Renew… My Worship
The act of worship and praise is documented throughout the Bible. Words for worship are found in 186 verses in the Bible. 258 verses refer to praising the Lord God. Many other texts give support to the practice of praise and worship. Praise and worship are an essential part of our service to God. Many of the answers for our complex needs come through praise and worship. Genuine praise and worship springs from a heart that is at rest in God. This kind of faith in God believes and relies on Him above everything else. There is tremendous power in praise and worship that springs from a heart that is right with God.
Each of us have specific reasons to worship God. We often enter into praise as a result of the goodness and mercy that is shown to us. Sometimes we just enter into seasons of worship and praise because God is Who He is.
When King David was old and preparations were being made for Solomon to build the Temple in Jerusalem, he gathered all the leaders of Israel, with the priest and Levites.
Thirty-Eight thousand Levites gathered together to receive instructions from the King.
1 Chronicles 23:30 NKJV Stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at evening.
This was an instruction for the Levites who stood before the Lord to sing songs of thanks and praise.
Psalm 28:6-7 NLT Praise the Lord! For he has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust Him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.
David did not want to be like the people who did not care what the Lord had done. He praised the Lord for hearing his cry for mercy and he lifted his voice in worship to God.
Psalm 40:3 NKJV He has put a new song in my mouth— Praise to our God.
Psalm 98:4 NKJV Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.
He was encouraging people to sing a new song to the Lord, for He has done wonderful deeds. Then he said, “Shout joyfully to the Lord!” “Break out in praise and sing for joy!”
Psalm 149:1 NKJV Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, And His praise in the assembly of saints.
Psalm 149:3 NKJV Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.
He was encouraging radical praise to the Lord. This kind of worship and praise is an open expression of the changes God makes on the inside.
The entire Psalm 150 is a praise to God.
Psalm 150:4-6 Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes! Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with clashing cymbals! Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord!
This kind of praise is not confined to the Old covenant and forms of service in the Temple.
Hebrews 13:15 NIV84 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess His name.
The first mention of worship is found in the first book of the Bible.
God had instructed Abraham to go to the land of Moriah and offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering on the mountains.
Genesis 22:5 NKJV And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
That word “worship” means to have an encounter with the living and holy God. This word for worship is translated: “bow down, kneel in reverence, fall down, to worship.” Abraham was headed to a place where he was going to have an encounter with God.
We learn more about worship as we watch people entering into God’s presence.
Often they bowed down, fell on their face and worshipped God. As worship of God developed, God instructed His people how they were to enter His presence. Part of the reason for the building of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was to establish a place and methods of worshipping God.
Biblical examples show that worship is giving the LORD the glory that is due His name.
We worship Him, for the LORD is good, holy and glorious. We exalt the LORD in worship, for He is high and holy.
Included in the many verses dedicated to worship and praise are eight Hebrew words that are translated praise.
These words show us how to behave when we praise and glorify God.
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First, we are to praise the Lord with the TÂHILLAH (te-hil-law), a song of praise.
Isaiah 42:10 NKJV Sing to the Lord a new song, And His praise from the ends of the earth!
The Psalmist said: “sing unto the Lord.”
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Second, the ZAMAR (zawmar) is a celebration of praise to God with musical instruments and with a song.
In 1 Chronicles 15:16 when David appointed the Levites to sing and worship God, they were instructed to play on instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals, and to fill the house with their voices of joyful praise. This kind of praise is done without reservation. Lift up your heads and sing with resounding joy to the Lord.
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Third, the HILLUWL (hil-lool) the congregation gave merry praise of celebration and rejoicing to God.
Psalm 42:4 NET For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God, shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival.
This praise is filled with the joy of a merry heart and shouting to God.
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Fourth, the TOWDAH (to-daw) is a shout with the hands lifted in praise.
With my hands lifted up and my mouth filled with praise. In Psalms 56, when David was trapped by the Philistines in Gath, before God delivered him, he offered a TOWDAH praise to God. This kind of praise to God includes all of the soul and the lifting of the hands.
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Fifth, the YADAH (yaw-daw) is an emotional and loud praise with the hands extended.
Yawdaw is found 120 times in the Hebrew Bible.
Psalm 134:2 NKJV Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord.
This is an emotional expression of praise with our voices and hands.
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Sixth, the ּHALAL (haw-lal) is a common word for praise that means to boast, brag, rave, or celebrate about God even to the point of appearing foolish.
Psalms 113–118 are the HALAL Psalms.
2 Chronicles 5:13-14 when the trumpeters and singers made one sound in praising and thanking the Lord, saying: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever,” the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.
Halal is the root word for hallelujah. Hallelujah means “Praise Jehovah.” In Revelation 19, when all of the saints of all the ages will be around the throne of God at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, they will sing, “Alleluia! For the LORD God Omnipotent reigns!”
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The RUWAʿ (roo·ah) and the HAL-AL are associated. It means to shout unto God with the sound of triumph, (Psalms 47:1).
In Joshua 6:5, after Israel walked around Jericho the last time, the priest made a long blast with the ram’s horn and the people shouted and the wall fell.
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Seventh, the SHÂBACH (she-bakh) means to adulate, adore, praise, and adore.
This is a loud, triumphant praise. In Daniel 2:23, Daniel said, “I thank and praise You, O God of my fathers.” He praised God for revealing the secret of the King’s dream. He said, “Praise the Lord, for He knows all things.”
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The eighth word BARAK (baw-rak) means to kneel and to bless God as an act of adoration and praise.
Barak is in the Bible 330 times. We should kneel before the Lord God our Maker and worship before Him with praises on our lips.
In addition there are nine words in the New Testament Greek that are translated “praise.”
The meaning of these words varies from giving glory, blessing, and praise, to singing a song of praise to God.
There are 10 words in the Hebrew and 10 in the Greek that are translated “worship.”
Regardless of the word that is used, true worship must come from the heart. Worship is not just giving thanks and adoration. Worship involves entering into God’s presence. We are beginning to understand the importance of praise and worship to Almighty God.
Psalm 100:4 NKJV Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
One of our highest callings is to enter into God’s presence with true worship and praise. God has promised where two or three are gathered together in His name, He would be in our midst, (Matthew 18:20). The essence of worship is to encounter the living God.
We want to renew worship and praise in our lives.
Jesus spoke a word to the Samaritan woman at the well that relates to each of us.
John 4:23-24 NKJV Jesus said, “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.”
To have an encounter with God in worship and praise, we must enter into His presence by the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit is able to grant us the awareness of God’s presence, power, and holiness. In the Old Testament, the Priest and Levites prepared for the ritual of worship by sacrifice and cleansing. We must be prepared for true worship by God’s intervention through Christ. In the Old Testament, the Priest entered into God’s presence to find mercy and help for themselves and the people. Our worship brings us into God’s presence.
Hebrews 4:16 NKJV Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
We have been granted a bold access into God’s holy presence through the blood of Jesus.
We have gathered together with the goal to renew our worship of Almighty God.
We need to enter into God’s presence so we can find the mercy and grace we need. Your healing, salvation, Spiritual fulness depends on this.
