The Privilege of Praising Jehovah
Posted: Monday, September 01, 2008
by John Waddey
firstcenturychristian
The worship of God includes instruction, praise, petitions, remembrance and offerings. While it is a rare public prayer that fails to make requests, too frequently our prayers are lacking in adequate praise for the Fount of all our blessings. Some songs are sung because we enjoy them, rather than because of their spiritual value. We need to praise our Creator in our songs, our prayers, with our testimony and in our lives lived in His service (Matt. 5:16). The Book of Psalms abounds with admonitions to praise God. Considered the following:
"Praise God from whom all blessing flow;
Praise Him all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost."
II. We praise God because He is Great and there is none like him (II Sam. 7:22). Because we fear him, (reverence Him) we raise him with our songs and prayers (Ps. 22:23). We lift up our voices and sing " How Great Thou Art"
III. The whole of the creation praises God, how much more should we who are made in His image and redeemed by His Son praise him. The Psalmists tells us that God is praised by the angels in heaven, by the sun moon and stars, by the earth and every creature in it. Thus we should praise the name of Jehovah (Ps. 148:1-13). Again we read that "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge..."(Ps. 19:1-3). Each morning when the sun appears on the horizon it is proclaiming the message, God made this universe and has given us another day to live. The moon does the same each night. The song birds sing their praise to the Creator, as does the soaring eagle and the honking geese. The myriads of animals and creatures of the sea all testify, "God made us and put us here to bless humanity." Behold yourself in a mirror and then praise God for we "are fearfully and wonderfully made" (Ps. 139:14). We have the lovely hymn, " Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah" to help us do our part in His praise.
IV. We praise God for His merciful blessings. Isaiah taught his brethren, "Sing unto Jehovah a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth..." (Is. 42:10). We praise Him for answering our prayers (Ps. 118:21). Think of the words of that grand old hymn, " We Praise Thee O God." In it we praise God for sending his Son. We praise Jesus who died for us and the Holy Spirit of light who has scattered the darkness of ignorance and error that surrounds us. "Hallelujah, Thine the glory, Hallelujah, Amen. Hallelujah, Thine the glory, revive us again."
V. In worship, we should also praise the Lord Jesus. In heaven, the angels and the redeemed sing of Christ, "Worth art thou...for thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of ever tribe, and tongue, and people and nation, madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon the earth" (Rev. 5:9-10). "Unto him that sitteth on the throne and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honor, and he glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever" (5:13). It is altogether fitting that we lift up our voices in singing, " All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name."
VIII. We should praise God with our whole heart (Ps. 111:1). We should greatly praise Him among the multitude (Ps. 109:30). So long as we live we should praise Him (Ps. 146:1-2).
Con. John heard a voice from the throne of God saying, "Give praise to our God, all ye his servants...And (he) heard as it were the voice of a great multitude...saying, Hallelujah: for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth, Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad and let us give the glory unto him..." (Rev. 19:5-7). Remember that if you want to be among that heavenly host that praises Him in eternity, you must be among the God's people here and now on the earth, praising Him.
This Article has been viewed 131 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.