Category Worship Weds

Midweek meditations

Why Judah? Why Praise?

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

1. Judah’s name was prophetic from birth

When Leah gave birth to her fourth son, she said:

“This time I will praise the LORD.”
— Genesis 29:35

The Hebrew word she used was “yadah” — to lift hands, to confess, to declare praise.

So the child was named Judah (Yehudah) — literally “Praise.”

Judah wasn’t named after a tribe.
The tribe was named after praise.

This matters because in Scripture, names reveal assignment.

Judah’s assignment was praise.

2. Judah was chosen to go first in battle

God commanded:

“Judah shall go up first.”
— Judges 1:2

Not because they were the strongest.
Not because they were the largest.
Not because they were the most skilled.

But because praise is the spiritual breaker.

Praise:

  • disarms fear
  • shifts atmosphere
  • invites divine strategy
  • confuses the enemy
  • opens the way for God to move

Judah went first because praise breaks open what human strength cannot.

3. Judah carried the scepter — the authority

Jacob prophesied:

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah…”
— Genesis 49:10

Meaning:

  • authority flows through praise
  • kingship flows through praise
  • Messiah Himself would come through praise

Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah — the Lion of Praise.

This is why worship is not warm‑up.
It is governmental.
It is warfare.
It is kingdom alignment.

4. Judah camped on the EAST side of the tabernacle

East = the place of rising, the place of first light, the place of new beginnings.

Judah was positioned:

  • at the entrance
  • at the front
  • at the place where the glory would rise

Praise always stands at the gate of what God is about to do.

5. Judah led the procession when the ark moved

Whenever the presence moved, praise moved first.

This is why worship is not optional.
It is protocol.
It is order.
It is alignment with heaven’s pattern.

Why Judah Still Goes First?

There’s a truth I’ve learned over 30 years of worship ministry:
what happens before a single note is played determines everything that happens after.

Worship cannot be improvised.
Worship must be carried.

Why Judah — Not Levi — Goes First

Most believers assume Levi (the priestly tribe) should lead the way. After all, Levi handled the sacrifices, the tabernacle, the holy things. But God didn’t say, “Let Levi go first.” He said:

“Judah shall go up first.”
Judges 1:2

Why?

Because Levi represents ministry to God.
Judah represents movement with God.

Levi tended the altar.
Judah opened the way.

Levi maintained the sanctuary.
Judah broke the ground.

Levi handled the rituals.
Judah carried the roar.

Levi served inside the camp.
Judah led outside the camp.

Levi ministered in order.
Judah ministered in authority.

This is why the Messiah did not come as:

  • the Lamb of Levi
  • the Priest of Levi
  • the Teacher of Levi

He came as:

“The Lion of the tribe of Judah.”
Revelation 5:5

Because the Lion leads.
The Lion breaks.
The Lion goes first.

Why This Matters for Worship Today

Most churches have reversed the order.

They treat worship like:

  • warm‑up
  • emotional prep
  • filler
  • a musical appetizer before the sermon

But in Scripture, worship is warfare.

Judah wasn’t chosen because they could sing.
Judah was chosen because they could shift the battle.

When Judah went first:

  • enemies were confused
  • atmospheres changed
  • fear broke
  • God’s presence manifested
  • victory was secured before the fight began

A church service is not a call of duty — it is a battleground.

People walk in carrying:

  • bondage
  • depression
  • spiritual heaviness
  • confusion
  • generational patterns
  • demonic oppression
  • fear
  • unbelief

And the first line of spiritual engagement is not the sermon —
it is Judah.

If Judah is weak, unprepared, distracted, or spiritually empty, the entire service suffers.

If Judah is strong, aligned, prayed up, and surrendered, the entire service shifts.

Those called to lead worship must prepare for battle, not just fulfill an obligation.

A worship leader who doesn’t prepare spiritually is like a soldier showing up without armor.

This year start off by making room for the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Let praise be forever on your lips.

SELAH

“I Surrender All… or Did I?”

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

Allen Frederick
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, 
and with all thy strength." (Mark 12:30, KJV)

A Prophetic Op-Ed on Half-Hearted Worship

1. Opening Summary: The Worship Gap We Refuse to Name

We sing “I Surrender All” while clutching our idols. We declare “All to Jesus I freely give” while negotiating terms in secret. Worship has become so polished, so routine, that few pause to ask: “Do I mean this?”

We critique the theology of songs from Bethel, Hillsong, and Elevation, yet ignore the theology of our own hearts. We dissect lyrics for doctrinal purity but never examine the disconnect between our lips and our lives.

It’s the same pattern Scripture exposes again and again:

  • Israel sang and danced at Sinai, then built a golden calf.
  • They praised God for deliverance, then longed for Egypt’s leeks and melons.
  • They shouted “Hosanna!”, then cried “Crucify Him!” days later.
  • We sing “I Surrender All”, then live “I Surrender What’s Convenient.”

And still, the Spirit asks:

“Do you love Me?”
“Do you really love Me?”

This op-ed isn’t about worship styles—it’s about worship substance. It’s not a critique of music—it’s a confrontation of motive. It’s time to stop pretending and start repenting.

2. All to Jesus I surrender…

We sing it with trembling lips and lifted hands. But heaven hears the truth beneath the melody: “I surrender some.”

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30)
“If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)

All. Daily. No turning back. These are not poetic suggestions—they are the terms of discipleship.

3. All to Him I freely give…

Freely? Or conditionally?

“When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it… It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.” (Ecclesiastes 5:4–5)

Singing this hymn without intent to obey is not just emotional exaggeration—it’s spiritual dishonesty. It’s laying a gift at the altar with strings still tied to it.

4. Worldly pleasures all forsaken…

We say we’ve forsaken the world, but our appetites betray us.

“Do not love the world or the things in the world.” (1 John 2:15)
“We remember the fish we ate in Egypt… the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.” (Numbers 11:5)

Israel was free, but their cravings were still enslaved. Lot’s wife looked back and was frozen in judgment (Genesis 19:26). The Laodiceans were lukewarm, and Jesus said He would spit them out (Revelation 3:16).

“No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)

5. A Personal Warning

I recall a homeowner once asking me to dedicate their house to the Lord. Before I could speak the prayer, the Spirit prompted me to caution them: “Once something is dedicated to the Lord, it is no longer yours to do with as you please.”

I declined the dedication. I blessed the home and its occupants, but I would not consecrate what they were not prepared to surrender. That wasn’t fear—it was reverence.

It was the same Spirit who exposed Achan’s buried treasure (Joshua 7), Ananias and Sapphira’s partial offering (Acts 5), and Peter’s vow that crumbled under pressure (Matthew 26).

6. Make me, Savior, wholly Thine…

Wholly? Or just on Sundays?

“Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1)
“You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20)

An hour on Sunday is not surrender—it’s an Ananias-offering, a portion dressed up as the whole.

7. The Prophetic Punch

We dissect the lyrics of others while ignoring the lies in our own lungs. We sing “I surrender all” while clutching our idols. We dedicate homes, ministries, and relationships with ceremony but not consecration.

But the Spirit isn’t fooled by our chorus—He’s waiting for our cross.

“Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” (John 21:15)
“Do you really love Me?”

8. The Call to Return

This is not a call to sing louder. It’s a call to live surrendered.

  • Lay down the divided allegiances.
  • Stop negotiating with God.
  • Love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
  • Take up your cross daily.
  • Stop pretending. Start repenting.

9. Closing Refrain

Lot’s wife looked back. Israel longed back. Peter fell back. Laodicea leaned back. But Christ calls us to press forward—cross in hand, eyes fixed on Him. Do you love Me? Do you really love Me?”

Sitting on the Premises: Hymns, Hypocrisy, and an Unholy Sanctuary

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

By Allen Frederick

Before we dive into the satire, let’s address the elephant in the sanctuary: the modern worship wars. You know the drill—“Don’t sing Bethel,” “Avoid Elevation,” “Hillsong is off-limits.” We’ve built entire liturgical purity tests around who wrote the song, not whether we mean it. We strain out the gnat of affiliation while swallowing the camel of lifeless worship.

And what do we sing instead? Approved hymns and vetted choruses—performed with all the passion of a DMV clerk. We sing “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” while checking our watches. We belt “How Great Thou Art” with hearts that haven’t trembled in years. The problem isn’t the playlist—it’s the posture. We’ve traded consecration for critique, presence for performance, and Spirit-led worship for sanitized approval.

So let’s talk about it. Let’s laugh, weep, and repent. Because the real scandal isn’t the song—it’s the sanctuary that sings without surrender.

We love to sing. We love to sway. We love to raise our hands—so long as the air conditioning is working and the service ends before kickoff. Our hymnals are full of promises, but our pews are full of abiding on the premises.

“Blessed Assurance”—but the only assurance we seem to have is that we’ll be out of the parking lot in time for lunch.

“Standing on the Promises”—while firmly sitting on the premises, scrolling our phones and checking the clock.

“Just As I Am”—we come just as we are, and we leave just as we were. The only thing that changes is the bulletin in our hand.

“Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”—our mouths move, but our faces look like mugshots. Joy is in the lyrics, not in the room.

“Just a Closer Walk With Thee”—but only on Sunday between 10 and 12. After that, it’s “We’ll meet again next Sunday”

We call our gathering place a sanctuary. But let’s be honest: the word now conjures images of “sanctuary cities”—places where law is suspended, compromise is protected, and accountability is optional. Have our houses of worship become sanctuaries for sin‑steeped Pharisees, or a place to actually commune with the living God? Judging by the evidence, the former seems more fitting.

Isaiah saw it in his day: “These people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me” (Isaiah 29:13). Jesus saw it in His: Pharisees straining gnats while swallowing camels. And we see it in ours: churches that sing about fire but never feel the heat.

Here’s the tragedy: we’ve mistaken noise for anointing, ritual for revival, and performance for presence. We’ve built sanctuaries that shelter our apathy instead of altars that demand our repentance.

But here’s the hope: Christ still knocks. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Revelation 3:20). He’s not asking for another verse of “Just As I Am.” He’s asking for hearts that will actually change.

So let’s stop sprinkling ourselves with hymns and start drowning in holiness. Let’s stop sitting on the premises and start standing on the promises. Because the world doesn’t need another choir—it needs a consecrated people whose lives are the hymn.

It’s time to wake the sleeping saints. Half-hearted devotions won’t survive the fire that’s coming. God isn’t calling for Sunday singers—He’s calling for living sacrifices. The altar is open. The knock is loud. And the time for total consecration is now.

This has been “A View From the Nest.” And that’s the way I see it! What say you?

Discover RESTS That Take Your Worship to the Next Level!

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

Take your worship experience to new heights by incorporating the use of powerful RESTs! Let’s explore the most effective ways to incorporate RESTs into your worship routine. These insights will help you connect with God on a deeper level. Create a more intimate atmosphere. Draw closer to the Holy Spirit. Discover the secrets to elevating your worship. Take it to the next level. Whether you’re a worship leader, musician, or simply a passionate worshiper, this post is for you! Get ready to transform your worship and experience the presence of God like never before.

Learning to play the rests



Have you ever felt like your worship experience is just going through the motions? Like you’re singing the right songs, but your heart isn’t really in it? I think we’ve all been there at some point. The good news is that there are ways to break free from that rut. You can take your worship to the next level. That’s where RESTS come in. These are moments of pause. They allow for reflection and create a connection with God that can transform your worship experience.

We face a significant challenge as worship leaders and congregants. It is about creating engaging experiences. These experiences should truly connect us with God. I’ve personally faced this struggle. It’s easy to focus on the production side and lose the heart of worship. Sometimes it feels like we’re just trying to get through the service without any major hiccups. But that’s not what worship is about. It’s about creating a space where we can encounter God in a real way.

So, what holds us back from having those kinds of experiences? For one, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut. We keep doing things the way we’ve always done them. We are afraid to try new things or take risks. Or maybe we’re just not sure where to start. Whatever the reason, I believe that incorporating RESTS into our worship can help us break free from those limitations.

Another challenge we face is finding ways to keep our worship fresh and exciting. As musicians, we love to play our instruments. We express ourselves through our instruments. But anyone who has ever played in a band or orchestra knows there are times you are not playing. You experience measures of rests. While you are not actively playing, you are still contributing to the total performance and overall experience. Your silence allows the other voices to be heard more clearly. There might be a nice quiet violin movement. Or an oboe lament could be played. The soaring sound of a piccolo might be featured. An acoustic guitar might be included in a worship band. The effective and deliberate use of rests add, not subtract from a musical experience. So why don’t we pause more in our time of worship? Why are there no rests in our services? Why must there always be some sound and no time for silence?

1 Kings 19:11-12 NIV
[11] The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. [12] After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

Elijah had hid himself in a cave for fear of retaliation from Jezebel. While hiding in the cave the Lord came to him and asked him why he was there. Elijah offered some lame excuse. He started to pity himself. He thought he alone was responsible for the people to obey God’s Word. The Lord instructed him to go out and stand on the mountain top. He was to be in the presence of the Lord, for He was soon to pass by.

Elijah did as he was instructed. First, there was a strong wind. A rock and roll show was taking place. The whole mountain was shaking but the Lord wasn’t in the bluster. Then came an earthquake but the Lord wasn’t in that either. After that a raging fire but the Lord wasn’t in that either. After all the bluster a gentle whisper. Worship sets can be exuberant with thundering drums and raging guitars. Oftentimes, God is not in it. The preacher preaches a rousing fire and brimstone message but heaven remains silent. Perhaps we need to rethink our need to be seen and heard. Instead, we should stand in silence. We should wait to hear a gentle whisper.


I’d like to share a powerful testimony with you. I know a church that was struggling to connect with God in their worship. They felt like they were just going through the motions, and their services were feeling stale. So, they decided to try something new. They started incorporating more RESTS into their worship – moments of silence, reflection, and connection with God. And you know what? It completely transformed their services. People were encountering God in a real way, and their worship experience was taken to a whole new level.

That testimony is a great reminder of the impact that RESTS can have on our worship. By incorporating different moments of rests in our worship time, we can create a more dynamic atmosphere. This approach makes worship more engaging. So, I encourage you to consider how you can apply this principle in your own life and times of worship.

Thanks for joining me on this journey of discovery! If you’ve been inspired by this message, I’d love to hear about your own experiences with RESTS in the comments. Don’t forget to check out my other posts for more worship insights – I think you’ll find them really helpful.

This has been a View From the Nest.

Do not forget to comment, like and share so others can receive a blessing. Selah

From Psalms, to Hymns, to Spiritual Songs: Rediscovering the Full Voice of Worship

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

🎶 From Psalms to Hymns to Spiritual Songs: Rediscovering the Full Voice of Worship

There’s a rhythm in the Spirit that many of us miss—not because we’re tone-deaf, but because we’ve grown accustomed to singing in only one key. Paul’s words in Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:19 aren’t just poetic—they’re prophetic. He’s inviting the Church into a threefold harmony: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

But what does that sound like in real life?

📖 The Psalmist’s Cry: Worship That Anchors

David didn’t write songs to impress anyone. He wrote them to survive. In caves, on battlefields, in royal courts and lonely nights, his psalms were raw, reverent, and real. When he sang, “Why are you cast down, O my soul?” (Psalm 42:5), he wasn’t performing—he was pleading.

Psalms are the worship of the anchored heart. They remind us that God is not afraid of our questions, our laments, or our longings. They teach us to worship with Scripture as our vocabulary and honesty as our posture.

In today’s worship culture, we need to recover this. Not just quoting psalms—but singing them. Letting the Word shape our sound.

🕊️ The Hymn-Writers’ Declaration: Worship That Teaches

Fast forward to Paul and Silas in prison. Shackled, bruised, and unjustly accused, what did they do? “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God…” (Acts 16:25). Not psalms. Hymns.

Why hymns? Because hymns declare what we believe when everything else is shaking. They’re theological anchors in emotional storms. Whether penned by Luther, Watts, or Fanny Crosby, hymns carry the weight of doctrine wrapped in melody.

Hymns are the worship of the instructed heart. They teach us to sing truth—not just feel it. And in a world drowning in opinions, we need songs that remind us who God is, not just how we feel.

🔥 The Spirit’s Whisper: Worship That Responds

Then there’s the upper room. No hymnals. No setlists. Just wind, fire, and spontaneous utterance. The early Church didn’t just sing about God—they sang with Him. Spiritual songs are the overflow of divine encounter. They’re the worship of the responsive heart.

Think of Mary, pregnant with promise, breaking into spontaneous praise: “My soul magnifies the Lord…” (Luke 1:46). Or the Church in Corinth, where Paul encouraged Spirit-led singing alongside prophecy and teaching (1 Corinthians 14:15).

Spiritual songs are risky. They’re unscripted. But they’re also intimate. And if we silence them, we may miss the now-word of God.

🎯 So What’s the Point?

This isn’t a progression from old to new. It’s not a regression from structured to spontaneous. It’s a divine triad—a full-bodied worship expression. Psalms root us. Hymns instruct us. Spiritual songs release us.

When we lean too heavily on one, we lose the richness of the whole:

Psalms without spiritual songs become liturgical but lifeless.

Hymns without psalms become doctrinal but disconnected.

Spiritual songs without hymns become emotional but unanchored.

💬 A Personal Reflection

I remember a season when all I could sing were psalms. Life was heavy, and I needed the Word to carry me. Then came a time when hymns became my declaration—truth over turmoil. And now, I find myself drawn to spiritual songs—those moments when the Spirit sings through me what I didn’t even know I needed to say.

Worship isn’t just music. It’s movement. And God invites us to sing in every season, with every sound.

🙌 Let’s Sing the Full Song

Let the Word dwell richly. Let the truth ring loudly. Let the Spirit flow freely.

Whether you’re in a cave like David, a prison like Paul, or an upper room like the early Church—there’s a song for you.

Sing the psalm. Declare the hymn. Release the spiritual song.

This has been a View From the Nest. Please Like share and subscribe. Thank you.