When we praise the Lord, we shift our focus off our issues and onto His greatness and majesty. There is another great song we used to sing and the words are as follows: ‘Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of the earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.’ So, praise is powerful because it shifts our focus onto the Lord. The Bible also tells us that God inhabits the praises of His people.
Psalm 22:3 ‘You are holy, You Who inhabit the praises of Israel.’
The implication is that when we praise God, He is with us. To understand this, we can imagine a picture of someone who pauses to be with us, to sit with us and to dwell with us, while we are praising. So, praise is powerful because it changes the dynamic of our relationship with the Lord. Another wonderful aspect is that as we praise the Lord, it changes the atmosphere and creates an environment for miracles and breakthrough.
2 Chronicles 20:22 ‘As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.’
This scripture is part of a great story of victory. As the people praised the Lord, the Lord intervened and brought about a victory in their physical situation. Praise changed their circumstances. Praise is a powerful tool, and we need to start using it more.
START PRAISING THE LORD
This calls for a quality decision that we will not sit around moaning, murmuring, criticizing, and complaining, but we will lift up our eyes and look to the Lord for our fulfillment, joy, strength, and hope. We can start praising the Lord as we remind ourselves of His greatness, His ability and His great loving-kindness and mercy. Many of the Psalms speak of the wonders of God, and we can begin to focus on these wonders and on His faithful character and never-ending love. The next way in which we can begin to praise Him is to be thankful. There is always something to be thankful for. Identify a few things that you have that you are thankful for and begin to thank and praise God for those things. Over time we can develop a lifestyle of praise. We can break the habit of negativity and learn to become people who praise God from our hearts. Praise is a powerful tool and with it we can expect great changes in our hearts, in our minds and in our situations. Today is a wonderful day to start praising the Lord.
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