Perhaps you enjoy going to church on Sundays. You might feel you are truly worshipping God in church. But apart from the services at church you probably do not have a chance to worship and glorify the Lord.
In other words, dear reader, you very likely rely on the Sunday services to worship Christ. Between the formal services you attend you really find no opportunity to experience moments of true worship.
The result has been that too many Orthodox have restricted prayer and worship to the church building. All of our zeal for prayer and for glorifying the Lord is confined to the public services held inside our church buildings.
The cause of this kind of isolated prayer and worship is simply the fact that very few of us know how to pray and worship God without the priest leading the worship. He usually offers up all the prayers that are to be prayed. This is why our lay people are religiously helpless-especially in the absence of the priest.
Of course, the corporate worship at the Holy Eucharist is indispensable to a
sound relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. But, as members of the Eucharistic body, we must continue private prayer throughout the day and throughout the week. It assumes expressions and forms not necessarily sacramental. It is a spontaneous type of prayer, involving praying in our own words.
Prayer books are of much importance, but limiting prayer to the formal structured services in the church building causes a slavish reliance on the prayer books. I remember as far back as the time when it was utterly impossible for me to offer up a word of prayer in a group setting without the help of my prayer book. It was a terrible embarrassment for me that I could not pray in my own words.
What this fact truly proves is that too many of us say prayers rather than actually pray. Priests are usually requested to "say a prayer" or "read a prayer" for this or that need.
Most Orthodox are even hesitant and they feel self-conscious about mentioning the name of Christ outside the formal church services. At weekday church meetings apart from the opening and closing prayer lifting the name of Christ is not exactly a familiar custom.
Enthusiasm for the Name of Jesus
One of the symptoms of the spreading apostasy in the Orthodox Church is the lack of enthusiasm for lifting up Jesus Christ outside the formal worship services both individually and collectively.
How can we be well-pleasing before the Father if we do not do our utmost to utter as often as possible with praise and admiration the name of His Son, our Savior Jesus Christ?
How can God bless us and prosper us both as individuals and as parishes if we hush that precious name outside our liturgical services?
Remember that the Father highly exalted Jesus, as a reward for His obedience. He accorded Jesus the highest place in the universe. He seated Him on His right hand in glory and supreme exaltation. Why? Because Jesus "humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." (1 Philippians 2:8) He honored His Son's submission and gave Him authority over heaven and earth.
No hesitation is evident in the fact that Jesus even asked His Father to glorify Him. He knew He had a right to that glory because He glorified His Father on the earth. In His High priestly prayer Jesus said:
"I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." (John 17:4, 5)
The glory that Jesus receives from the Father He shares with His followers and those who believe in Him and accept Him as personal Savior. "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them." (John 17:22) Being in His divine presence forever, we will be glorified by beholding His ineffable glory! His boundless love for us comes out in His petition to the Father in our behalf:
"Father, I will that they also, whom thou has given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me." (John 17:24)
Glorifying Jesus Between Liturgies
When God's life flows in us as newborn children and heirs of His Kingdom, then in imitation of God we, too, glorify His Son Jesus. Our whole life of obedience to God is, of course one act of glorification of the Lord.
Our faith, conformity to His will and works of virtue and righteousness all glorify Him. Even the unbelieving world will glorify the Lord, when our works shine before men (Matthew 5:16).
It is not enough, however, to glorify Jesus with our good works. God desires that we glorify His Son verbally, that is, with words uttered with our mouth. Many people live for Christ but they refrain from glorifying Him aloud in front of others. They feel shy about talking about the Lord with eagerness and excitement.
To glorify Jesus is to sing His praises in every possible way, and under all circumstances. It consists in making honorable mention of His precious name when the chance presents itself to us. It is to avail oneself of every possible opportunity to give Jesus the preeminence and to proclaim His lordship.
In our formal liturgical services we glorify the Lord in corporate worship. The awareness of such glorification and praise varies from person to person. There are, however, some who leave Church without having any awareness that they have glorified and praised the Lord Jesus Christ.
What is of primary importance, however, is your glorifying Christ in a private setting that counts in the sight of God. Then you have to make a choice to lift up that divine name. It is your own decision. You are not just in a crowd in Church where the choir does all the praising and you just stand at your pew listening and observing in silence.
It is when the Liturgy is concluded that your glorifying Jesus is meaningful. Do you speak highly of Jesus to other people between Liturgies? Do you exalt Him when you are alone? Do you feel that desire bubbling from within you to praise Jesus?
When you glorify Jesus apart from the Liturgy, then your participation in the Divine Liturgy will mark the climax of a whole week's glorification of Christ. Then the Eucharist will truly be the doxology par excellence for you. It's what you do between Liturgies that makes the Sunday Liturgy really acceptable and pleasing to God as an act of glorification.
The Capacity to Glorify Jesus
All believers are called in Scripture "partakers of the divine nature," destined for theosis. As such, like God, we, too, are desirous of lifting up Jesus at every moment of our life. We are expected to be highly motivated in breathing the name of Jesus with a longing and with a passion.
We must be spontaneously prompted to speak that "name which is above every name" as often as possible. We are zealous over that name. We cherish it and revel at its mention.
Mere desire to glorify Jesus, however, is of no help. You could be a Christian committed to the Lord, and yet your life could be devoid of constant praise. You could have the desire to glorify the Lord, but that desire remains inoperative and unfruitful. The inner spark is missing. There is the lack of the quickening power.
The capacity to glorify Jesus does not come from our desire nor from our natural ability. The only source of that capacity is the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that supernaturally enables you to do it.
You cannot exalt Jesus in your own strength. You cannot lift Him up relying on your own inner resources. You simply don't have that capacity in your mind nor in your flesh. It does not come with effort nor with will power.
It is the Holy Spirit who gives you the capacity to glorify Jesus. Apart from the Spirit of the Lord your effort to glorify Jesus remains feeble and ineffective because it is merely intellectual. It is not doxology in the Spirit. The natural man (psychicos) is incapable of praising Jesus in an acceptable manner. "That which is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John3:6)
The flesh cannot enable you to praise Jesus. Only the Holy Spirit can glorify Him. "He shall glorify me" (John 16:14) Jesus clearly declared, referring to the third person of the Trinity. It is the Holy Spirit on the inside of you, dear reader, who glorifies Jesus. He takes over that function for us. He does the work and we reap the benefits. Praise the Lord! Isn't that exciting?
We can't even say "Jesus is Lord" except by the ability given to us by the Holy Spirit whose function is to secure the Lordship of Jesus. "No man can say, Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor 12:3).
Verbal Praise: the Overflow of the Holy spirit
Unmistakable evidence that you have the Holy Spirit on the inside of you is a consuming desire to glorify Jesus and to speak of Him with a longing to praise Him. The immediate result of the Holy Spirit infilling is the spontaneous outburst of praise in prayer and song.
In the Book of Acts we find that the moment believers were baptized in the Holy Spirit they spoke in other tongues and prophesied. It occurred in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost, in the case of Cornelius and also when Paul administered the Holy Spirit to the twelve Ephesian disciples.
Verbal praise of God is the natural overflow of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit "runneth over" through the mouth. The charismata of tongues and prophecy are immediately manifested. They are a supernatural endowment given for the purpose of effective praise.
The moment the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, they "began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:4) The tongue and the mouth become activated, as the organs of speech. Praise engages the voice box. The Holy Spirit becomes manifested, first and foremost through human "utterance." The Spirit gives the believer supernatural'' utterance.''
The initial utterance in the Upper Room was one of praise. In other tongues they were magnifying God and His marvels. "We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God" (Acts 2:11). They were not preaching the Gospel in other tongues. The gift of tongues is given for praise in the Spirit, not for preaching. Peter subsequently preached, not in tongues, but in Aramaic, the spoken language of the Jews of that day.
You cannot remain silent when the Holy Spirit fills you. You will want to sing the praises of Jesus and to glorify Him in an audible voice. It is the Holy Spirit inside of you that does it. The Spirit that fills the soul of the believer spills over and flows out through the mouth.
"How do I know if I have the Holy Spirit?" you might ask, dear reader. The answer is simple: you will have an overwhelming urge to always glorify and lift up Jesus in prayer and song. The Holy Spirit is self-effacing. His one and only desire is to glorify Jesus. It becomes an almost irresistible swelling on the inside of you.
Have you noticed, for example, how enthusiastic charismatically renewed Orthodox are in their desire to exalt the name of Jesus? From silent, nominal Orthodox who found their religion dull and boring, they become exuberant and vibrant, desirous always to give Jesus the preeminence and the glory.
How did that come about? Very simple: it is the work of the Holy Spirit that accounts for that change in their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
"Open your mouth wide and I will fill it," (Psalm 81:10b) God's word tells us. The Lord fills the mouth with the words that we need for exalting and praising Him. "He who believes in me out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." (John 7:38) The"rivers of living water" well up from our innermost being and flow out of the mouth, as spiritual gifts of tongues and prophecy.
Satan Opposes the Praise of Jesus
While the Holy Spirit revels and delights in glorifying Jesus, as He indwells the soul of the believer, Satan, on the other hand, does his utmost to stifle the praise and glorification of Jesus. He gets very nervous and uncomfortable when he is present at the moment when Jesus is exalted.
Praise that is done in the Holy Spirit can banish Satan from our presence. He can't stand it. Even when we are alone, praising Jesus in the Spirit will ward off evil spirits from our hearts and lives.
Are you afflicted by depression and by fears and anxieties, dear reader? What you need is to shout the praises of Jesus. You might not feel like doing it, but do it anyhow and you will soon feel the difference it makes. What you need is a greater measure of the Holy Spirit-enough for an overflow.
Satan will not stay where there are spiritual praises of Jesus. He flees wherever the Lord is exalted verbally in the power of the Holy Spirit. Praise is an effective weapon against the Devil. There is deliverance and healing in store for those who pour out their audible praises in prayer and song.
The Scripture tells us that "God indwells the praises of His people." (Psalm 22:3) He does that in order to meet their needs for their perfect victory against the enemy and for their prosperity.
Don't wait to go to Church on Sunday to sing Christ's praises. Praise Him each day and throughout the day whenever you have the opportunity. You may be driving in your car alone. Or, you may be doing your household chores, or you may be walking alone. But even when others are with you, especially Christians, keep praising the Lord. Even lying in bed you can praise the Lord:
"Let the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud upon their beds." (Psalm 149:5)
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