Yes, There Is A Difference!
What is praise & worship? Let me give you a quick definition: praise & worship is to respect, and give honor to a divine superior being—God or someone of important to you in the form of verbal or physical expression.
Worship almost always confused with praise, even by people who ought to know better. Worship doesn’t mean “to lift your hands” or “bow your kneels”.
Worship is much different than Praise. Why? The bible talks abut a sacrifice of praise that is found in Hebrews 13:15 and Jeremiah 33:11, but there is NO sacrifice of worship. Let’s look at this verses of scripture from the Amplified Bible:
“[There shall be heard again] the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing as they bring sacrifices of thanksgiving into the house of the Lord, give praise and thanks to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good; for His mercy and kindness and steadfast love endure forever!....” Jeremiah 33:11
They brought a scarifies of thanksgiving into the house of the Lord. Do you know that if you do not understand something you read in the bible. Most of the time, it is explained for you, if you keep reading on. What did they do? They gave praise and thanksgiving in the house of the Lord, and to the Lord of Host, for He is good.
“Through Him (Jesus Christ), therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.” Hebrews 13:15
Praise the Lord, Christ gave us the opportunity to offer up to God a sacrifice of praise. By doing what? Opening up your mouth, and praise Him. Do we really understand the word sacrifice in Hebrews 13:15? Sacrifice means to give up, forgo, forfeit, let go, and surrender. This is what Jesus Christ did on the cross for us—He sacrifice His life that we may live.
Under the law of Moses, animals were killed and their bodies disposed of outside the camp. The blood from that animal was brought inside the tabernacle (a sanctuary for God to well) to the altar as a sacrifice for sin. It is the same with Jesus. He was crucified outside the city gates, and His blood was brought to God’s altar to cleanse His people. We are NO longer sacrificing animals, but we are pouring out sacrificial praises from our lips to God in Jesus’ Name. We can make known in our speech (praise), and believe by faith, when we worship, we mean it. If we read on in Hebrews 13:16, you will find out that we should not take these things for granted, because God takes pleasure in our acts of worship. This is a different kind of sacrifice—doing good, sharing our faith with others.
Here are some scripture passages to help you to offer up “spiritual sacrifices” to God:
· Living in obedience to God and nonconformity to the world—Romans 12:1-2
· Praying to and praising God—Psalms 50:4; Hebrews 13:15
· Serving with whole heart and willing minds—1 Chronicles 28:9; Ephesians 5:1-2; Philippians 2:17
· Performing good deals—Hebrews 13:16
· Giving of our material possessions—Romans 12:13; Philippians 4:18
· Presenting our bodies to God as instruments of righteousness—Romans 6:13,19
· Stay in integrity in your affairs—Proverbs 11:13; Job 31:5-6
This is the bottom line about praise & worship: the sacrifice of praise is the “fruit of the lips”, but worship is the “fruit of the heart!”
Worship is about love and appreciation. Praise is about an outward communication from actions. We can have a proud heart and still pronounce the goodness of God. Why? We can talk about (praise) someone or something all day, and not believe one word (in respect or honor and in the form of worship). For example, you can say the sinners prayer, “Father God, I’m a sinner in need of your help. I confess You this day, and turn form the world and the devil. I believe in my heart that You (God) raise Jesus Christ form the dead for my sins. I receive Your free gift of salvation. I’m saved. I’m a child of God. Amen,” and still not believe in your own word (coming from your heart). If someone asked you about God or Jesus, you will say all the right things, like God is good, Jesus is my healer, I’m on fire for God. Who are you kidding? You know that they are false statement coming from you. Why do I say that? You do not believe! You do not consider this facts to be true. Faith is Believing, especially when you do not understand! Out of obedience of God’s Word, you say the sinner’s prayer by confessing with your mouth, and believing in your heart that Jesus is your Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9, 10).
Let’s read Hosea 14:2 in the NIV verse of the bible, it states:
“ Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: “Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.”
What do you think the Lord is saying in this verse? Prepare your confession and come back to God. And how do I prepare myself to come back to God? By saying a prayer confession to Him as a restitution for our sins, and He will receive us graciously. What do we have to say to Him? We must offer a sacrifice to Him, just like the offering of bulls or goats in the old testament. We offer the fruit of our lips! The sacrifice of praise is still being offer to God today.
As I was preparing this information for you, the Lord drop this in my spirit:
“ For out of the overflow of his [your] heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45), and in the same token, out of the overflow of prayer and thanksgiving your praise brings forth worship”.
Praise and Worship are closely related but are not the same. As you can see, they are different. These distinctive help us to communicate in worship. Standing, Kneeling, Dancing, Bowing, Clapping, and the most popular “Lifting Hands” are all body languages. Before we can express these communication, we need to check our motives. Since worship is so much about the heart, occasionally ask yourself a question, “Why do I have my hands raised in church?” Sometimes we may be just acting out of habit or because everyone else is doing it. God sees the heart and knows our true motives. So, please think about it before expressing yourself in worship service.
Knowing the different between praise and worship will help you to express your spiritual sacrifice to God correctly in your body language. My purpose is to force you to make a decision about whether you’re going to praise and worship God or not. I hope this mini lessons has shown you how to correct your actions in this area, or just dismiss your duty to praise God all together.
I hope you can share the different between praise and worship with someone, so they may be true acceptable worshipper of God as well.
Praise and Worship Him with a Pure Heart!
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