Worship and the Intercessor

I want to share this month some things about worship. Worship is an integral part of intercession. It is the intercessor’s relationship with God that causes Him to move, or not move on his or her behalf. When you worship and reverence God and acknowledge who He is you compel Him to move on your request.

Many people mistakenly think that the lifting of hands, dancing and shouting are worship. Rather these are the outward expression of an inward connection. I didn’t try to make that rhyme it just worked out that way. When we truly begin to understand who God is our total being is surrendered to Him in worship, when we think of His goodness, His mercy, His grace, His love we are filled with adoration for Him and the desire to express it. We feel compelled to worship Him. I want to share with you a few of the Hebrew words for praise that we most often demonstrate in worship. Most of us who are true worshippers do them instinctively, but when you understand what you are doing it adds another dimension to your worship experience.

Yadah – Hands to God – is the lifting of our hands- it expresses love, trust and awe.

Towdah – has its roots in Yadah - it is also the lifting of the hands, but it expresses thanksgiving for what God has done and what we believe in him to do. It also expresses our dedication to the Lord and our agreement with or acceptance of his will. Towdah is defined by some as the physical praise that gains us entrance into the presence of God.

Psalms 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

Halal – is at the root of the word Hallelujah, which means Praise God, or praise to God. This is to brag or boast about the Lord, to declare his works or to testify of Him. Psalm 104 is an example of Halal, it’s too long to place here, but read and meditate on it in your own devotional time.

The last word of praise I want to share with you is Shebach, because it is my favorite.

Shebach – means to shout, it is a loud and forceful praise. It is a praise of adoration. We shebach God with an attitude of total inhibition, that is we hold nothing back from the Lord in our expression of worship to him.

Joshua Chapter 6:1 Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. 2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in." 20 When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city.

When we demonstrate worship through these and other expressions we experience the presence of God and have the opportunity to fellowship with Him.  We come to know Him and develop or strengthen or relationship with Him.  No relationship grows without us taking an active part in getting to know and spending time with the other person, but the more time you spend together, the more you know about one another, the more trust you have in the each other, and especially in the case of our almighty God, the more time you spend with Him the more of a desire you have to spend time with Him.