How do we worship? What are we “allowed” to do while still being reverent before the Lord, worshiping in spirit and truth? What is God's desire for our worship? Does He give us the right to pick and choose how we worship?
Over the course of this multi-part devotional, we will discover and learn the ways that we can actively worship God when we come together as the gathered Church. We are told in Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth that our mere existence, even eating or drinking, can be worship to God; so we understand that our worship is not confined to a time or a place—it is a lifestyle. This mini-series is intended to develop our worship as it pertains to the intentional physical and spiritual acts that we do during our worship. Granted, these things can (and should) be done whether we are at church or not. My hope is that churches and believers everywhere, will experience true freedom in worship together—a glimpse into what heaven may be like one day. God desires us to worship in this way. Let’s learn together.
“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NLT)
Part 4: Our Voice - Shouting
"Come, let us worship in song, a joyful offering to the Eternal. Shout! Shout with joy to the rock of our liberation.” Psalm 95:1 (VOICE)
"At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the Lord with music. I cannot shout any louder. Eternal One—hear my cry and respond with Your grace." Psalm 27:6b-7 (NLT/VOICE)
"Moses and Aaron then went into the tent of meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.” Leviticus 9:23-24 (NIV)
We can offer shouts of praise to the Lord. Most often throughout scripture, the time to shout to the Lord is when we are joyful, when our hearts are glad or delighted. In fact, we are told to offer shouts to the Lord as a “joyful offering.” The passage in Leviticus reveals how our shouts can be offered. We can (and should) offer the Lord a shout of joy and happiness, but we can also offer a shout of praise to the Lord out of reverence and fear. The people of Israel had just sacrificed sin offerings and burnt offerings to cover their sins, but they did not know that their offering was received until fire shot from the Lord’s presence and consumed it. Their response was to shout for joy and fall on their faces in reverence. Are we overwhelmed with joy in Jesus, God’s perfect atoning sacrifice, to the point that we would shout for joy and immediately fall on our faces?