Praise is such a powerful healer for the soul of a believer. Christian, have you ever found yourself in a situation where life has hit you hard, but yet in the midst of that pain you can be praising the Lord and an amazing peace and joy flood into your soul? Have you ever thought, why does this happen? For what reason does my praise of our Lord bring about unexplainable healing and comfort to an otherwise broken situation? It is an amazing reality for a Christian. Many do not understand the power of praise or the reason why God requires it from us. Let us look at this unique and glorious medicine closer, but first let me ask a few questions. Do you understand the theology behind why believers are commanded to worship the Lord? Do you think God commands us to praise Him because He is some egocentric deity that needs to hear how great He is? That could not be further from the truth.
Unlike any other god that man has made up in his own mind or fashioned out of some material base, the One, True, Living, Holy, Omnipotent and Righteous God of the Bible is a God of love (1 John 4:8). This means that God was love from eternity past, He is love in eternity present and He will be love in eternity future (Malachi 3:6; Isaiah 46:9-11; James 1:17, Hebrews 13:8). Before He created anything in the universe, God is love. He cares for His creation and above all of His creation, mankind is held in highest esteem, so much so that when He fashioned us from the dust of the ground and breathed life into us (Genesis 2:7), He made us in His own image (Genesis 1:27), and He made us worshipers, but why?
This fact actually shows God’s sovereign omniscience and love for us before we ever even knew Him. The Bible tells us that God is omniscient, He knows all things from all eternity. That is a hard concept for our finite minds to completely grasp, but it is true that God knew. He knew there would be a fall, He knew His children would have to face this fallen world, and He knew from eternity past how He would redeem His chosen people back to Himself. He knew how He made us, as worshipers, so although He designed us to worship Him in the beginning which was very good, now because of our fallen nature, we have taken that very good thing and used it for evil, for idoltary. We use what God has given to us as a gift, and commanded of us for our benefit, and have misdirected it away from Him to everything else but Him. We have directed it to so many other things but nothing or no one else can return to us the benefit that worship was designed for but God Himself.
God gave us life, He gave us the breath in our lungs (Genesis 2:7) and commanded us to use it to praise Him (Psalm 150:6), and Him alone (Isaiah 42:8; Exodus 20:1-6). There is something unique about the way God structured us. His amazing love for us shines through these commands to praise Him, see if you can see it. His commands and His instruction to praise Him are not for His benefit, but for ours. This is because those who are His, He loves and those whom He loves He will always protect, pursue, instruct, discipline and lavish His heavenly blessings upon. These blessings are not always what we want when we think of blessing, but they are what we need, and when we realize it, they actually become some of the most precious treasures we have or could ever want. Sit on that statement for a second. The Lord of the universe has given to His people what they needed all along to overcome this broken world, to keep us from the danger of our fallen nature and what points us toward the only truly good thing that we can know, God Himself (Mark 10:18). Worship frees us from fear, worry, doubt, despair. No one can worship the Lord and be depressed at the same time. No one can worship the Lord and worry at the same time. No one can worship the Lord and complain at the same time. Paul realized this and told us about it in his letter to the Philippians (Philippians 4:4-9).
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me-practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you”.
Philippians 4:4-9
God has loved His chosen children since the foundation of the world and He set us apart, not because of anything we have done, but because we have a Creator that is love, represented in the trinitarian relationship from eternity past and manifested to us through the unfathomable sacrifice He made for us at Calvary on the cross. God demonstrated His own love for us in this: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8) The Lord does not need our worship, He is not insecure. He is surrounded by an innumerable multitude of angelic beings that worship Him day and night singing “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come” (Revelation 4:8), “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3). The Lord does not need our worship. He commands us to worship Him because He knows that worshiping Him heals our brokenness and fills us with unexplainable joy that breaks through the hardest of situations in a temporary, fallen world.
He has made this known to us through His Word. Think about it. The Bible is made up of 66 books that point to who God is and what He has done so that His name could be made known and our praise be directed where it is needed for our benefit. The largest of these 66 books is the book of Psalms. It is packed with 150 Psalms of praise, each one giving us an example and instruction of how we should respond to difficulty, sin, loss, frustration, blessing, joy, thanksgiving and God Himself in the midst of each of these situations. What we need to realize is that there are clear instructions for us how to worship, and they are not because we are a particular denomination or sect of Christianity. No, these are commands for how to worship the Lord because this is what true praise and worship looks like according to how God designed it. David understood this when he became “undone” in the presence of the Lord. After his wife Michal rebuked him for his unashamed worship, he said to her that it was the Lord who blessed him with all that he has, and because of this he will “celebrate before the LORD. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this…” (2 Samuel 6:21-22). David understood the power of worship. He went on to write many of the Psalms in Scripture.
The LORD is love and He commands our worship because He knows that when we are worshiping Him, we are free and the joy and thanksgiving that comes from that worship is a medicine for our soul that no money can buy and no doctor can prescribe. It is given to us from our Creator and it is a treasure for us to discover in Christ. So the next time you want to be set free of the stress and strains and difficulties of this broken world, find a place where you can focus on Jesus and pour out your praise, lift up and clap your hands, and give a joyful shout unto the Lord, for this is what you were created for, to worship Him and Him alone!
“It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise, we pour out our praise
It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise to You only!”
Below are some of the Lord’s commands for how we are to worship Him from scripture. Remember always Christian, this is for our benefit. Never feel embarrassed to worship the Lord as He has made you to worship Him, and if anyone tells you that these ways are wrong, point them to God’s Word and show them that He has given this to us as a treasure, a medicine for our souls. May the Grace and Peace of our Lord be with you always!
Key Commands to Praise in Scripture
“Praise the LORD” (Hallelujah): The most frequent command, found throughout the Psalms (e.g., Psalm 150:1, Psalm 148:1).
“Sing to the LORD“: “Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts” (1 Chronicles 16:9, Psalm 30:4, Psalm 33:2-3).
“Shout for Joy“: “Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music” (Psalm 100:1).
“Ascribe Glory/Worship“: “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness” (Psalm 29:2, Psalm 96:8).
“Magnify/Exalt His Name“: “O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together” (Psalm 34:3).
“Give Thanks“: “Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God” (Psalm 50:14).
Physical Actions and Methods of Praise
Lifting Hands: “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD” (Psalm 134:2).
Clapping Hands and Shouts: “Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!” (Psalm 47:1)
Dancing and Instruments: “Praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute” (Psalm 150:4, Psalm 149:3).
Bowing/Kneeling: “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker” (Psalm 95:6).
Standing: “Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who minister by night in the house of the LORD” (Psalm 134:1).
When and Where to Praise
At All Times: “I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1).
Everywhere: “From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised” (Psalm 113:3).
In Congregation: “I will give You thanks in the great congregation; I will praise You among a mighty throng” (Psalm 35:18).
Visit Herald the Truth Ministry for some great praise and worship playlists to help you magnify the Lord daily. Click the link below:
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