Upper Body Praise And Worship Dancing
The Bible commands us to dance in praise to the Lord. Psalm 150 says: "Praise HIM with the timbrel (percussion instrument) and dance." How is a crippled person in a wheel chair going to praise the Lord with the dance? How is an overweight Christian ( and there are lots of them ) going to praise the Lord with the dance? How is a person who is stuck inside a pew going to dance with their feet freely? There is an easy answer to that question: They don't have to use their feet to praise the Lord. They utilize creative upper body praise dancing.
Also, there are quite a few songs that are sung during worship times that are slower and are not conducive to feet and leg dancing, but these worship songs are very conducive to the smooth movements of upper body praise dancing. This allows the dance to be used during worship in a much greater way than if the church is limited to only dancing with the feet.
In the wild worship of heaven there are a multitude of beings who are very creative with their praise movements as they dance to the Glory of God. Their whole body is used in praise movements and not just their legs. Through creative praise movements by the use of their legs, feet, arms, and hands these beings truly glorify God with their bodies.
First Corinthians 6:20 - International Standard Version says: "because you were bought for a price. Therefore, glorify God with your bodies." A full interpretation of this verse can extend it's application to worship and praise within the Christian church. Led by the worship team, many people can join themselves to heaven's worship and praise and glorify God through their bodies through both lower body praise dance movements and upper body praise dance movements.
Of course the beings in heaven are unrestricted in heaven by the fact that the pull of gravity on their bodies is perhaps absent or much less than the pull we experience on earth so they are better able to dance in unhindered praise movements before the Lord. These beings are truly worshiping the Lord in the fullness of the Spirit and in Truth as Jesus said the Father desires in John 4:24. "They that worship HIM must do so in Spirit and in Truth."
As I already stated: On earth, many human beings are overweight thus hindering the praise movements they can make to glorify God. The perfect will of God would be for these people to lose weight so they can fully glorify God with their bodies. But until they do, these people will find that upper body praise and worship dancing is a perfect way for them to Glorify God with their overweight bodies because the legs are not absolutely needed.
Upper body praise dancing also allows you to minister in worship to the Lord within many church buildings and not go all over the place because your two feet can stay in one place while your arms and hands do the praise dancing to the Lord. Furthermore, upper body praise dancing allows more people within a congregation to express praise dance movements as they stand within the tight rows their chairs are placed in. It is hard for people to move around with their legs and feet standing in a row of chairs or within pews.
In fact, I witnessed an animated re-enactment of a congregation of beings in heaven doing upper body praise dancing. This re-enactment was based on the experience of a believer who had been taken up to heaven and witnessed upper body dancing. The reason the multitude of heavenly beings were able to stand so close to each other within this congregation in heaven is because they were all supernaturally moving exactly with the same timing of movements so that they never hit each other.
Upper body praise dancing is not the same thing as the mechanical waving of the hands back and forth during a worship song. If you have ever experienced a worship leader who told the congregation to wave their hands back and forth during a particular song, you are not seeing Holy Spirit led upper body praise and worship dancing. You are instead experiencing a very mechanical group response to the worship leader's suggestion.
In my own experience, I have developed a variety of creative movements with my arms that goes beyond the simple waving of the arms and hands back and forth. What I do is often called forth by the nature of the particular song I am upper body praise dancing to, and I have noticed that it is the drums that really ignite the dance movements with my arms just as it is the drums that ignite the dance using my feet. God created it to be this way, as seen by the placement within the Old Testament of the word "timbrel" (a percussion instrument) next to the word "dance". God created our bodies to react in dance to the beat of the drum etc.....
Also, there are quite a few songs that are sung during worship times that are slower and are not conducive to feet and leg dancing, but these worship songs are very conducive to the smooth movements of upper body praise dancing. This allows the dance to be used during worship in a much greater way than if the church is limited to only dancing with the feet.
In the wild worship of heaven there are a multitude of beings who are very creative with their praise movements as they dance to the Glory of God. Their whole body is used in praise movements and not just their legs. Through creative praise movements by the use of their legs, feet, arms, and hands these beings truly glorify God with their bodies.
First Corinthians 6:20 - International Standard Version says: "because you were bought for a price. Therefore, glorify God with your bodies." A full interpretation of this verse can extend it's application to worship and praise within the Christian church. Led by the worship team, many people can join themselves to heaven's worship and praise and glorify God through their bodies through both lower body praise dance movements and upper body praise dance movements.
Of course the beings in heaven are unrestricted in heaven by the fact that the pull of gravity on their bodies is perhaps absent or much less than the pull we experience on earth so they are better able to dance in unhindered praise movements before the Lord. These beings are truly worshiping the Lord in the fullness of the Spirit and in Truth as Jesus said the Father desires in John 4:24. "They that worship HIM must do so in Spirit and in Truth."
As I already stated: On earth, many human beings are overweight thus hindering the praise movements they can make to glorify God. The perfect will of God would be for these people to lose weight so they can fully glorify God with their bodies. But until they do, these people will find that upper body praise and worship dancing is a perfect way for them to Glorify God with their overweight bodies because the legs are not absolutely needed.
Upper body praise dancing also allows you to minister in worship to the Lord within many church buildings and not go all over the place because your two feet can stay in one place while your arms and hands do the praise dancing to the Lord. Furthermore, upper body praise dancing allows more people within a congregation to express praise dance movements as they stand within the tight rows their chairs are placed in. It is hard for people to move around with their legs and feet standing in a row of chairs or within pews.
In fact, I witnessed an animated re-enactment of a congregation of beings in heaven doing upper body praise dancing. This re-enactment was based on the experience of a believer who had been taken up to heaven and witnessed upper body dancing. The reason the multitude of heavenly beings were able to stand so close to each other within this congregation in heaven is because they were all supernaturally moving exactly with the same timing of movements so that they never hit each other.
Upper body praise dancing is not the same thing as the mechanical waving of the hands back and forth during a worship song. If you have ever experienced a worship leader who told the congregation to wave their hands back and forth during a particular song, you are not seeing Holy Spirit led upper body praise and worship dancing. You are instead experiencing a very mechanical group response to the worship leader's suggestion.
In my own experience, I have developed a variety of creative movements with my arms that goes beyond the simple waving of the arms and hands back and forth. What I do is often called forth by the nature of the particular song I am upper body praise dancing to, and I have noticed that it is the drums that really ignite the dance movements with my arms just as it is the drums that ignite the dance using my feet. God created it to be this way, as seen by the placement within the Old Testament of the word "timbrel" (a percussion instrument) next to the word "dance". God created our bodies to react in dance to the beat of the drum etc.....