Friday, June 20, 2008

Glory, Glory, Hallelujah He Reigns!

Hallelujah- n. a shout of joy, praise, or gratitude.
Praise- n. the offering of grateful homage in words or song, as an act of worship
Worship- n. adoring reverence or regard
Extol- v. to praise highly
Exalt- v. to lift up the voice; to sing praise


As you can tell, this time I am completely shifting gears, from silence to overpowering worship and song. This may be due to the fact for the last week I have been at a youth camp called Student Life Camp. While there we were taught about The Way and how God is the only 'right way'. However, that is for another post, the big thing that caught my attention this past week was the Worship, led by Aaron Keyes. Unlike most worship leaders, Aaron refrained from using the old, well-known songs (i.e Amazing Grace, Awesome God, etc.). Though there is nothing wrong with these songs it was a nice change of pace, it made it nearly impossible to just 'mimic' worship, you had to actually think about what you were saying. If you can ever get a copy of Aaron Keyes' cds I would without a doubt recommend them.

However, the songs are not what totally blew me off my guard. It was how Aaron conducted worship. From his energy to what he said. He would, without warning, throw out Bible verses about God and worship whilst (sp?) he played his songs that would just make you want to jump up and down and shout for the God of the universe without ceasing.

I guess what i'm trying to say with this post is that the people of God have settled into a mundane and as much as I hate saying it; Boring way of Celebration. Praise and worship is meant to be a jubilation, not a reading of words in a melodic way. That has become the worship of most churchs these days and I believe it is time to change.

Psalms 32:11 "Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in the Heart!"

2 Samuel 22:47 "The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God, the Rock, my Savior!"


Isaiah 6:3 "And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."

Isaiah 60 "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you."


In the book of Nehemiah the Israelites even worshipped and jumped around at the mere opening of the Bible, and we have people who won't even jump during a song.

Nehemiah 8:5-6
"Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded "Amen! Amen!" then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground."


So if they can jump up and down to the word of God, we can jump up and down to a catchy, heart-racing song of praise to the one who died for us.

In conclusion, I do realize that there are some slower songs meant more for adoration then an enthusiastic display of thanks, but for the ones there are...I believe we should be more happy for our new life.



"There are only two times in your life when you should worship God, one is when you feel like it, the other is when you don't. Why? Quite simply, Because." --Aaron Keyes






God Bless
--Jared

3 comments:

Robert said...

Hi Jared,
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment. And yes, it is socially acceptable! What a great post you have here. I agree, worship should be a jubilation. But I also know that God looks at the heart and not the outward appearance. Remember the sinner beating his breast? It was deep and heartfelt but hardly a celebration. Yet it was true worship. Worship has many forms. God knows if you are sincere or not. Some who dance and sing with high energy might just be having fun and not worshiping.

Thanks for the recommendation of Aaron Keys. I'll have to check him out.

Beverly said...

Hi, Jared,
Great post here. I look forward to reading more of your thoughts.

Anonymous said...

Jared,

I agree it is a joy to know that we can jump and sing for joy in our adoration of the Lord.

However don't forget the solemn and peacefull adoration one can have as they meditate on Christ and think of the words they are singing.

I think there is room for both. Aren't you thankful for a Savior who is so worthy of all praise given to Him!