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PRAISE GOD
God dwells in praise to Him. Psalm 22:3. "But thou art holy, O thou who inhabitest the praises of Israel." God lives in our praises to Him. It is no wonder the Psalmist said in Psalm 34:1, "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth." We are often so concerned that God bless us and our loved ones that we forget that God likes praise to Himself, too. God does want to bless us at every turn and at every moment. But he also likes to be praised. It is impossible to be depressed, or have fears and worries while we are giving praise to God. He inhabits praise to Him and fears and worries are definitely not praise to Him. It is easy to praise God when all is going well. We are healthy, our finances are in good shape, our job is doing well, we are having an uplifting relationship with members of our family and fellow believers. Praise God. We get caught up in fear in worry and forget that God inhabits praise to Him. I Thessalonians 5:18 says, "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." Praise glorifies God. We see this especially in the Psalms, but throughout the Bible as well. Read Psalm 22:23, 50:23 and 86:12. To praise God is to glorify Him, extol, magnify, honor and bless Him, "I will extol thee, my God, O king, and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee, and I will praise thy name for ever and ever." Psalm 145:1 and 2. Ephesians 5:18-20 says, "And be not drunk with wine, in wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;" "All things" refers to all that God has made available. Romans 1:21 explains that when we fail to glorify God, and when we are not thankful, then we become vain in our imaginations (reasonings), our foolish heart is darkened and we become fools. II Chronicles 20:10-25 has a very interesting account that will bless your heart. Three great armies were coming out against the Israelites. In verse 15 God said, "Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's." Think of that! God told them to not worry because the battle was His. In verse 17 God told them "Ye shall not need to fight in this battle; set yourselves, stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord." Now, they did the strangest thing. In verse 21 singers (praisers) were appointed to go out before the army and "praise the beauty of holiness," saying "Praise the Lord for his mercy endureth forever." The outcome was that the three armies turned on each other and destroyed themselves so that "none escaped." The people of Israel took tremendous amount of spoil. Don't you think God could do the same for us? In time of trouble sing praises to God and the enemy can destroy itself, leaving us to praise Him again. Joshua led God's people out against Jericho. (Joshua 6) God told them to circle the city and to shout. When they did the city wall fell flat and the city was completely destroyed. Now what do you suppose the people were to shout? "Here we come, ready or not." Or maybe "BOO." Of course not. They would more likely give praise to God, such as "great and mighty is our Lord God Jehovah!" God wants us to shout and sing praise and thanksgiving to Him. We should not follow our feelings. Feelings come and go, rise and fall. God does not change. We can change our feelings with praise to God. - meb
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