DAY 9: Praise June 9, 2015

"but be filled with the Spirit,

speaking to one another in psalms and hymns

and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart

to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God

the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

(Ephesians 5:19-20, NKJV)

MORNING DEVOTION - "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee..." (Psalm 63:1)

Scripture Reading: Psalm 150

As we draw closer to the Lord in our times of prayer and devotion each day, a deeper hunger for His Word is developing, while our fleshly appetite is diminishing. A deep desire for quiet moments of solitude and prayer with our Lord is taking priority, as we are gaining more strength and peace for each day. These protracted seasons of prayer help us to encounter our Lord in a new and personal way, and are hearts are being filled with more of His love, and are brimming over with gratitude for all that He is, and all that He is doing (and has done) on our behalf. The selfish desires, that once held us captive, are now being replaced with an overwhelming spirit of praise for the One who has set our hearts free and is becoming our sole desire. "I run in the path of Your commands, for You have set my heart free" (Psalm 119:32).

Where once we may have come to our Heavenly Father with simply a laundry list of our needs, we now more fully understand that He already knows our every need, and that our greatest need is Him; and, if we simply surrender in prayer and recognize our dependence upon Him, He will supply all that we need. Our focus has shifted since entering the Lord's schoolhouse of prayer, from praying to meet just our personal needs to answering the higher call of interceding for the needs of others, and now offering a sacrifice of praise to our Lord. "Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise..." (Psalm 48:1). The heart of worship begins and ends with God. He is our Deliverer, Sustainer, Savior, Provider, and an eternal list of other names that describe His incomprehensible qualities and character, and deserve our utmost praise. When we begin our prayers with praise we bless God with our acknowledgment of His love and faithfulness in our lives. "I will praise You, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing to You among the peoples. For great is Your love, reaching to the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be over all the earth" (Psalm 57:9)

The Book of Psalms is positioned in the center of the Bible; reminding us that our central focus as God's children should be all about prayer and praise to our loving and benevolent heavenly Father. We are exhorted to speak with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and the Book of Psalms affords endless words of praise to pray, speak, and sing to our Lord. With every word we are reminded of how loving, good, kind, patient, protective, jealous, caring, compassionate, and faithful our God is. Every word confirms our need to respond with praise. "It is good to praise the LORD and make music to Your name, O Most High, to proclaim Your love in the morning and Your faithfulness at night..." (Psalm 92:1,2).

Heavenly Father,

"Praise be to You, O LORD, God of our father Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting.

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory

and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven

and earth is Yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;

You are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from You;

You are the ruler of all things. In Your hands are strength and power

to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give You thanks

and praise Your glorious name." (1 Chronicles 29:10-13)

In Jesus' Name. Amen.

"Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song...Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care" (Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7). The first two lines of many of the Psalms are devoted to words of praise towards God. May we make the most of every opportunity to express our love and devotion towards our God with words of praise and adoration. "The Psalmists, in telling everyone to praise God, are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about" - C.S. Lewis.

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AFTERNOON DEVOTION - "Evening, and morning, and noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice" (Psalm 55:17, KJV).

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 13:15

The Scriptures tell us that "out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34b). Whatever we allow to consume our heart and mind will eventually be made known by our words and deeds. Knowing this, Paul gave us this exhortation: "...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things" (Philippians 4:8). Our thought life should be consumed with the knowledge and will of God. When we dwell on the promises, goodness, and past mercies of God we find ourselves in a spirit of continual gratefulness, and with a desire to lift up our voice in praise.

The praises of the Psalmist were public expressions of adoration towards God for His protection and deliverance. Our lips afford us the ability to express our deep gratitude to God with a sacrifice of praise. This brings God great pleasure. Through our praises to God we express our gratitude for who He is and what He has done for us. When we neglect looking to God's precepts and fail to meditate on His past mercies we find our hearts discontented, and we begin to grumble and complain. The Israelites displayed this attitude of ingratitude in the desert when they felt their needs weren't being met (reference Exodus 15:24; 17:3). And Moses, once again had to intercede in prayer on their behalf.

When we meditate on God's goodness and mercy our heart experiences gratitude towards God. It is important to share these stories of God's faithfulness with future generations so our children will not grow up with a ungrateful hearts. "We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, His power, and the wonders He has done" (Psalm 78:4). The Lord desires our devotion and praise - this should be the cry of our heart. The Psalms are full of the praises of David. He was a man after God's own heart, and his life was filled with praise towards God. This is the sacrifice the Lord desires from all His children. "I will extol the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips" (Psalm 34:1).

Heavenly Father,

Praise the LORD, O my soul;

all my inmost being, praise His holy name.

Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits -

who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love

and compassion, who satisfies you with good things so

that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart;

I will glorify Your name forever."

(Psalm 103:1-5; 86:12)

In Jesus' Name. Amen

When we begin our prayers with praise we are expressing our confidence that God will hear our prayers. Prayer causes gratitude, whether we receive the answer we expect or not, because we are connecting ourselves to the One who holds all the answers. This afternoon reflect with gratitude on God's love and faithfulness displayed in your life. Write them down as a permanent reminder so that when the storms of life hit and you are finding it difficult to praise Him, you can draw from the well of His faithfulness and love. Pray also for all believers, that a spirit of gratitude and praise, rather than criticism and complaint, would begin to surface within the Body of Christ, and our praises would draw others to faith in Christ. "He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD" (Psalm 40:3).

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EVENING MEDITATION - "...and on His law he meditates day and night" (Ps. 1:2)

Scripture Reading: Psalm 117

The shortest chapter in the Bible is also the shortest Psalm. Within these few verses the Lord makes His desire known, calling for all nations and people to praise the Lord for His great love and enduring faithfulness towards Israel. "You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest till He established Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth" (Isaiah 62:6b-7). All of human history is involved in the story of God's chosen nation. His love and faithfulness towards His chosen people has brought the glorious light of salvation to the rest of the world. "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:9). We are the recipients of His great mercy, giving us every reason to praise Him for the fulfillment of His promises and His righteous acts on behalf of all mankind. All of this has been done for our good, and, more importantly, for His glory. We will spend eternity praising our God for His mighty and awesome deeds, but while we are pilgrims we have been given time to practice our songs of praise this side of heaven. May our minds be filled with the reminder of all that He is, all that He has done, and all that He continues to do on our behalf, so that our hearts will overflow with songs and prayers of praise that will draw many more into His eternal Kingdom. "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" (Revelation 7:12).

Heavenly Father,
"I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart;

I will tell of your wonders.

I will be glad and rejoice in You;

I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High" (Psalm 9:1,2).

"To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be praise and honor and glory and power,

for ever and ever!" (Revelation 5:13)
In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Perhaps we do not find ourselves praying as often as we should, because we are too preoccupied with what we don't have or what we feel we need most at that moment to make our life easier, rather than being grateful for what we do have and the One from whom we receive everything. Our prayers should begin and end with praise. Take time tonight to write out a prayer that expresses your adoration and love toward the Lord. May our praises embrace Him as our prayers move Him to embrace us. It's been said that when we pray we act like men, but when we praise we act like angels. Let us lift up our voices in praise for the One who has put a new song on our lips. If the trials that you have been walking through have made you lose your voice, fine tune it again by selecting a Psalm and singing it to the Lord. Let His "living and active" Word begin to fill your heart again with abundant life He has given to you, and let it overflow back into His loving lap as a sacrifice of praise. "Let all the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise you" (Psalm 67:3, 5).

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"Jesus is moved to happiness every time He sees that you appreciate

what He has done for you. Grip His pierced hand and say to Him,

"I thank thee, Savior, because Thou hast died for me."

Thank Him likewise for all the other blessings He has

showered upon you from day to day. It brings joy to Jesus."

- O. Hallesby

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