thinking about the meaning.

It is so much easier to offer clichés

in worship instead of making the effort to honor God with fresh

words and ways. This is why I encourage you to read Scripture in

different translations and paraphrases. It will expand

your expressions of worship.

Try praising God without using the words praise,

hallelujah, thanks, or amen. Instead of saying, “We

just want to praise you,” make a list of synonyms and

use fresh words like admire, respect, value, revere,

honor, and appreciate.

Also, be specific. If someone approached you and repeated, “I

praise you!” ten times, you would probably think, For what? You

would rather receive two specific compliments than twenty vague

generalities. So would God.

Another idea is to make a list of the different names of God

and focus on them. God’s names are not arbitrary; they tell us

about different aspects of his character. In the Old Testament,

God gradually revealed himself to Israel by introducing new

names for himself, and he commands us to praise his name.8

God wants our corporate worship gatherings to be thoughtful,

too. Paul devotes an entire chapter to this in 1 Corinthians 14

and concludes, “Everything should be done in a fitting and

orderly way.” 9 Related to this, God insists that our worship services be

understandable to unbelievers when they are present in our

worship gatherings. Paul observed, “Suppose some strangers are in

your worship service, when you are praising God with your spirit. If

they don’t understand you, how will they know to say, ‘Amen’? You

may be worshiping God in a wonderful way, but no one else will be

helped.” 10 Being sensitive to unbelievers who visit your worship

gatherings is a biblical command. To ignore this command is to

be both disobedient and unloving. For a full explanation of this,

see the chapter on “Worship Can Be a Witness” in The PurposeDriven Church.