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In our worship to God many times we utter phrases like "God I magnify you" or "God be magnified". I used to wonder, is God really magnified by saying those words? How can we really magnify God or have him magnified?

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as quick thought - this is a recurrent theme throughout the Psalms – warren Jul 23 '12 at 13:48
This question was part of our self-evaluation and Wikis suggested that the title be changed. Did I mess up your question? Is this title in keeping with what you intended to ask? – Jon Ericson Sep 6 '12 at 19:28
"Stock Worship"? I don't even know what it means. Google couldn't help too. Maybe we should remove the "Stock" to keep it simple english :) – tunmise fashipe Sep 6 '12 at 20:47
@tunmisefashipe - Look up "stock phrases". "Stock worship phrases" means stock phrases that relate to worship. en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stock_phrase – David Stratton Sep 6 '12 at 22:30

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Clearly, those phrases can't mean that we have the ability to alter God in any way. I don't think that the definition of "magnify God" in these phrases means to actually make God "bigger" or "greater". I understand them to mean "Make God more prominent in my life, our culture, etc."

Magnification doesn't make objects bigger, it alters our perception of an object, making it appear bigger to us.

Similarly, magnifying God doesn't make Him bigger, it means He becomes more prominent to us.

The phrase "God, I magnify you" simply means "I am making you greater (more important) in my life, and putting you first, because you are my focus and priority."

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This means the only way God is not magnified by those words is when they don't come from our hearts - lip service – tunmise fashipe Jul 23 '12 at 15:20
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And it's sad how often such things are just lip service. – David Stratton Jul 25 '12 at 5:18

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