WHY PRAISE?
Praise is a very common word that is used widely especially among the charismatic Christians, cause when they see someone, they greet them with the phrase “Praise the Lord,” often times not realizing why they would say and what they would mean. That is why I want to consider this concept of PRAISE. A very general meaning would be to pay tribute to some one for their deeds or for the virtue that they posses not merely a word of greeting. Let us remove the word from the context of greeting someone and begin to look at it from a more sensible point of praising the Lord Almighty – for He alone is worthy of all the praise. If we consider PRAISE as an acronym it could read:
People
Raising
Above
Intelligence
Seeking
Eternity
Well, I think that’s exactly what the psalmist wrote in Psalm 103:1-5. Rational folks many a time fail to acknowledge God basically because they cannot go beyond intelligence, intelligence becomes their stumbling block to understand God that is why I have made the acronym for PRAISE, the rational mind is more temporal and it cannot understand and appreciate the concept of eternity, therefore if you need to praise God you certainly need to go beyond your limited intelligence and seek God simply because you and I cannot even to do a little bit of what He did. Go ahead, I am sure you will enjoy the idea that I bring with the help of God’s insight into the concept of PRAISE.
Let’s consider WHY we need to praise God. The Psalmist gives us five simple reasons:
1. He forgives our sins. (v.3)
2. He heals all our diseases. (v.3)
3. He redeems our life from the pit. (v.4)
4. He crowns us with love and compassion. (v.4)
5. He satisfies our desires with good things. (v.5)
Having known the reason to praise, the next question to consider is HOW to praise God. David had given two simple ways to praise:
1. Praise with the inmost being. (v.1)
2. Praise by forgetting not the benefits. (v.2)
The third question to consider is WHERE to praise God. I think David has given an answer to this also- Praise the Lord, all His works everywhere in His dominion.
The fourth question to consider is WHO should praise God and the answer is:
1. The mighty ones who do His commands (this is not necessarily the mighty in physique but mighty in doing God’s work). (v.20)
2. His servants who do His will. (v.21)
The fifth question of consideration would be WHEN to praise God: it is praising God at all times - But from everlasting to everlasting (v.17)/Praise the LORD, all his works everywhere in his dominion. (v.22) In short these scriptures would mean us to praise at all times both the good and the not so good times.
To conclude let me tell you, you and I could never praise any one all the time in the face of the earth cause one day they might be so so good that we praise them and the other time they might show their true color, but with God it is worth praising Him cause He never changes but only we change…hope you are sure why you need to praise…keep praising him…
If you’re sincere, praise is effective. If you’re insincere, it’s manipulative. (Zig Ziglar)
I am sure this quote makes a lot of sense, let us be sincere in our Praises to GOD Almighty.
God Bless You. Amen
