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You surely don’t have to read much in the Bible to realize that praise is a theme which runs throughout Scripture. There’s no question that it is intended to be a part of every Christian’s life. Here are a few verses which exhort us to praise God.
Psalm 150:1: Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary.
Psalm 22:23: You who fear the Lord, praise him. All you descendants of Jacob, honor him.
Psalm 33:1: Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
Praise is the occupation of heaven. This is what is going on now in heaven, and it’s what we’ll be doing when we get to heaven. Listen to these descriptions in Revelation of what heaven is like:
“Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come” (Revelation 4:8).
“Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Revelation 5:11-12).
“Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns” (Revelation 19:6).
And because God knows that praising him is so important to us, he repeatedly exhorts us to praise him. Let me point out some things that will happen when you make praise a way of life:
- Praise helps you mature spiritually. It is the highest function of the human spirit. You are transformed by praise. It strengthens your inner person.
- Praise is the spark plug of faith. It is the one thing needed to get our faith off the ground. When you start to praise God more and more, you’ll have more faith and trust in the Lord.
- Praise brings healing. There is much mental and emotional instability that can be greatly improved through praising God.
- Praise makes you a positive person.
So, there’s no question that our lives should be filled with praise; it is a direction we see throughout Scripture. But the question is why does God wants us to praise him? We know that God is almighty and self-sufficient. Therefore, why would he want us to praise him? Could he possibly have a need for our praise?
When we think of praising someone, we think of doing it for their good—right? We humans have a great need for recognition and reward. I have done a lot of management training in my career, and one of the basic principles of management which I emphasized was that in order to properly motivate people, you’ve got to recognize and reward them for the good things they do. I used the phrase: “Catch them doing something good and tell them.” That management technique will do more for increasing productivity and improving morale than most anything else a manager can do.
Why? Because we humans really need some positive feedback and reinforcement in order for us to feel good about ourselves, to have any confidence in ourselves, and to be motivated to do things right. We need pats on the back, warm fuzzies, and “attaboys.”
But does God? Could he need anything which man or any other of his creatures could supply? He who spoke the worlds into existence—why should the puny praise of people make any difference to him? Does he need positive reinforcement in order to be motivated to continue to bless us and love us?
The question is ridiculous. I want you to know that God does not need our praise. He doesn’t need to be told how wonderful he is. He is not ego centered as we are, and whether or not we praise him, he is God and he is complete and he does not need to be reminded nor does he need our affirmation. God has no need of anything or anyone. Yet he does desire our praise. Why? Because praising God is good for us, that’s why.
I believe that an intensive program of personal and corporate praise could make a huge difference in many of the emotional and mental issues some Christians are facing. Many of these issues begin with self-absorption, have you noticed? And when anyone becomes ego-centered, it starts to affect their mental and emotional stability. From extreme self-centeredness often comes depression, poor self-image, lack of confidence—lots of those kinds of issues.
Now, think about what happens when you begin to praise the Lord. You are no longer self-focused. The worship and praise of God demands a shift of center from self to God. One cannot praise without relinquishing occupation with self. When praise becomes a way of life for you, then God becomes the center of your life instead of self. Praise produces forgetfulness of self and forgetfulness of self produces improved mental and emotional stability.
Praise helps us develop good character traits. What are some of your personality traits that you know need changing? For example, do you tend to be a complainer, or to have a critical spirit toward others? Maybe you tend to be moody? Is it hard for you to forgive people? Do you carry grudges against others? Or do you tend to sulk when you don’t get your way? Are you impatient with others?
Some of those resonate with me, sad to say. But whatever would be on your list of poor character traits, praising God is a key principle in changing those traits. Think about this:
- Praise and sulking can’t coexist.
- Praise and moodiness don’t go together.
- Praise cannot exist with a negative attitude.
- Praise and an unforgiving spirit have a hard time getting along together.
When you start making praise a major focus of your life, those things about yourself which you don’t like but haven’t been able to change—watch them start to change. The Holy Spirit uses your praise to make you more like Jesus—to truly change you.
During a holiday season a friend stopped me in church and said, “Mary, I know you’ll understand this; tell me what to do. I’ve just been in the dumps lately, thinking about being single, wishing I were married, wishing I had someone to be with during the holidays, feeling sorry for myself. I thought about you and I said, ‘Mary would understand what I’m feeling.’ But what do I do?”
I just said to her, “Start praising God.” That’s all I needed to say. She knew the principle but had just forgotten to practice it. “Of course,” she said, “that’s the answer.” She recalled how a few years before she had come out of a real depression by praising God. The next Sunday she reported to me that it worked immediately. She said, “I went home and started praising God for all his goodness to me and my spirits were lifted, the self-pity was gone, and I was able to truly be thankful for who I am and what I have.”
It works—praising God. It really works. Maybe you know the principle, too, but you just haven’t practiced it lately. Believe me, this is not something you learn once and for all. Remembering to praise God all the time in everything is a daily lesson. You have to remind yourself daily to praise him.
I start my prayer time each morning with praise. The Bible tells us to enter his courts with thanksgiving and enter his gates with praise, so that’s what we should do. And I have written in my prayer book all the things I have to praise God for. I have listed the attributes of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each of them plays an individual and important role in my life, and I praise and thank them individually for who they are and what they do for me—how they enable me to do what God wants me to do. Then I thank the Triune God for his particular blessings to me.
I think it helps me to have it written down, because even on the days when I don’t feel like praising God, I can turn to those pages and start to verbalize that praise, speaking those words out loud, and without fail, my heart catches up to my mouth before I finish. Praising God changes my attitude, my perspective, my emotions.
Did you ever realize that God’s creation is to praise God? The whole universe is one chorus of praise. The Psalmist said: “All your works praise you, Lord” (Psalm 145:10) And we read in Psalm 148:3-4: “Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.”
Yes, everything created is to praise God. Psalm 150:6 says: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” Everything that has breath—think of all the things that breathe. All creation is to praise the Lord. That simply means that as you enjoy all of God’s creation, you should praise God for all he has created. The beauty of his world gives us cause to praise God. Everything created is to give praise to God.
More is said about praise in the Bible than about prayer. Did you ever realize that? That says to me that praise is more important than petition. And yet when I think of my own life, I have to admit that petitioning God comes easier for me than praising. Certainly, God wants us to cast all our care on him—he invites our petitions, but please make sure that praising God takes first place in your heart and in your prayers.
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