Genuine Praise and Worship

“Praise and Worship are used together but are not synonymous… “Praise” means: to confess, laud, and give thanks, within a Christian service it simply means to declare who God is, His character… “Worship” means: to bow down, to prostrate one’s self before God, to fall down, to reverence, within Christian service it simply speaks to the posture of our hearts before God, and also our physical response to His inward work…

Ownership in honoring God is held by all, not just spiritual superstars, not just the with worship team, praise is to be participatory by the whole church body… There is no diffusion of responsibility within praise or worship…

“Praise always precedes worship. Until we praise God –that is, until we recognize and acknowledge how infinitely great and awesome He is, and until our hearts are filled with gratitude for all He has done for us, we will not worship Him –-that is, we will not bow down before Him as our Lord and offer our lives in service to Him.”

“Maker” “Self-existence is an impossible conception, whether of the universe or of God; (nothing we know is like it, we’ve all come from something) but it is also impossible to avoid it and find a substitute; it is only impossible to conceive of two self-existences.”

“Praise is unidirectional. We praise God. He does not praise us. Praise is our acknowledgement of His power, authority, wisdom and worthiness. Praise does not require a response from the one who is being praised… On the other hand, worship is relational. It is not only our communion with God. It is also is His communion with us.”

“It is only the unworthy in me that refuses to bow down to the Worthy.”

Because we harden our hearts and test God we jeopardize the “rest” God desires to give us within Him and relationship with Him…

The root of Israel’s sin wasn’t an intellectual issue, it was a heart issue, God had done more than enough to express His reality, and care for them, but their hearts wouldn’t believe… they wouldn’t trust God, so they hardened themselves and trusted in other gods, and served God in half measures… and there worship wasn’t true…”

Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *