Should Christians cry out to God loudly?

[FreeNChrist]

I wonder If God looks to us sometimes to make the first move?

Never. God is the initiator and we are the responders. Always and in all ways.

 

[Marcelo]

I've been in a few churches and I've never seen this as a problem. It would be refreshing if someone wants to shout praises to God during worship!

Psalm 98:4-9
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
With the lyre and the sound of melody.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
Shout joyfully before the King, the Lord.
Let the sea roar and all it contains,
The world and those who dwell in it.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy
Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth;
He will judge the world with righteousness
And the peoples with equity.
Praise to the Lord for His Fidelity to Israel.

The song Shout To The Lord happens to be one of my favorites.

<font size="4"><span style="font-family: verdana">[video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-qkNthzidLE[/video]


The scripture you refer to is the Triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The people were shouting and praising over all the miracles Jesus did shouting - Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

I would love to hear some genuine shouting for what God has done for us!

Thanks, Desertsrose, you're helping me be more patient with noisy fellow believers, and this psalm is really wonderful.

But, as I said in the original post, there are Christians who really measure spirituality in decibels. Some 15 years ago I was in another country visiting a church of my denomination. After the service I met another Brazilian and he commented: "wow, you see how spiritually dead this church is?" I didn't get him at first because the hymns were nice, the testimonies were good enough, and the sermon was very spiritual. But then it hit me: he was referring to the silence during the service. Well, it's nice to praise God with our voices, but if we make it compulsory we'll never know if the emotion behind the expression is sincere. That church was silent, but only God could look into their hearts.

 

[Depleted]

Yes...........and.........No

We probably should not make a spectacle of ourselves/Worship Services.........BUT........methinks we SHOULD disturb the Neighborhood........for we are Commanded to do so............see Matthew 28:19-20

Apparently, I do disturb the neighbors.
-- My one neighbor thinks my accent is odd. I'm "not from around here." (I was born and raised 15 miles away. lol)
-- I'm a farmer because I wear bibfronts. Apparently city folk aren't supposed to wear bibfronts.
-- We can't afford new windows, and our old windows are so old, they're rotting. You can't paint rotting windows, so our old paint job has cracked and peeled. For some reason this has taught someone that our front is the local junkyard. Sanitation workers don't pick up some trash, and the trash they won't pick up lands at the front of our house. (City folk, so we don't have a front yard. We have a sidewalk. I have two large planters out there. One has a lilac bush in it and the other has forsythia. They park their trash in between.)
-- There's a bar within 100 feet from us. It's the type of bar where the same guys drink there every day, all day long. Obviously we don't know who these guys are, except for one of them, who stopped by years ago (when we could still repaint the window, but we just couldn't afford to get it painted), and promised to paint it for us if we'd front him the cash for the paint first. We did. He went right back into the bar. Then, in the next year, his buddies came over to promise the same thing. Hubby yelled at them. Ever since then someone has been breaking off our car's mirror, the radio antenna on the car, (which tells how old the car is lol), and branches off my bushes. (Might be related to how we became the junkyard too.)

We're definitely disturbing the neighbors. lol

 

[Desertsrose]

Thanks, Desertsrose, you're helping me be more patient with noisy fellow believers, and this psalm is really wonderful.

But, as I said in the original post, there are Christians who really measure spirituality in decibels. Some 15 years ago I was in another country visiting a church of my denomination. After the service I met another Brazilian and he commented: "wow, you see how spiritually dead this church is?" I didn't get him at first because the hymns were nice, the testimonies were good enough, and the sermon was very spiritual. But then it hit me: he was referring to the silence during the service. Well, it's nice to praise God with our voices, but if we make it compulsory we'll never know if the emotion behind the expression is sincere. That church was silent, but only God could look into their hearts.

​Yes, I hear ya. It's never good when the motive is wrong.

It could be that quietness is the problem. Like let's see how quiet we can be and so we're the most reverent in our worship over everyone else.

The problem will always be with the heart. God wants a pure heart and those who worship must worship in Spirit and Truth.

We don't even have to sing on key. Our Lord says to make a joyful noise unto the Lord.

 

[Stephen63]

Never. God is the initiator and we are the responders. Always and in all ways.

So if in service God doesn't lead in singing, we're not supposed to?

 

[JaumeJ]

He knows our thoughts, our hearts...........

 

[Amazing-Grace]

Whatever you do it should be led by the spirit and not done to "impress" other believers by appearing more in-tune with God. I do like enthusiastic praise but if I were going to "cry out" to God it would probably be in the privacy of my on home where I can be alone with Him.

 

[FreeNChrist]

So if in service God doesn't lead in singing, we're not supposed to?

Lead? You're no leader, you're a servant of the Most High. And don't ever forget it.

 

[MadebyHim]

And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. Exodus 14:10

And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out. 1Kings 22:32

And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they compassed about him to fight: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him; and God moved them to depart from him. 2 Chronicles 18:31

When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; Esther4:1


And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David. Matthew 20:30


And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. Mark 9:24

And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. Mark 15:39


And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child. Luke 9:38

 

[MadebyHim]

In Mark 15:39, we see even Jesus crying out to the Father.

 

[MadebyHim]

Maybe not on street corners, and such, but you know what i mean, a time and place for everything.

 

[ROSSELLA]

I know many Christians who measure other people's faith in decibels, and they provide Scripture for that: Luke 19:40 (if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out).

Many churches equate shouting with spirituality - if you cry out to God loudly you're a great Christian, but if you pray softly you're spiritually dead.

I know that deep communion with God produces deep emotions, but what I see in many churches is just the habit of shouting.

How do you folks interpret Jesus' words? (if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out).

I think that they're taking that verse out of context. This verse comes when the disciples are calling Jesus "The King who comes in the name of the Lord." The Pharisees tell Jesus to rebuke His disciples. It doesn't say exactly why, but from what we know of the Pharisees, they probably disagreed with them calling Jesus the King who comes in the name of the Lord instead of being angry about the amount of noise they were making. Jesus says "if they will keep quiet" not "if they don't shout loud enough."

Also, elsewhere, Jesus says, "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." Matthew 6:6. While, from reading the whole Gospel, we understand we're not to hide our faith, we're not to brag about our deeds or make a big show of praying. If someone was in their room alone shouting to the Lord, the neighbors would hear, defeating the purpose of doing so quietly.

I think that, if people want to pray loudly, they should make sure they're not doing so to look good in front of others. If they're shouting because they can't restrain their emotions or desire to communicate with the Lord, I don't think there's anything wrong with that (provided they don't do so in a fashion that's rude to those around them). However, there's nothing wrong with (and even much to praise about) praying silently or in a normal or low tone of voice.

 

[Marcelo]

Jesus says "if they will keep quiet" not "if they don't shout loud enough."

Very good remark!