Reflection on Praise and Worship

http://www.reflectionsbymichelleyee.wordpress.com Worship is essential to the Christian faith as important as we need to pray, as important as we need to have faith to please God. Worship is the overall calling and a privilege of every Child of God, Psalm 33:1, “Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones praise is becoming to the upright.” Worship is man’s expression of love and reverence towards our Creator and it is also our acknowledgment of His sovereignty and His lordship over our lives. Worship is bringing delight and pleasure to God and it shifts our focus from ourselves to God. It is also a powerful weapon against the devil, it silences the accuser and denies him of his power, because worship brings down God’s presence and power. Our worship not only brings delight to God, it also brings encouragement to the hurting members of Christ. When our worship rises to God, His power is manifested and healing takes place. Worship should be a way of life for Christians, if we do not enjoy worshipping God on earth, how are we going to worship in heaven which will be for eternity? It has been said that our hearts are designed to be a God-filled vacuum. If our hearts are not filled by our worship or our desire for God, it will be cluttered and filled by other things in life. Once our hearts are filled things other that God, we lose our focus on Him then we start to go astray. At this point of the message, I should also make some clarification of the most common misunderstanding of worship. Worship is often and mostly misunderstood and often referred to as a particular style of music. We usually classify fast songs as praise and slow songs as worship. Worship has nothing to do with the style or volume or speed of a song. Praise is worship and worship is praise, they one and the same and there shouldn’t be any segregation the two, because to God any song that glorifies and pleases Him is praise that is as good as worship. But worship is far more that music, every part of the church service is worship - Praying, scripture reading, singing, listening to a sermon, taking notes, baptism, giving of tithes, part-taking of the Lord’s Supper and even greeting of other worshippers. If worship is only music than, those who do know not music, cannot worship. If worship is more than music and if worship is bringing pleasure to God, then our lives must be worship unto God. We ought to live our lives to glorify Him. How then do we glory God? We can glory God in various ways – When we speak the truth in gentleness and love, when we honor our parents/bosses/pastors or when we help a brother or sister in need. When we seek to honor and glorify God, we are God conscience and we will do the things that please Him. We will pray and seek God for counselling before we make any decision and when the Lord gives us the direction to follow, we simply obey in faith. It is probably a good idea to do a spiritual check-list in our lives every now and then by doing self-reflection… A good start will be to ask, “If I do this, will God be happy?” So let us all start to get into the habit of worshipping God. Make worship a priority, make it a way of life… When you know that God is pleased with you and your live, you will probably be a more confident person. You will be bold to do the things of God and will do it with such joy because you know that God is smiling at you from heaven above. Nehemiah 8:10 “The joy of the Lord is your strength”. God bless you all and may His joy go with you to give you strength!

Serving with you in His kingdom with love; Princess Michelle- Beloved Daughter of the Most High King