13 Biblical Ways to Express Your Worship
"How Shall We Praise God?" by Graham Truscott
“Quicken thou me according to thy Word . . . And quicken thou me in thy way” (Psalm 119:25, 37).
The answer to the question, “How should we praise God?” is simply, “according to Thy Word. . . in Thy way.” We are to praise and worship
God, and rejoice before Him, in the way He teaches us in His Word.
When the Presence and Power of God comes among His people, there will always be manifestations of that Power and Presence. There will always be spontaneous worship and adoration of the Lord, as there was when the Ark of God came to the Tabernacle of David. And as the Ark of God returns to the Tabernacle of David which God is restoring, there are the same manifestations and the same praise and worship of God today. Some may call this praise and worship fanatical. Others may mock. (One actually did mock at the first Tabernacle of David—and deeply regretted having done so for the rest of her life). Yet others may even go so far as to call this heresy. The Apostle Paul testified:
“But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets” (Acts 24:14).
Do all of us today believe all things written in the law and the prophets concerning worship ? More than this—are we doing them?
Others may criticise believing and practising Biblical methods of praise and worship as emotionalism. That Biblical commandments and teachings should be criticised at all is serious enough. But he who can experience the Power and Presence of God’s amazing love, and not have at times his emotions deeply stirred, must be, to say the least, of a very hard heart.
Billy Graham says of emotionalism;
“Some people accuse us of too much emotionalism. I say we have too little. This is why we are losing church people to other interests. We need not only to capture their minds, we’ve got to touch their hearts. We’ve got to make people feel their faith.”1
TIME Magazine recently reported (September 27, 1968), under the headline, “That New Black Magic”:
“As organized religion loses its appeal through its stuffiness and sterility, people seeking faith increasingly turn to mystical religions...”
In ten years of travelling for Christ through many lands, I have never yet seen a church which worshipped God in Spirit and in truth, practising the Biblical methods of praise and worship, with a decreasing membership.
“How should we praise God?” Here is a list of 14 Biblical ways by which we are exhorted to praise and worship God. Each one is a God-given expression of worship and adoration to the Lord.
Praise God with Praise Which can be Heard
“O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard” (Psalm 66:8).
And how was the voice of His praise to be made audible ? The answer is in verse 1 7 :
“I cried aloud to Him; He was extolled and high praise was under my tongue” (Amplified Bible).
God commands us in His Word:
“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord . . . make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise” (Psalm 98:4).
David said that even when he was praying he “made a noise”(Psalm 55:2). How much more should our praise and worship be heard?
Thus we see it is not just a matter of worshipping God quietly in our hearts. The Bible commands that our voices be heard praising and worshipping the Lord.
(1) Praise God With Shouting
The Bible commands us to:
“Shout to God with the voice of triumph and songs of joy!” (Psalm 47:1, Amplified Bible).
Again the Bible commands:
“Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually. Let the Lord be magnified” (Psalm 35:27).
Yet again it is written in the psalms of David:
“Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy” (Psalm 132:9).
Here again we see emphasized the transition from the legal and ceremonial to the spiritual. David is not so much concerned with the outward form of the priestly garments, but he is vitally concerned that the priests experience the righteousness of God in their lives. Also, he encourages the people to “shout for joy”—vastly different from the silent formality in the tabernacle of Moses.
It may not fit in with the mournful silence and decorum some feel should be seen in the house of God. However, the Bible teaches “all Israel brought up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord with shouting” (1 Chron. 15:28). And God is restoring the Tabernacle of David with exactly the same expression of praise and worship—shouting.
(2) Praise God with Singing
“Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises” (Psalm 47:6).
The book of Psalms was actually the “Hebrew Hymnal,” the Book of Praises, hymns, or songs, designed to be set to music and used in the worship of God. A large number of these psalms, or hymns, are “songs of Zion”—songs given by the Spirit of God and recorded at the Tabernacle of David. But during the captivity, the people were not able to sing the joyful songs of Zion.2 And so it is today. Those who are bound, who have not yet fully appreciated “the glorious liberty of the children of God” are unable to worship God with spontaneous songs of praise and worship.
New Testament Christians are commanded:
“Be filled with the Spirit: Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord: Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:18-20).
No doubt, in the early Church, the Old Testament Psalms were used. Several passages of the letters of Paul were used as hymns. Yet many songs were given spontaneously by the Spirit. As Arthur Way says in the preface to his popular translation, The Letters of Saint Paul:
“Paul tells the Ephesian Christians to ‘speak to one another in psalms, in hymns, in chants inspired by the Spirit.’ Passages from the Psalms were sung by them no doubt. It is by no means certain that the ‘Psalms’ referred to are the Psalms of David and it can hardly be so in First Corinthians 14:26. The context shows that the composition of the psalms (or hymns) was one manifestation of the Gifts of the Spirit.”
Paul also says:
“I will sing with my spirit—by the Holy Spirit that is within me; but I will sing (intelligently) with my mind and understanding also” (1 Cor. 14:15, Amplified Bible).
What tongue can describe with natural words that which is altogether supernatural? Here words fail us altogether. Who can ever forget being in a congregation with Spirit-filled sons and daughters of God, experiencing the singing lifted up by the Holy Spirit, where the words, melodies, and harmonies are all given by the Spirit. Most testify that in such times of wor- ship they know the Presence of God in a very real and special way.
John Sherrill, well-known journalist, and a conventional Episcopalian, began, as a journalist, an objective investigation into the recurrence of “speaking with tongues” and other miraculous manifestations of the Holy Spirit in his own, and other historic denominations. ( John and Elizabeth Sherrill were associated with David Wilkerson in the writing of the widely-read book The Cross and The Switchblade). He recalls the first time he heard singing in the Spirit:
“As the music continued, several people at the tables began to sing ‘in the Spirit’ Soon the whole room was singing a complicated harmo- ny-without-score, created spontaneously. It was eerie but extraordinarily beautiful. The song leader was no longer trying to direct the music, but let the melodies create themselves: without prompting one quarter of the room would suddenly start to sing very loudly while others subsided. Harmonies and counter-harmonies wove in and out of each other.”3
We would in no wise belittle the inspired hymns of Wesley, Luther, Crosby, Alexander, and a host of others God has used to write words expressing our praise and worship to Him. But let us also remember that the Lord has provided two Spirit-inspired methods by which we may sing unto Him— with our understanding, and with our spirits. Let us then “Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God” (Psalm 147:1).
(3) Praise God With Thanksgiving
“I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving” (Psalm 69:30).
Thanksgiving is much more than saying grace at the meal table. The Bible says we are to magnify God with thanksgiving. Concerning thanksgiving, we may also note that God may be magnified with thanksgiving in unknown tongues, as the Holy Spirit gives utterance. The Bible teaches “if you bless and render thanks with (your) spirit (thoroughly aroused by the Holy Spirit)”—that is, by speaking in unknown tongues (verse 14)—you “to be sure . . . give thanks well” (1 Cor. 14:16, 17).4
(4) Praise God With a Joyful Noise
“Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious” (Psalm 66:1, 2).
Billy Graham’s “Decision” Magazine recently published the following incident from the life of the famous composer, Franz Haydn:
“A friend once asked the great composer Haydn why his church music was always so full of gladness. He answered, ‘1 cannot make it other- wise: I write according to the thoughts 1 feel; when I think upon my God, my heart is so full of joy, that the notes dance and leap from my pen; and since God has given me a cheerful heart, it will be pardoned me that 1 serve Him with a cheerful spirit.’ ”
Let us heed God’s invitation:
“O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation” (Psalm 95:1).
How did David and his people bring the Ark of God to Zion? “With Joy” (1 Chron. 15:25). Because the very Presence of God dwelt between the cherubim of the Ark. Thus God was with them in the Power of His Presence, and as the Bible says,
“Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy Presence is fullness of joy” ( Psalm 16:11).
This is a chapter excerpt from Graham Truscott's book The Power of His Presence. Paid subscribers can continue reading below.
