Swimming in His Presence: A Hebrew Teacher Reflects on Worship & Praise

""How you worship God is between you and Him." I know. It sounds almost like heresy. But, before you pick up those stones, hear me out. I have not left the evangelical reservation. But I do believe there is a strong component of individualism in our salvation experience. The very fact that God made each one of us different indicates that He loves variety. Some people love quiet, liturgical worship, and some love loud booming worship. Some love to just sit with heads bowed, and some love to dance and swing from a chandelier. Jesus said, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth." Jesus spoke these words in Aramaic. In Aramaic, the word for Spirit is Ruacha, which is identical to the Hebrew Ruach; the same word for the Spirit that moved (a better translation is "vibrated") over the face of the earth at creation in Genesis 1. Truth, sharar in Aramaic is a word used for an umbilical cord. The umbilical cord nourishes the baby in the womb. When Jesus said we worship in Spirit and in Truth, He was saying when we worship, we are attaching ourselves to God to be given our spiritual life and nourishment from God. How we worship, from quiet meditation to swinging from chandeliers, is not worship itself, but just a manifestation of what takes place when we join ourselves with God through the Holy Spirit and the cleansing word of the blood of Jesus. So, you see how worship is really between you and God, for you have your own unique song to sing. It is a song that is not only in harmony with God but in harmony with the entire universe, that is in harmony with God. There is only one person who can teach you to worship God, and that is the Holy Spirit, that great orchestra Conductor who, with the blood of Jesus, can bring you into harmony with God. More precisely, He can restore you to harmony with God, for sin will bring you out of tune, and only the blood of Jesus can restore you to sing your song in perfect pitch with God"--