Thursday, July 17, 2014

The Benefits of Praise and Worship

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Psalm 150:6

Praise is the language of faith. We are to praise God even when our situation looks bleak. We can praise God in the desert when no fruit can be seen on the vine. When we pray for God to move in our lives, praise carries us through the valley to the heights of the manifested blessing of the Lord.

Praise magnifies our Lord. As we sing praises to Him, we begin to see Him as bigger than our circumstances. Praise is how we express our faith.

Praise is also a weapon against the enemy. The Scripture says that praise stills the avenger (Psalm 8:2, Matthew 21:16). Praise stops the enemy. Praising God also gives us strength. Praise brings joy and the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10).

Worship is an expression of adoration and love for our precious Lord. Praise lifts up Jesus and exalts Him for what He has done and what He is doing on our behalf, but we worship the Lord for who He is – for His attributes and incomparable character. We are to worship our Savior in Spirit and in truth. This means we are to be Spirit-led and Bible-based in our worship. We are also to speak the truth to the Lord – the truth of who we are and how we feel.

As we behold the Lord through worship, we are changed in His presence. 2 Corinthians 3:18 KJV says, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Let's make it our goal to magnify the Lord through praise and worship regularly. With the Holy Spirit's help we can make praising and worshiping God a way of life. There is power in His presence to bring us joy, strength, and answers to prayer. As we praise and worship God, we draw closer to the One who made us and delivered us from oppression. As we worship and praise our Lord, we behold Him and we are changed from glory to glory. We slowly take on more of His nature. When we draw near to Him, He promises to draw near to us (James 4:8). Let's speak the language of faith. Let's praise and worship our Master – He in turn will bless us in many ways and will give us a satisfying taste of His presence.

No comments:

Post a Comment