PRAISE THE LORD
By: C. Mason Davis
A religious woman, upon waking up each morning, would open her front door, stand on the porch, and say, “Praise the Lord!” This infuriated her non-believer neighbor who would always make sure to yell out her door, “There is no Lord!” One morning the neighbor overheard her religious neighbor praying for food, and, thinking it would be funny, she bought a bag of groceries and left them on her porch. The next morning the lady came out onto her front porch and saw the bag of groceries, raised her hands to the heavens and yelled, “Praise the Lord.” The evil neighbor laughed so hard she could barely get the words out, “It wasn’t the “so-called” Lord. It was me!” The lady, without missing a beat, raised her hands up towards the sky and said, "Praise the Lord for not only providing a bag of groceries, but you made the devil pay for it!”
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Psalm 150: 3-6, Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
It is to our benefit that we give glory to God through Praising Him. It is also to our benefit because the Bible demands it. It is an expression of his goodness to us that we glorify him, as this is what we were created for. We were created as worshiping beings. To give glory in the right place is to fulfil one of the very basic aspects of what it means to be human.
What is Praise? Praise is expressing the greatness, beauty, and excellence of something. This phrase, “Praise the Lord!” isn’t just a statement of excitement. If something good happens, you say, “Praise the Lord,” because you’re thankful.
How does the Bible say how you can praise the Lord? By your instrument and your voice—a heart expressing praise is the key! Your voice and your body expressing that praise. That's the most important instrument to play! Some ways to praise the Lord include singing, dancing, playing musical instruments, using words, taking actions, uprightness, and of course, using all our heart. Growing up in a Baptist Church, I was always taught that it’s wrong for Baptists to dance, but the Bible says otherwise. Dancing was a common part of worship during Jesus' time and was often performed during Jewish festivals and celebrations. Dances were usually accompanied by singing, hand clapping, or rhythm instruments, but not melodic instruments.
How do you praise? Do you sing, dance, or shout? Do you play an instrument? Are you alone? In a group? At home? In the car? Do you sing your praise when you’re in the shower? Don’t answer that! I don’t want to know.
Where do you praise the Lord? Psalm 150:1 “Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of His power.” Praise can be given anywhere and at any time. As long as it comes from your heart, you can also praise God directly by praying to Him. A huge part of Praising the Lord are prayers. Although you should praise him 7 times per day, you should pray to him 3 times daily, as well. Prayer is the simplest and surest way to convey appreciation. To God, sincere simple prayer given from the heart and expressing your thanks for the wonderful life you've been given will touch God deeply. There are no hard and fast rules about praying. Come to God just as you are. But remember though, ask not, receive not.
When do you praise the Lord? How often? Psalms 34:1-4 states, “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. O’ magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” So, praise when you’re sure, and praise when you’re doubting, praise when outnumbered, praise when surrounded, 'cause praise is the water your enemies drown in. Praise when you feel it and praise when you don't, and praise 'cause you know, God’s still in control.
The bible tells us that David had a vow of praise unto the Lord. Seven times a day he would praise the Lord, and three times a day he would pray to Him. For in Psalm 119:164 says, "Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments." This scripture refers to the seven general time periods of the Hebrew day, from sunset to sunset. Notice your complaints and turn them into praise.
Another way to praise is to Praise to God around others. Whether you’re preaching, teaching, evangelizing, witnessing, or worshipping. Include other’s as you Praise God, especially your enemies, if you have the chance.
God wants to hear your voice, your words, your cares, and your heart. He wants you to enter into His presence. The Bible says God inhabits, or enthrones, in the praises of His people. When you magnify God, singing of His wonderous works—from creation to the cross and into eternity—you invite Him into your life. Psalm 150:2 “Praise Him for his mighty acts: Praise him according to his excellent greatness.”
The common definition of praise is expressing the greatness, beauty, and excellence of something. In this case, when you praise the Lord, you are praising His greatness, beauty, and excellence of who He is and what He has done for us and will do for us. Enjoy God's creation. Praise doesn’t just express what’s in our heart, it shapes what’s in our heart.
What is the prayer of “Praising of God” called? Adoration! Adoration is praising God for who He is. God is the Lord of all and deserves our praise because of that alone. Psalm 99:5, “Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.” This scripture encourages us to exalt the Lord because He is holy. Recognizing the Lord's power, mercy, love, and more in your prayer life is good. Pray intentionally. Pray with a purpose, such as asking God for something you need or want. Perhaps your prayer could be for someone else’s needs or wants.
God dispenses joy, peace, love and faith during praise. He shows Himself in all His glory. Praise keeps you in His presence and it sends away negativity including fear and worry. You must have the joy of the Lord well down deep in your soul to praise Him in the middle of your troubles!!! Your situation has not changed yet, but praises are still going forth from your lips. When the praises go up blessings come down. God inhabits the praises of His people. Your praise is a weapon, it's more than a sound, your praise is the shout that brings Jericho down. Praise can be a weapon against all enemies. What or who is against you in your life that you can use Praise against to defeat them?
What are some of the benefits for you that comes of praising God? Praise lifts your spirit. Praise helps you sense God's presence. Praise enlarges your perception of God. Praise reveals solutions we can't see. Praise helps us remember God's blessing. Praise enlists God's protection. Praise breaks chains and opens doors.
Praise sets us in an attitude to receive. Through praise, God allows His children to tap into his presence, where we are able to receive a multitude of His promises, one of which is His promise of healing. Praise heals the soul and calms the troubled spirit, it drives the devil away, it wins battles, it encourages the miraculous, it accelerates answer to prayer.
Also, praising the Lord can bring so many other blessings to you, as well. By releasing God's power with praise, you open so many doors. Other reasons to praise Him are: Praising God as an expression of faith moves God to work on your behalf. Psalm 22:3 says, "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” You also receive more of His blessings when you praise Him. Praise can dilute concern and fear, while magnifying goodness. It also helps us to remember God's blessings and reminds us that not everything in our life is bad.
Praise will get our focus where it needs to be—on God. If we start praising God in the middle of our problems, our problems will become so minute that we'll hardly remember to bring them to God! God is an infinite, perfect, communion of persons, responsible for the intentional creation of everything around us - which begs the question, if God is perfect, why does he need us to worship him? Well, he actually doesn't. God doesn't need us to worship Him because there is nothing he lacks, but it pleases Him when we do. Now that makes a great deal of sense. So, when it comes to praise, I won't be quiet, my God is alive, so how could I keep it inside? As long as I'm breathing, I’ve got a reason to Praise the Lord. I'll praise 'cause He’s sovereign, and praise 'cause He reigns. I’ll praise 'cause He rose and defeated the grave. I'll praise 'cause He’s faithful, and praise ‘cause He’s true, and there’s nobody greater than Thee!
Your praise is what attracts God to you, it gets you into His Presence. Praise Him because His ultimate goal is that you should bask in His Presence; Psalm 16:11, “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore;” and eat at His table forevermore. Psalm 23:5, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”
Our worship provides a place of meeting with God — a place for us to encounter His very presence and embrace His invitation to join Him as He works. God has promised us that He will always be within us, and God is always true to His promises.
In a way, that reminds me of a story. A Pastor was walking past a pet shop one day when he noticed a sign in the window: "Christian Horse for Sale." Being that the Pastor owned a large ranch, he was immediately interested, and went into the shop. The owner took the Pastor out to the back, where he saw a beautiful Arabian stallion. He agreed to allow the Pastor to take a "test run." The Pastor grabbed the reins. "Giddyap." The horse ignored him. "No, no," counseled the owner. This is a Christian horse. If you want him to move, you must say, "Praise the Lord!" The Pastor did as he was told, and the horse started off on a leisurely walk. However, he soon found that the horse would not stop. "He won't answer to 'Whoa', said the owner. It's "Amen." The Pastor decided that he liked the horse, so he bought him and took him home to his ranch in the country. He saddled the horse up again, said, "Praise the Lord," and went riding into the countryside. Suddenly, the horse saw a rattlesnake crossing the path. Frightened, he reared and bolted straight for a cliff. The Pastor cried "whoa!" but the horse only ran faster. In vain, he tried one word after another. Finally, he remembered the correct command and screamed "AMEN!!!!!" and the horse stopped just inches from the edge of the cliff. The Pastor was so thrilled that his life had been saved that he raised his hands to the sky and shouted, "PRAISE THE LORD!"
What happens in heaven when we praise God? Revelation 7:9 “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.” This verse describes what worship in heaven will look like when “every nation, tribe, and tongue” worshiping God before His throne. Crying out “Salvation belongs to our God.” Emphasis on our God. Galatians 3:26 says, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” This reminds us that in Christ Jesus we are all children of God through faith. So, paise Him in His mighty heavens. Psalm 148:2, says, “Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all his hosts!” Our worship on earth is a dim reflection of that worship going on in heaven where God is. Already we’re seeing how great our God is. There’s no one like him. No one worthy of such praise.
Never forget His mighty deeds told us from the Bible that are given to remind us that He did great works, such as, prayers for healing that are answered throughout the Bible. Prayers for provision answered when it seems impossible. Prayers for deliverance answered when the enemy seems unconquerable. And prayers for wisdom answered when there is only confusion and darkness. There is overwhelming proof of these throughout the Bible.
Praise is something that wants to be EXPRESSED. Praise isn’t satisfied to think on the worth of something. Praise wants to sing of it, tell of it, tell others about it.
It isn’t easy to find words to describe the glory of his being. He is great in everything that he is, and that greatness is abundant and unequaled. Our God is the only living and true God. He exists in and of himself; he is infinite in being and perfection; his essence cannot be comprehended by anyone but himself; he is a perfectly pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions.
He alone has immortality, dwelling in the light no one can approach. He works all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and perfectly righteous will for his glory. He is abundant in goodness and truth and forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him and is entirely just and to be feared in his judgments. He hates all sin and will by no means clear the guilty. We were made for something more, something that lasts forever, and so our hearts are bent toward eternity. Praise God even when you don't understand what He's doing. Know that you did your best, and God did the rest. Let everything that has breath, be a praiser!
The Psalmist saying, “Praise the Lord!” isn’t just a call to praise the Creator of all and judge of all. He is saying, praise the one who came to us. Who delivered us. Who revealed himself to us in a special way. Who heard our cries for those four-hundred years of slavery in Egypt. Who crushed the Egyptians and delivered us. Praise that God! He alone is worthy of such praise.
Unfortunately, our hearts are constantly tempted to worship things other than God. Yes, we worship money, sex, power, approval, prestige, authority, and respect, to name a few. But mainly, we idolize others at as if they were on an equal level to God. People of all ages idolize sports stars, movie stars, musicians, bands, singers, television stars, and even imagined science fiction aliens. WOW! Can you imagine that? Some of our greatest problems in our faith is our own worship problems.
What all of us can use is a heart transplant, but not from another person or thing. We need new hearts that come from the Almighty Himself. Sure, we could have a change of heart, but does that change always last? Not always. Who’s to say that we won’t lose faith? Take Job to use as an example of someone who kept the faith even though he was persecuted to the end. Who’s to say that we’ll keep our heart in God’s hands if something in our lives doesn’t cause us to lose hope? For those reasons, we need a new heart, but that won’t happen, so we’ll have to settle on a heart change and work hard keeping it full of God’s love and faith. Getting a new heart would be like being born again. To further that definition, I would add that when you’re born-again, you have a heart change, not just a change of heart. As great as healing, provision, deliverance, and wisdom feel in the moment, none represents the power that heart change does. When we’re saved, we don’t “slightly tweak” some things about us. We receive a new heart through a heart change. God takes our heart of stone fill with hatred and resistance to Him, and he gives us a heart of flesh filled with faith and a willingness to follow Him. Just as Ezekiel 36:25-27 states, “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” But it was Jesus who said unto them in John 3:3-8, “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” In that change His mighty deed overcomes our sin and the devil, and his power continues as He makes us more and more holy. Praise and the people of God go together, and they still do, 3,000 years later.
If you came here this morning separated from Christ, I invite you to go to Him. It’s true you have been praising things that aren’t worthy of praise and you’ve worshiped gods that don’t deserve to be called gods. But Jesus told a woman given over to sin and a shameful life that the Father in Heaven is seeding worshipers. The Father invites you to join in the celebration of His glory. He is seeking worshipers. If you don’t feel ready, maybe the step for you is to study Him. Read the Bible from cover to cover. Study what it says about this great God we’re talking about and let that change your thinking about Him. In light of who I am, who He is, what He’s done, what is the right response? Let this be true of you, as well. The closer you get to the end of your life, let your praise multiply! Be more passionate! It’s true you’ve lived longer, so you’ve suffered more. But it’s also true you’ve seen God’s grace and power in that suffering. Praise Him! No one is greater than Him! No rival to Him!
We were made for something more, something that lasts forever, and so our hearts are bent toward eternity. Praise God even when you don't understand what He's doing. I did my best, and God did the rest. Let everything, that has breath, be a praiser! Praise the Lord!
And it is for this and much, much, more that I pray for you. Amen!
