I was given the task to do the devotion for my music cell today and I came across this on the internet, which pretty much sums up what I wanted to talk about. I got this song in my head called, 'Everything that has breath'. It's an old song but I really like it and it fits nicely to this week's songs.
In Everything We Must Praise
November 16, 2007 — kdavid
IN EVERYTHING WE MUST PRAISE
Psalm 150
1 Praise the LORD. a]">[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 tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD.
Praise theologically means to glorify, to say good things about someone or something but Biblically speaking it means to give honor and adoration to God.
It is a repetitive biblical concept that we should Praise the Lord at all times. You can find such examples in passages such as
Psalm 117:1
Praise the Lord, all you nations.
Praise him, all you people of the earth
And psalm 150.
The Bible gives us many examples of ways to express Praise to God, from the lifting of hands to the raising of our voices. But nowhere in scripture is there a list limiting one’s expression or style of praise to the Lord. Each of us have our own unique way of praising the Lord. Sometimes however in our natural human intellect we confuse worship with Praise. Let me explain to you the vast difference between worship and Praise. Worship is when we have that direct connection to God and everything around us suddenly disappears. It is when we have that private moment with our heavenly father. Praise on the other hand means to give honor and adoration to God to boast about God. It is our duty and our right to Praise the Lord at all times. David said in Psalms 34:1 “I will bless the Lord at all times; His Praise shall continually be in my mouth”. Those of us who are like David, who constantly sing Praises unto the Lord, realize that praising God is natural, it is innate within us. You see Praise is not a moment but it is a lifestyle and living a life of Praise leads to living a life of worship.
I have a few questions for you:
Why do we Praise? For many of us praising God was taught to us from the time we were small so the older we get it becomes second nature to us. But you see Praise starts stirring up inside of you every time you think about your testimony. I’m not talking about the thank you Jesus for waking me up this morning even though that is great and wonderful but I want to know how many of us has ever gotten to the point where we shabach’d God. You see shabach means to commend or to Praise something or someone with a loud voice. Has anyone been to a point in their lives where you thought there was no escape you thought that this was it, and then God came through for you and you felt something stirring up in your spirit to the point where it felt like you were going to burst?
That’s the Praise I am talking about. In 2 chronicles chapter 20:14-16 the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel and told king Jehoshaphat ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. The Lord assured Jehoshaphat that his army would not have to fight. The Lord God Himself said that he will deliver King Jehoshaphat and his army from the hands of his enemies. As we continue reading the passage it is said that King Jehoshaphat then bowed with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem in worship before the Lord. After which some Levites from the kohathites and korahites stood up and praised the Lord with a very loud voice. You see sometimes even though we get a revelation from God for things that he is going to do for us, we seem to rest on His Word half way and still rely on our own strength. I strongly believe this is one of the reasons why we don’t get the blessings that the Lord has in store for us. If we are going to trust the Lord we have to do it completely. We all know the saying
“When the Praises go up the blessings will come down”.
Note the order our Praises must go up first. When the Praises go up then the blessings that the Lord have for us will come down. Now we have to be very careful, remember Praise is a lifestyle. If you plan to Praise the Lord only when you want something or when you fall on your face and as soon as God comes through for you, then you are going to go back to your regular routines. You see you need to move from using Lord to praising the Lord.
Is your Praise the same when you fall on your face? When you hit rock bottom is your Praise the same? And if it’s not the same, what is the reason for it not being the same? I firmly believe that there should be an increase in your Praise when you are down. I say this because when you understand what your Praise can do it will blow your mind. We all realize that the devil and his angels communicate through the frequency in the air and when you start praising you disrupt their communication. All this happens because Praise is your weapon.
God Bless, Kenton S. David
http://called2ministry.wordpress.com/2007/11/16/in-everything-we-must-praise-devotion-110607/
