Proverbs 18:20-21 ERV Your words can be as satisfying as fruit, as pleasing as the food that fills your stomach. (21) The tongue can speak words that bring life or death. Those who love to talk must be ready to accept what it brings.
- The tongue can speak words of life or death. The choice is ours!
- Where your life is today is a result of what you believed and said yesterday!
- If you want to change the direction of your life, start changing your words.
What Is Praise?
- We commend someone – means that we entrust ourselves to His care and recommend that others do the same.
Psalms 9:10 NKJV And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.
Psalms 16:1 NIV Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.
This is what we are doing when we speak God’s Word over our lives.
- We express approval or favor on someone.
This means you have a good opinion of God.
Praise by approving is thinking about what He has done and is doing to win your approval.
Psalms 23:1-6 NKJV A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. (2) He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. (3) He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. (4) Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (5) You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. (6) Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.
- We Glorify – To identify the good points of someone.
In this type of praise, God is recognized as being good, faithful, righteous, just, merciful and forgiving. His dwelling place, His law, His character, and His actions are described as being perfect and flawless.
2 Samuel 22:31 NKJV As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
Psalms 103:1-5 NKJV A Psalm Of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! (2) Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: (3) Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, (4) Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, (5) Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
In essence, praise that glorifies is like writing a letter of recommendation for God.
As we honor God for Who He is and for what He has done in our lives, we make room for Him to work for us and in us every day.
- Praise is an act of faith. It is an act of reverence.
It is an act of faith because you are praising and worshiping a God you cannot see over in the invisible realm. When you are dealing with that invisible realm, you are dealing with the faith realm.
John 1:18 NKJV No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
When Do We Praise?
- In the good times. (We praise God when we feel like it!)
1 Chronicles 17:20 NKJV (20) O LORD, there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
These were some great times for David.
- In the bad times. (We praise God when we don’t feel like it!)
Paul and Silas were cast into prison. Although they had been wrongly accused, beaten, naked, were in stocks in prison, they chose to praise the Lord. They did the one thing that would get God’s presence into that urine-soaked cell with them. They had a prayer and praise session.
Acts 16:25-26 NKJV But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. (26) Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
If you want God to come into your prison cell of bad circumstances, then you must resist the temptation to grumble, murmur, and complain. You have to make the decision to praise Him instead.
Kenneth Copeland – “When you pray, you lay hold of things, but when you praise, you win battles.”
- Praise takes us to the other side of the opposition.
Praise and worship is the atmosphere of Heaven and when you step into praise you have stepped over into the atmosphere of Heaven.
- There is NOTHING you cannot praise your way out of, nor is there anything you cannot praise your way into.
Worry and anxiety will keep your focus on your situation or your circumstances. Praise and worship keep your focus on God.
Smith Wigglesworth Testimony: “…when you all prayed you were looking at the woman and death; when I prayed, I was looking at the face of Jesus.”
- In the routine, in-between times.
Often the normal days of our lives can be the hardest to praise the Lord in because there is nothing in particular to draw our attention to Him.
Psalms 118:24 NKJV This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.
David praised the Lord all the time – even when things were boring and mundane.
Make sure that God’s manifest presence is with you all the time through your praise and then no matter what comes up in your life, God is there to handle it.
- In public and in private.
When you prepare in private for a public praise, you don’t need a worship leader to make you feel like praising God.
There is a place for worship leaders in our corporate worship, but it is not their job to make you feel good enough to tell your Daddy how great He is.
When you talk to your soul all week, you don’t need anyone to get your attention and stir you up on Sunday.
Psalms 122:1 NKJV I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the LORD.”
Be careful not to come expecting something great in your public praise and worship if you haven’t had an individual meeting with God first. Praise in your private life is what brings power and authority to your public experience.
Try praising God before you meet a challenge. Your day will go differently.
Psalms 34:1-6 NKJV I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. (2) My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. (3) Oh, 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 to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed. (6) This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles.
- The exit road out of your problems is paved with praise and worship.
When things are not working right, check and see if you are current in praise and worship. It could be an indication that you are behind in that arena.