Praise Jesus!

Why do people look down on those who sing loud? Is not to worship God to do it with all your heart? Should we really be concentrating on whether our voice is blending perfectly with the person next to us? I thought that was called choir.

Worshiping:
It is not about the words on the screen. It is about the words in our heart! Its not about getting it right. It is about giving it your all! It is not about being in tune, every note sang on beat. It is about being in tune with love, both yours for God and God's love he has for you! It is not about sounding good to those around you standing by your side. It is about singing truth to your God! Truth that is spoken/sang from your heart, mind and soul. It is about not caring who might hear. It is in fact going as far as not even noticing who might hear!

Worshiping
It is not about telling God you exist. It is about recognizing you know he does! It is not about singing your loudest to be heard. It is about singing out not paying attention whether you are loud or quiet but rather concentrating on God and nothing/no one else!

Worshiping with our hands raised
Raising our hands is not a prompting by the words flashed on the screen above or because some one says to. It is an act of worship telling God I am willing, here I am, I am all yours, cleanse me and make me all you desire. It is to say here are my hands make use of them. To raise them higher is not to have a who is the most holy competition. It is an act of complete surrender a desire to have more of Him and less of self. A desire to touch the breath of God. It is when God calls down "reach up and grab my hand and I will rescue you!" It represents Him as our Savior.

It is Worship to direct our full attention on God's word/love and know that He is our GOD and we simply tell Him we know, and we choose HIM! We Love HIM! We are thankful for HIM! We are simply HIS!

In saying all that I have to say about worship I am reminded of a time my son was sitting beside me at church. Now my son sings at home and I have seen him and heard him worship God with all his heart when he is with other kids his age rocking out to his own beat. But this is not what happens during Sunday morning worship. He sits sometimes stands hugging me. He draws robots. He does everything but worship. I have tried so many times lecturing him saying" This is the time to tell God you love Him. Don't you love God? You say you do but God wants you to show Him. It would be like you saying you love me but when I most need a hug you say noway." Nothing the guilt trip does not work. I don't know why I expected it to since it only ever made me mad when I was little. I still dislike guilt trip lectures... don't we all? This one time I started praying "God I am doing everything I can..." God stopped me in my tracks "Are you? Are you sure? Does he know what worship is really? Why do you raise your hands up to me? Does he know why? How much have you really taught him about worship?" I wanted to sit down and cry and laugh at the same time. There was hope. He was not acting out rebelliously. He simply did not understand all the ins and outs of worshiping. I am sure I too am still learning as well. Sure when he was comfortable and music he liked was blasting he would sing and even dance. If I were with his age group of kids I might have a hard time worshiping too come to think of it. I sat down with my son then and decided to start being the parent God desired me to be. I had a conversation with my son it went like this:
" Sammy Do you know why we sing to God? "
"Yeah mom to tell God we love him. "
" Do you know why I raise my hands up sometimes?"
"NOO!"
"Do you want to know?"
"Yes!"
And so we chatted right there. In the midst I felt God all around us, his presence was so sweet while voices in song helped me teach my son what worship is all about. He stood with me before the songs were through. And I asked him if he would like his hands to be Gods tools to use to help others? He said "yes" I said "Then slip them up in the air and tell HIM so. He did! God is good! Worshiping HIM is oh so good!

John 4:23
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.