’s hand as a type of peace offering or praise offering. "Todah" can also refer to a sacrifice of praise. And for those who wonder just what a sacrifice of praise is, it’s praise offered to God when we don’t really feel like it. It might seem strange, but when we’re struggling due to financial loss, loss of health, or some other loss (or losses) and we make a choice to praise Him, even if all we can think of is just because of who He is, it restores our peace and joy. We may have to do it again an hour later – but that doesn’t matter. We may have to ask Him to give us strength to endure to the end, but that’s okay. He’s faithful. He’ll give it (see Psalm 71).

A praise word that was used in connection with testifying about who God is, is "shabach". All of Psalm 63 is a great example, but verse 3 specifically says, "Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you." And "shabach" includes the idea of praising loudly in triumphant words. It can also be a shout of victory.

A Word of Worship

The one and only word for worship in the book of Psalms is "shachah", and it means to lower or humble ourselves before Him of our own, free will. It can include kneeling or laying prostrate in recognition of His holy presence. Psalm 95:6-7 captures this with the beautiful words, "Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His Hand." Another nice illustration is in Psalm 132:7. "Let us go into His tabernacle; Let us worship at His footstool." Our willingness to physically lower ourselves reflects the attitude of our hearts. But we don’t have to wait until we go to our "Sunday morning tabernacle" to praise and worship Him – nor should we.

In the Old Testament, the tabernacle (or temple) was the primary place where your average Joe Hebrew was going to find the presence of God. Today, because of the shed blood of Jesus for our sins, the presence of God lives primarily in us. He goes where we go because we are His temple (1 Cor. 6:19). And our praise and worship to Him is an opportunity to express our love and gratitude to Him.

Longing for the Living God

While praise and worship are clearly two different expressions of our love and gratitude toward Jesus, they belong together. Going back to the concept of the tabernacle for a moment, and thinking simplistically about it, the tabernacle had 3 main sections. The outer court, the inner court, and the Holy of Holies.

Praise is like the outer court. It helps us get our mind off of our troubles, off of the world, and focused on God. It helps us realize that God is greater than any problem we may face, and He’ll either deliver us from it or walk us through it.

The inner court is where praise and worship become intertwined. It’s a transitional place that prepares us to really draw near to God. One Psalm that’s a nice example of this intertwining is Psalm 95.

As we step into the Holy of Holies, this is where our hearts will become calm, or peaceful. The peace we experience enables us to hear from Him. Whether it’s a need for His wisdom, knowledge, understanding, comfort, restoration or something else, the Holy of Holies is where we’re going to experience His presence. And the more of His presence we experience, the more we’re going to long for it. His presence and the building of His Kingdom are the only things that are going to give life meaning and purpose. That’s why praising and worshipping Him needs to be more than just a Sunday thing. It needs to be a lifestyle thing.

Some of today’s Christian music is rooted in God’s Word. Many of the old hymns are rooted in God’s Word. And in Psalm 119:11 King David’s voice would have sung, "Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you." While praising and worshipping God are wonderful expressions of our love to Him, so are knowing His Word and applying it to our lives.

Just as we typically make an effort to avoid saying or doing the things that we know would be hurtful to our loved ones, if we’re going to say that we love Christ, we will typically make choices that express that love. We will choose to ask Him to help us to develop the fruit of His Holy Spirit in our lives (Gal. 5:22-26). This fruit is not only an evidence of true Christianity, but it is a daily praise and worship to Him. When we are in the work place, or at home, or running errands, or whatever we are doing, and we are consistently moving in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, this gives glory to God. Not that we’ll always do this perfectly. That’s impossible. But that’s where willingly humbling ourselves comes in (Matt 23:12). When we mess up, we apologize to whomever we’ve hurt, and to God, and then we move on. God’s not looking for perfection. Just our dependence on Him for His help with having a Christian attitude in a fallen world.

Worship from the Heart

Many years ago the small inner-city ministry where my husband, Gary and I were volunteering was in desperate need of more volunteers. Not an uncommon thing for your typical inner-city ministry or church – even today. For some strange reason, churches want to move to the suburbs, forgetting, I suppose, that every great revival in history began in the inner city because of passionate intercession. This hobbyhorse of mine aside, I found myself drafted to lead the praise and worship at the Friday night service.

Being relatively young in the Lord at the time and with the matching inexperience, I began seeking the Lord for His wisdom concerning how to go about leading worship. The very first thing that He showed me was Jesus’ words in the Gospel of John 4:21-24. "Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Three things jumped out at me. I began to jot down some ideas.

Catching the Revelation of Relationship

The New Testament was originally written in Greek. So I did a bit of research and found that the word for "know" in John 4:22 comes from a Greek word that indicates something beyond what we can learn form reading a book, getting a degree, listening to a speaker or a preacher, or other ways of obtaining academic knowledge. It’s the kind of knowledge that the Holy Spirit supernaturally reveals to us.

We can’t get this from our man-made religious traditions and expectations. And if we hold too tightly to what we’ve always done in the past, we’ll miss the blessings that God has for us today.

If we remain focused on what we’ve always done rather than looking honestly at how God is moving today, we will find ourselves in a place where we are only worshiping God with our lips and our hearts are far from Him (Isaiah 29:13). The Lord calls this type of empty worship purposeless in Isaiah 1:10-11.

While it’s true that Sodom and Gomorrah were terribly sinful nations, America has plenty of it’s own iniquity. And we Christians need to be willing to respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit with repentant hearts in our churches and our lives before we can ever hope to begin making a difference where our nation is concerned. When we begin worshiping the Lord in spirit and in truth on a regular basis, He’ll empower us to walk in the spirit daily (Galatians 5:22-26).

True Worshipers

In John 4:23 the word "true" (as in "true worshipers") comes from a Greek root that means unconcealed. A nice synonym here would be "unashamed" or "open". The Father is looking for people who are openly and unashamedly worshiping Him. Willing to give Him the glory at work, in the car, at the grocery, at home, in the church or wherever He presents us with an opportunity – and that doesn’t necessarily mean in song. Taking advantage of an opportunity to tell someone about some good thing that God has done for us is a form of worship. And when our hearts are willing and obedient, He continues to pour out His blessings on us (Isaiah 1:19).

Another important word in John 4:23 is the word "spirit" (in spirit and in truth) which comes from a Greek word that can be translated as "a current of air", "breath", "blast", or "breeze". Our hearts are a very important part of our ability to "breath". This being the case, we could say that the Father seeks those who will worship Him "from the heart". But here’s my favorite part of that whole verse. He "is seeking such to worship Him." The word "seek" comes from a Greek word that can be translated as to "be desired", "will seek after", and "will seek means". So our Heavenly Father desires and will chase after and even make a way for those who will worship Him from their hearts.

In Spirit and in Truth

Because God created each of us with different giftings and different personalities, worship from the heart isn’t going to be a "one size fits all" kind of a thing. However, there are examples throughout God’s Word of worship from the heart. King David wrote psalms, played the harp, and danced. Miriam and many other Israeli women played the timbrel and danced (Ex. 15:20). King David invited all people to clap their hands (Psalm 47:1), shout (Psalm 32, Psalm 35) play instruments and sing (Psalm 147), and many other Biblical examples could be mentioned.

While it’s important to worship with the church corporately, it’s also important that we make time to worship Him on our own. Whether we choose to sing our praises to Him when we first wake up, think our praises to Him on our lunch break, speak our praises to Him before going to sleep or even in the shower, this time with Him is one thing that will strengthen our relationship with Him, as will reading His Word on a regular basis and applying it to our lives.

As we commit to waiting on Him (or listening for His directives) during our personal worship time with Him, we’ll gain the wisdom and the faith we need to step where He calls us. Our choice to worship God from our hearts, read His Word, and apply it to our lives is going to empower us to live our lives, and equip us to make a difference in the world around us.

Notes for Growth

While I find that I enjoy many different genres of music, I’ve become keenly aware that there are benefits to studying classical music. With most classical pieces, it can take several weeks before one is truly comfortable with it. This being the case, I have discovered that if I don’t like the piece that I’m studying, it’s extremely difficult to exercise the discipline to stick with the song. Lately, I’ve found that I like the romantic era of the classics the best. I especially like Chopin's piano preludes. And for me, studying something I like is often where I find the dividing line between a piece that frustrates me and one I label as "challenging". And challenge is where I experience growth as a musician.

My favorite benefit from studying classical music is that it helps to develop good technique - which can sometimes be a battle. Especially if one has developed some bad habits. Since bad habits are typically subconscious, they can be hard to overcome. The good news is that a habit is a learned thing. So if a conscious, consistent effort is made to adopt a good habit and stop the bad one, the good habit will eventually become the subconscious one, replacing the bad one. And fighting that battle is definitely worth it.

More specifically, one of the many benefits of studying classical piano music is that it encourages good fingering. With many pieces, this aspect of technique will make or break the piece. It’s a foundational issue – just as being able to read the notes is foundational. If the fingering is good, the song can be played cleanly. The more subconscious good fingering becomes, the easier it is to think about dynamics, which are a great way for a musician to add depth to what he or she is playing. And if it’s an up-tempo song, clean play will lend itself to speed. I believe that classical music is the most difficult to play. So when a musician begins mastering songs in that genre, these skills are wonderfully transferable. Also, as someone who enjoys songwriting, I find that studying classical pieces has inspired ideas for creating songs with a more full sound.

Another benefit is more effective use of the damper pedal. Something that I’ve noticed about classical music is that, since it’s typically more complex than contemporary music, it’s much easier for an incorrectly used damper pedal to make a classical piece sound "blurred" where it should have a more crisp sound. This benefit will lend itself to musicians having a more precise, professional sound.

Studying classical music also encourages an enhanced ability to focus. Not only is it physically demanding, but it’s mentally demanding. It’s the ultimate multi-tasking experience. In fact, if I’m working on a classical piece, I’ll often work on that before any other piece. If my mind is tired, I don’t do as well. And it’s amazing how easy the less demanding things become after I’ve worked on a classical song. Some of the longest songs ever created are classical pieces. This being the case, Studying classical music enhances endurance - both physically and mentally.

In closing, improving one’s technique enhances clean, quality playing, which is a reward that brings the skill and satisfaction of being able to play more complex pieces. Not only will this increase a person’s confidence as a musician, it will also cause an audience to be more receptive, and bring about more opportunities to play out.

Covering Missionaries in Effectual Fervent Prayer

The older I get in the Lord the more evident it becomes to me that God has given a mighty weapon to every Christian – the weapon of prayer. It’s mighty to the pulling down of enemy strongholds and more powerful than the world system. And where mission work is concerned, prayer has more value than money. Now someone might raise an eyebrow at that and ask, "How is that possible? Isn’t it money that makes mission work possible?" While there is a cost involved, it’s very easy to just give money and then never give another thought – much less another prayer. And as someone who’s been on the field many times, if I had to choose between the gift of someone’s prayer covering or their monetary gift, I personally would pick the prayer covering. Money can only go so far. Prayer has a fascinating way of being the catalyst for making stuff happen, and God has an incredible way of stepping in where we come up short. Consider what Jesus was able to do with five loaves and two fish (Luke 9:13). So here are 10 specific ways that prayer warriors (i. e. intercessors) can pray for missionaries that are not only highly beneficial, but also down-to-earth practical.

1) It’s not an uncommon thing for an airline to decide (seemingly arbitrarily) to cancel a person’s flight and move him or her to another. On one occasion, I just happened to see a flight attendant standing at the bottom of an exit ramp with a small sign that had my next flight number written on it. Because my previous flight had been long, and I was rather tiard, her sign didn’t quite register in my mind and I walked right on by. Then at the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I went back and asked her why she was holding up that sign.

"Is this your next flight?" she asked.
"Yes."
"It’s been canceled. I need to escort you and any others to your new flight."

It turned out that I was the only one from that particular flight. God knows if that was an angel disquised as a human or not, but it was certainly someone’s prayers that helped me make that connecting flight. Thank God for His grace and mercy!

2) Great flying weather and beautiful weather while in the host country. Poor weather can cause turbulence, and a plane in turbulence can be pretty unnerving. In addition, crummy weather will delay flights, complicate other modes of travel, and make ministry more difficult – especially if you have equipment to transport. Because I typically lead the praise and worship when I go on a mission trip, I usually have my guitar. On one occasion we had to catch a train to another city in pouring down rain. To make matters even more interesting, the train station was not within walking distance. So we had to pile our team into a taxi that was roughly the size of a VW bug. Since the trunk was way too small to hold my guitar, we laid it across our laps. Let’s just say the trip to the train station was a unique experience. We sang Veggie Tales songs as a stress release. However, there have been other occasions when I went on a short-term mission trip and never saw a drop of rain. God can do anything!

3) That all the missionary’s luggage would arrive both ways, undamaged. Nothing’s more frustrating than not having what you need and trying to file a lost / damaged claim report. Especially if one of those items is an instrument. And I speak from experience about the deep annoyance I've felt when my guitar has been lost in transit and my luggage has been damaged. By God’s grace and mercy, I did eventually get my guitar back.

4) Supernatural health. It’s very difficult to get medical care in some countries. Sickness definitely complicates ministry in many ways. Also, the pace of a mission trip is often very rapid. Getting needed rest can be a very real complication – which makes it difficult to heal if a person has health issues. I thank God that the worst thing that I personally ever experienced has been a cold, but this did make it difficult to sing.

5) That God would be in the middle of all the missionary’s relationships. The enemy loves to mess with people’s minds. And the combination of jet lag and stress can make it a real challenge to stay focused and subdue the flesh. I once heard a preacher say that mission work will either bring out the worst in a person, or the best in a person. When I finally got the opportunity to go on the field myself, I understood. I’ll sum that up like this: any area in which a person is lacking the fruit of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-26) will be an area that the enemy will hit hard.

6) God’s wisdom and discernment for the missionary. Some people know how to talk a good game. Though in some cases, there are just language barriers. There are also some people in other countries who aren’t particularly fond of Americans. I was once in a situation when a woman wanted to argue her political views of America with me. I apologized for the things that she was frustrated about and the Lord opened a door for me to witness to her. It was only by God’s grace (and probably someone’s prayers) that I knew what to say.

7) God’s provision for the missionary’s finances, and that He’d stretch them out. During one mission trip, a couple of shopkeepers found out that our group was a group of missionaries and blessed us with a few items at no charge!

8) That God would use the missionary for the prospering of His kingdom. It seems obvious to pray that people will be saved and delivered, but the enemy will fight to keep people in bondage. Also there are some countries in which people will more readily accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. This is why some mission agencies will report "thousands saved" and other missionaries only report a few saved. It all depends
on how open the people are. Sometimes it takes years before results even begin to show. The thing we must remember is that heaven rejoices over each saved individual - not a qualifying quantity.

9) That the missionary would focus consistently on being a person after God’s own heart. It can be easy to get out of focus when out of your comfort zone – especially when things don’t go as planned. Which they often don’t when on the field. Flexibility is a necessity. And trading our agendas for God’s is the best way to avoid a lot of frustration that will often manifest as complaining. I’ve watched teams almost split because of a team member’s hidden agenda and self-seeking attitude.

10) That God would help the missionary to adapt easily to the host country, and have an easy readjustment when returning home. There is actually a type of reverse culture shock that can happen to a missionary if he or she has been particularly immersed in the culture of his or her host country. It all depends on how much the missionary has identified and adapted to the culture of the host country, and how well the missionary has been able to stay in-touch with family back home.

The above list is definitely not a complete list. However, it will make a great springboard as we listen for the Holy Spirit to lead us into keeping our missionaries covered in prayer.