Praise means acknowledging someone’s greatness or accomplishments not because he has done anything for you. Praising God means acknowledging who he is, exalting his integrity, omnipotence, faithfulness and other attributes. God expects you to cultivate the habit of praising him joyfully. When you acknowledge God’s greatness and tell him that you trust him to act on your behalf with an attitude of rejoicing, he will surely answer your prayers and grant you an increase.
Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness (Psalm 150:2).
Importance of praising God
God is great: God is great and deserves to be praised in a very great way. () Greatness usually commands recognition, admiration, respect, praise, dancing and rejoicing. Have you noticed that when an important dignitary pays a visit to a place, the people organize some singing and dancing experts to perform in his presence to welcome him?
Praising him can never be too much, long or expensive. Praise him with all your heart deliberately in a great way. If you don’t praise God well enough, you simply have refused to acknowledge his greatness.
Psalm 113 says that our God is above all other gods, he is higher than everything, everyone and all nations. Nobody is like him. He looks down on the earth from above, viewing what is happening all around the world and determining the affairs of men. He takes the poor man from the dust and lifts him from his lowly position and gives him a place amongst the rulers of the earth. He deserves to receive praises, honour, rejoicing and dancing.
Praise pleases God: God enjoys your presence and praise is beautiful to Him. Set up a plan to spend some time just to praise God everyday. Your life will bring pleasure to God (Psalms 147:1, 149:4).
God’s presence manifests when you praise him: God manifests his presence when you praise him. If you desire his presence, make praising and rejoicing to be your lifestyle (Psalms 22:3).
Praise is an act of faith: Without faith you cannot please God or receive anything from him. When you rejoice and praise God in the face of difficult circumstances, you demonstrate your faith in God to turn the sorrow to joy. You express that God is greater than the circumstances and will surely solve the problem. If you really trust God, then praise him joyfully.
Praise activates your blessing and makes it manifest. (Psalm 67: 5-7) One early morning during a Christmas holiday in my hometown, I heard the sound of talking drums in my uncle’s compound and I wondered what it could mean. Three strong men were beating the talking drums as if there was a celebration going on. After some minutes of enquiry, I realized that they had come to sing and play the instruments to praise my uncle. They were very sure that if they played the instrument and praised him, he would surely give them money.
Indeed, when I heard him discuss the matter later, I thought he would have been displeased or felt disturbed by the exuberant praise and drums early in the morning; but just like God, he was not displeased. He just smiled saying that he had promised to give them money if their band was complete and He did.
In the same way, God loves exuberant praise. When you praise him with all your heart, your blessings become activated and manifest.
Praise God joyfully
Rejoicing makes your praises acceptable. God wants you to praise him all the time but he cannot accept praises except it is done joyfully. No matter how much time you spend on praise or worship, the state of your heart determines whether it will be acceptable to God.
God doesn’t like gifts that are offered grudgingly, therefore, if you want God to accept your praises, you should rejoice. ‘Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Co 9:7)
Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon earth. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. (Psalm 67:3-7)
Any time praising God is encouraged in the scripture, singing and rejoicing always go along with it. You cannot praise God just to obey his commandment, you must do it joyfully to make it acceptable. (Psalm 67:3-5)
Joyful praise leads to increase
God is interested in blessing you but the secret of making the blessing to manifest is obeying his word especially in terms of praising him joyfully. Praising God attracts him to your situation (Psalm 22:3) and when he comes, he brings with him favour, anointing, employment, financial breakthrough, success, spouses, children, healing and every other thing you desire to manifest in your life.
Heartfelt joy bursting out in songs of praise is the ‘true praise’ that brings down the presence of God. Praise from such heartfelt joy leads to effortless changes in our lives (Isaiah 12:3).
Praising God joyfully is like rain that waters your seed and makes it a bountiful harvest. If you are a farmer, you will have bountiful yields from the soil (Psalm 67:6-7) and if otherwise, whatever is your business or job will prosper. The effect even goes beyond financial prosperity; it leads to increase in every area of your life. The increase is not magic; it is a product of a joyful attitude that proves your faith in God.
Praising God joyfully would release physical and spiritual strength (Nehemiah 8:7-10), Favour (Matt 14:6&7), anointing (Psalm 92:1-10), revelations (Isaiah 12:2&3, Acts 16: 23-26), Divine intervention (Psalm 22:3) and supernatural lift (Habakkuk 3:17-19).
Praising God joyfully would enhance your health, beauty (Prov. 17:22, 18:14), and diverse miracles that would make people fear God (Psalm 67:7). Praising God goes along with holding the word, a two-edged sword that destroys your enemies (Psalm 149:1-9).
The devil is always seeking for whom he may devour; therefore, we must praise God joyfully in all situations. A few years ago, I was driving on a major road in Lagos, Nigeria; singing joyfully. Suddenly, I noticed that a petrol tanker had lost control right behind my car. I continued singing as I drove fast believing that God would intervene. To God be all the glory, the tanker stopped suddenly. Although my car was bruised a bit, I didn’t suffer any injury (not even a whiplash) and the driver of the petrol tanker contributed to the repairs of the car.
Joyful praise gives you the opportunity and honour of executing vengeance upon your enemies. (Psalm 149:5&6). God doesn’t expect you to take revenge and he is not excited when you wish your enemy evil. However, praising him without praying against your enemies or fighting them physically, gives you the honour of having God fight on your behalf. God comes on the scene of the challenge you are facing and deals with all the enemies, executes judgment upon them to give them the reward of their sins. Imagine that God punishes your enemies and puts them in chains and bands of iron.
Praising God is synonymous to using one stone to kill two birds! God is happy to receive your praises and you are also destroying your enemies. When you praise God, your enemies turn back away from you and begin to fight one another.
Stop complaining that you are not seeing results in your life, start praising God joyfully; then, God will cause your efforts to yield increase. People will be attracted to God and His beauty in your life and your enemies will be defeated.