December 1: LEARNING TO PRAISE

Let’s focus some time on praise! Since prayer’s fruitfulness waits on praise, we need to concentrate on praise. When our “petitions only” praying fails, we must turn to praise. Psalm 148 echoes praise as much as any Psalm and is very instructive for us. Read it closely.
Let’s claim the proper place for praise in our lives. Psalm 34:1 says, “I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” It is as if a spring of praise is always bubbling up in our souls. If you just read Psalm 148:7-10 you note that all things of creation are called on to give praise to the Lord. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” (Psalm 1103:1) We get so wrapped up in our problems or difficulties that we forget to praise. Make 1 resolution now: “Nothing shall ever again deter me from praising My Lord.” If you are having a hard time concentrating in a time of praise, use your Bible and your Hymnal to prime your pump. There is no reason to ever run out of reasons to offer praises to God. This gets us involved in real worship that goes to the heart and does not remain at the skin level.
Think about the purpose of praise in the Bible. Praise can be a filter to purify our praying. Don’t you know that we cheapen the gift of prayer when we use it as a “shopping list”? The next time you are in Church and people start making prayer requests, listen closely and be dismayed. Most of the prayer requests will focus selfishly on the needs of folks in the immediate community. Our praying is our time to put our arms around a hurting world. Praising God first can lift our prayers to a higher plane.
Praise can purge our prayers of unworthy elements: selfishness, bargaining with God, trying to manipulate God, talking more about ourselves than God. Prayer must focus on God first. Romans 1:25 warns us about worshipping the creation more than the Creator. God is greater than all His gifts. Just think: If I never asked God for anything the rest of my life and still had Him as my God, I would still be rich. My cup would still run over! My joy would still be unspeakable!
Mount Calvary alone could make each of us rich beyond human measurement! Let’s just praise the Lord!

“Set us free, O God, to pray and praise You without ceasing. Release us
from our attachment to this world. Set loose our tongues to praise. Amen”