The written word of God exhorts us repeatedly to praise the Lord. The psalmist boldly declares, "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord!" What does it mean to praise God, and why does the Bible put so much emphasis on this activity of praising?
Webster's Dictionary defines praise as "to express approval, to glorify, especially in song, or to commend." Though a mountain range or a beautiful sunset or a starry sky may give silent praise to their Creator, human beings have been given that special gift of speech with which to extol our God. For mankind praise means opening our mouth to declare the glory and majesty of the Lord. The writer of Hebrews admonishes believers to "continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name." Psalm 34 begins with, "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth."
But why is the Bible so adamant about our praising God? First of all, it's because it is only right and fitting that we honor God. He is so infinitely worthy of being praised and glorified for His awesome nature that, to the company of heaven and all spiritually alert beings, we men appear absolutely ridiculous sitting mutely by, in our spiritual stupor, when we ought to be turning cartwheels (or maybe rolling in the aisles?) over the wonders of God. The Bible says King David, the man after God's own heart, clamored foolishly before the ark as he brought it into Jerusalem. The Bible tells us that "praise is becoming [attractively suitable] to the upright." In other words, praise looks good on us, even though the foolish think we appear ridiculous.
But there are also many other reasons that praising God as a lifestyle is so highly emphasized in Scripture and creates such an advantage for our lives. Praise causes the presence of the Lord to manifest. Now we already know that God is everywhere all the time, but He shows Himself where He is welcome. That is how some Christians can almost continually sense the Lord's presence, and yet the negative, unbelieving, complaining world can live their whole life without feeling God near even once.
Praise also creates havoc in the realm of the spiritual enemies of God, binding demonic rulers of darkness, causing them to be confused and destroy themselves. Have you ever read in 2 Chronicles 20 about King Jehoshaphat? He sent his turned-on team of praise musicians out in front of the army, and it caused their enemies to destroy themselves!
One could go on and on showing from the Bible what tremendous power is made available by simply praising God. Praise establishes strength and causes our faith to go forth and become active. Praise brings protection and deliverance. Praise satisfies the soul and brings joy, gives refreshing and well-being, drives away evil spirits. Praise transforms our surroundings, and helps us to renew our minds.
Now here is the really exciting part. There is multiplicative power in corporate praise and worship of God. When an entire congregation makes a corporate sacrifice of praise, pushing aside all extraneous thoughts, focusing on the majesty and power of Almighty God, when hearts are joined together in unity uplifting the name of Jesus, then we are making a mass corporate confession of the Word of God. This brings a mighty release of faith, which ushers in the manifest presence of God, bringing about signs and wonders, healings, deliverance from every sort of bondage and affliction, refreshing and renewal of our tired members, and all the other benefits of our salvation.
If you are a child of God, a well-meaning Christian, and yet your Christian life has a sense of lifelessness and unreality to it, and God seems like He is in a galaxy long, long ago and far, far away, perhaps it is because you haven't yet discovered and activated the power of praise. Get hooked up to the most life- transforming, power-producing, circumstance-bending force that has ever been put into human hands (or mouths) - the power that comes when we praise the Lord.
@ copyright 1997 by Scott H. Northrup. All rights reserved.