HALAL: To praise; to celebrate with abandon, as in Hallelujah
Can I share a little something about my spiritual journey with you? I am learning that worshiping Jesus is a powerful force in my life no matter what I am going through! When I am discouraged, I worship. When I feel anxious, I worship. When I feel excited, I worship. When I am depressed, I worship. When I am hopeful, I worship. Do you see the pattern? Worship is the answer in EVERY moment of every day.
For the next 7 days, I would love to explore some of the ancient roots of our worship. God has actually inspired us with ways in which He can be worshiped!
Just to be clear, often a stumbling block to people when they think about God is, "Why does God want us to worship Him all the time? Is He like some kind of cosmic narcissist who just needs people to prop up His little ego?" The answer is NO! When we see something we love, we naturally desire to praise it. In fact, the act of praising doesn't just express our joy; it becomes part of our joy! We love God, and our response to Him is our worship! My prayer is that the next seven days will be filled with an inexpressible joy as we experience worship of Jesus in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
Speaking of JOY, one of the ancient words for “praise” is “HALAL.” The word Halal means to boast, to rave, to shine, to celebrate and to be clamorously foolish!
When you HALAL God, you brag about Him, you boast about Him, you rave about Him, you celebrate Him and you are not concerned at all with what anyone thinks about your celebration. Halal, is the PRIMARY word for praise in the Bible and it is the root word from which we get the word...Hallelujah! Hallelujah means “Praise God!” Or, “praise be to God!” The Bible says…
“I will praise (halal) God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.” (Psalm 69:30 NIV)
One of the things I love about the Hebrew language is that the words embody the emotion. In English we use punctuation marks, but often in Hebrew, the words themselves carry the emotion. So, for the record, there is no such thing as a sad or quiet Halal! The only kind of Halal that God desires is both loud and passionate! And now God is going to add another element…
“I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you.” (Psalm 22:22 NIV)
“With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord; in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him.” (Psalm 109:30 NIV)
Yes, it means what you think it means. The kind of worship that God desires from us is passionate, loud and public! Jesus loves your private worship, but He also wants you to get your worship on, in church! Which means, some of us should take the opportunity to kick it up a notch. Halal worship is both passionate and public!
So, before we take on worshiping in public, let’s take a moment and reflect on the privacy of this moment. What has God done in your life that is worthy of a HALLELUJAH? Can you step out of your comfort zone and lift the name of Jesus with a loud HALLELUJAH, right now? God is worthy and the miracle of worship is available to you right now. Don’t miss this opportunity to raise a HALLELUJAH and worship God for every miracle that He is pouring out in your life! Never forget, friend,
You are a miracle!
