Praise: May 5, 2010

May 5.TODAYS WORD FOR WEDNESDAY MAY 5, 2010.

PRAISE

DEFINITION:

The act of expressing approval or admiration; commendation; an act of worship.

SCRIPTURE:

Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament! Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Psalm 150:1-2.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

In II Chronicles 20: 12 we read about King Jehoshaphat of Judah, knowing that his people were powerless to defend themselves militarily, so he cried out to God for help. The Lord’s answer to him came through Jahaziel who reminded the King saying: “Do not be afraid or dismayed for the battle is not yours, but God’s.”

The King responded by worshipping God and then appointed singers to lead the army. The singers sang “Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever.” The scripture says that the singers singing praises to God confused the invaders and they began killing each other.

No matter what battles we face today the Lord will help us when we cry out to Him and PRAISE HIS NAME! Instead of retreating in fear, we can march ahead with confidence in God’s power and sing PRAISE to Him. Someone once said that “PRAISE IS THE VOICE OF FAITH!” Every action we take in life is based on faith.

How often do you take the time just to praise God? God wants us to praise Him. Look at the verse we have written above from Psalm 150. The psalmist tells us to praise Him in His sanctuary, praise Him in His mighty firmament and to praise Him in His excellent greatness. We remember in college when we took a course on prayer. The professor reminded us that God wants us to begin every prayer by praising Him. When you stop to think about this, how can we? All that we have is from Him. All that we need is in Him. Our future is in His hands. Our eternity is going to be with Him. It should be the greatest desire of our heart to praise God for all He has given us.

There are days that we all feel great despair. John Bunyan called this the “SLOUGH OF DESPOND.” He went on to say that if you have a day like that then lift a song of PRAISE to the Lord. The Psalmist said, “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever.” (89:1) When we respond to our despair in this manner the praise will flow not only from our lips but also from our heart. Psalm 147:1 says that it is good to sing praises to our God.

The book of Psalms in the Old Testament has chapter after chapter about praising the Lord. When you are down and out, read some of these Psalms and you will be reminded of God’s loving kindness and goodness and they will encourage you like nothing else will. Psalms are songs of praise. Perhaps take one that speaks to you in your circumstances and make it your prayer of praise to the Lord today.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Philippians 1:6.

“Being confident of this very thing, that he that has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

PRAYER:

I am reminded this day of the passage found in Luke 19 that told of Your triumphal entrance into Jerusalem. The crowd led by Your disciples began to rejoice and sing praises onto You. Help me today to sing praises unto You in that same spirit as they sang when they were marching with You into the city. I praise You this day for who You are and for all that You have done for me.