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PROGRAM W-1801 – Part I
Praise is something that God has ordained for us to do. Here are a few verses which exhort us to praise God.
- Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary. (Psalm 150:1)
- Praise the Lord, all you who fear him! Honor him, all you descendants of Jacob! (Psalm 22:23)
- Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones; Praise is becoming to the upright. (Psalm 33:1, NASB)
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:
- And the four living creatures had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy. . . (Revelation 4:8, KJV)
- And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb. . .! (Revelation 5:11-12, KJV)
- And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns. (Revelation 19:6, NKJV)
There’s no question that our lives should be filled with praise; it is a direction we see throughout Scripture. But have you ever wondered why 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’ve done a lot of management training in business, and one of the basic principles of management is that to properly motivate people, you need to recognize and reward them for the good things they do. I use the phrase, “Catch them at doing something good and tell them.” That management technique will do more for increasing productivity and improving morale than anything else a manager can do.
Why? Because we humans really must have 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, 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? Praising God is good for us, that’s why!
We need to praise God. We are the ones who benefit from praise. It changes us. It changes the focus of our minds; it cleanses our thoughts; it replaces wrong thinking with right thinking. And all of that has an immediate positive effect on us as we praise him. Your emotional and mental state of mind are immediately improved when you praise the Lord. It defeats the enemy of your soul who wants to keep you in a state of discouragement and depression. The enemy cannot tolerate praise, so when you praise God, he is defeated.
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, then God becomes the center of that life instead of self. This results in a restructuring and restoring of our personality into a proper balance and mental wholeness. Praise produces forgetfulness of self—and forgetfulness of self produces good mental and emotional stability.
Praise helps us develop good character traits. What are some of your personality traits that you know need changing? Do you tend to be a complainer and have a critical spirit toward others? Do you tend to be moody? Is it hard for you to forgive people? Do you carry grudges against people? Do you tend to sulk when you don’t get your way? Are you impatient with others?
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. If 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.
Did you ever realize that God’s creation is to praise God? The whole universe is one chorus of praise. Here is what the Psalmist said:
- All Thy works shall praise Thee, O Lord. (Psalm 145:10, KJV)
- Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all you stars of light! Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord, For He commanded and they were created. (Psalm 148:3-5, NKJV)
- Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. (Psalm 150:6, NKJV)
Everything that has breath! Think of all the things that breathe. All creation is to praise the Lord. More is said about praise in the Bible than about prayer. Did you ever realize that? This means that praise is more important than petition. Yet when I think of my own life, I have to admit that petitioning God comes easier for me than praising.
When praise is an integral part of our lives, we are the ones who benefit. Because God knows that praising him is so important to us, he repeatedly exhorts us to praise him. Let me point out two things which will happen to you when you make praise a way of life:
- Praise helps you mature spiritually.
It is the highest function of our human spirit. We are transformed by praise. It strengthens our inner man. Praise is the spark plug of faith. It is the one thing needed to get our faith off the ground. The secret of faith without doubt is praise. So, when you start to praise God more and more, you’ll have more faith and trust in the Lord. Then you’ll see yourself start to mature spiritually.
- Praise brings you healing—emotionally, mentally, and physically.
We hear so much about mental health and emotional instability these days. Over half of the available hospital beds are occupied by victims of mental and nervous disorders. As a result, we have a huge industry built to address emotional problems. Praising God could have a dramatic healing effect in your life—healing you of trauma and emotional pain which may have plagued you for far too long.
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 said to her, very simply, “Start praising God.” That’s all I needed to say to her; 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 ago 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, in short order, 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 we learn once and for all. Remembering to praise God all the time in everything is a daily lesson; we have to remind ourselves daily to praise him.
I start my personal prayer time with praise. I have listed in my prayer journal all the things to praise God for. There are three pages of the attributes of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each of them play 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. 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 and, without fail, my heart catches up to my mouth before I finish praising.