Psalms Chapter 149:1-4 ENCOURAGES joyous praise-dancing. "LET them praise his name with dancing..." The Bible is full of God's people dancing. Here are just a few examples:
Psalm 150:4 "Praise him with dance..." (Almost sounds like a command).
Psalm 30:11 "You turned my mourning into dancing..."
Ecclesiastes 3:4 "A time to dance..."
100 Bible Verses About Dancing: https://www.openbible.info/topics/dance
CAUTION: Be careful Pastors, because some churches will not be open to such joyous expressions of praise. BUT NOTICE the first two words of Psalm 149:3.
"LET THEM..."
Don't make a big announcement that the church is now going to start a dancing program. But if during some joyous service, somebody begins to rejoice, if you know them as is instructed in I Thessalonians 5:12, LET THEM.
Yes, in some churches, if anything happens that is not in the bulletin, some people go into shell shock. LET THEM. If they decide to leave because the joy is too much for their hardened attitudes, shed tears over it, but LET THEM.
If you have to choose between Christians whose attitudes have turned to concrete, and joyous, spontaneous worship, BLAME the Holy Ghost for prompting people to break the mold like He did at Pentecost.
Turn it back on them. "Thank you for sharing your concern. Tell me what bothers you about it. What would you have me to do about it?"
At Pentecost, some were critical of the enthusiasm, but God went with the BOTHERERS instead of the BOTHERED.
CONCLUSION: While this article discusses Praise Dance, it is actually not about the dancing. We can worship every day of our life and never take one dance step. "God looks on the heart" (I Samuel 16:7), not on how much our body is moving. Dancing is not required.
Faithfulness and service is required, but the Holy Spirit has a history of breaking into our routines. Acts 2:2 proclaims, "SUDDENLY there came a sound from Heaven..." (It wasn't in the Bulletin).
THIS ARTICLE IS about DESIRE FOR FIRE, longing to experience AGAIN, or for the very first time, the joyous worship that came to FAITH at Pentecost.
As the fabled preacher Ray H. Hughes once proclaimed (I'm paraphrasing),
Pentecost shows us that we no longer have to eat religious cold cuts, but we can now FEAST on Manna cooked up hot in Heaven's Kitchen.
"Lord Jesus, RESTORE to us, to me, the 'WANT TO,' the desire for the presence of the Holy Ghost and joyous, spontaneous worship; an openness to the unexpected. SPEAK LORD for thy servants are listening."
Doyle
writedoyle@mail.com[/b] _________________ The largest room in the world is the room for improvement. |
Acts-celerate Owner Posts: 6957 9/16/21 4:32 am
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