Characteristics of Praise
- Praise Puts God in First Place
Praise is always turning our attention from ourselves to God. It’s remembering and recounting who He is and what He has done, instead of wallowing in the mire of self-absorption. Truly, we are incredibly self-centered people. Our first thought is always how something or someone is affecting us.
Praise turns our eyes from ourselves to God. It focuses our thoughts on His majesty and power and invites others to do the same. Instead of gazing at our own navel, we raise our eyes and our heart to see His face and to affirm again our awe of Him, our gratitude for His love and mercy, and our absolute dependence on Him.
- Praise Flows From Our Friendship With God
People who praise God on a regular basis do so because they have found the Lord to be so altogether lovely that they can’t stop thinking of Him and talking of Him. They have gotten close enough to Him to see His true nature and character, and they have found in Him more than everything they have ever hoped for.
You see, you can’t brag about someone you don’t know—at least your bragging cannot be truthful and sincere. Therefore, although praise may start with what you know about God, it must eventually progress to what you yourself have experienced of Him.
This is when praise becomes more than a chore or a duty. You don’t have to work up your praise because it automatically bubbles up from within you. Your relationship with God has confirmed for you that you are blessed at all times. He is your joy, your strength, your comfort, your peace, and on and on. Your life is anchored in Him, and His goodness to you brings His name to your thoughts and your lips repeatedly.
- Praise Is a Conscious Choice
Praise is an act of your will. When you offer God true praise, you make a conscious decision to commend, approve, and glorify Him. Praise, therefore, is not based on your emotions or feelings. You don’t have to feel great—or even good or okay—to praise the Lord. Despite the many things in your life that may seem to be wrong, praise is your conscious choice because you know that God is the answer to your problems. As long as He is in charge, things will get better. Your intimate fellowship with Him makes this difference. You can focus on what is right—God and His goodness to you—no matter what else is wrong.
This attitude is quite evident in Psalm 42, where the psalmist laments that his life is not like it once was when he went to the house of the Lord with great joy. His body hurts. Tears are his lot now instead of music and laughter. He even fears that God has forgotten him, so long has it been since he felt God’s presence. Yet this hurting, despairing man makes a conscious choice. He exercises his will and chooses to remember God and His goodness.
Don’t let your troubles keep you from praising the Lord. I know that you may feel like you are facing hardships few others have had to face, or that you have lost hope that your circumstances will ever change. This is precisely the time, dear friend, that God asks you to praise Him. He knows that you are hurting. He also knows that things won’t always be the way they now are. In fact, He’s waiting to act on your behalf, but He needs you to provide a dwelling place for Him, an altar in your life where He can show up. Praise is that altar.
- Praise Is a Willing Sacrifice
Biblical expressions of praise often include the word will.
The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him (Exodus 15:2).
I will give thanks to the Lord because of His righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High (Psalm 7:17).
I will sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me (Psalm 13:6).
The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song (Psalm 28:7).
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess His name (Hebrews 13:15).
Praise becomes a sacrifice when you offer your praise to God just because He deserves it and asks you to do it. You may not feel like praising Him, and in truth, it may be quite difficult for you to look beyond the difficulties in your life. Yet, when you choose to open your lips and speak forth your adoration, gratitude, and thanksgiving to God, you please Him.
Hebrews calls this “the fruit of our lips.” Fruit speaks of a harvest. Farmers will tell you that bringing in the crops is hard work. Sometimes praise requires the same effort. Instead of calling people and waiting for them to minister to you when you are having a hard time, why don’t you go ahead and have your own praise service. Sacrifice your hurt feelings, your financial problems, or your troubles with your boss or your wife or your son or daughter on the altar of praise. Make it your conscious choice to lay aside all that pulls you down or makes you afraid or causes you to feel like giving up, and open your mouth and talk to God. Tell Him how wonderful He is. Tell Him how thankful you are that He is in your life. Tell Him that you are glad He is on your side.
This sacrifice of praise won’t cost you any money, but it will cost you your self-centeredness and your natural tendency to dwell on whatever is wrong in your life. Giving God your sacrifice of praise means that you choose to dwell on Him instead of yourself.
- Praise Is an Expression of Faith
Faith without deeds (works) is dead (see Jas. 2:17). Likewise, praise that is in the heart but is not expressed is dead. Therefore, faith is the highest act of praise, and praise is the highest form of faith. Both are expressions of agreement with God. When you have faith, you hold to His promises no matter what you see at the moment. When you praise Him, you proclaim what you know to be true despite the evidence to the contrary.
Think of Abraham when he tied Isaac to that altar on MountMoriah. (See Genesis chapter 22.) I’m sure Abraham wasn’t singing, dancing, and praising God in a festive way. Most likely his heart was quite heavy. Yet, the very act of placing Isaac on that altar was an act of praise. Why? Abraham was expressing his trust in God and his confidence that somehow everything would come out right.
An attitude of faith in the midst of hard times is always at the core of sacrificial praise because it is based in the assurance that anything is possible with God. What may be impossible for man is not beyond the reaches of God simply because of who He is. So praise that clings to who God is rather than to what we human beings see or do is a fundamental expression of faith. It is saying, “I don’t know what You are doing, why You are doing it, or how this whole thing is going to end up, but I trust You,
Praise is giving God all that is His due and giving Him room in our life to do all He wants to do.