Practices of Praise
Hello, Agape students! For the month of October, Mr. Michelsen chose three Scriptures for us to reflect on that focus on some of the different practices of praise we see in the Bible. Each week students received a worship studies assignment in addition to their musical homework that they were to reflect and respond to in their journal. I’m excited for you to hear my insights on the verses we discussed this month. The video lecture link below goes over what we learned from the following Scriptures.
1. Praise Engages
“Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing”(Exodus 15:20, NIV). In this verse, we see Miriam, a prophetess, engage in worship by playing her tambourine, dancing, and singing with her girl group of friends as they had just walked through a mighty miracle of God! Miriam chose to worship God instead of dismissing or diminishing the miracle moment worrying about the next part of the journey, but she got her sisters in Christ to join and thanked God for it. We are called to always engage in praise even when we don’t see or feel that God is at work. We, music ministers, are to lead others and ourselves into engaging in praise during miracle moments because God is always at work.
2. Praise is Expressive
“Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the LORD with all his might” (2 Samuel 6:14, NIV). We know from 1 Samuel 13:14 that David was a man after God’s own heart. In this verse, we see King David bringing the ark as it says in verse twelve with gladness and dancing with all his strength! Depending on what church you go to, you may experience different expressions of praise all around you for your specific church body, but God cares about your heart the most. When it’s just you and Jesus in the secret place, are you expressive when you worship Him? Do you let yourself be free to lift your hands, bow your knees, jump for joy, and shout aloud exclamations of praise? All of this is acceptable to our God and encouraged by Him in the Scriptures. I pray that our praise is expressive, and we help others to know and live out this Truth to just like David did.
3. Praise Responds
“When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen” (Luke 19:37, NIV). Praise does respond to the Lord and it hungers for Him. We can’t be numb, lazy, or apathetic (which just means to have no interest or enthusiasm) when we praise. No, God is worthy of all our praise! We also need to constantly ask God to search our hearts to how we’re responding to Him in different seasons. We see many people responding to Jesus with faith in the Scriptures during His ministry and He always responded to the initiatives of others. As music ministers, let’s respond to Jesus with bold faith and hunger for Him to help others do the same!
(Video Lecture) Worship Studies: Practices of Praise
Melissa Palafox M.A.T., B.A.