Welcome to Easter Week 2016! All week long, denominations all over the world are celebrating the risen Christ.
“The Lord is risen indeed!”
Luke 24:34
There is nothing more worthy of our praise than the work completed on the cross and the resurrection power now working in our lives as a result.
And it is our praise and worship that create an atmosphere that ignites and fuels this resurrection power—for where there is praise, there is God’s power!:
“God inhabits the praises of His people.”
Psalm 22:3
Your ability (privilege and honor) to praise and worship is not only your own personal doorway to prevailing, overcoming, succeeding, and prospering—but also the key to significantly boosting the effectiveness of every prayer you pray.
Praise and worship give you an instant audience with God Almighty, ushering you right into His very presence. We are instructed to enter His courts with our praise before we ever approach His throne with our prayer.
“Enter into His gates with praise, and into His courts with rejoicing: Praise Him and bless His Name.”
Psalm 100:4
Nothing gets God’s attention like heart-felt praise and sincere, adoring worship.
Praise, however, is different from worship. You worship God for who He is; you praise God for what He’s done. And not only for what He’s done, but you utilize praise as a weapon of warfare.
Nothing leaves heaven until something leaves earth.
Praise is not just a celebration of God for doing something for you, but it’s a powerful spiritual weapon for securing those things that He is yet to do.
Being mindful and vocal about God’s faithfulness is a powerful expression that extends through every aspect of our personal lives, as well as the communities that surround us, and ripples even out to the wider world.
The more you praise and glorify God, the more you confound and constrain the enemy.
It has been suggested that one of the main reasons for the power failure in the Church today is that Christians have failed to minister to the Lord.
Effectiveness in ministry comes when our ministry to the Lord takes precedence over anything else we do—over our carefully planned programs, publicity campaigns, or catering to the needs, wants, and desires of our congregations and communities.
If that priority is reversed, the worship service or any other service we engage in becomes spiritually impotent. Vibrant, life-giving engagement is reduced to a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal, as spoken of 1 Corinthians 13:1.
The true essence of praise and worship is ministering unto the Lord.
As it relates to ministering to the Lord, upholding this one priority will yield supernatural results not only in your spiritual and personal development, but also in the development of your church and ministry.
It’s similar to the principle of seedtime and harvest—although one doesn’t plant the seed of praise and worship primarily for a harvest of blessing; yet, the all-sufficient God ensures a “return” of immeasurable value when the exchange occurs.
Praise and worship is an expressed posture of love toward the Master of Love Himself.
This type of intimate relationship rewardingly draws us into His divine presence, yielding more of His divine power and nature.
In order to know Him intimately and deeply, you must be caught up in the wonder of the person of Jesus Christ. It is “in the knowledge of Him” that we become perfected inwardly as well as outwardly in our service to Him. (See Eph. 1:17; Col. 1:10, 2 Pet. 3:18.)
Our constant prayer must be:
“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection.”
Philippians 3:10
Likewise, this must be the constant work of the Church.
The Church is the Kingdom’s primary educational institution—where we grow in the knowledge of Him and learn to live and work in the power of His resurrection.
We, as the Church, are a royal priesthood tasked with proclaiming the praises of Him who called the world out of darkness into His marvelous light: “You are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted” (1 Peter 2:9-10 MSG).
The Church is to be a community of worshippers and a place of praise.
God is at the present time restoring praise to the Church. He is getting the “Body” ready for the return of the Lord.
As His Bride, praise is how we should be clothed. He gives us “a garment of praise” to wear in His presence, along with the oil of joy (think of Esther preparing herself to approach her husband and king).
Isaiah beautifully describes God’s intention for those who love Him:
“To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
—Isaiah 61:3 KJV
Praise is essential to living the Christian life. It is a garment that is to be worn by the Kingdom-oriented church and every Kingdom citizen within her ranks.
In the 21st century—and beyond should the Lord delay His coming—praise will become the “Prozac” of the Kingdom.
Praise is Heaven’s solution to depression, dis-ease, and despair.
All of which are manifestations of the spirit of heaviness.
Praise therefore preserves and cures us. Praise is our best prophylactic and immunity booster. It inoculates the Church against the epidemics of fear, strife, and depravity that plague the world.
The Gates of Zion (the Church) are referred to many times as “praise”…“Thou shalt call thy walls Salvation and thy gates Praise” (Isaiah 60:18 KJV).
Through praise we enter into a life of victory.
Jesus, as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Judah meaning “praise”), is the captain over a host of people who know the importance of praise.
We are also called to worship Him—as true worshippers in spirit and truth. (See John 4:24.) What does that mean? I believe The Message sheds fresh insight into how to put this into practice:
“It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
Let’s take a quick look at the origin and use of the word “worship” in the Bible. In the New Testament, we see two Greek words used in reference to worship:
1. Latreuo: This word is defined as “servitude; the state of a hired laborer or slave,” and therefore is used in reference to “the service of God.” All that we do because of our commitment to the Lord could be called worship. James refers to this as pure religion. (See James 1:27.)
2. Proskuneo: This describes the specific act of worship. It means “to prostrate oneself in homage; to adore; to bow down; to worship.” Comprised of pros (fore) and kuon (to kiss the hand, like a dog licking its master’s hands).
On the one hand, there is the worship we do in how we live and work—always doing all things “as unto the Lord.” On the other hand, there is a specific act of worship where we humble ourselves before God—when we prostrate ourselves before Him in reverence and awe.
Worship proceeds from the heart of the one who fears the Lord.
Jesus knew that both aspects of worship were important—that our whole life must be an expression of worship—and yet we must have specific times where we give all of our attention to Him.
As Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness, He reminded Satan, “You shall worship [proskuneo] the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve [latreuo]” (Luke 4:8).
“Worship the Lord your God and only the Lord your God. Serve Him with absolute single-heartedness.”
Luke 4:8 MSG
The practical adaptation of praise and worship in your personal life will cause you to reach beyond the pew and podium, transcend earthly constraints and inhibitions, and live a throne-room life—pure and uninhibited in the presence of the Lord.
It is my sincere prayer that you will experience God’s manifest presence as never before!
I pray you will be drawn into a new relationship with Him—that you will reach a new realm of spiritual maturity, acquire a deeper anointing in every aspect of your life, and manifest the power of His resurrection in all you do.
Join me for Kingdom School of Ministry July 11-16 to learn so much more about the art and science of Praise and Worship. It truly is the one thing that can change everything!
“Praise the Lord!
I will praise the Lord with my whole heart,
In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.”
Psalm 111:1
“Let them shout for joy and be glad,
Who favor my righteous cause;
And let them say continually,
‘Let the Lord be magnified,
Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.’”
Psalm 35:27