This is admittedly a somewhat random question but I was wondering 1) if you are a person who raises your hand(s) during worship, why? And 2) if you are not a person who raises your hand(s) in worship, why not?
Brother Todd,
It may have a lot to do with the church circles I grew up in, spiritually speaking, where we were taught to be expressive in our worship and that true worship involved spirit, soul and body?
So yes, I certainly do more often than not. Paul even refers to wanting men to pray " lifting up holy hands"
I see it a a sign of giving praise and worship " up" toward God in the heavens, also a sign of surrender and openness to His Spirit.
Lifting hands signifies receiving from Him even while giving honour to Him.
Also a sign of waiting on Him for strength and a fresh in filing of the Spirit.
I know this is my personal experience but when I lift my hands and open up I immediately " sense" His presence more tangibly.
Blessings,
Thanks William!
I agree with everything StirItUp said. And I would like to add that it comes naturally now to raise my hands in honor and worship to Him. When I first started, I thought everyone was staring at me and just put my hands turned up in front of my stomach!!!
Then I got my hands up around my shoulders but my elbows were firmly planted at my sides!! Then one day, I didn't care anymore and up went my hands to the ceiling!! :)
I do believe the enemy hates seeing us in submission to our Lord and Savior and does his best to make Christians feel this act of submission is irrelevant.
God bless,
Lisa
I fought putting my hands up for about 4 years. I mean I fought tooth and nail. I am not an overly emotional or expressive person and I quashed the Spirit good.
Then finally we went to a night of worship called "the wave” at a neighboring church at which time I could resist no longer. Even though literally everyone else had their hands up or were prostrate or whatever, I still thought everyone was looking at me.
I raised my hands at the last church we attended but not as often as previously.
Now we started attending a more conservative church that is very strong in preaching and teaching the word but where worship is less expressive (but very good). Hardly anyone raises their hands. I feel like I should but once again I am quashing. Hopefully that will come to a stop.
Todd, can you feel the presence of God in the church you attend?
When I was first saved back in 1995, they made me wear an asbestos suit to church, and they seatbelted me in my seat, "just kidding” but that’s how on fire I was. I still have that fire on the inside, but I still have episodes to where it jumps to the outside, every now and then. :-)
Nigel wrote: "Todd, can you feel the presence of God in the church you attend?”
Yes, very much so. When tears start to flow I am feeling the Spirit. It is a more "reverent” feel than the church we had recently left, which was very loud and too glitzy in my estimation.
The church we currently attend has a more contemporary service with a band etc then another much more traditional service with organs and hymns.
The pastor does raise his hand during worship; it seems like everyone else who does is a woman (including my wife). Regardless it likely won’t be long before I lift my hand. Maybe I’ll start a trend!
Bill- There are definitely times I feel like running a lap around the sanctuary especially with certain songs but so far I have been able to contain myself.
It is scriptural to raise your
hands during worship:
"I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.”
(1 Timothy 2:8)
Psalm 63:4
So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.
Psalm 134:2
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary And bless the LORD.
Psalm 141:2
May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.
I lift my hands in surrender,submittion,and like a wave offering I bring nothing but my heart of obedience and reverence to you O’Lord.
Todd, it sounds like you've found a good church. Praise God for that.
I have struggled with the same thing at times. I have to keep reminding myself not to care what man thinks.
Would it be fair to say that when we lift our hearts to God, our hands will follow suit?
Indeed they should.
I raise my hands during some times of prayer and signing. I do it not based on emotion, but on praise/worship. So when there is some praise/worship in my singing or praying that I lift my hands.
Why?
1) It's a biblical way to add praise to the Lord
2) I believe that a healthy person is a person where spirit and body function together
3) The Lord wants to be worshiped with our mind, soul but also our strength (body). You see that also in Romans 12:1 -> to surrender your BODY to the Lord
I believe that we should notice that the extreme seperation of soul and body that we have today, is not biblical. I am not saying that you should lift your hands, and I do not condemn anyone in this, but I long for myself (I have a long way to go) and for others to serve the Lord with everything we have and are. Our money, our time, our body, our spirit, our mind... all for the Lord!
Just a few verses of lifting our hands unto the Lord. We don't have to be at church during praise and worship to do this, at home when I'm listening to praise and worship music, I worship Him!! (edit)I didn't see Mike's post on the first page, I wasn't trying to overrun him (Sorry Mike))(/edit)
Psalm 63:4 - Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
Psalm 134:2 - Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord.
Psalm 28:2 - Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
Nehemiah 8:6 - And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
Psalm 141:2 - Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Lamentations 2:19 - Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.
Lamentations 3:41 - Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
1 Timothy 2:8 - I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
Hebrews 12:12 - Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
Lysa do you think the verses in regard to lifting hands is tantamount to a command that we do so?
Right next to the sound of a child's laughter, [on my list of 10 most beautiful sights and sounds], is the sight of a man unashamedly lifting their hands in worship.
Just sayin'
by TMK
Lysa do you think the verses in regard to lifting hands is tantamount to a command that we do so?
It needs to be like Paul said (and it applies to this imho), "Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind...."
A church can mandate it and then there will be those who do it, still doubting it's doing any good and being mad about having to do it!! So what good would it do, just another man-made law on top of all the others!
God bless,
Lisa
For those of us that love the Lord, his praise should be continuously on our lips. We raise our hearts, our eyes, an our hands to to the Lord. This should never become a religious ritual, or done out of obligation, but it should be natural and spontaneous, an expression of love, worship, and gratitude to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
When Leah brought forth Judah, it says she 'praised' (yadah} the Lord.Gen 29:35 This word speaks of raising or extending the hands in praise. It is also used in the Psalms in some places translated praise.
Rusty
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