PRAISE
BEGETS PRESENCE
BREAD
12 All
the Levites who were musicians--Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and
relatives--stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and
playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding
trumpets. 13 The
trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and
thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by
trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to
the Lord and sang: “He is good; his love endures forever.” Then the temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud, 14 and the priests could not
perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God. 2 Chronicles 5:12-14 (NIV)
20 Early
in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat
stood and said, "Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith
in the Lord your God and you will
be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful." 21 After consulting the people,
Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord
and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head
of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the Lord,
for his love endures forever.” 22 As they began to sing and
praise, the Lord set ambushes
against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and
they were defeated. 2 Chronicles
20:20-22 (NIV)
1 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your
name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 From the lips of children and
infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe
and the avenger. Psalms 8:1-2 (NIV)
1 Praise
the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the
assembly of the saints. 2 Let
Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King. 3 Let them praise his name with
dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp. 4 For the Lord takes delight in his people; he
crowns the humble with salvation. Psalms
149:1-4 (NIV)
2 He
said: “The Lord is my rock, my
fortress and my deliverer; 3 my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield
and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior--
from violent men you save me. 4 I call to the Lord,
who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.” 2 Samuel 22:2-4 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Be
not afraid of saying too much in the praises of God; all the danger is of
saying too little.” Matthew
Henry
“The
pulse of prayer is praise.” William Arthur Ward
“There
is nothing that pleases the Lord so much as praise.” Anonymous
“Man’s
chief work is the praise of God.” St.
Augustine
“Whenever you
react with praise and thanksgiving for an opportunity to grow more like Jesus
in your way of reacting to things, instead of grumbling or feeling self-pity,
you will find that that whole situation will be changed into a great blessing.” Hannah Hurnard
“If anyone would
tell you the shortest, surest way to all happiness – he must tell you to make
it a rule to yourself to thank and praise God for everything that happens to
you. For it is certain that whatever
seeming calamity happens to you, if you thank and praise God for it, you turn
it into a blessing. Could you therefore
work miracles, you could not do more for yourself than by this thankful spirit,
for it heals with a word speaking, and turns all that it touches into
happiness. It be the noblest sacrifice
that the greatest saint can offer unto God.” William
Law
“Praise is
powerful because it removes our focus from the circumstances and turns us
toward God. Instead of seeing a desperate situation, we see an opportunity for
God to reveal His glory to everyone involved.” Michael
Youssef
“Prayer, praise and thanksgiving all go
together. A close relationship exists among them. The Scriptures join these
three things together. Psalms is filled with many songs of praise and hymns of
thanksgiving, all pointing back to the results of prayer. Thanksgiving includes
gratitude. In fact, thanksgiving is the expression of an inward, conscious
gratitude to God for mercies received. Gratitude is an inward emotion of the
soul, involuntarily arising therein, while thanksgiving is the voluntary
expression of gratitude.” E.M. Bounds
“He is near to the
broken, He is close to the weary of heart.
In His Name is a refuge, Safety for the weak and discarded. There is help for the hopeless, For the
wounded in need. In the presence of
Jesus, There is power unleashed. Call
upon the Name of the Lord, He’s our Defender, our Deliverer. A Shelter in the midst of the storm, Jesus, our
Savior, He is King over all the earth. I
will sing of my Redeemer, Testify to the touch of His hand, Lifted me from
disaster, Set my feet on a solid rock to stand.
God is our Refuge, our Strength and Salvation, A Mighty Fortress is the
Lord Almighty. There is no equal, no
power beside Him. Forever our Champion is
the lord our God. Our Savior, He is King
over all the earth.” Lyrics to Defender (Call Upon The Name Of The
Lord)
HEART SAVOR
·
God inhabits
the praise of His people.
· True
praise manifests our trust in God – that He is all wisdom, all holiness and all
goodness and that we know He loves us and has our best interest at heart.
- · Praise places our focus on God and not our circumstances. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV)
