Psalms 100: 1 – 2
Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
REFLECTION
Praise is defined as expression of warm approval or admiration.
I have seen in the political arena, the politicians (MPs, senators, ministers or governors) praise the president with all the sweet word they can, then they finish up by tabling their various needs. When the president rises to speak, most often than not he will offer them solutions from his government. I remember when we were young and President Daniel arap Moi (second president of Kenya) was passing by, various schools would start singing praises to him and attempt to outdo each other. The school that would sing the best and the loudest would receive cash handouts and at times may extend to bursaries, building funds and scholarship. These are all mortal men what about our heavenly Father?
The psalmist encourages to make a joyful shout to the Lord and we go before His presence with singing because He our God, the one who created us, we are the works of His hands. We need to praise Him for creating us, for giving us life and preserving us from evil. God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent yet He cannot praise Himself. Praise is the food of God.
When you go before God to pray remember to begin with praise. The bible says our God inhabits the praises of His people. When you begin with praise you attract His attention. He intervenes for you. Praying before praising is like leaving a voicemail; you don’t know whether the person you left it for will listen to it and if they do you don’t know whether they will they act on your message. Praise makes sure your father is connected to the line and positions you to hear his response.
In 2 Chronicles 20 King Jehoshaphat was confronted by a vast army. When he sought God about it, the Lord told Jehoshaphat through Jahaziel that the battle belongs to Him. The following day King Jehoshaphat went ahead and appointed singers to go before the troops. The bible says they did not have to fight. The Lord caused the enemies to fight themselves. They Israelites only went to collect up the plunder. What a mighty God we serve!
Praise can be in form of joyful shouts, songs, words of exultation like Hannah and Mary did to our God. Accompany it with dancing if you can. Do not wait for church service or fellowship to sing to our God. You can even read out aloud the scriptures that speak about the greatness of our God.
Paul and Silas were in prison and as they were praying and praising God the chains fell off them and the other prisoners until the guard was so afraid and he wanted to take away his life because he thought all the prisoners had escaped. The power of praise broke the chains. There are issues in life that will only respond to praise. Embrace praises.
Prayer
Lord God almighty, maker of heaven and earth, I want to thank you for teaching to praise you. Thank you for creating me in your own image. Great are your works oh Lord. The lily of the valleys I praise you, from generation to generation you are faithful. Give me a heart of praise that I will exult you every day of my life. In Jesus name I pray and believe, amen.
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