31 Days Praise and Worship
INTRODUCTION
David W Palmer
Much of our modern Christian experience centers on music—fun music, devotional music—but also music for praising, worshipping, and thanking God. Music can take up to half the time in our church meetings, youth rallies, and evangelistic events. Certainly, in our homes, cars, and leisure activities, our Christian music occupies at least as much of our attention as does preaching, teaching, or the word. Why is it so prevalent? Is it scriptural? What are its objectives?
Obviously, the gospel writers didn’t devote much of their writing to music or singing in Jesus’s life. However, we do have some passages in the New Testament that can help us grow in this area. For example:
(Acts 15:16–17 NKJV) “After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the LORD who does all these things.”
In this passage, the elder James quoted from Amos where God says that he wants to restore David’s fallen tabernacle in New Testament times. What is David’s Tabernacle? It was simply a tent that housed the Ark of the Covenant. God’s ark is symbolic of God’s manifested glorious presence. Wanting to restore David’s tabernacle speaks of the way God wants to “house” his manifested presence in our time:;he wants to re-established the heart and atmosphere that surrounded David’s tabernacle.
God’s purpose for doing this is clarified in the passage from Acts 15: “So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, Even all the Gentiles who are called by my name.” His objective is about the Gentiles, the non-Jews; and this includes most of us. He wants us to “seek” the Lord.
God wants the Gentiles who are called by his name—born again believers—to have access to him. He wants them to search him out, and to worship him. In other words, he wants David’s Tabernacle restored so Christians can have an unhindered way to encounter God and his glorious manifested presence—searching him out and finding him in worship [in spirit and in truth]. As a result, he wants us clothed in his Holy Spirit’s power, so we can reach out effectively to more and more people with the good news of God’s new birth.
This is what Jesus said about worship:
(John 4:20–24 NKJV) “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” {21} Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. {22} You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. {23} But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. {24} God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Jesus expects us to be true worshippers of his Father
He expects us to worship in spirit and in truth
What does this mean, and how do we apply it?
I wrote this series of devotional teachings to help answer this and to give you a scriptural foundation for expressing and enjoying the praise and worship that God seeks. However, the primary purpose is to help you get to the heart of what praise and worship are about; and to help you grow in your devotion, worship, and relationship with God.
My part is to pray for you to encounter God as you read, and that he would open the eyes of your understanding and pour out liberally on you his Spirit of wisdom and revelation (Eph. 1:16–21).
David W. Palmer
