“But You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.” Psalm 22:3 (HCSB)
Not every worship song has the same impact upon God! In fact, many of the songs we sing in our church services are sweet, primarily choruses about what we get from coming to God. Too much of our worship is all about us. We sing songs about what God is going to do for us. After all, He never lets us down! But high praise is different!
Matt Redman introduced a song in the 1990’s called The Heart of Worship. I believe this song hit the pulse of God, as people started crying out, “I’m coming back to the heart of worship, it’s all about You. It’s all about You, Jesus! I’m sorry Lord for the things I’ve made it…” We have made worship about us. Have you ever even considered that God has His favorite types of songs? These are what are called high praise!
Psalm 22 gives us a hint where it says that God inhabits the high praise of His kids. These are songs of the heart sang to His heart. These are the new songs, song in the moment, not from the screen, but from the heart. Wow, I want to sing those kind of songs! Don’t you want to sing songs that invoke His presence? By the way, there is fullness of joy in His presence (Psalm 16:11). So we do benefit by coming into His presence with song!
We are told that the anointing changes our grave clothes of depression and despair to garments of praise (Isaiah 61:3). Don’t you want that?
We are told that high praise and the word of God are powerful weapons that break the shackles and release God’s vengeance against His enemies (Psalm 149). Don’t you want that?
To get an idea of high praise, consider what is going on around the throne. They sing “holy, holy, holy” (Revelation 4:8). They sing, “You are worthy, to receive power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory and praise, for ever and ever” (Revelation 5:12-13). The new song in Revelation 5 focuses solely on the One who is worthy! High praise is all about Him, that glorious Man, Christ Jesus and His Father who sits on the throne forever and ever!
Maybe you need to repent for making worship about you. When this came up at a recent prayer gathering several people felt they needed to repent about it. Maybe it has become an idol that needs to be torn down in your life, or in your church. When was the last time you came in to God’s presence (or a church service) excited to simply focus all your attention and affection upon Him? When was the last time you sang a worship song that didn’t refer to what you get from God? When was the last time you simply sang the song that was in your heart in that moment? When was the last time (if ever) did you consider what kind of songs that God liked best?
Ask the Lord to lead you into deeper songs of your heart that touch and move His heart! Ask Him to show you any place you have made your worship more about you than Him. Ask Him to teach you how to sing praise that invokes His presence.
