Posts Tagged ‘Praise And Worship’

“Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord”
(Psalm 150:6)

What does your praise look like/feel like? How often and for what reason(s) do you praise the Lord? Is your praise uninhibited or copycatted? The discovery of the reason for praise leads to an adventure which will take you to a height most likely not attained before. Like every time you approach the Word, do you ask God to remove your preconceived and pre-taught ideas so you can hear and experience the Word anew?

Read all of Psalm 150 right now and do what it says…

How was that? Did you do what it says? Did you use your tambourine and Shofar? If you did, fantastic! If you did not…why not?

When you delve into the Word and break it apart, you begin to experience the Word, not just read the Word. Let’s experience the Word today…

Are you a madman (madwomen) when it comes to praise? “Oh I couldn’t”, you say? “Why not”, I say? Most Christians in the United States have “proper-ized” (I know that is not a word, but it fits) themselves out of real, authentic praise and worship.  How do I know… that was me! I could let go just a bit at home, but never in public… never at Wal-Mart!

The word “praise” in Psalm 150 is the Hebrew word Halal.  It is used 140 times in the Old Testament, 12 times in Psalm 150 alone. The definition of Halal is: “to shine, to be boastful, to make a fool of, to act madly, to act like a madman.” How is that for authentic praise? Does the word “madman” scare you just a bit? I was a bit confused also, so I looked up the word “madman” in my friend Webster’s book. How amazed was I when I read, “a person who is completely unrestrained by reason of judgment, a person incapable of being explained or accounted for, a person carried away by enthusiasm or desire, a person marked by gaiety and merriment, a person intensely excited, a person marked by intense and often chaotic activity, a person who does a task to a great degree.” Does that sound like heavenly praise to you?

Your breath, the very essence of the Spirit that is inside you, should be leaping with the expectation of authentic, manifested Halal as you read this. He wants you to praise without restraint from your “properness” today. How do I know? The last verse of Psalm 150, “Let everything that has breath (the breath of God—the Holy Spirit), Halal the Lord!” that is how I know! If the Holy Spirit lives in you… you know it too!

Believers in Christ should be the ones who are madmen/madwomen in this world. We are the ones pointing the way. If you want further study and proof, read about the triumphal entry in all four gospels. If we “get” that… we will never lead others to Him in our stoic, proper, inhibited praise again!

Do you know the story of the Pied Piper? We are the “chosen” Pied Pipers for Christ, ordained before the creation of the world to lead. Will you lead in the dance today?

Halal… y’all,
Kathy