Worshipping the Lord

nother area where the Holy Spirit will move in on in your sanctification process will be in the area of being able to properly worship the Lord. This will be the area where you can really learn how to worship and praise the Lord in the Spirit. This is a supernatural ability that will be given to you by the Holy Spirit Himself if you are open to receiving this from Him.

Since there are so many different denominations and branches in the Body, there obviously are going to be differing levels of the way people will worship the Lord. Some of the more conservative types of denominations will have a much less intense way in which they will worship and sing to the Lord in their services as compared to what you will see in some of the non-denominational charismatic type services.

I have had numerous Catholics tell me that when they decided to switch from the Catholic setting they were raised up in to a more non-denominational charismatic type of church, their spiritual senses came in for a major shock the first time they walked into a charismatic service.

The first thing they notice is how much more intense the charismatics will worship, praise and sing to the Lord in the first part of their services. Sometimes you will see a real live band up on an actual stage with musicians playing guitars, keyboards and drums, along with one or more singers.

You will see people with their hands raised up in the air worshipping, singing and praising the Lord. You will see some people with tears rolling down their eyes. Other people will be jumping up and down and clapping their hands. And others will literally be running around the church or dancing in the middle of the aisles.

If you have not been raised up with this kind of intensity in the denomination that you have been brought up in, you will will feel like you have just walked into the middle of a hurricane or tornado due to the high level of passion and intensity these people are worshipping and praising the Lord.

For those of you who have been raised and brought up in the more conservative branches in the Body, and are not used to seeing this kind of intensity in the way these people are worshipping and praising the Lord, I will use this article to give you 21 very good verses from the Bible showing you that this type of intensity is definitely biblical, and that these people have not lost their minds or gone too flakey in their walks with the Lord.

What these people are doing are worshipping and praising the Lord in the Spirit, singing in the Spirit, dancing in the Spirit and running in the Spirit. This is something that is coming directly from the Holy Spirit and this is all being done "in the Holy Spirit." This is literally a supernatural ability that can be imparted to each and every believer by the Holy Spirit Himself if they are open to receiving it.

This first verse I will now list will tell us exactly how true worship is made to the Lord:

"... the true worshippers 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." (John 4:23)

Notice this verse is telling us that we have to learn how to worship God from our human spirits. The letter "s" in the word "spirit" is with a small "s." This means it is talking about our human spirits. The apostle Paul tells us that we have three parts to our being - body, soul and spirit.

I believe the Lord is trying to tell us two things with the specific wording of this verse. First, we have to learn how to worship the Lord from our spirit, which means that we have to learn how to worship Him from our heart.

The second thing is that we must learn how to worship the Lord in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives and dwells in our human spirits. The Holy Spirit enters into our human spirits the moment we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and have become saved and born again.

If we are to worship the Lord from our human spirits, and the Holy Spirit is already living and dwelling in our human spirits, then I believe it is only logical to conclude that the Lord wants us to learn how to worship and praise Him in the Holy Spirit.

I don't want to come down on some of the other more subdued and less intense ways some people will worship the Lord in some of these other less intense branches, but there is definitely a difference between one person who can worship and praise the Lord in the Spirit and another who is just worshipping the Lord out of his flesh and out of his head.

Again, the ability to be able to truly worship the Lord with this kind of intensity, passion and love can be imparted to you by the Holy Spirit if you will not be afraid to open yourself up to receive it from Him.

To really be able to receive this kind of ability from the Holy Spirit, the first thing you are going to need is the appropriate verses from Scripture to show you that this kind of intense worship is definitely biblical.

Before I list the actual Scripture verses on this topic, I'm going to highlight and bullet point several key phrases that you will see listed in these verses.

Here are 8 powerful key phrases that will first of all tell us that God the Father wants us to worship, exalt and magnify Him and His Holy Name:

• Worship the Father in spirit and truth 
• Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness
• Worship at His footstool
• Let us worship and bow down
• All the earth shall worship You
• Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name
• Exalt the Lord our God
• Magnify His name

Here are 5 very good phrases on us being able to give thanks to the Lord:

• Give thanks to the Lord for His goodness
• Give thanks to the Lord, for He is God
• Magnify Him with thanksgiving
• Enter His gates with thanksgiving
• Come before His presence with thanksgiving

Part of what will be included in being able to worship the Lord will also be praising Him. Here are 7 key phrases all pointing out that praising the Lord should be something that we learn how to do on a regular basis:

• I will bless the Lord at all times
• His praise shall continually be in my mouth
• Let the high praises of God be in their mouth
• Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised
• Praise God in His sanctuary
• Praise Him for His mighty acts
• Praise Him according to His excellent greatness

These next 11 phrases will all point out that it is also biblical that we sing to the Lord, and that God will have no problems with you if you want to sing with some level of intensity in your singing to Him:

• Sing to the Lord
• Sing praises to God
• I will sing praises
• Sing praises with understanding
• Sing out the honor of His name
• Praise the name of God with a song
• I will sing of Your power
• Let them sing aloud in their beds
• Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes
• Praise Him with loud cymbals
• I will play music before the Lord

These next 3 verses will show you that it is also biblical if you want to dance before the Lord when you are worshipping, praising and singing before Him:

• Praise Him with the timbrel and dance
• Let them praise His name with dance
• Then David danced before the Lord with all his might

I know some people may think that this kind of higher intensity in the way some people like to worship, praise, sing or dance to the Lord may be a bit on the extreme side - but strongly consider this analogy.

Next time you are watching a sporting event on TV such as a college or professional football, basketball or baseball game, watch what happens when the cameras start to pan out into the crowd when one team gets ready to score a touchdown, hit that winning shot from the basketball court or drive in that winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning in a baseball game.

When the cameras start to pan out into the crowd in these kinds of climatic moments, you will literally see just about everyone standing up, clapping their hands, and yelling, screaming and shouting at the tops of their lungs - all because their team is about to win the game or make an important touchdown, goal or hit in order to help them win the game. And all of this kind of maximum intensity is being shown and expressed over just a simple sports game.

If we can have these kinds of maximum intense emotions, thoughts, words and feelings over who is going to win a simple sports game, then how much more should we have this kind of maximum intensity in the way that we worship, praise and give thanks to our one and only Lord and Savior?

For those of you who may be new to all of this as a result of just getting saved, or as a result of having decided to switch from one denomination to another, realize that this higher level of worship that you will see manifested in these types of services is not something that the Lord will expect you to be able to do overnight.

In the Miscellaneous Section of our site, we have another article titled "Worship and Praise in Charismatic Churches." In that article, I answered an email from a girl who was trying to make the transition and change from the Catholic church that she was brought up in to a new non-denominational church that she decided to join.

The first problem she had was feeling inferior and not good enough before the Lord because she could not worship, praise or sing to Him like some of the other people were able to do in their services. She was uncomfortable and uneasy with all of it because it was such a big and drastic change from what she had been raised up in.

The first thing you really have to grab ahold of when learning how to enter into true worship with the Lord is that this is a very individual and personal matter between you and God. Do not ever compare yourself with anyone else in how they worship and praise the Lord.

We are all operating at different levels of spiritual development with the Lord. Some people are much more outgoing, bold and brazen in their walks and in their personalities with the Lord. They are not self-conscious, and they have no problems in being able to let go with some level of intensity in the way they worship the Lord in a public setting.

However, there are others who are much more self-conscious, shy or timid in their walks and in their personalities with the Lord. They do not have the boldness or courage to be able to sing out loud or raise up their hands when worshipping the Lord in a public type of setting like this.

If you fall into this kind of category, do not beat yourself up with condemnation or think of yourself as not being good enough before the Lord. If you will notice in the wording in the first verse that I have listed at the top of this article - that we have to learn how to worship God the Father in spirit and in "truth."

The words in "truth" could be referring to the fact that we learn how to be true to ourselves and learn how to worship the Lord from a true and pure heart - not from a heart of trying to be like everyone else when it is not coming natural to us at the level of spiritual development that we may be currently operating at with Him.

Some people will progress at a faster rate in certain areas of their walk with the Lord than others will. Some people will be able to easily and quickly jump right in to being able to worship and praise the Lord with the more intense kind of singing and worship that you will see in some of these types of services.

If you are having a hard time in being able to release to the Lord with this kind of intensity in the way you want to worship and praise Him, especially in a public type of setting, then my advice to you would be not to worry about it, and let the Lord gradually bring you up into these higher levels of worship and praise at the pace that He will want to do it in.

Be guided by the Holy Spirit on this. The Holy Spirit will gradually work His boldness, His courage, His passion and His intensity into you where you will then be able to do this without feeling overly self-conscious or intimidated. Let Him work all of this into you at the pace that He will want to work with.

What you will find in this specific area is that the closer you get to the Lord in your own personal relationship with Him, the less self-conscious you will become in how you interact with Him and how you share Him and His ways with other people. The closer you get to the Lord, the better you will get to know Him. And the better you get to know Him, the more you will want to express your feelings, your thoughts and your emotions to Him.

And once this starts to happen, you will then start to have a natural and holy desire to want to worship and praise this awesome God of ours. Once you start to really learn more about the Lord as a result of your own personal adventures and walk with Him, the more He will start to blow you away with His goodness, with His awesomeness, with His love, and with how much He really does care for you and how far He will always go to take proper care of you.

Once you break into the real realm and real reality of what our Lord is really like and all about - your mind, your heart and your spirit will want to bow down and worship Him, and Him alone. You will simply want to give and express, to the best of your abilities, all the praise and worship that will only be due to Him.

You will come to realize that every fiber of your being and every ounce of your existence is solely and totally dependent upon Him - and that there is nothing on this earth that can even begin to compare to Him and the depth and awesomeness of His personality.

Once your mind comes into contact with who God really is and what He is really all about, then it will become much easier for you to be able to worship Him in the way these Scripture verses are telling you to do.

But again, let the Holy Spirit slowly raise you up to this level if you are not there yet. If you have committed to making a full surrender with the Lord where He is now in complete control of your life, and you have given Him a full and solid green light to enter you into His sanctification process for your life, then this ability to be able to properly worship and praise Him will be given to you by the Holy Spirit over a certain period of time.

The Scripture Verses

So that you can get the full power effect of these verses, I'm going to go ahead and run all of these verses together one right after the other.

Once you read all of these verses one right after the other, you will be able to understand and witness to some of the more intense levels of worship and praise that you will see in some of the non-denominational charismatic type of churches.

1. "... 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." (John 4:23)
    
2. "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created." (Revelation 4:11)
    
3. "Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." (Psalm 29:2)
    
4. "The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He dwells between the cherubim; let the earth be moved! The Lord is great in Zion, and He is high above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name - He is holy .... Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His footstool; for He is holy." (Psalm 99:1,5)
    
5. "He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their chains in pieces. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He has broken the gates of bronze, and cut the bars of iron in two." (Psalm 107:14-16)
    
6. "You are my God, and I will praise You; You are my God, I will exalt You. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever." (Psalm 118:28)
     
7. "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord ... Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together." (Psalm 34:1,3)
    
8. "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts." (Psalm 145:3)
    
9. "I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving." (Psalm 69:30)
    
10. "I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the Lord." (Psalm 104:33)
     
11. "Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament! Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness! Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the lute and harp! Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes! Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with high sounding cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!" (Psalm 150:1-6)
     
12. "Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! For He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory." (Psalm 98:1)
     
13. "But I will sing of Your power; yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; for You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble. To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; for God is my defense, the God of my mercy." (Psalm 59:16)
     
14. "Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to the Lord with the voice of triumph! For the Lord Most High is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth ... Sing praises to God, sing praises! ... For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with understanding." (Psalm 47:1,6)
     
15. "Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works. Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His face evermore. Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth ..." (Psalm 105:1-5)
     
16. "Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness, come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations." (Psalm 100:1-5)
     
17. "Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods ... 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." (Psalm 95:1,6)
     
18. "Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! Sing out the honor of His name; make His praise glorious. Say to God, "How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You. All the earth shall worship You and sing praises to You; they shall sing praises to Your name." (Psalm 66:1-4)
     
19. "Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples. For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods ... Give to the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come into His courts. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth." (Psalm 96:1,7)
     
20. "Let them praise His name with dance; let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp. For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth ... (Psalm 149:3)
     
21. Then David danced before the Lord with all his might ... "Therefore I will play music before the Lord. And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight." (2 Samuel 6:14, 21)

When you study all the above verses, and then match it up with the way some people will worship, praise, sing or dance to the Lord in some of these more intense types of worship services, you will see that everything they are doing is not only biblical, but right on target with the way the Lord would like all of us to be able to truly worship Him.

The very last verse from King David really sums it all up when it says that he danced before the Lord with all of his might and that he was not worrying about being dignified. So the next time you see people running in the Spirit, dancing in the Spirit, or singing intensely in the Spirit, remember what the greatest king that Israel has ever had has just stated - that he was not afraid to dance and worship before the Lord with all of his might!

Conclusion

When you read all of the above verses one right after the other, you can really feel the power that there is if you can learn how to worship the Lord with some level of intensity. But again, for those of you who are just not there yet, do not get discouraged or dismayed because you cannot worship as freely or as intensely as some of the other people around you may be doing in a church service. God will be looking at your heart on all of this, not at how you compare with the other people all around you.

The other thing to note on all of this is that you do not have to be in a church service to be able to worship the Lord. You can literally do this anytime and at anyplace. You can do it while riding in your car, in the privacy of your own bedroom, or in the privacy of your office at work. You can do it quietly by yourself so no one else will hear you if you happen to be in close proximity to other people.

There will be times that the Holy Spirit will come up on you and prompt you to just all of a sudden want to worship and give praise, honor and glory to the Lord for just a few short moments. You will find yourself all of a sudden wanting to thank God for how He is handling your life or for something that He may have just helped you out with. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will initiate it Himself. Other times you will want to personally do it yourself.

For those of you who know how to truly worship the Lord in the Spirit, you know what a wonderful blessing and experience it really is to be able to do this. Once you learn how to go into a true worship mode with the Lord through the Holy Spirit, it will help draw you that much closer to God in your own personal relationship with Him.

When you look at how our world and society has been set up, you see many people literally idolizing and worshipping other people who have become famous in their public arenas. You have politicians, movie stars, singing stars and sports stars all getting a certain amount of public adulation, worship and praise from people all over the world for what they have been able to accomplish in their particular fields of expertise.

If people can show that kind of intensity in the way they worship, praise and adulate successful movie, sports or singing stars, then why can't we do the same thing with God Almighty Himself?

No matter how great some of these accomplishments may have been by some of these public stars, the bottom line is that they are just as human, just as mortal and just as fallen as the rest of us are.

This is why the Bible tells us that we are not to glory in other men or in all of their accomplishments, but only onto the Lord Himself, since He is the only perfect Being and God in existence.

There is nothing wrong in celebrating other people's accomplishments and achievements in their fields of expertise such as the sports arenas or the performing arts arenas. God Himself loves to watch people try and become the best they can be at whatever He has gifted them to be able to do. But as with everything else in this life, we have to keep all of this in proper perspective and proper balance.

No human is ever going to become close to becoming the fourth person of the Holy Trinity. No human will ever get close to being like God or becoming God.

No matter how successful other people may become with whatever God may have initially gifted them with, we always have to remember that all of these movie and sports stars are fallen and imperfect creatures just like the rest of us are, and that they do not need to be put up on altars or pedestals that will rival our Lord.

Some people will worship, praise and follow after these other movie, singing and sports stars more than they will worship, praise and follow the Lord Himself. The Bible tells us that our God is a very jealous God and that He will not allow Himself to be replaced by other people or by other people's accomplishments and successes in this life.

Just realize that as you continue to grow and mature in your walk with the Lord, the Holy Spirit will start to illuminate your mind and open up your eyes to all of this. And one of the areas that He will definitely be including in your sanctification process with the Lord will be helping you out on how to truly worship the Lord from your heart and from your spirit.

 

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Worship in Charismatic Churches

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Holding Fast to the Lord



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Michael Bradley
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Scripture taken from New King James Version.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005-2008 by Michael Bradley.


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