Hebrews 13:15: Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
If you haven’t read part 1 of this blog post named: Worship & Praise: Landscape, please do so before reading this one. That is essentially the first of this trilogy post on how I go through the process of worship and praise. My heart-mind posture was discussed as the first step.
So let’s start the second part of my session of worship and praise which is the gift of my words. After my mind is set on the things of Christ and my heart rejoices, I must open my mouth and let Him know how good He is. I have to give Him the glory. But how can I do this effectively? By saying effectively, I’m asking, how can we do this in a way that we know He receives it? Well, I can only tell you what works for me but I can’t imagine that anyone trying this to expand their prayer life and their relationship with Him wouldn’t please The Lord.
So let me explain. When I am in this part of worship and praise, I see my words as projectiles of palm leaves— they come forth out of my mouth, soar through the air and lay at His feet. You can use anything that works for you here. Some see the actual letters of the words coming out of their mouth; physical words, like objects, floating at His feet or surrounding Him. They see the words glorifying Him. Whichever way you go in this process, one must “see” their worship and praise as he or she is doing this (in your mind’s eye that is). So back to my palm leaves. I begin to verbally respond to the thoughts that I am having in my mind-heart posture. The joy that is in my heart is coming out of my mouth as words. Those words are worship and praise.
Let me give you an example. I may remember Him dying on the cross or lifting me out of a dire circumstance where I eventually received the victory. My heart becomes overjoyed again as if I am reliving some of those moments. Then my mouth speaks. I may say something like glory and honor are yours Almighty Father.
The palm leaf: “glory and honor are yours Almighty Father.” That sentence/leaf is now laying at his feet. I can see it. When I look at it, I think, one palm leaf is not enough for all that He’s done. It looks empty. So I repeat it and express other words of thanks so that He’s surrounded by more worship and praise. Yes, the volume or number of leaves surrounding Him let’s me know where I am on my “worship and praise” scale. I know when I have barely done enough and when I have given him so many palm leaves that day that he is surround with stacks of it.
As humans, we can never thank, worship or praise Him enough but that’s how I calibrate my praise internally. In the beginning, you may just have palm leaves covering the floor. In a couple of years, they may be stacked to the ceiling on a regular basis. Over time, one can set their bar higher and higher. Slow and steady gets results. Sometimes I add more leaves for a cumulative effect along the day; In the morning, my praise may leave 10 palm leaves, then at lunch I may leave 10 more and at bedtime I may leave 50-100 in a longer session. Feel free to show Him what you got here! Fill the atmosphere with blessing and glorifying Him.
Do you need some starter material? Picture the scars in His palms. How does your heart feel? what’s coming out of your mouth when you think about it? I’d say “there‘s none like You” (coming from Miranda Curtis’ song God Almighty, here’s the link to it:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=RDrFdOYHytL3M Worship and praise songs will help you find the words if you need some help on what to say. Keep listening, you will find that the palms are endless— way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God that is who you are :)
What I love at this point in my prayer is that The Holy Spirit tends to manifest Himself here (not every time but often). Yes, I can feel His presence. How? Sometimes I feel a stirring in my belly; I mean a strong vigorous one. Like when one stirs lemonade in a pitcher around and around; focused rapid turning. Most times, my left palm “goes on fire”. It’s like He is taking part in the worship and praise. He gets excited when I open my mouth to praise His holy name.
Ever since I started regular worship and praise, I feel like I have fresh flowers on my table with each session; my atmosphere is lifted. I now have an almost tangible awareness that my table is empty when I don’t take the time to do it. When my table is empty, I feel like, “I can’t just go about my day not giving Jesus His palms.” “That’s the least I can do for all that He has done for me”...I then make the time. I encourage you to take the time. In your sessions, hold Him by both hands, look at Him in the eyes and tell Him, “there’s none like You.”
To hear me narrate my blog visit my Word of Encouragement YouTube Channel Here: https://youtube.com/c/WordOfEncouragement