Worship Postures In Scripture

The Bible is full of different physical postures that we can take during worship. Being demonstrative in how we worship God is not something reserved for charismatics; it is a biblical response to God.

Here are some ways that you can respond to the presence of God at home, in church, or any place where you worship God. While this list is not all-inclusive, it is a great primer on how to worship God with your whole body.

Bowing Down/Kneeling 

• Psalm 95:6-7 “(6) O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! (7) For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice!” 

• Romans 14:11 "For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God."" 

• Philippians 2:9-11 “Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, (10) so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (11) and every tongue should confess that JesusChrist is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

• Luke 5:8 "But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, 'Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!'" 

Lay Prostrate

• Deuteronomy 9:18 "Then I lay prostrate before the LORD as before, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin you had committed, provoking the LORD by doing what was evil in his sight." 

• Ezekiel 9:8 "While they were killing, and I was left alone, I fell prostrate on my face and cried out, "Ah Lord GOD! will you destroy all who remain of Israel as you pour out your wrath upon Jerusalem?"" 

Clapping

• Psalm 47:1 "Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with loud songs of joy."

Lifted Hands

• Psalm 28:2 "Hear the voice of my supplication, as I cry to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary." 

• Psalm 63:3-4 "Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name." 

• Psalm 134 "Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD! Lift up your hands to the holy place, and bless the LORD. May the LORD, maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion."

• Lamentations 3:41 "Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands to God in heaven." 

Dancing

• Jeremiah 31:4 "Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall take your tambourines, and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers."

• Jeremiah 31:13 "Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow."

• Psalm 150 “Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament! (2) Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his surpassing greatness! (3) Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! (4) Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! (5) Praise him with clanging cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! (6) Let everything that breathes praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!”

• Exodus 15:20-21 "Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sang to them: 'Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.'" 

• 2 Samuel 6:5,14-16 "David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the LORD with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals... (14) David danced before the LORD with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod. (15) So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. (16) As the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.”

• Psalm 149:3 "Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre." 

Shouting

• Psalm 32:11 "Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart."

• Psalm 71:23 "My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have rescued."

• Psalm 81:1 "Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob." 

• Isaiah 12:6"Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."

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