Perhaps by now you have grown weary of me advocating, or talking about praise. However, the Lord obviously took praise seriously. Have you ever read the first sentence of the 146th Psalm? We are told, Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. In other words – make praise personal. We are told in Psalm 147, Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely. Or, why we are to praise Him. In Psalm 148,we are told where to praise Him. For it reads, Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights. In Psalm 149, we are told how to praise Him. Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints. Then in Psalm 150, the writer decided he was going to cover all bases. Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. 2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. 3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. 4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. 5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. 6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.
Now let’s talk about the different types of praise. I know some of you get a little irritated because you may feel as though you are being dictated to over the pulpit or from the presider on how to worship God – let me help you with that. You are correct, when you are in the midst of your individual praise time; that is your opportunity to worship God in your own personal way. The Syrophoenician woman decided upon being told that she was a dog (after seeking deliverance for her daughter and being chided by the disciples), she went into her closet, which happened to be at Jesus’ feet, and worshipped Him. God received her praise. There is a time for your own personal worship style. We get into trouble when we attempt to draw others into our own personal style.
Then there is team or small group praise – Paul & Silas. You remember Paul and Silas had a common problem – they were in prison. The Bible says that they prayed and praised God in the middle of their problem and the Lord heard their praise. Make sure when you have chosen someone to praise God with you, that it is someone you have something in common with. The Bible says how can two walk together except they agree. Make sure you are equally yoked. Make sure you and your partner can touch and agree because the Bible clearly says He will be in the midst.
But today I am addressing corporate praise. When you are in a corporate setting, this is not your personal, individual praise time; so you should not go off into your individual mode. This is not your small group mode where you pair off with your friend or small group and do your own thing or have your own church service within the main church service. We are called to take on the spirit Israel had when they were outside of Jericho.
Remember how they all followed the instructions of Joshua? Or remember how the 120 were all in one place with one accord? Something wonderful happens when we praise God in a unified way.
In closing might I remind you once again praise is not an option, or something we do when the fancy hits us. It’s not what we do when the music is just right, or the choir sang our favorite song. Praise is our invitation to God to step into our lives and our situations. Remember, He inhabits the praises of His people.
I encourage you, don’t delegate praise to someone else. Don’t assume someone else will praise God for you. Let’s take to heart the scripture we love to quote, “I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continuously be in my mouth…”
I bless you in the name of the Lord!