There’s something beautiful about uniting together to simply offer God some praise. My family and I decided to do this tonight as an alternative to our usual banter-filled devotion time and it was just as edifying as it usually is!
I’ve learnt so much about Praise this year, the majority of it coming from a stellar sermon I heard from Pastor Dan Blythe of Hillsong London which I thought was only fitting to share here:
#ALLIN Praise
‘Praise’= adoration, thankfulness, gratefulness
When you praise Jesus Christ, he restores you because we were CREATED to praise him.
Praise comes from the inside out. It starts with thanksgiving. It doesn’t start with music.
There are 7 types of praise in Hebrew:
1. Yadah: thanksgiving by reaching out. The more you understand God, the more your love will grow for him and so your praise grows. We praise because we’re responding to God’s grace
2. Todah: sacrifice of thanks. Thanking God when you can’t see the success. It is recognising that Jesus is your support car who will change and transform your situation. When he steps into your situation, he takes the mess and makes it glorious. It is all by HIS strength and not ours. You give God access to control your life when you offer him ‘todah’ praise.
3. Barak: to kneel down, to bow. To put God first in every area of our life. To live in humility. This isn’t thinking less of yourself but thinking about yourself LESS. The way you show this is to serve people-love others the way Christ loves us. We don’t need a new definition of Christianity but a new demonstration of Christianity.
4. Halal: to show, boast, celebrate. To be undignified and unashamed in our praise for God. Authentic praise doesn’t care about man, it cares about God. You can be serious in worship, but loud and unashamed in PRAISE. We can be reserved in the world but not when we come into the house of The Lord-this is where NOTHING should be held back.
5. Shabach: address in a loud voice, the shout of praise. A shout of praise unites us as a body. It fixes our eyes on Jesus Christ.
6. Zamar: sing/play an instrument. We as a congregation lead the band. We’ll continue with praise cause praise should happen from Monday-Sunday. Our praise should come from our hearts. It’s not about the lyrics but what happens in the heart-regardless of what the song is.
7. Tehillah: the creme de la creme of PRAISE. to sing in an unashamed way, clap, thanksgiving, dance etc Psalms 100:4
I was blessed to hear this sermon not once, but TWICE and it just has resonated in my spirit whenever it’s time to offer God some praise. I feel like if I can be so serious about how my Instagram should be laid out then the least I could do is to give God my seriousness in praise and going, in the words of Pastor Dan- #ALLIN with it, and I truly encourage you to do the same. It’s in these moments where God can do the unbelievable.
Peace & Love,
T
Xx
LET'S BE FRANK 