Psalm
63:4 Thus will I bless you while I live, I will lift up my hands in your name.
The mechanics of praise are very important, so that you are
involved in worship, Spirit, Soul and Body. Even our hands can be offered as
instruments of worship
How many of you have ever been to a football game, or a baseball
game, or some sort of sports game? Did you get excited and cheer and clap your hands.
Did you ever do the wave, or have you seen the wave at a sports event? If you don't know
what that is I will explain it to you. At one end of the crowd the people begin to stand
and wave their arms up like this. It soon catches on and the next section begins to do it,
and before you know it the whole arena is doing the wave. People get excited and you
will also hear something that sounds like a roar come out of the people. Do you know
what I mean? Did you know that this is not a new thing?
People in the Old Testament were giving wave offerings centuries
before people were doing it at sports events. But they were not doing it because someone
was chasing a ball around the field. They were doing it to God. These people were
excited and wanted to show God how much they loved Him. Usually their hands were
not empty, they usually had some kind of offering in them.
In Leviticus 16:12 And his hands (the priest) were full of sweet
incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil
Our hands can be full of sweet incense as we offer up praise to God.
As we sing to God we lift up our hands to bless Him.
Psalm 63:3-4 "Because your loving kindness is better than life, My
lips shall praise you. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in your
name."
We bless the Lord when we praise Him with our mouth and lift our
hands as an offering.
Psalm 28:2 Hear the voice of my supplication, when I cry unto thee
when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle
I Kings 8:22, 54. King Solomon knew how to praise God. It says
that he spread out his hands toward heaven, then he prayed a long prayer to God, and the
whole time he still had his hands toward heaven. It's like showing respect to Him. It's
like surrendering, or giving all to Him. It's like saying, I hold nothing back God.
I Timothy 2:8 "Therefore I desire that the men pray everywhere,
lifting up holy hands, without wrath or doubting."
This scripture says a lot. First it tells me that when I pray, I should
lift my hands to God. But it says holy hands. Does this mean that I can come with sin in
my life and bless the Lord. No, I must get rid of any sin, before I can really worship God.
So first we must ask forgiveness before we can truly worship God, or they won't be holy
hands.
The next thing it says is it must be without wrath (anger). Can I
worship God if I am angry at you, or anyone else? Of course not. So forgive and get rid
of the anger. The next thing it says is without doubting. Can I come to God with doubt
in my heart that He will hear me and answer me? No!
Hebrews 11:6b "For he who comes to God must believe that He is
and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
God is waiting for you to come to him and worship Him in Spirit
and in truth. No sin, no anger, no doubt! He will reward you in ways that you can't even
imagine. Next time you are in worship, lift your hands up to Him and bless Him and let
Him bless you.
I hope you understand now why we lift up our hands and worship
the Lord. It's not just to wave our hands around. We are offering up a sacrifice of praise
to God, and we are blessing God. How many want to bless God for all the things He's
done?
Psalm 134: 1,2 "Behold, bless the Lord, all you servants of the
Lord, Who by night stand in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands in the sanctuary,
and bless the Lord."
There are two ways to position your hands in worship...One is
putting your hands straight up in total surrender (like...stick em up)like I surrender to you
Lord. Giving Him all your cares, worries and doubts...Becoming totally surrendered to
Him.
The other is placing the palms flat and facing up (like...I have
something for you) lifting holy hands in as an offering.
Both have a place in worship. It is an outward action of an inward
reality. If you feel it in your heart then express it with your hands.
We need to surrender and then we need to offer our praise to him as
a sweet smelling savor! You will find that it is very rewarding and He will bless you for
it.
We need to do a wave offering unto the Lord. Even shout
hallelujah as you do it. I Pray for you to have a freedom in worship, and not to be afraid
to express yourself by lifting your hands to God. He is worthy of our praise and
worship!
