Praise

Psalm 117

Praise the Lord all you nations; extol him, all you
peoples.

For Great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of
the Lord endures forever.

Praise the Lord.

I’ve been thinking a lot about praise. Do I praise my kids enough, do I praise my coworkers enough, and do I praise my spouse enough? More importantly do I praise God enough? I know the answer…it’s a rhetorical question.

There are over 130 instances in the Bible where praise is mentioned. Praise is defined as “to express a favorable judgment of”; to glorify especially by the attribution of perfections; expression of approval, commendation or admiration.”

Scripture commands us to praise God with our lips and our actions, hmmm. When I visited Ghana I noticed a huge difference between Christians there and here in America. In Ghana they recognized their dependence on God. In America we depend on ourselves, our government, our economy and everyone but God. In Ghana it was common place to hear someone say “Praise God” or “Praise the Lord” or “Thank you Jesus” when they received something of worth. Their first response was to praise God, not the deliverer of the thing of worth but the GIVER of the thing of worth. Because they depend on God they praise him.

So maybe the question is, do I depend on God, have I totally given everything to Him, am I totally sold out for Him and if so won’t the result of that be praise? I want to Praise God more. Scripture commands it.

Praise God for my salvation! Praise God for my family! Praise God for my employers! Praise God for my Church! Praise God for the men and women that give their lives toward full time low pay ministry! Praise God for the men, women and children that have heard the voice of God and have left everything in obedience to serve Him on the mission field! Praise God for people that put reaching people for Christ ahead of their financial gain! Praise God for forgiving me every time I mess up (and it’s frequent)! Praise God because He is God!

I plan to praise God more, not just here on my blog but every where to everyone.

Lord you are my all-in-all, my purpose for existing, my hope for eternity. You are perfect, loving, strong, resolute and faithful. I will praise you to the nations; I will extol you in my life.