‘Praise ye the Lord’ Psalm 113:1

In Psalm 113:1-3, Christians are admonished to praise the Lord forevermore. It is our duty as well as our privilege. You are advised to set aside all your conditions, situations, and requests in order to focus on God the Giver and praise Him for who He is.  Praise is different from thanksgiving which is an expression of gratitude for the blessings that we have received from God. May we not be replaced with stones for not performing our duty of praising God.

When we praise God, we acknowledge His glories and the excellence of His personality. We focus on His attributes, His greatness, His goodness, His mighty acts and His sovereignty because praise belongs to God alone and not man. There is nothing in man to be praised. In order to avert the fall of God’s judgment, we should not accept the praises of men. “I am the Lord that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another,” (Isaiah 42: 8). God will never share His glory with any man. The Bible recorded that “upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration [spoke]… and the people gave a shout, saying it is the voice of a god and not of a man.” Acts 12: 21. Herod proudly accepted the praise and he was immediately smitten for thousands and thousands of worms to eat him up. Remember, praise belongs to God alone and not man.

God says in Isaiah 43: 21: “This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise” It is His will, therefore, that we praise Him. We are created to praise, acknowledge and appreciate God for His glory, honour, greatness and majesty. May God forgive us our sins of lack of praise.

How about self-praise? You are like a beast if you have pride in your heart and fail to acknowledge God. If you think that you are somebody, you have something, or you know everything, you have actually died spiritually. But thank God that we can repent and avoid the punishment from God for not acknowledging Him.

The power of praise worked in my life recently. I fell ill with hernia pain when I travelled to Scotland with my wife and brother Baltzell, the Director of Works from Portland Oregon. I could not continue with the sightseeing so I just sat down somewhere praying and beseeching God to heal me. God started dealing with me in such a way that I just had to acknowledge His greatness and His praise filled my mouth so much that the hernia pain departed. If it worked for me, it will work for you if you put everything aside and focus on who God is.

Praise Jesus using His names like, the Most High, the Great Physician, the Commander, the Captain, the Everlasting, the Almighty, the Great I AM, Jehovah, the Living God, the Holy One, the Only Potentate, the King of Kings, the Father of Light, His Excellency, His Highness, the Good Shepherd, the Righteous Judge, the Preserver, El- Shaddai, All-Sufficient, the Creator, the Defender, the Self- Existent, the Alpha and Omega, Love personified. Praise Him for His natural attributes like: Incomparable, Invisible, Inscrutinable, Unchangeable, Unequal, Unsearchable, The Infinite God, the Omnipotent God, the Omnipresent God, the Omniscient God, the Only Wise God; and also for His moral attributes; His Holiness, His Impartiality, His Kindness, His Justice, His Love and Grace, His Mercy, His Truth, His Goodness, His Righteousness and Perfection. In fact, praise Jesus for everything.