worship part 2...

Quite often there are arguments over what is an acceptable way to worship God in church services. There are many ways we can express ourselves with our body in worship. Some feel there is no Biblical basis for what is performed, so here are some scriptures for where most of it came from.

Saying - Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name ~ Hebrews 13:15

Singing - Sing praises unto God, sing praises, sing praises unto our King, sing praises ~ Psalm 149:6

Shouting - Cry out and shout thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee ~ Isaiah 12:6

Lifting Hands - And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. Then all the people answered, 'Amen, Amen!' while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground ~ Nehemiah 8:6 (Lifting hands is a sign of surrender and blessing)

Clapping - clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph ~ Psalm 47:1
... and other instruments
Our hands can be used to play musical instruments "Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty firmament! Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him for 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 clashing cymbals, Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord! ~ Psalm 150

Kneeling - O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker ~ Psalm 95:6

Dancing - Praise Him with the timbrel and the dance" (Psalm 150:4). "Let them praise His name in the dance ~ Psalm 149:3

Togetherness - Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing ~ Rev 5:13

Silence...

The point is that unless something directly violates what God's word says, we can worship God any way providing our motive is pure and to God alone. Sometimes it can be easy to be sucked into looking holy for others to see in worship and the Bible warns strongly about this (Pharisees) stating God can see through it all, and He will spit you from His belly! Of course true worship is just not what we do in our church services, it is a whole lot more; and more on that will come in the next entry.