Praise by Design

Praise by Design

Praise in Scripture includes:

• Celebrating, boasting, and rejoicing extravagantly — sometimes with such enthusiasm that it appears foolish to those who don’t understand the joy.
• Lifting hands in worship — an outward sign of surrender, gratitude, and confession.
• Bowing or kneeling — a posture of humility, reverence, and honor toward the Lord.
• Singing and making music — praising God through voice and instruments.
• Shouting triumphantly — proclaiming confidence in the greatness and victory of God.
• Offering a sacrifice of praise — lifting hands and voices in worship even when circumstances have not yet changed.
• Dancing before the Lord in celebration of His goodness.
• Clapping hands as an expression of joy, victory, and honor.
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Biblical praise is not merely a feeling — it is an action.

> When something is truly worthy of celebration…praise becomes unavoidable.

God doesn’t need our praise, He delights in it.  It should be a byproduct from the fandom of His creation 

 Praise directs attention to the Lord’s unrivaled excellence.

 

> PIVOT TO PRAISE

What area of your life needs to pivot to praise?

What currently has your attention?  What is stealing your joy? What is draining your peace? Your health? Your family? Your finances? Your future?

 

PRAISE =  The vocal and visual expression of the value of God for Who He is, what He as done, and what He will do.  

The Hidden Power of Praise

Interestingly, science is beginning to affirm what Scripture has declared for thousands of years.

Praise blesses God, but benefits the praiser. 

If you want to know where God dwells… His address is praise. 

Psalm 145

I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.  Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.  Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised…

Psalm 146

Praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord, O my soul!  I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Psalm 147

Praise the Lord!  For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

Psalm 148:3, 7 

3 Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars!  … 7 Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, 

Psalm 149

Praise the Lord!  Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly

PSALM 150 

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise The Lord 

*All creation is designed to praise God!

Creation is literally vibrating with praise.

> Praise calls us to something higher

God is bigger than the moment we are in.

 

HEBREWS 13:14-16

14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

There is something unique about the praise of a redeemed human heart.

> Praise costs us something

Matthew 26:10

But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me.

  

> Whatever we give our attention to that’s where our praise is going

• Praise takes the focus off of me and my circumstances and puts the emphasis on God

Luke 19:39-41

 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

> Praise creates a shift in the atmosphere of my soul

Acts 16:19-34

But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 20 And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. 21 They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. 24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

Anybody look at your life and think “this is not what I had planned?

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened.

Your chains can silence your praise…

or

your praise can break your chains.

You can let your chains break your praise or you can let your praise break your chains

 

> Sometimes the shaking in our lives is not destruction.  It is construction.

 

> PRAISE SHIFTS MY FOCUS FROM MY CIRCUMSTANCES AND WHAT THEY ARE, TO GOD AND WHO HE IS

Hebrews 12:27-28

27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe…

What temporary things are you clinging to that God may be removing so that something unshakable can remain?

Praise creates a different atmosphere

 

Praise should always go first!

Judges 1:1-2 (NIV): “After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, ‘Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Canaanites?’ The LORD answered, ‘Judah shall go up; I have given the land into their hands'”.

Judges 20:18 (NIV): “The Israelites went up to Bethel and inquired of God. They said, ‘Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Benjamites?’ The LORD replied, ‘Judah shall go first'”.

Colossians 3:23-24

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

*My definition of PRAISE = Praise is any action or heart intention that is given or done for the purpose of honoring God. — DC

Ephesians 1:11-12 (KJV)

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory

Psalm 137:1-4

By the waters of Babylon,  there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. 2 On the willows[a] there we hung up our lyres. 3 For there our captors  required of us songs,and our tormentors, mirth, saying,  “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?

It’s time to pivot to praise.