Everyday Step with Jesus

Praise and worship are words that are used interchangeably, but mean slightly different things. When I first started my walk, I didn’t really know there was a difference but I knew that I loved singing to the Lord.  To be quite honest, I don’t think that knowing the meaning of the words are as important as actually doing these things, that is praising and worshipping Him. But (if you are like me then you like to know what you are doing and why) I do think it’s important to lay out what praise and worship mean so that we can better understand what it is to honor God. According to Dictionary.com, praise is “to express approval or admiration, to offer grateful homage to (God or a deity), as in words or songs.” This is what we do when we sing songs unto the Lord, we are singing praises unto Him. This doesn’t have to be done just in a song, but we can praise Him in many different ways such as through prayer and writing, if we are expressing admiration and gratefulness for the Lord, we are praising Him. Dictionary.com defines worship as “1. reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred 2.formal or ceremonious rendering of such honor and homage.” To worship is to pay respect to God, this can be done through singing praises, our actions, our words, our lives. We can worship in many different ways and singing praises unto the Lord is one of the ways we can worship Him. When we praise the Lord, we are worshipping Him because we are paying respect to Him. The rest of this post will be more focused on the importance of praise and worship and what happens when we worship the Lord. Keep on reading…

Praise

This is one of my greatest outlets, for someone that tends to overthink, when I am praising the Lord…it is just Him and I. I’m singing that song to the Lord with all that I am. It’s not about me and my many thoughts but it’s about the Lord and declaring the truth of who He is. When I praise the Lord,  the atmosphere around me changes and something happens within my spirit. I remember that when I first started going to church I would sing loud, sometimes I would feel embarrassed, not because I was singing to the Lord but because of what the people would say. But once I let go of that and I started praising, I didn’t care about any of that. I thank my church because that is where I learned to praise God and even with my loud singing they never judged me, and it was all in my head. Praising the Lord is truly an experience for me like no other, and it can be for you too. 

When we begin to declare the goodness of the Lord and declare how great and good He is, the atmosphere around us changes. As we are praising the Lord, something happens within our spirit, the more we declare who our God is and His greatness, the more we believe. There is something powerful about declaring the greatness of God. We can see this all throughout the book of Psalms. Many times David felt like he had been forsaken, many times he was in trouble or distressed, but what I find interesting and what is a great example for all of us is that even though David felt all these ways, he still chose to praise the Lord despite his circumstances. David encourages us to sing praises to the Lord over and over in the book of Psalms, he also reminds us of the goodness of God when he encourages us to praise Him.

Sing praise to the Lord , you saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. Psalms 30:4 NKJV

When we are feeling down and we begin to praise the Lord, it becomes less about us and more about Him because we are shifting our focus from our situation or our problem to His goodness, to the truth of who He is. As we declare these things about the Lord through our praise we realize that no matter what we are going through the Lord is still the same yesterday, today and forever. That despite what we are going through He is still a good God. He is still a God of miracles, a God that will never leave us nor forsake us, an all powerful God, a God that overcame this world! When we declare these things with our mouth they become more of a reality (they already are the reality but in the midst of the problem we tend to forget about this and focus on the problem instead). 

Worship

Praise is part of worship, however worship goes a step further than praise and is more involved. Worship, just as praise, can be performed in many different ways. Worship is not only limited to singing but the way we honor God with our actions, with our lives, and in our everyday life. Worship becomes a lifestyle that we do continuously. This involves drawing near to God and honoring Him with our whole hearts, in spirit and in truth, and this is the part that makes worship more involved than praise. 

But the hour is coming, and now is, when 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 4:23-24

When we worship, in spirit and in truth, it involves us responding to all that God is, not just when we are singing to Him but in everything we do. Going through the motion is not acceptable…it must be done from the heart. We need to remember that He looks at the heart.

Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men.” isaiah 29:13 NKJV

Many activities that are performed to glorify God can be seen as praise but not all are acts of worship, if our hearts are not where our mouth is. Our worship needs to come from a sincere heart or else they are just words. When the Israelites kept offering their sacrifices to the Lord, He did not accept them (Isaiah 1:11) and when they worshipped Him He hid His eyes from them (Isaiah 1:15). However, we have such a good God that He tells us what to do in order for our worship to be acceptable before Him. 

Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow. “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:16-18 NKJV

When we lean on the Spirit we are able to truly worship the Lord in all that we do with our lives. Like I said in the beginning, knowing the difference between praise and worship are not merely as important as actually doing them. These words are often used interchangeably because when we praise Him we are also worshipping Him. Worship goes a little deeper than praise because when we worship Him we are praising Him and honoring Him, not just with our mouth but with our spirit. I truly encourage you to worship the Lord with all that you are, close your eyes and focus on the words of the song and declare them. Forget about any situation that you are going through and focus on His goodness and who He is. His name truly is our strong fortress and our refuge. Praise and continual worship are beautiful ways to take refuge in Him. Begin by listening to a song and eventually you will begin to sing a new song to the Lord that comes from within. Sometimes in the middle of the storm it can be hard to worship God, but this is one of our greatest weapons. Don’t stop at your praise but go further and worship Him, not just with your song but also with your life. When we praise and worship Him it is beautiful because we begin to focus on Him instead of what is going on around us. Below are some of my favorite worship songs, enjoy being in His presence…

• Holy Spirit – Francesca Battistelli
• Promises – Maverick City Music
• Way Maker – Leeland
• I Want to Know You – Jesus Culture
• My Weapon – Natalie Grant
• You Still Love Me – Koryn Hawthorne
• Lean Back – Capital City Music
• There was Jesus – Zach Williams
• Sing it From the Shackles – Rend Collective
• I Lift my Eyes – Mack Brock

Comment below and let me know if you listened to any of the songs I shared with you and which one is your favorite! Let me know your favorite songs and any songs that you think I should include in my playlist!