Praise

Praise is defined as expressing gratefulness and love by words, singing, dancing or song, as an act of worship: a hymn of praise to God.   To worship is to glorify, honor, praise, exalt, and please God. Our worship must show our adoration and loyalty to God for who He's been to us, or because He is God.  Praise is to express your admiration for God and His goodness.  Colossians 3:16, says Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
1 Chronicles 16:29, says Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;

Miraculous things happen when you praise God.  Acts 16:16-34 says, Paul and Silas were in prison. As they began to pray and sing hymns to God, the foundations of the prison were shaken, the doors were opened, and their chains were loosed.


Let’s take a look at Psalms 23, that starts with the Lord is my shepherd.  A shepherd by define is one who cares for and guides those he’s in charge of.  According to dictionary.com, A shepherd is also one that teaches and ministers. Verse 3 in Psalm says He leadth me into righteousness for his name’s sake.  I love the 23rd Psalm, so I’ll go ahead and list it in it’s entirety. 

Psalm 23,
1.    The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
2.    He maketh me to lay down in the green pastures.  He leadth me beside the still waters
3.    He restoreth my soul
4.    He leadth me in the path of righteousness for his name’s sake.  Yey though I walk through the valley of the shadow death, I will fear no evil.  For God is with me.  Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5.    He prepareth a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  He anointh my head with oil; my cup runth over.
6.    Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

We have many reasons to praise God.  First of all we should praise Him because of Who He is.  We should praise, honor and glorify God’s name, presence and power, because He created all things.  We should praise God because while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).  We should praise Him for His daily renewing grace and mercy.
The basis, no matter, how you praise God is to show acknowledgement of how wonderful and amazing He is! True worship requires total commitment of our body, mind and spirit. It’s about exalting and adoring God even while struggling or in well doing.  Praising God has everything to do with having an intimate and profound relationship with God. 

Praising God isn’t just done with words.  Psalm 150:1-6 says, Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! ...

There are several ways you can praise God.

    Singing and speaking – Psalm 35:28.

    Lifting hands – Psalm 63:4

    Shouting – Psalm 47:1.

    Clapping – Psalm 47:1.

    Dancing – Psalm 149:3 – 150:4.

    Playing instruments – Psalm 33:2, Psalm 150.

    Standing – Psalm 135:1-2.

    Bowing and kneeling – Psalm 95:6.

How has praise and worship helped you win spiritual battles?