Sui Topi
New Member
Breathe in and breathe out honey!
David didn't mind looking "foolish" in front of some folks because his praise was not for men but for God.
I encourage all to read 2 Samuel 6 which tells the story that beautifulisaunderstatment was talking about above. I just want to point out a few verses.
v14 And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.
v15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.
v16 And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.
v20 Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself!
v21 And David said unto Michal, It was before the LORD, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel: therefore will I play (celebrate) before the LORD.
So dancing (even wildly) and shouting are acceptable forms of expressing your love for the Lord. We as Christians have to be extremely careful when we want to comment on how someone is praising God. It is God that knows exactly where that person's heart is. [/B] Let's say, I see a man in church jumping and dancing wildly in praise and I think he looks absolutely foolish. I make up in my mind that I'm going to interrupt his praise, pull him over to the side and tell him how inappropriate and unnecessary his method of praise is and that he needs to calm it down and show some respect for the other people in God's house. I could only imagine the conviction I'd feel in my spirit if right before I'm about to confront the man, God opens up my spiritual eyes and I see angels all around this man dancing and jumping and having a praise party right along with him!
beautifulisaunderstatment, one of the key lessons that God taught me is that not every Christian is going to accept your praise, even if the praise is 100% sincere and God and His angels are loving every moment of it! So I say embrace the negro spiritual but also embrace other Holy Spirit annointed songs whether they are in a style of yesterday or in a style of today. As long as you know in your heart that your worship is pleasing God, then it does not matter what any human being says, even if that human being is a well-meaning Christian. People pleasing at the expense of God pleasing can break your spirit. I truly believe that there are many God-loving people who don't fulfill their divine calling not because of what the world did or said but because they listened to Christians tell them that their ministry was all wrong and that their methods of worship were all wrong instead of listening to what God told them to do.
I guess this in the end is really the key and what matters