What does Praise mean to you?
Intro
When we did our episode on Prayer, we found that Praise is one of the ways we can pray to God. We decided to look deeper into praise. It may mean something different to different people. Some may hear the word praise and think only of singing. That is defiantly one way to praise God, but there are other ways. Thanksgiving is a big way of praising God. Another way is to remind God of all the things He has done. This really is for our benefit. When we take our eyes off of our circumstances and look only to God, we can’t help but praise Him. Our Spirit and our soul are made to praise God. It’s in our DNA so to speak. God made us in His image, and that is love and praise. He praises us for the things we do because He loves us so much.
First we will look at the dictionary.com definition. It includes such things as:
• the act of expressing approval or admiration or commendation.

• the offering of grateful homage in words or song, as an act of worship
Praise is something we do. It’s a specific act. Sometimes we don’t even realize our Spirits are doing it, but usually we have to think about saying it out loud. As it mentioned in the definition, it is expressing such things as admiration. We praise people who we look up to. Unfortunately, some people praise other people for doing things unpleasing to God. On the other hand, some people really do deserve our praise. We just have to remember that they are only human and we are supposed to praise God more than people.
The definition also has commendation in it. When our loved ones do something great we praise them with words. Praise can be just words spoken from our lips to His ears. We lift His Name high and give Him the honor He deserves. Praise Him as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. There is nothing good that cannot be said about God Most High. Here are some examples.
• Psalm 66:17
• I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue.

• Psalm 71:8
• My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long.

Praise is not only mentioned in song, but that is a GREAT way to please God. Singing praise as an act of worship is a wonderful way to usher in or enter into God’s Presence. He loves to inhabit the praises of His people. Songs are powerful emotionally. They can make us happy, sad, and everything in between. God feels elation when we stop our own little world and look only to Him. He is honored to have us put Him before everything and just tell Him that we love Him.

• 1 Chronicles 16:9
• Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.

The whole book of Psalms is basically praising God. A definition of psalms is: a sacred song or hymn, so there are many Psalms that include singing and we encourage you to look some up for yourself.

In the New Testament we find Paul and Silas in the midst of a trial, and they have an interesting, awesome way of dealing with it. They praised their way out. They were in jail, not just the county jail, but the innermost dungeon! It was bad. But, they knew God was good and that He had only their best interest at heart. So, they began singing and praising Him. It says the whole prison could hear them. In the middle of the praises their chains just fell off. The really cool thing, though, is that they didn’t jump up and run out. They were so caught up with praising God that it didn’t matter where they were. Many good things came from those praises, as often if the case. So, when in the middle of a trial, praise is always an answer! (Acts 16:25-31)
Thanking God is part of praise too. Psalms 100 tells us:
• Psalm 100:4
• Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

When we look to Him and thank Him for all He has done, and there is a lot, we are showing Him how grateful we are. God has done so much and given up all He holds dear because He loves us. You feel good when someone else thanks you for something you did. It feels good to be recognized for your hard work, and God is the same way. He gets happy and enjoys His children and He loves to hear that we care for Him and appreciate all He has done for us. Here are just a few verses on thanksgiving.

• 1 Chronicles 29:13
• Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.

• Psalm 7:17
• I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the LORD Most High.

Another aspect of praise is reminding God of His precious promises. This is not for God’s benefit. He knows all that He has promised us, but it is great for us. We find many promises in the Bible, but His promises can include things He has spoken into your specific life, too. We as gentiles are grafted into the divine promises that God gave to the Israelites. He fulfilled all these promises with Jesus, so that we now may obtain all the gifts God promised. You can easily search out some of these promises by going to Biblegateway.com or other websites like it. When we remind ourselves of these promises, it boosts our confidence and puts joy and hope in our hearts. We need to keep those hopes and truths in front of us all the time to remember who we are and what we have in Him.

• Hope
• Psalm 71:14
• As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.

• Joy
• Psalm 28:7
• The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.

• Heart
• Psalm 86:12
• I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.
Salvation is a main reason we praise God. He lovingly gave Jesus and we should all praise Him for that. We find some verses about this.

• 1 Peter 1:3
• Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
• Psalm 96:2
• Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.
Psalm 150 really shows us an example of Praise.
• Psalm 150

• 1 Praise the LORD.[a] Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
• 6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

Praise can be singing our love or just talking to God. As with prayer, there is no wrong way to praise God. If it comes from your heart, that is all that matters. Just open your heart and mouth and let your Spirit praise God. He loves you and wants to be acknowledged, thanked and loved by us.

We will leave you with this verse found in Revelation. It’s wonderful to know that our praises will not end on this earth, and that all of Heaven right now is praising God along with us.

• Revelation 7:12
• saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen!”
Prayer for Salvation