Never stop praising God
Psalm 150:1-6, “Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. [2] Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. [3] Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. [4] Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. [5] Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. [6] Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.” This scripture sets out 5 things: 1. A call to praise God. In these six verses of scripture, the word praise occurred 13 times! It is obvious where the emphasis is.
2. Where to praise God. In His sanctuary. See also Psalm 102:21. A sanctuary is a place where God dwells. Exodus 25:8. That is why you don’t find people singing praise and worship to God in the club or in political rallies. So, His sanctuary could mean the church or wherever believers choose to gather. Psalm 149:1, “Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.” or your body as a believer. He dwells in you. 2Corinthians 6:16 tells us we are the temple of the living God. It also says praise Him in the firmament of His power. Some other translations say, ‘in the heaven of his power.’ The Concordant Literal Version says, ‘Praise Him in His powerful atmosphere.’ That means praise Him in the spirit. This is confirmed in John 4:24, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” 3. Why we should praise God. 4. How to praise God 5. Who should praise God! Psalm 34:1-10, “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. [2] My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. [3] O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together. [4] I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. [5] They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not 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 encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. [8] O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. [9] O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. [10] The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.” This sets out 2 things: a) When to praise God “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. b) Benefits of praising God. What Is Praise? According to Mike Murdock, Praise is your verbal and physical response to the greatness of God. It is the recognition and acknowledgment of who God is. Thanksgiving is your response to the interventions, acts and goodness of God in your life. Worship on the other hand is ascribing your creation, existence, preservation, blessings, accomplishments to Him. So then, praise describes, worship ascribes.
Reasons For Praising God Continually mouth.”
Why did the Psalmist make this statement? He must have discovered something. What is it?
There are five major reasons why we do this. 1. To celebrate God’s greatness. 2. For giving us life. To appreciate Him for creating us in a wonderful way. He made me in His image, complex, gifted and positioned to rule and to reign on earth.
3. For our salvation. What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? How much do you value your salvation and redemption? The devil offered the whole world to Jesus for the exchange of His soul but of course that was one negotiation that didn’t go anywhere. It is common knowledge that you lose ownership of anything you sell, including your soul. People today are willing to offer their soul for far less. Esau sold his birthright for a plate of food. How much are you willing to sell yours? You soul is worth more than all the wealth in the world. Your soul-worth is more important than your net worth. It is your worth in the spirit that matters. Here is the test: If you find it difficult to praise God just because you are broke, you are ignorant of your value or worth and it shows that you are willing to sell your soul for a price you consider right. If the whole of eternity is not enough to pay for my soul, my lifetime on earth should not be enough to thank Him for saving me.
4. For His mercy. It is of the Lord’s mercy we are not consumed… We still mess up even when we are saved but He still shows us mercy and forgives us.
5. For His amazing blessings. There are two things I want to point out. First, Praising God is not in anticipation of receiving whatever you have prayed for, that is where a lot of people miss it. It is in gratitude to God for conveyance of the title deed to a life of colour and dignity. It has already been conveyed to you. Your name is on the parcel now. You are merely waiting for delivery of what is already yours. This realisation eliminates doubt and unbelief that will cause your parcel to be floating in the universe because you have not taken delivery by faith. Doubting is rejecting the parcel and returning it to sender.
Secondly, the most amazing blessing is being made a child of God. To be born into and included in His family as a son is the greatest blessing of all. Abraham had over three hundred staff trained in His house but none of them had the right of sonship or inheritance, like Isaac. Not even Ishmael had access to the right of the first born. You are a son with all the rights and privileges of sonship. You are seated with Christ in heavenly places. This is enough to provoke you to give thanks every minute! Servants receive pay, sons receive inheritance. I am not just a servant of God, I am a son who serves God! Because of your special place in the created order, you are assigned special invisible spiritual bodyguards – angels. You can call for more any time! We are endowed with so much, but ignorance has kept us sick and broke.
(To be continued…)