Worship vs Praise

"Let's enter into a time of worship." Anyone who has been to church has heard these words. We all know that the worship team leads us in worship and then we listen to a message and then we go home. But really, saying we are going to have a time of worship isn't accurate. What we are actually doing is being led in a time of praise.

I know that sounds weird. We all think that worship and praise are the same thing because that's what we have been taught, but they are not the same thing. However, you can't have praise without worship, and you can't have worship without praising. You either have both, or neither. Does that make sense? No? Well that's okay because I am about to write a whole blog about it.

Let's start with what worship is. Worship comes from the old English word "worthship" which really means that you give worth to something. It's the idea that you decide how worth your praise and time and love and so on that something deserves. And that is exactly what worship is.

We have all probably heard it said that worship is a lifestyle. As cliché as it is, it's true. Our whole life should be lived in a state of worship because if we are Christ Followers we are constantly having to decide how worthy Jesus is of our lives. Is He going to get our time, our money, our love lives, our kids, our attention, and so forth until we really decide if He is really worth everything.

That's why entering into a time of worship isn't the correct wordage, because we should always be in a constant state of worship. We should never not be in a time of worship. Each moment, each breath, is worship. On Sundays our worship isn't over when we finish singing. Our worship continues with how we lean in and give attention to the word being spoken. It continues during the offering. It continues when we leave and we take time to notice someone that needs encouragement. It continues Monday morning when we choose to start our day with prayer and the Word. It continues in how we treat people who don't know Jesus. It continues into every aspect of our lives. That's why Paul wrote to the church to do everything that they do well as if we are doing it "for the Lord and not for men" (Colossians 3:23) because that is exactly the purpose of our lives. That is the exact definition of living a life of worship. Worship is the mindset. Worship is about the state of our soul.

So if worship is the mindset, then praise is the expression. There are many types of expressions of worship, like I've said, and praise is one of them. That means that our "worship" time on Sunday mornings is really us entering into a time of praise.

As it is with pretty much every word in Hebrew and English, there are many Hebrew words for our one English word praise. There is a word that means to sing, and one that means to play instruments. There is one that means to shout and one that means to clap, one that means to spin around and one that means to fall face down. There are a few that give the picture of lifting your hands. So what does that mean for us? It means that we have endless ways to express our worship or the worth that the Lord has in our hearts through praise. But, the extent to which you express your praise is directly connect to the worth that God has in your heart.

So the question is, how worth it is God to you? Does He get it all, or just a little? Because here is the one thing about the worthiness of God. You may choose how worth it He is to you, but the truth is, no matter what you decide, He is and always will be worthy of it all. You get to choose if you give it, but He deserves your whole life. He deserves you looking absolutely foolish when the band is leading you in praise. He deserves you shouting for victory or breakthrough. He is worthy of you falling on your face. He is worth your tears. He is worth your laughing. He is worthy of your everything, because He is good. He has always been good. And He will always be good, no matter what you may feel. He gave His Son to pull you out of darkness. He loves you and is for you no matter what. He. Is. Worthy.

But there's one more thing that I want to talk about when it comes to praise. One of my favorite Hebrew words for praise is the word "yadah". The first time that I studied this word was when I was reading Psalm 42. In this Psalm, the writer is in distress. They are in a dry season. They talk about being in a desert and being discouraged. They long to be back in the house of God and praise the Lord, but it seems to be impossible. He is too far from the temple. He's crying out to the Lord. He is begging for an outpouring of His Spirit.

But he uses this one refrain:

"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."

The word praise there is yadah. This Hebrew word does mean to extend or lift your hands. That is the physical expression that we use when we praise the Lord. But this word also means to shoot an arrow. It is the same word used when Jonathan shot an arrow to signal David to leave Israel. It not only means to shoot an arrow, but it can also mean to cast down or deflect something, for example an arrow.

Okay, just hold on because we are about to go in on this!

So, another common phrase is "Worship is warfare." So I'm just going to go ahead and tell you that that is absolutely true. The more worth we place on the only One who is truly worthy, the less the enemy can affect us. The more focused we are on our Father, the less the cares of the word can drag us down. Not that everything will be peaches, because we all know that life just absolutely sucks sometimes. But in the darkness, is our worship remains in the right place, then we will never lose hope.

But from this one word I want to give you this: Praise is our offense AND defense. The significance of us raising our hands in praise is actually a symbol of us surrendering to the Lord. Our surrender, our raised hands, actually fire arrows at the enemy. When we praise, we forward the Kingdom of God, and attack the kingdom of darkness.

Yet, it's not only an offensive motion, but also a defensive one. Sometimes we enter into a time of praise while the enemy has just been assaulting us. The Bible tells us that the enemy shoots fiery darts at us and that we extinguish them with the shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16). When we extend our hand in faith, even when we don't feel like it, it deflects and extinguishes the fiery thoughts that the enemy is shooting at us. How does that work? It's about our focus. Our surrender to the Lord focuses us on Him and removes our focus from the world. Praise is about shifting our focus on all the things that we see around us and putting it all on the One that we may not be able to see, but that we know we can always trust.

Sometimes we just need a breakthrough. We are surrounded by darkness and hopelessness. We know there is more for us but we can't get to it. We are being pelted by fiery darts every second of every day. Can I challenge you with something? Praise your way to your breakthrough. Press in and praise, not because you feel like it but because Jesus is worthy of it. And don't leave your praise at church on Sundays, but praise on Monday, and Tuesday, and every day until your breakthrough comes. Praise is the thing that attacks the enemy and defends the state of your heart. Open up your mouth and sing, whether you think you sound good or not. Lift your hands in your room as you listen to worship music. Shout in the car on your way to work. Get on your face in the morning and pray. Cry out to God. And then, all of a sudden, breakthrough will come. But it comes through praising with perseverance

So how worth it to you is your breakthrough? I know you want more, so how willing are you to press in until you get it? How much of God do you really want? Are you ready to give it all? I'll be honest, I have to ask myself that question every day. Some days worship takes over everything I do. Somedays I might only give half. But the days I give Jesus my all, my hope grows. I can see beyond the state I'm in. I have vision of what is to come. So I continue to choose to praise my way through it. I continue to praise before I get to my breakthrough, and it encourages me to be bold in the waiting.

So take up your armor and your bow. Load your arrow. Choose to decide that Jesus is worthy of your whole life and then praise Him like He is worthy of it. Because He is. And continue to praise like your breakthrough is coming. Because it is.