Difference Between Praise and Worship

For so long in churches praise and worship have been stereotyped as ‘praise being the fast songs, and worship being the slow songs’. I don’t know about you but this has never sat right with me – because sometimes I feel like I am praising even during slower songs at church and worshiping in parts of the faster songs. There has to be a better way of describing the difference between praise and worship.
Let’s take a quick look at a couple of verses that mention praise and worship, then we will discuss them as well as a few dictionary definitions to try and find the difference between praise and worship – when we look at it from a music perspective in church.

That is from4 verses on praise. However praise is mentioned 351times in the Bible and gives us a lot more ways to praise God. The reason for this is because of our English language. The english language has one word, praise, for 7 Hebrew words – each giving a different definition for praise. They are:
Hallal: “to laud, boast, rave, to celebrate” – It is used approximately one hundred times in the Old Tes tament.
Yadah: “to worship with extended hands, to throw out the hands” – It is used over ninety times in the Old Testament. (Yad means “hand.”)
Barak: “to bless, to declare God the origin of power for success, prosperity, and fertility” – It is used approximately seventy times in the Old Testament as praise to God.
Tehillah: “to sing or laud” – It is derived from hallal and is generally accepted to mean “the singing of hallals.” It is used over fifty times in the Old Testament.
Zamar: “to pluck the strings of an instrument, to praise with song” – It is used almost exclusively in the Psalms and occurs approximately forty times in the Old Testament.
Todah: “to extend the hands in thanksgiving, a thank-offering” – It is used only a few times when trans lated “praise” but occurs many other times in connection with thanksgiving.
Shabach: “to commend, address in a loud tone, to shout” – This is the exclamatory form of praise in a special sense and is found only about seven times in the Old Testament.
You will notice ‘Yadah’ which actually means to worship with extended hands. Does this mean that worship as we know it is actually just a form of praise?
As we continue to discuss the difference between praise and worship lets take a look what the Bible has to say about worship.

Nigerian Praise and Worship Songs

Praise and worship can be described as the humble response of renew human beings to the self-disclosure of the Most High God. Praise and worship songs are based upon the works and word of God, and are hence achieved through the mighty activities of God. Historically, praise and worship songs have always formed an integral part on the idea of worship, probably because of the ease with which these songs provide in expressing the worshipper’s deepest love and adoration to the highest God.
Nigerian Praise and Worship songs are one of a kind, which are sung either in the local languages or in English. It is not uncommon to find different interpretations of English praise and worship songs into Local Nigerian languages. This gives worshipers, who each have different moods, a wide range to express themselves in adoration, praise, pray, and reverence.
The praise and worship songs provide a unique way for worshippers to confess to the Lord as well as respond to his mighty Glory in a language they understand better. In other cases, Nigerian praise and worship songs provide a unique way in which the congregation is better able to understand and interpret the word of God. Particularly, Praise and worship songs enhance the most crucial elements of praise and worship – reading the word of God, the Holy Communion sacrament, and the Sermon.
Praise and worship songs also prepare the worshipper to receive the profuse grace and abundant Blessings from God. Going through the lyrics of Nigerian Praise and Worship songs you will discover that the lyrics are quiet simple. Nigerians don’t make their songs theological and too fancy; instead, they just target simple biblical truths in the native language or in English. Some examples of Nigerian Praise and Worship songs, which have been translated into the local languages for easy praise and worship, are:

Oh What a Wonderful, Wonderful Day

Oh what a wonderful, wonderful day,
A day I will never forget,
After I’d wandered in darkness away,
Jesus my Saviour I met.
Oh what a tender compassionate friend,
He met the needs of my heart
Shadows dispelling, with joy I am telling
He made all the darkness depart.
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul
When at the cross, my Saviour made me whole
My sins were washed away, and my night was turned to day
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul (3x)

Easy Worship songs - Some songs for easy praise and worship

One of the most natural forms of human expression is through singing. It is thus not surprising when people worship the deity they believe in – which they do through singing easy worship songs. Easy worship songs can be described as giving praise to God, or a form of prayer. The importance of these songs is to give adoration, devotion, affection, and love to God, which worshipers can do by bowing down before Him, observing moments of silence in submission to Him, lifting hands out to Him, and just pouring everything from the heart.
Easy worship songs, or tags if you like, are very simple, and form a very crucial and powerful part of any worship set. Most of these songs are normally around 2-4 lines long, with 3-4 chord progressions. These simple tags of worship are quite powerful perhaps because of the repetition because unlike a normal worship song with verses, the chorus, and the bridge structure where one gets to sing only twice or thrice maximum, easy worship songs can be sang up to 30 times as the lines are short.
The repetition of easy worship songs gives the worshipers time to really listen and reflect on what the words are saying, and giving them enough time to personalize the lines, making them their own and applying them on their particular situation. Many people have discovered that easy worship songs reach and express their deepest feelings far more strongly than words alone could.
During easy worship songs, the congregation will often harmonize in a free manner, probably even singing and speaking in tongues, while the worship leader will more often than not seek to be ‘guided and led by the Holy Spirit’. A Unique and indescribable experience is created when there is an improvised flow from one song to another, and it is not uncommon to find a musical material inserted from one song to the other.
Additionally, easy worship songs make the church lively. No one wants to worship in a boring church with no songs. This is perhaps related to the fact that worshiping involves both call and response whereby the worshippers call upon the Lord and reaches the deepest depths of their hearts with special power, while singing out to the Lord expresses with very unique and special power the deepest response from the worshiper’s hearts to the Lord.
Last but not least, easy worships songs are what determine how everything else in a typical service will proceed. When easy worship songs lift people to the highest heights, people who lead the worship including the pastor will without a doubt be inspired to preach and lead the congregation with greater power and freedom. It has also been proven that people who sing worship songs in truth and in spirit find that their hearts and minds have been opened more clearly to hear and receive from the Word of God.

Here are some examples of easy worship songs:

Awesome God

Our God is an awesome God
He reigns from heaven above
With wisdom power and love
Our God is an awesome God

My God is a Miracle

He has never failed,
He will never fail.
He will do what He says He will do,
He will do what He promised to do.

Kids Praise and Worship

Praise and Worship music is a good way of turning kids towards the religion and helping them understand what it is about. This music is also called Christian kids music. It is a commonly known fact that there are verses in the bible which speak of children praying to god. This is the sole motive behind the praise and worship genre being promoted to children. These songs are ideal for facilitating a child’s interest in religion and helping him or her understand the reasons and concepts pertaining to worshipping God and taking the right path in life.
The dominating characteristic of these songs is that they are sung by the children for the children. Children have often be found to be extremely pure in their feelings and innocent towards life while gives a special intensity to their beliefs and faith towards God.
Kids worship songs can do wonders for a person feeling jaded or fatigued from life. In fact, one of the reasons why these are popular is the fact that a child’s voice has this peace in it which gets transferred to the listener. Furthermore, it has even been documented by many priests and churches that praise and worship songs done by children have performed miracles in this world. The following are some points to consider when it comes to kids worship music performed by children.
It has been noticed that children are more disciplined towards a particular way of life. Once they start following a particular lifestyle they are very devoted towards it.
The praise and worship of the God is the most remarkable way to remember Him for giving us this life and helping us through the difficult paths of life. Christian kids’ music has very huge audience throughout the globe. It can help to bring in more kids to worship the Almighty and hence spreading the righteous path more.
The children are pure and innocent so they can invoke more trust amongst the masses. Resultantly, kid’s worship songs increases the faith of the people towards God. In addition to this, people love their soulful voice and it helps them attain the meditation style trance.
Although children are not missionaries, they can definitely preach the religion of faith amongst the people of the world as well as any priest or missionary.

Origins of Nigerian Praise and Worship Songs


For ages‚ people have especially celebrated praise and worship songs owing to the immense faith, belief and intensity that Nigerian singers instill in their praise and worship music. In earlier days, before the arrival of Christian missionaries, Nigerians used to sing different songs in the praise of their Almighty. These songs echoed in the valley whenever there was a brief shower after months of drought or after reaping a good harvest.
There were many special occasions when these praise songs were sung. Some such occasions include the birth of a child in the family to celebrate new life‚ victory of some warrior to celebrate his or her valor and many other songs especially composed to ask the god for his blessings. In fact, there were praise songs for the leader of nation as well.
After the advent of Christian missionaries into the country‚ these praise songs were slowly transformed into worship songs with established guidelines and rules. The praise songs were no longer just songs sung to praise the God but an integral part of Nigerian worship rituals on a day to day basis. Although not very different, these nigerian praise songs were now considered as worship songs.
Furthermore, over time‚ praise songs have been modified and classified into several categories. While the modern worship songs are liked by a lot of people throughout the world‚ there are also many traditional songs which still use the old customary instruments like drums and horns.
In today’s world, nigerian praise and worship song can be classified into many groups. Some of these include.
family songs:
These are the most commonly used praise songs in many Christian homes. These are ritual songs which are sung to thank god for His kindness and his blessings.
marriage songs:
These are the common songs played or sung during a marriage ceremony. These songs are used to praise and worship the Lord for bringing two souls together.
songs for thanksgiving:
This is the most well known form of this revered genre. These songs are sung when people reap very good harvest.
Praising and worshipping god is one trait that is common across all religions. This includes even pagan beliefs of some tribals. However, it is also an established fact that if someone mentions the words ‘praise and worship’ these days it is almost certain that he or she is talking of Christianity.

Praise And Worship

Why You Should Listen to Praise and Worship radio stations


People listen to the radio for a variety of reasons. Some of them treat it as a great source of entertainment‚ some listen to it to stay upbeat with the world news and some just do it merely for passing time while driving. Lately‚ there has been the emergence of a new audience which wants to actually listen to praise and worship songs on the internet radio. Listening to the praise and worship programs on internet radio stations makes the peace of mind and dedication towards god much easier for people. In fact, radio stations playing this genre of songs are one of the most sought after stations on the internet these days. With the emergence of many internet radio stations, people are finding it easier and easier to practice their faiths and beliefs. There are many advantages of listening to such radio stations. Some are.
Stay Connected With God:
As we plug into the internet, we become connected to the world in terms of information and sharing of data. In this tough era of competition we often end up ignoring our faith and religion. However, this advancement in technology has not really left religion behind either. Internet praise and worship radio stations allow the busy disciple of god to stay in touch with him.
Say No To Worldly Tension:
The worldly tensions accompany us wherever we go but if we tune into something like a praise and worship station we suddenly feel that we need to leave all the tensions and rely on the powers of God. Hence, whenever a person listens to such radio stations, he or she is bound to feel a kind of serenity that is unmatchable to anything else in the world.
Free of cost:
Religion has never been restricted. This fact also applies to most praise and worship radio stations, despite the fact that they are online. In order to listen to some of the most profound quotations from the Bible and heartfelt songs of this genre, all a person has to do is to type the website address of the radio station and tune in.
Many such stations have a great collection of praise songs so you can actually place a request for your favorite praise songs on the website and listen to them. Praise and worship is now online and it is now even easier to get closer to god.