One of the things I regularly come across is people talking about worship and not having any idea about the difference between praise (talking or singing about the Lord to others) and worship (speaking directly to the Lord about how wonderful He is). I have become aware that this is a personal insight I have received from the Holy Spirit which is meaningless to most people.
For most, worship is a religious event, part of the institutional church’s Sunday service. I usually sit through this part of the service feeling like I’m being beat up by bad lyrics and hypnotic rhythmic tonalities. There’s no worship (singing directly to the Lord) only praise (singing about God to others)—if there is even that. Much of the time it’s just stuff like “I’m so happy that the Lord has blessed me the way He has.” “I feel good!” And other such drivel. I usually just sing along in the Spirit, talking directly to the Lord.
I was reading the piece by Sergio in his Substack entitled When worship is also a knife. It’s a piece about how the Hebrew word Zamar is usually taught in churches as being about singing praises, playing harps, or something like that. But, it also means pruning the vine.
Again, I found myself murmuring about who cares about religious worship? I sure don’t. But then the Spirit moved and I began thinking about where this all fit into my understanding about the difference between praise and worship. Then pruning entered the mix, and I thought when I am worshiping (directly to the Lord) I simply run out of words pretty quick, and I slip into my private prayer language (what the ignorant call that distasteful emotional habit of tongues). Paul called it “praying in the Spirit” {as seen just after the part about the sword of the Spirit in Ephesians 6}.
When I am praying in the Spirit, the Ruach HaKodesh [Holy Spirit] has an open line to speak back to me in my mind. He shows me things. This is where the pruning happens, the revelation comes, and I am transformed. Praying in the Spirit opens me up to the Lord in ways which go far beyond conscious communication. The Lord somehow has a more direct communication when I am doing that. I am putting my entire self, including my tongue, under His control. He can prune me!
This is what Paul was talking about in 1 Cor 14:15—
I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also;
I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also.
My mind is actively listening when I pray or sing in the Spirit. I am intensely connected to the Lord by His Ruach. It seems to be exactly what Sergio is talking about in the definitions of Zamar. I am worshiping and being pruned at the same time—on my better days.
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