Lessons of Praise

Jesus is the reason for praise. Without Him, we are lost and undone. It is quite reasonable for God to direct us to continually offer praise to Him. Most of us do have to be taught how to do this sincerely from our hearts. Our world floods us with bad news, with danger and turmoil on all fronts. There is no lack of things to complain or be upset about. Yet we are to shine as a light in this present darkness. Praising and being thankful in the midst of this mess is surely a noticeably different response to what this world is going through!

I first learned God’s lessons about praise in the 70’s and 80’s, a time of great spiritual hunger and growth for me. In addition to devouring wonderful ministry, as an avid reader I was absorbing wisdom from various Christian authors, learning even more. I also was a therapist who desperately required God’s wisdom and understanding. I so desired healing words of wisdom as I sat with the troubled and wounded in the work God called me to do. And, during my early years without a child, I was able to sit at the feet of Jesus, a precious time of spiritual growth that I have now come to greatly appreciate.

Through many wise and wonderful saints, wisdom was written in my heart containing many gems of understanding. I continually to draw on these truths as I walk with the Lord. One such author is Merlin R. Carothers, whose books have been re-published and translated into many languages. He learned lessons of praise in combat and many other life experiences, becoming a “Master of Praise.”

Merlin Carothers taught me the power of praising God at the first sign of adversity. Putting this into practice, however, was an interesting process! Once during this time, the trunk of the car accidentally fell on my fingers. I found myself madly hopping about, shouting “Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord!” It had become an automatic response by that time, but it sure looked comical! Nonetheless, it was a sign of progress in praising God immediately in all circumstances.

God taught Merlin Carothers to praise Him in every circumstance and he absolutely lived the power of praise. One account of God’s many lessons for him was unexpectedly waking up one morning unable to move. God held his entire body, every part, immobile while He taught Merlin to praise Him for the ability to move each part. He was gradually able to open his eyes, wiggle his fingers, and move his limbs. He never forgot the graciousness of God in just waking up every day and living in a body that worked!

It’s a powerful reminder of how God truly is the life of our bodies. After all, not everyone wakes up each day able to see, hear, move all their limbs, and get themselves out of bed. When you have any type of affliction in your body, whether acute or chronic, you learn to empathize with those who are physically, emotionally or mentally disabled. No matter what we suffer, someone else in God’s kingdom is suffering more.

God worked these and other lessons deeply into Merlin’s life, giving him the ability to write about it. Through his books and writings, he shares many more ways to learn about praising our God. His sound doctrine based on the holy scriptures will get written into your hearts, as it was mine. The challenge I’ve found through the years is to remember these lessons in praise. How easy it is to get bogged down in the trials of this life, and forget this wonderful way of staying in the spirit and trusting our God!

The power of praising God at the first sign of adversity is the way it changes our focus immediately from the situation to our Source. It’s the foundational means of submission to whatever God allows in our lives. = Instead of allowing fearful or discouraged thoughts to take root in our minds, giving access to the enemy of our souls to pile on more, we look to God immediately. Praising God defeats the enemy, within and without!

So why is it that I still forget, years later, to praise God at the start of any problematic situation? Why is it so easy to neglect the power of praise when we are in times of affliction?

True praise from the heart has significant qualities that are most pleasing to the Lord. Praise that flows from a heart that truly adores God is a way to turn our focus to Him at all times. It is expressing gratitude for who He is and His capacity to make all things turn for our good. As we focus our attention on Him instead of ourselves and our situations, He strengthens and encourages us. We are practicing trust in our heavenly Father’s promises and His nature.

Through praise, we demonstrate a lively surrender of all that is to all that He is. When we truly overflow with praise to our God, alone or with others, gratitude and thanksgiving bring reminders of all His past goodness. The Psalmist said that God lives in the praises of His people:

“But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” Psalms 22:3 KJV

Dwelling in the praises of His people is a marvelous statement of God’s love for us, His way of spiritually embracing us. It’s a huge God-hug! He really is, as the Concordant Literal states, "very fond of us!” How many of us have been with our brothers and sisters i,mnb’n Christ, feeling God’s presence settling beautifully among us as we lift up praise and worship to Him? Is there any greater pleasure on this earth than being surrounded by the presence of God?

While we mature past praising Him for the feeling it gives us, we can count on His presence whenever true praises are uttered from the hearts of those who love Him. A most powerful account of the power of praise to defeat our enemies is found in the conquering of Jericho by Joshua and the army of God’s warriors in Israel. It was the first battle the Israelites fought to defeat the Canaanites as they were claiming their promised land.

What a marvelous illustration of the way God approaches battles in contrast to man’s ways. Read the account of the fall of Jericho:

“Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or our enemies?’

“Neither,’ he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.’ Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, ‘What message does my Lord have for his servant?’ The commander of the Lord’s army replied, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so.

Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days.

Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.’

So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.’ And he ordered the army, ‘Advance! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord.’” Joshua 5:13-15: 6:1-5 NIV

Joshua led the army to do exactly as God told him to do it. God delivered this walled city and all its occupants into Joshua’s hand. They did not lift a weapon until the last trump. They did not utter a word until they shouted the victory. At the sound of the ordained trumpets and their united victory cry, God brought the walls of the enemy down. Their faith, expressed in obedience and praise, gave the promised victory.

One wonders what the inhabitants of Jericho thought through the days of this activity. What an amazing way to defeat the enemy! Note that the messenger of God does not state that he is with one side or another. Regardless, God’s purposes are accomplished and victory is won. Joshua was told the enemy was already defeated. We, too, can count on this truth as we turn to Him.

We’re enabled, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, to surround our enemies without a word or a weapon and defeat them as God directs! We can do so without assuming that God is on our side and not our enemies. How many wars are fought with soldiers needing to believe that while both sides have saints of God doing their best to follow His will?

God shows forth His plans and purposes once again through another account of His people in ancient days. When in civil war against their Benjamite brothers, the other tribes of Israel inquired of God, who told them to send the tribe of Judah first.

“Now the sons of Israel set out, went up to Bethel, and inquired of God and said, “Who shall go up first for us to battle against the sons of Benjamin?”

Then the Lord said, “Judah shall go up first.” Judges 20:18 NASB

What is the significance of Judah going first? Judah comes from the Hebrew word “yadah” which means “praise”. There’s a chorus that begins: “Send Judah first and the battle will be won.” Here’s that spiritual key again: as we praise first, the battle will be won. This powerful message is etched upon us as God’s Spirit teaches and trains us to inquire for His council before any battle. David did this over and over, every time when he led the armies of Israel into battle. He did not just assume he should go to battle or, being a wise warrior and King, think that he already knew what to do. He asked, every time.

God did not always have the same battle plan for King David. He doesn’t always tell us, by the spirit, to use the same strategies for what we face. The strategy is His as is the glory when the battle is won. Sometimes God says to wait until either we get more information or it is resolved differently than the actions we were considering. He always knows the way to victory for us in our challenges and struggles, within and without.

So, today, we praise Him first. We can’t help but be aware of His presence and power on our behalf as situations change, problems are resolved, and our overwhelmed spirits are lifted higher into His spirit of peace with gratitude to Him. Praise is the expression of love we give to our Lord, trusting that He has all things under His care. It is an immediate confession of faith in our God regardless of our circumstances.

We will not see God frowning in concern or sighing in hopelessness or despair when bad things happen. Though it certainly was a grievous thing and changed the course of all of our lives, God was neither surprised nor caught without a plan when Adam and Eve disobeyed Him. What He allows He will manage in and through us for our good. Satan, the enemy of our souls, brings the battle to us in our life experiences, but that same adversity, the “weapon formed against us” will not prosper:

“Behold, I have created the craftsman who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its task; and I have created the destroyer to wreak havoc.

No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.” Isaiah 54:16-17 Berean

This is truth: God set up adversity to be a training ground for us. This is in sharp contrast to those who blame the devil for adversity and credit God with all that is good. That’s eating from the garden of Eden’s Tree of Good and Evil. Can you see the evidence of good in people who do not know or serve God, and evil that is allowed to befall the most faithful servants of God? If you doubt, read the Book!

There are no servants of God who do not grow and prosper in the face of much adversity. Some of us got the idea that God’s favor will include no adversity or difficulty once we confess our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead, over and over, God takes His people through adversity, much more often than out of it. God formed the adversary to bring the trials while promising that evil intent would not prosper. Our enemies will be destroyed as we are vindicated by God.

We, fellow saints of Zion, have a good heritage! To be sure, what is in our hearts will come out. There’s another favorite verse that speaks to what happens when our ways fully please God:

“When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even the man’s enemies live at peace with him.” Proverbs 16:7 Berean

When our ways please the Lord in a matter, God no longer needs to use that particular trial to refine and strengthen us. He makes even our opposition, within and without, be at peace with us. This is true whether it is a literal external enemy or more often, the enemy within us that wants to rob us of our Kingdom inheritance of peace, love, and joy. There are trials that we do pass, that no more weapons need to be formed to use against us. We can look back and remember when we used to be troubled and upset by certain things that now cannot disturb our peace.

The powerful Psalms 91 expands on what those who dwell in God’s shadow can expect. This psalm concludes with:

“‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.” Psalms 91:14-156 NIV

Yes, we have much to praise and thank the Lord for in light of all the promises He has made to us. It is helpful for us, and even our health, to practice such gratitude, to “remember all His benefits.” Many in the secular world now recommend practicing gratitude but we Christians should be the experts on it! Christians do gratitude differently, however, going beyond things for which we are grateful in our lives or present circumstances. Our gratitude is to our Lord, expressing a heart of thanksgiving for all that our loving Provider has given us.

Our gratitude flows forth in praise to our awesome heavenly Father for Who He is and all He has done. This works an abundance of good things in our hearts, ready to overflow into praise. Jesus said to the Jewish leaders opposing Him:

“O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things?

For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” Matthew 12:34 KJV

Just like the food we put in our stomachs, what we allow our souls to consume gets stored in our hearts. We have a choice: consume the good things of God or eat up all of the world’s information, good and bad. Our God is one of contrasts: light and dark, good and evil, prosperity and poverty. We may wish it were not so, but God created opposites to illustrate His world and its ways. How would we know the Light, without the darkness that comes?

To be sure, what we consume, what our mind, will, and emotions—our soul—are focused upon, will come out. Filling our minds and hearts with the goodness of God, all that He is and all that He has done for us, gradually creates a flow of praise that requires no labor. What we focus on, grows! This is truth for all aspects of our lives.

When parents focus on the strengths of their children, when teachers and bosses build up or edify rather than criticize and tear down, when we encourage others rather than chastise or judge, this richness of love flows from our hearts to strengthen and bless those around us. Paul admonishes us to turn our focus thus:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8 NASB

The Amplified Bible adds beautiful explanatory words to further understand this passage:

“Finally, believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart]. Philippians 4:8 Amplified

When we focus on all this abundance of good things, our hearts flow out in praise and worship to our God. When we are troubled in the night, we can do as the song says, “Count your blessings; name them one by one.” If we are so fortunate, we can thank Him for having a home, a bed to sleep in, clean water and healthy food, ways to keep warm or cool and a myriad of other things not everyone, even in our modern, privileged Western world, have. Some of us have been given so much just by who and where God placed us in this world. It is astounded to learn of the families, including many children, who are homeless and live in the streets of our own prosperous cities!

We have a continual song of praise within, no matter what we are occupied in doing externally. Praise within will also flow out in edification and encouragement to others. Some of God’s saints have the “gift of encouragement” operating within their beings. These are Christians who seem to always uplift others, making them genuinely feel good just to be around them. Encouragers provide hope, cheering us on in this life. Just being in the presence of an encourager is uplifting!

God knows that what we focus on, what our mind is centered upon, will plant seeds that will produce a crop. The word of God is a seed that is destined to change us into the likeness and image of Christ. There’s a reason for loving the precious words of the chorus from the well-known song, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus.

Look full in his wonderful face.

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of his glory and grace.

(Helen Lemmel )

Our Lord Jesus Christ embodies all of the things Paul tells us to dwell upon in our hearts and minds. He is pure, lovely, admirable and of good repute. As we gaze upon Him and fill ourselves up with His mind, His life, everything else fades. We are now eating from the Tree of Life! We see His glory and grace, we experience the powerful love of our Father, and all else disappears from our awareness.

God is the only way to keep us in balance while living in this life. We learn to be thankful, to praise Him for His provision of our smallest needs and comforts to our greatest blessings in life. We praise our Lord through the ups and downs we all have, times of light and times of darkness. We are enabled to live a life of praise no matter what we are doing, as God works within us a continual awareness of His presence while we go about our daily tasks.

God is there when we are enjoying the many entertaining and absorbing options available to us. God enjoys us, His children, enjoying ourselves with a clean heart. He does not expect us to deny ourselves enjoyment for all the good things He provides. We do not have to make ourselves live a rigid religious life by reading the Bible for a required amount of time, denying any pleasurable activity, or make a law of a pre-planned periods of time to be with Him.

Sunday mornings need no longer be the one time, even the main time in the week, where He has our full attention. God is a continual presence dwelling within, tabernacling in His people just as He has promised. He looks at our hearts to see why we do what we do before Him while adoring our Lord. He knows that most of the world’s people are busy surviving, so He’s not calling us to more fervent or continual religious activity for Him. Any such work needs to flow from our relationship with Him, led by His spirit.

The more we know Him, the more we love Him. Unbelievers will really love Him when they get to know Him too! And we, His beloved, are actually created to be the ultimate praise of God:

“In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:11-12 Berean

Zion is God’s holy city, Abraham’s “city not built with hands.” The father of our faith knew this life was not his homeland. The destiny for God’s called, chosen, and faithful is this high spiritual dwelling place in God for which Abraham longed. This is what Abraham saw as he followed God’s leading while on this earth: Zion, God’s city “made without hands.” We are God’s temple, and Jesus said the kingdom of God is within us to show forth His handiwork.

God is at the center of every moment we face, He is working in every circumstance to impact our lives. We can be honest in our hearts with any struggle we have while praising Him in all things.

“Rejoice at all times. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”! Thessalonians 5:16-17 Berean

We are not thanking Him for the circumstances, but in every circumstance. His will for us is to give thanks, rejoice, and pray all the time. Think of it! God of the universe loves to hear from us. He desires that we talk with Him every moment, not just on certain occasions. He is not asking us to pretend we are not devastated by the death of loved ones or suffering from loss of health or income, the impact of natural and manmade disasters, or all the adversity that comes our way.

Oh, no, we do not pretend to be joyful when we are not. But we are enabled, particularly through heartfelt praise, to submit our soul—our will, our mind, and our emotions—to Him in order to receive strength, endurance, and hope for better days to come. We are learning to do as Paul directed the Thessalonians to do, to pray without ceasing. We cannot pray without ceasing if we consider prayer as only for formal times, in a meeting or on our knees.

Prayer is a conversation with God and we can do that from the time we get up until we fall asleep. He is always with us. As He takes the central place in our hearts, it becomes more and more easy to talk to and listen to Him all day, every day. It is a joy to always have this Friend who sticks closer than a brother and to remain in continual connection with Him. And guess what? He loves it too!

Jesus Christ will come and keep coming within until we are made like Him. He promised. Just as many life events change our lives forever after, our lives will never be the same as our faithful Father guides us in His loving, compassionate ways. He is able to turn our circumstances around, with or without praise, but it goes better when we praise Him! The very act of praise lifts our spirits from the earthly to the heavenly.

The best Biblical example of this is the many Psalms, most especially David’s, that start with heaviness, a grievance, even despair, and end with being renewed in mind and spirit by the knowledge of our God and His faithfulness. Read the battle of Jericho as God’s way of going into battle, surrounding our enemy with an order of uplifting thought and praise toward God Almighty for the victory…in advance!

Don’t you think these Israelite warriors were thinking of and praising God as they obeyed what God had told Joshua? As they were fully human, I am also guessing some were thinking. “I sure hope this works!” We, too, can begin winning more battles with God-directed praise. Praise God in obedience, as instructed, even when we don’t feel like it. It’s not about feelings, it is about faith. Our own heart then becomes a sacrifice of praise.

David tells us that God cherishes the sacrifice of praise from a broken and contrite spirit. Surrender to the Father’s will first, and a changed heart will follow in God’s timing. There are numerous examples of this ability of our Lord to change our complete being—our thinking, our soul, our intentions— to match His will. He is aligning our feelings into love for Him and our fellow man, as we submit and worship Him in all things.

Jesus Christ has won every battle. He is ever interceding on our behalf against our enemies. We see the manifestation of His victory now, in His life within us. This is working to move us through all difficulties at hand, regardless of time or severity. Every single event that we might think is beyond His power to restore and heal, we can find a saint whose life shows that He can.

All things are possible with God. He is faithful to raise us out of all circumstances. He is with us as we are praising the Lord while walking out the divine faith He is forming within us. As our trust in Him grows, we see He is worthy of true praise and worship.

“If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.

To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4:11 NIV