The Benefits of Praise

The Benefits of Praise

4.16.2023

Psalm 103:1-5 (AMPC)

1 Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul; and all that is [deepest] within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits—3 Who forgives [every one of] all your iniquities, Who heals [each one of] all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy; 5 Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle’s [strong, overcoming, soaring]!

Praising God has its benefits and most certainly always has a place. King David stirs himself to bless the Lord and demands that his soul not forget the benefits of the Lord. He does this, because he is prone to forget how good God is. We too are prone to forget how good God is, therefore forgetting to thank and praise Him. Today, I want to make the argument of why praise is necessary.

1. PRAISE PRODUCES GODLINESS

Deuteronomy 28:45-48 (AMPC)

All these curses shall come upon you and shall pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. 46 They shall be upon you for a sign [of warning to other nations] and for a wonder, and upon your descendants forever. 47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness of [mind and] heart [in gratitude] for the abundance of all [with which He had blessed you], 48 Therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord shall send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and in want of all things; and He will put a yoke of iron upon your neck until He has destroyed you.

This is written for our learning. Look closely, these curses didn’t come on them because of gross sin, it was because of their heart posture. Their hearts were void of joyfulness and gratitude in spite of what the Lord had done. This passage paints a picture of how God feels about a lack of gratitude.

Imagine bailing a friend out of jail and they never say “Thank you.” Or give up an entire Saturday to help a friend move, and they never say “Thank you.” What about a Father giving His only Son to pay the debt that you own and is never thanked? Everyday the Lord displays His goodness, His faithfulness, and we rarely say ‘thank you’ or offer Him praise.

2 Timothy 3:1-2 (AMPC)

But understand this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear]. 2 For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane.

Luke 6:35 (NKJV)

But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.

Galatians 5:19-21 (AMPC)

Now the doings (practices) of the flesh are clear (obvious): they are immorality, impurity, indecency, 20 Idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger (ill temper), selfishness, divisions (dissensions), party spirit (factions, sects with peculiar opinions, heresies), 21 Envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

In American culture, we are/were surrounded by prosperity and blessings. Our refusal to keep God and His Word at the center has by default caused us to be entitled. We think that the good in our lives is a result of our own effort and that God has nothing to do with it. A lack of gratitude is linked to selfishness. Our lack of thanksgiving is grouped into the behavioral category that belongs to those that will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Praise expresses gratitude.

Romans 1:18-24 (AMPC)

For God’s [holy] wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness repress and hinder the truth and make it inoperative. 19 For that which is known about God is evident to them and made plain in their inner consciousness, because God [Himself] has shown it to them.

20 For ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks). So [men] are without excuse [altogether without any defense or justification], 21 Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened.

22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools [professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves].

23 And by them the glory and majesty and excellence of the immortal God were exchanged for and represented by images, resembling mortal man and birds and beasts and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their [own] hearts to sexual impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin],

Notice the progression away from God due to a lack of thanksgiving and praise!

First, every person has an intuitive knowledge of God. Secondly, he begins to step away from God because he did not glorify Him as God. When we don’t give praise and recognition to God, it says that we are not thankful! Then, they become futile and godless in their thinking and their minds become darkened.

Once our hearts are hardened toward God, we become spiritually slow. We lack understanding and revelation. The Christian walk becomes harder than it needs to be.

Practically speaking: Incorporate praise and thanksgiving into your daily personal time with the Lord. Begin and end your prayers with thanksgiving. “Father, thank you for today! Thank you for food, clothings, family, etc. Father, thank you for hearing me. Thank you for wisdom, etc.”

2. PRAISE MAGNIFIES GOD IN YOU

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

― A.W. Tozer

Praise echoes your view of God.

Praise is the proclamation of Who God is and what He has done. Worship is the response to Who God is and what He has done.

Praise is the apparatus that connects our hearts to Who God is. Praise itself is an expression of our faith.

Your level of praise is proportional to your level of faith. Your faith is determined by your revelation of God. For example, I won’t praise God the Healer if I don’t have faith that He heals. I won’t have faith for healing if I don’t have revelation or understanding that He heals. In other words, as goes my faith, so does my praise.

Praise connects us to the greatness of God. If you want to live connected to the greatness of God; praise Him greatly.

Psalm 150:2- Praise Him for his mighty acts: praise Him according to his excellent greatness!

1 Samuel 17

Praise is more than a sound; it’s who we are.

David lived a life connected to the greatness of God, and he embodied it. He remembered how God helped him and delivered him out of the paw of the lion and the bear.

When we live connected to the goodness and faithfulness of God, we will not be moved!

Also, notice how the victory of an entire nation was linked to the embodied praise of a teenager! Your praise is not always about you. Your praise is linked to the breakthrough of others.

Praise is not selfish! Praise is about Him. As we bless Him in the hearing of others, the faith of those around us begins to rise! Praise is a testimony that testifies to the faithfulness and goodness of God!

Practically speaking: Create a daily rhythm of spending time with the Lord. I recommend making this the first thing you do in the morning. Read a chapter in the Book of Psalms everyday.

3. PRAISE IS VITAL FOR THE DAYS AHEAD

I believe that the Lord gave me this message not so we would have a good time on Sunday mornings, but because praise will be our lifeline in the days ahead. When everything around us is faltering and people are walking away, we will need to know how to keep moving forward. Praise is that lifeline.

What I am not saying is that we need to ditch the Word of God and just sing and shout. Like never before, you need to get into the Word. The Word of God will prove to be an inexhaustible source of reasons to praise!

Fear and doubt are disconnectors. They will cause you to take your eyes off of Jesus. Fear and doubt will cause selfishness and will produce a lack of thanksgiving and praise.

Praise reconnects and recalibrates. It moves us back towards God and puts us in alignment/agreement with Who He is.

Praise reconnects and recalibrates. It moves us back towards God and puts us in alignment/agreement with Who He is.

Ephesians 5:15-20

15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Psalm- scripture set to music.

Hymn- a song that gives honor, praise, or thanksgiving.

Spiritual Song- songs from the realm of the Spirit

Because of the times we need to walk in wisdom and not as fools. The will of the Lord is for you to be “being filled” with the Spirit. One way to do this is to sing! Praising the Lord will fill you up!

Praise is like a magnifying glass. I put the attention on God by singing to Him and everything else in view gets pushed out of the lens.

The Law of Praise

Psalm 48:1 (KJV)- Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

Phil Driscoll (musician and minister) calls this the Law of Praise.

“Polite praise is illegal.”

-Phil Driscoll

A great God is to be greatly praised. An ordinary god is to receive ordinary praise.

We praise Him according to His greatness and not our feelings and circumstances. His greatness alone determines the metric of our praise.

We serve the victorious King. The sound of our praise should measure up to Who He is. Likewise, we should embody praise and embody victory!

Example: Sporting events

In closing, I’m simply saying that:

1. Praise is for the godly.
2. Praise connects us to the greatness of God.
3. Praise is vital now and in the days to come.