When it comes to worshiping the Lord according to the book (Bible), all I hear sometimes is a bunch of excuses:

It is not my personality
I am too shy, plus I don’t want to draw attention to myself
I don’t want to embarrass myself, my friends are looking
I don’t have to shout, dance, jump, or clap to actually praise God
I don’t want to be like one of those show offs

I think sometimes people can be a little too stiff in church, a bit too dignified and too concerned about themselves instead of following the book on worship. So the question here is – Is it possible that having or showing a composed or serious manner that is worthy of respect in church, especially in the area of our attitude to praise and worship, can sometimes hinder us from truly experiencing the fullness of the abundant life we have in Christ?

There are seven words in the scripture that define what praise and worship should really look like. Seven in the scripture is a number of perfection. What that means is that God wants for us to worship him to perfection and has given us seven different words to show us how to do that.

Today, I want for to focus on just one of the seven: Halal!
Halal means to be clear… Clear about who gets the glory in worship… who is the center of attraction… Halal means to get the joy out… When people are happy they always do something – They laugh, sing, dance, clap, jump, or shout… Halal means to shine… To celebrate wildly, to be clamorously foolish… To insanely worship and praise the Lord.

It is where we get the word Hallelujah. Hallelujah is not just something we say when a preacher says something cute in his sermon. It is a word that should move us to shouts of adoration, joyous dancing and expressive praise. When you Halal the Lord it is always for Him, always Christ centered, always done in the Spirit of the Lord, and always for His glory.

Frankly, Halal is not for the dignified because it is sometimes very embarrassing. David understood this, yet he danced before the Lord. Not his wife, she was too dignified to do any such thing. In fact, she despised him for humbling himself. She was more concerned about what others thought about the king than she was about what God thought about him.

To his wife Michal, David said, “I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes” (2 Samuel 6:22). We should be less concerned about what others think about us when we praise and worship and more concerned about what it means to God and what He thinks about our praise.

Unfortunately, Michal remained without a child for the rest of her life while her husband experienced favor, rest and blessings from the Lord (2 Samuel 6:23; 7:1). There is no telling what this dimension of praise can unleashed in the life of a believer. So, next time you have an opportunity to Halal God, don’t be a spectator, be a participator – you’ll never know how much pleasure it brings to the Lord and the kind of blessing it can unleash in your life.

Go ahead, Halal God!