This is a great song of praise that you’ll be singing for days. Great words that remind us that everything we do is for the King of King and Lord of Lords.
The video isn’t anything to do with the band but I really like the way he can’t help but sing out his praise even when walking down the street – this is how we should be, with praise always on our lips!
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Rom 10:14 [NIV])
In this post, the first in our series on the essential elements of worship, we’ll be looking at what the Bible tells us about testimonies.
An essential part of our worship, both privately and for the church as a whole, is remembering and speaking of what God has done. The more we share these things the more we’ll learn the real character of Jesus, and the more we’ll become like Him and do the exploits He’s called us to do.
I think that we need to understand what a testimony really is: a testimony is telling someone about the goodness of God. We often think that ‘our testimony’ is telling the story of how we got born again, but it is so much more than that. We have a testimony of God’s goodness to us everyday, whether we realise it or not, for a start when we wake up in the morning we have God’s fresh mercy towards us (Lamentations 3:22-23) and so our day continues with blessing after blessing (Psalm 91).
An important reason for publicly giving testimonies is shown in the above passage from Romans 10:14 – people aren’t going to know that God is good and is blessing people today unless they are told. I have found this in my own life when telling people about the lady who came to Living Word Church deaf, and left being able to hear; or the diabetic who no longer needs insulin injections; or the person who’s cancer miraculously vanished; or the person who was told she would never walk again but now can! People are amazed by these stories as they don’t know that God performs miracles like these, so we need to make sure that everyone is aware that Jesus’s sacrifice means that we don’t need to be sick (1 Peter 2:24), or poor, or oppressed, or held captive by anything (Luke 4:18)! Hallelujah!
It is also very important that our testimonies contain the word of God, for instance I had no idea that there was a scripture that tells me that I don’t need to have sleep problems. Then one day I heard someone read “He gives His beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:2) and I then knew that God’s will for me and all His children is that they sleep well (see also Psalm 4:8). If someone hadn’t told me that scripture it might have been years of bad sleep until I found those verses, and I read my Bible, so think about your neighbour who doesn’t even own a Bible – how will they know that God loves them and has provided an abundance of blessing for them unless we tell them!
Testimonies build faith and facilitate miracles. The root word in Hebrew that “testify” is derived from is “uwd” (pronounced “ood”, Strong’s number 5749) which means to return, repeat, do again. I believe that when this is used it isn’t solely refering to re-telling the story of what happened – it’s allowing the same thing to be repeated, or to be done again. As we tell each other what God has done it builds other peoples’ faith to receive the same thing, they think “if God has done that for them He can do it for me”. The same miracle will return, be repeated, be done again, meaning that’s God’s blessing will get to more people – exactly what His will is.
There are lots of examples throughout the Bible of testimonies being important to God, a few examples are given below to give an idea of the different aspects of testimonies.
The scriptures above show that we always have something to testify: God is always good and always will be! Our testimony is a fundamental element of our worshipful lifestyle, it permeates every conversation we have, every prayer we make, and is a foundation of all our worship. Let’s go and spread the good news: Jesus is good, Jesus is risen, and Jesus is changing lives TODAY!
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I have been listening to a two-part teaching on worship by Bryn Jones which I found really insightful and helpful for my worship. The teaching can be found by following the link to The Restorer on the Links page, and I would highly recommend that you have a listen and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you how your worship can become more like the way that God ordains it. Below is my summary of the key points.
The LORD said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. You shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy for you. And the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the LORD.”
Exodus 30:34-37 (accents by me)
This passage is the Lord speaking to Moses and telling him exactly how He ordains His worship to be. Our worship is for Jesus, not for ourselves (although it is good for us as we shall see), and so it should be done the way He wants it to be – not based on our desires or preferences. The Lord gives Moses four constituents that together form true worship, and gives a promise that if it is done this way then He shall meet with us! We should long to keep meeting with the Lord, so let’s find out what these four elements mean for us.
Stacte is a word which means “an oozing substance” or “overflowing drops”. The stacte itself was a specific sap (or gum) that would spontaneously exude from its tree. The word is used in the Old Testament to refer to Rain (God’s overflowing provision to us), Wine (God’s overflowing love to us by His covenant), Speech/Prophecy (God’s overflowing words from our lips).
The incense of our worship needs to be filled with the overflow of our hearts. The spirit within us which cries “Abba Father” (Romans 8:15) wants to spontaneously overflow with praise to the Father, and we need to let it! Our worship needs to come from an overflow of praise within us. If you read the story of King David praising the Lord as the Ark of the Covenant was returned in 2 Samuel 6 you see a picture of what this spontaneous overflowing praise looks like. Another example is the woman in Matthew 26:6-7 who poured a jar of expensive ointment over Jesus – she just wanted to give all she had in worshipping Him!
Onycha was a powder made from sea shells that had been ground, specifically the shells were from a certain creature found in the Red Sea. Exodus 14:13-14 recounts Moses’ speach to the Israelites on the day that they crossed the Red Sea on foot whilst their enemies were washed away behind them. The passage through the Red Sea was God’s mighty deliverance for His people – they were brought out of Egyptian slavery by a miracle and told that they would never see their enemy again.
It’s vital that as part of our worship we remember the mighty deliverance that Jesus has given us by His death and resurrection. We need to remember that our sins were once like scarlet but are now white as snow (Isaiah 1:18), and that we who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:13)! What fantastic things to remember, and what great reasons to praise Him!
To prepare the incense the Israelites would have had to have gone down to the Red Sea to find these shells. Whilst there they would have explained to the younger generations that the Red Sea is a constant reminder of the day the Lord delivered them from their enemies. Although the onycha was from the Red Sea, a place in their history, we need to note that it was not a symbol of their Egyptian slavery. As we look back on God’s deliverance we’re not looking at our pre-salvation life, we’re looking back to the time that our new life started – the old has passed away, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17)! Our worship should involve telling each other, and reminding ourselves, of all the wonderful things that the Lord has done for us – telling our testimonies of when Jesus delivered us and the life of constant blessings that ensued. We must make sure that the incense of our worship involves remembering who God is and the deliverance we’ve received.
Galbanum, like stacte, is a gum from a tree. The unique thing about Galbanum is that it has a very disagreeable bitter taste, but when it is burnt it gives off a sweet aroma. This process of transformation is seen throughout the Bible. God promises us that He will turn our mourning into dancing (Psalm 30:11), and that what we sow in tears we will reap in songs of joy (Psalm 126:5)!
James 1:2 tells us that we should have joy in all situations, that we should turn any bitter taste that a situation gives us into the sweet smell of praise to a God who is always good; a God who works all things together for our good (Romans 8:28). A great example of this ‘galbanum worship’ can be seen in Acts 16:22-25 when Paul and Silas are stoned, beaten and imprisoned for preaching about Jesus, and the first thing they do in prison is pray and sing hymns! They’ve turned a bitter situation into a sweet smell of praise. The next few verses show how God is able to turn their situation around and the results are an earthquake and the jailer getting saved!
We need to make sure that we train ourselves to worship in all situations, that we have the same attitude that King David expressed in Psalm 103:1-5 when he tells his soul and all that is within him to bless the Lord. We need to be able to lift our spirits by worshipping Him at all times.
In the Lord’s instruction to Moses the three spices described above were to be mixed with Frankincense – an aromatic resin known for its sweet smell. The Frankincense was the ingredient that brought the others together. The part of our worship that holds everything together is our love for God and our obedience to Him – this frames our worship. If we try and worship whilst being disobedient then our worship doesn’t have the sweet smell that it should. The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:1 that if we don’t have love then we’re like a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal – so our worship must always come from a heart that is obedient and that has love for both God and His people.
God – the creator of everything we can see – has promised that He will meet with us when we worship the way He asks us to, so let’s make sure that our worship:
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The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one
voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD.
Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments,
they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang:
“He is good; His love endures forever.”
Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud,
and the priests could not perform their service because of
the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God.
2 Chronicles 5:13-14 [NIV]
This section of the Old Testament is speaking of when Solomon had completed building the temple, and the ark of the covenant had been brought by the priests into the Most Holy Place. Solomon then dedicated the temple to the Lord.
This passage in 2Chronicles tells us many things about worship, and how God is to be honoured and worshipped by us. Here are a couple of starting points, but I encourage you to read the whole chapter, and let your imagination picture the scene, the worship and then the cloud of glory.
Firstly, we are told that the singers sang ‘in unison, as with one voice’. The joining together of God’s people, with the common purpose of worshipping Jesus is so important. We are called to be a people of unity, there is power and blessing when we all join together [Psalm 133]. In fact unity is one of the things that brings joy to the Lord! And therefore, it is important that you add your voice to that unison. How wonderful that even when the whole church is raising a song to the Lord, he hears you individually.
Secondly, we are told that what came out of their mouths was ‘praise and thanks’. This is such an important starting point for building our prayer life and relationship with Jesus, and is something that should be a strong defining feature of our worship, that it is full of praise and thanks. I challenge you to listen to yourself – is what you are praying full of praise and thanks?
Therefore, as we worship together on a Sunday morning, it is important that we are comfortable and growing in confidence to bring our own songs to the Lord. From each of us let there be an overflow from our hearts of worship. Now I know that this can be an intimidating prospect, and as you look around you may see people to whom it seems to come naturally, but everyone had to start somewhere! The Lord wants to hear His name honoured by you. He doesn’t value our songs by human standards, by our ability to find a key, how clever we are with our words, but He is blessed by a heart that loves Him, and a mouth that expresses an overflow from the heart. In this passage, the people are singing a simple refrain, just 2 lines, but it expresses their heart and their adoration of the Lord. Use this simple refrain to help express your worship. Even now, start to sing out ‘He is good, His love endures forever’. Sing it again and again. Imagine the scene, all the voices joining together to sing, and then how a cloud descended. This cloud was so dense, so heavy, so all encompassing that the priests could not go about their service. The glory of the Lord filled that place. This passage is a shadow of heavenly worship. It was always God’s plan that His people would be His temple, that His Spirit would live in us and fill us. So expect that as you worship, you become more aware of the Holy Spirit that is living in you.
Get praising, get worshipping, get singing, and get expecting to experience more of the presence of God!
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Psalm 145:3 tells us that “great is the Lord and most worthy of praise”, this statement is an eternal truth that brings joy to our hearts! No matter what is happening in the world or in our lives the Lord Jesus is still great and worthy of all of our praise. This is why those that know Jesus are a people of constant joy and praise, because our worship is based on who He is – the King enthroned in heaven – not what we see on earth.
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