John 4:23, Psalm 100:4, Hebrews 13:15

Jamie Anderson

Welcome to 2012! It's the start of a new year and that's always a great time to set some personal, family and career goals but I'm wondering how many of us set the goal to better live out our worship. It's what we were made for and I can't help but think that if this were our only goal perhaps all the others would be more easily attained. Simply put, He needs to be first in every area of our lives.

The Bible says in John 4:23 that He is looking for those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. In essence we need to worship Him with the knowledge and understanding of what true Biblical worship is AND we need to worship with all that is in us. We need to go past the understanding and couple it with the experiences - daily. Worship was never meant just for Sundays or to be restrained to music only.

True worship involves thanksgiving, praise, worship & adoration and ultimately the manifest presence of the glory of God. Praise is one of the entry points into worship so as we head into 2012 let's explore the purpose of praise.

Just as thanksgiving is an act of our will, so is praise. The Bible says in Psalm 100:4 that we are to, 'enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise...'. We are still offering up ourselves to Him but it's at this point that the shift begins to take place. Our offerings of thanks and praise are received and He begins to draw us in.

It's our final monologue before He draws us in; it's us talking to Him and about Him. It's where we move from thanking Him for what He's done in our lives, what He's saved us from and it turns into a joyful expression, a declaration of who He is now and His nature. It's about the now.

I had the privilege of serving as part of the leadership team at Hillsong London for a number of years and got to listen to Darlene Zschech share with us about the importance of praise in our worship. She used to say, 'the reason high praise, the songs which are up beat, loud, full of joy and expression are so important to us in the worship journey is that they almost force a response. You can't just sit during "praise" - you either get in or you get out, but it's not possible to just be there.' I knew what she meant. It was joyful, exuberant and stirred your spirit to start praising His name. There were times when I could sense strongholds being broken off me in those moments and it truly prepared me for worship.

In the New Testament there are nine Greek words used at different times to describe the different kinds of praise. Let's look at one called ainesis, which is used in Hebrews 13:15. It simply means 'praise, a thank offering'.

When you read that in the context of the verse, it's telling us to continually offer the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. It's a reminder of how much thanksgiving and praise are like conjoined twins. You can't have one without the other as they share the same heart - the heart of a true worshiper. This is the entry point in our worship; how we enter His throne and receive all that He has for us, but if you don't know how to enter, you'll never have the chance to leave with something new deposited in you.

The purpose of praise isn't for God to hear how much you need Him - he already knows you're lost without Him. It's for you to remember how much He's done for you and to remind you that He is able to do so much more. Praise is your offering to Him. It's how your ashes are exchanged for beauty.

God has great things in store for your life and not just 2012. As you begin this year, determine in your heart to live out your worship and live it daily. Begin by thanking Him for what He's done, but also praise Him for who He is and who you need Him to be.

If you start with thanksgiving and praise, you'll find very quickly that worship and adoration become like second nature and before you know it you'll find yourself experiencing the manifest presence of God. Now that's a goal for 2012!