Having covered the two prerequisites for true worship which are, to worship the Father in spirit and in truth, let us now look at the other five components of true worship which describes the prescribed manner or the protocol for true worship.
3.
Sing to the LORD,
bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
When one considers the fact that everything one has and everything one is has been gifted to him/her expressing love and gratitude is a debt that we all owe to Him who gave us all things. We should therefore, learn a vital lesson from the apostle Paul who wrote; “Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other. For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:6-7).
We have been further reminded saying; “But to each one
of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore He
says:" When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts
to men" (Ephesians 4:7).
Now the way one expresses his/her gratitude to God for
what He has done is through praise and worship as alluded to by the Psalmist
David who wrote; “Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; Make known
His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His
wondrous works! Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who
seek the LORD!” (1 Chronicles 16:8-9;
Psalms 105:1-3).
David further states; “Oh, sing to the LORD a new
song! Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless His name;
proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among
the nations, His wonders among all peoples. For the LORD is great and greatly
to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the
peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens: Honor and majesty are before
Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary” (Psalms 96:1-6).
Although one may not know in full details what he/she
is required to do, but one should at least have the basic knowledge and
understanding of why they are doing whatever it is that they are doing. This is
termed knowing the rationale, objective or significance of what it is one is doing,
one should avoid doing things simply because of customs and traditions, it is
important to know the significance of what one is doing and if possible the
origin, especially when it comes to worship since there is one who is vying to
be worshiped in the place of God.
So the importance for singing when appearing before
the Almighty is to express our gratitude and thanksgiving to Him for His
majestic powers, as it is written; “But I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will
sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; For You have been my defense and refuge
in the day of my trouble. To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; For God
is my defense, My God of mercy” (Psalms 59:16-17).
And despite of His awesome power He is also very
merciful and so we express our gratitude and thanksgiving to Him for His tender
mercies and faithfulness as we have received the consolation saying; “I will
sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; With my mouth will I make known Your
faithfulness to all generations” (Psalms 89:
1).
And of course not forgetting His righteousness as
demonstrated by David saying; “Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the
God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. O
Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall show forth Your praise” (Psalms 51:14-15).
And so, as one can clearly see, singing praises to God
especially when having a holy convocation is an offering of praise that should
be offered to the Lord as long as we live, as we have been admonished saying;
"I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God
while I have my being.” “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise
the LORD!” Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to
God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name” (Psalms 104: 33; 150:6; Hebrews 13:15).
The apostle James in the New Testament encourages us
by saying; “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful?
Let him sing psalms.” And so, the main reason for living is to worship the
Lord; because this is the way by which one expresses his/her gratitude and
thanksgiving to God and the means by which the Lord is glorified.
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To be continued, stay tuned
With brotherly love
Lucius Joseph
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