A Psalm Of Praise

Psalms 150

A Psalm of Praise.

Praise the LORD!Praise God in His sanctuary;Praise Him in His mighty expanse. 2 Praise Him for His mighty deeds;Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.

3 Praise Him with trumpet sound;Praise Him with harp and lyre. 4 Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. 5 Praise Him with loud cymbals;Praise Him with resounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.Praise the LORD!

NASU

God inhabits the praises of His people

- He will come and visit us as we pray and praise Him

- When we let go of all the stuff

- We hold on to

- To give us dignity and properness in worship

- We can actually enter the presence of God

- And He can work miracles in our midst

Is that what we want?

- To enter into His presence

- And seek His face

- To see Him face-to-face

- To hear His voice

- To see Him high and lifted up

- And join the seraphim proclaim

- “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty”?

I tell you that can be our experience

- Because we have been invited

- To come before Him and worship

- To come to Him and worship

- To come to Him bringing our requests and prayers

There is power in prayer and in praise

- But there are no magical formulas

- No rituals, no words

- That will guarantee access and response from God

- God looks at the heart

- He sees what motivates us to come

- And what is our real heart’s desire

- He will not give to us to spend on ourselves

- He will not enrich us to make us more comfortable

- But He will bless richly the one

- Who pours out his heart to the Him

- Who lays everything down

- And seeks only to know and serve

- The Living God

- God will honor those who honor Him first

- God will lead those who submit to His leadership whole-heartedly

Let us look at this power of praise and power of prayer

Read Ps 34:1-11

Ps 34:1-11

I will bless the LORD at all times;His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul will make its boast in the LORD;The humble will hear it and rejoice. 3 O magnify the LORD with me,And let us exalt His name together.

4 I sought the LORD, and He answered me,And delivered me from all my fears. 5 They looked to Him and were radiant,And their faces will never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him And saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him,And rescues them.

8 O taste and see that the LORD is good;How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! 9 O fear the LORD, you His saints;For to those who fear Him there is no want. 10 The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing. 11 Come, you children, listen to me;I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

NASU

The Psalmist starts out by praising God

- Proclaiming the awesome wonders of God’s love and grace

- “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

- I will bless Him at all times

- Some of those times might be when things are going well

- When you see the blessing of God in your life

- When everything is going your way,

- Smoothly and life is good

Now we all know that days like that are mixed up with days that are not so good

- In fact with days when you wonder

- How you will ever manage to survive them

- The car dies, the kids cry

- The house is a wreck

- Work or school is a disaster

- You recognize those kinds of days

- You’ve been there, done that

- I ask you though,

- Did you praise God?

- In the bad as well as in the good?

- It could even be you failed to praise and thank God for the good days!

- And never thought to do more than complain on the bad ones

- “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the Lord. The humble will hear it and rejoice. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.”

- What blessings we forego by failing to take God’s Word at its face value