A pastor visited one woman who was ill in bed; over the last 6 months he had buried seven of her family members and now had just heard that the eighth, her beloved husband, was cast away at sea. The pastor asked, “Do not you fret at any of those things?” The woman replied with a lovely smile upon her pale cheek, “O, no! How can I fret at anything which is the will of God? Let Him take all besides: He has given me Himself. I love, I praise Him every moment.”
Hebrews 13:15
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise–the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.”
“Praise the Lord!” has become such a cliché in Christian circles but I sometimes wonder if we truly mean what we say. Amazingly praising God is one of the disciplines of our Christian faith and just as we are to pray without ceasing, we are to praise God continually. We are to offer praise as a sacrifice.
To praise means to commend, to express admiration for, it means to applaud, to speak highly of, to sing praises, to elevate something.
It is easy to praise God when He has blessed us, provided for us and protected us. In this situations praise does not really cost us anything because it the response to some action that directly benefits us.
But what about those times when things don’t work out your way? When your child dies or your husband leaves you? What about the times when the results come back positive? Those times when not an ounce of praise can come out of you? What do you do?
You praise the Lord continually. It is in these times that you offer up a sacrifice of praise, it is these times that it costs you to praise Him because everything within you tells you otherwise. Sacrifices are all about killing and slaughtering for a purpose. You have to kill your pride, kill your fears and anxieties and elevate God beyond the situation that is before you. It is these kinds of moments that bring you back to the real reason and focus of our praise. Jesus, the one who made the ultimate sacrifice for us on the cross at Calvary. It is in Him and through Him that we offer a sacrifice of praise to God. That is why we sing songs of praise to Him.
Psalm 100:4-5
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; ¬his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Reflective Thoughts
Do you praise the Lord continually or only when you feel He has been good to you?
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When was the last time you sang songs of praise to the Lord apart from a church service or some kind of fellowship?
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When you truly see God for who He is, you will have no option but to bow down and worship and praise Him. What is your perception of God?
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