The only sacrifices mentioned in the New Testament are the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving and the sacrifice of joy. I don’t know about you, but this was liberating news for me. I don’t have to sacrifice by begging, confessing, memorizing prayers and Scriptures, fasting, going to all the church services, keeping a serious face all the time, or abstaining from certain things. God loves us and He loves our worship and praise and our thanksgiving and joy.
To sacrifice is to offer something to God. To sacrifice means, “to give up something of value, to make an offering, to surrender, to kill, to give up, to dedicate, consecrate, devote, and to benefit.” A sacrifice will cost your time, focus, killing the flesh, surrendering your will for a higher cause. The benefit we receive can never be calculated. Every sacrifice we make is compensated and backed up by all of God’s promises and treasures.
Which of your five senses is most important as you express to God your adoration and praise? Which is most likely to stir you to worship? Perhaps you’re an auditory person. If appreciating and/or making lovely music is your thing, does your praise accompany the rendition? Psalm 98:4–5 invites us to “burst into jubilant song with music,” to praise God instrumentally—in one way or another to “shout for joy to the LORD”! Do you take particular delight in the beauty you take in visually? Does the sight of a sunset, a waterfall or a masterful painting prompt you to hold your breath as your soul exhales its gratitude? Are your spiritual eyes fixed on God (see Ps 141:8)? In the words of Psalm 19:1–3, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
"Rejoice in the Lord, O you [uncompromisingly] righteous [you upright, in right standing with God]; for praise is becoming and appropriate for those who are upright in heart." (Psalm 33:1, The Amplified Bible)
Praise. According to the Word of God, that's the most appropriate, becoming, thing that you as a believer can do.
Let me warn you though, God's idea of appropriate praise and yours may well be two very different things. The praise He calls for is joyous and uninhibited. And, at times, it's just plain loud!
If you don't believe it, look in the Bible and see the kind of praise that goes on in heaven. Read Isaiah 6 and find out how they act in the throne room. The seraphim shout in there until the doorposts shake! And when they do, the glory of the Lord fills the house.
"I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High. When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence." (Psalm 9:1-3)
Never underestimate the importance of praise. It's one of the most powerful spiritual weapons you have.
Praise is more than a pleasant song or a few uplifting words about God. It does something. It releases the very presence of God Himself. And, when the presence of God comes on the scene, your enemies are turned back. Sickness and disease can't stay on your body. Poverty can't stay in your house.
Making a joyful noise to the Lord sounds good and right, doesn’t it? It’s a no-brainer—so much so that it’s easy not to engage our brains all that actively over a praise passage. We’re inspired and uplifted when we read such words. Our gait may even be livelier and our gaze focused higher for a while afterward. The trouble is, our days are often characterized by an operative word other than praise. Despite our best intentions, that word too easily morphs into busyness. Author Cynthia Heald reflects on this issue: One day when I was reading Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest, I was struck by his insight about a rather obscure and easily overlooked verse in Genesis: “[From there he (Abram) went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD.]” Chambers writes, “Bethel is the symbol of communion with God; Ai is the symbol of the world.
Do you ever feel like a total hypocrite when you realize what is coming out of your mouth at church?
I don’t mean the words of worship and praise for God—those always sound right. And I don’t mean the words of confession of sin or the words of prayer. I am referring to the words of hymns that describe our lives as Christians.
Take, for instance, Frances Havergal’s famous hymn of personal dedication, “Take My Life and Let It Be.” The fourth stanza always makes me feel kind of sheepish (we’d blush if that were possible in this age of no shame): “Take my silver and my gold; Not a mite would I withhold.” I think of my decades of selfishness. Can you sing that stanza with a straight face and mean it?
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. 1 Peter 5:5 We each have to come to terms with Satan's deadliest tactic, which the Bible callspride.Ever since the Garden of Eden, Satan has promulgated The Great Lie:“You will be like God” (Genesis 3:5b). We all must learn to overcome pride, which was Satan’s own initial sin and which is his pervasive and repetitive tactic against us.
In Proverbs 6:17, “haughty eyes” are first on the list of the seven things that are an “abomination” to God. Proverbs 27:2adds, “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth.” Christ spoke of pride in Luke 18:14 when He instructs, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Over and over again, we are reminded in the Bible of God’s utter disdain for a prideful spirit.
“And at the moment they began to sing and to praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to begin fighting among themselves, and they destroyed each other!” 2 Chronicles 20:22
The armies of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir had declared war on King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah. So Jehoshaphat called the people together and prayed, “Oh, our God. Won’t you stop them. We have no way to protect ourselves against this mighty army. We don’t know what to do but we are looking to You.”
Then the Lord instructed the people, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be paralyzed by this mighty army for the battle is not yours, but God’s! Tomorrow, go down and attack them!…But you will not need to fight. Take your places; stand quietly and see the incredible rescue operation God will perform for you” (2 Chronicles 20:15-17).
How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God? —John 5:44
This verse is a warning and an encouragement to you and me. The warning: if you and I do not make an attempt to receive the praise that comes from God rather than the praise of people, we too will find it impossible to exercise genuine faith. The encouragement: we are not required to have obtained the honor and praise of God, but only to make an effort to obtain it. God's commands are not burdensome (1 John 5:3).
He is not demanding that we perfectly repudiate the praise of people and absolutely receive His praise; He is only asking us to make an effort to obtain His praise. Nothing can be more reasonable than that.
"A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul."(Proverbs 18:7) We have what we say. As believers, we know that's a vital biblical truth. We can see it in Mark 11:23, Matthew 21:21, James 3:2, and many other verses. Yet we often let it slip. We allow ourselves to begin talking like the world instead of talking the Word. And eventually we get what we've been asking for--a big mess.
If that's happened to you, remember, whatever you have in your life is a product of what you've been saying.
"Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord."(Psalm 150:6) We're created to praise God. Some people don't know that. When the praise service starts, they sit back and say, "I'm not comfortable with all that singing and shouting. I guess praise is just not my thing."
Yes it is! According to the Bible, if you breathe, you were meant to praise. And don't try to slip by with saying, "Well, I have praise in my heart." That's not enough. The Word says you need to have it in your mouth as well! (Ps. 34:1) Psalm 132:9 says, "Let thy saints shout for joy." You can't shout and be quiet at the same time.
When Katie was two, we were teaching her how to say grace. She had just finished up when Keith leaned over and whispered to her, “tell Mommy she’s pretty.” Katie promptly put both hands together again, closed her eyes, and said, “Dear God, please make Mommy pretty. Amen.”
But most of my girls’ prayers tend towards this: “Thank you that we had a good day today. Please help us to have fun tomorrow! Amen.”
Granted, it’s not that bad, but you know what I mean.
And I have decided this isn’t good enough. So here is our plan to really teach them to pray:
If resentment, anger and hostility gain a foothold in your life, they will diminish your effectiveness for God
I was once scheduled to speak at an annual women's conference at the Potter's House in Dallas. Before I arrived, I prepared the teaching I planned to give, "Is There a Lady in the House?" in which I describe two kinds of women: the industrious one lauded in Proverbs 31 and the "keeper at home" Paul writes about in Titus 2. But just as I was getting up to preach, the Lord told me, "You can't preach that message tonight."
At first I tried to convince Him to change His mind. But He reminded me that I was on assignment. I knew I had to say whatever He instructed, empowered and encouraged me to say--regardless of the risk or cost. And He wanted me to ask not "Is there a lady in the house?" but "Is there bitterness in the house?"
A Root of BitternessWhy bitterness? Because we cannot be the women God desires us to be when there is a root of bitterness in our souls.
You know what bitterness in the natural is. Something that leaves an acrid, lingering taste in your mouth. Something that is unpleasant, distasteful, galling and unpalatable.
Bitterness of soul is also unpleasant. It develops as a result of facing something that is grievous, difficult to accept or extremely painful. It is marked by harshness, resentment and deep animosity. And it sounds something like this:
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6 NIV)
You learn to trust God by obeying him in small ways.
You probably agree God is the supreme ruler of the universe, powerful enough to overcome any problem or defeat any enemy, that “everything comes from him; everything happens through him; everything ends up in him” (Romans 11:36 MSG).
Rediscover the heart of worship with today’s free lesson: Celebrating God
“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He puta new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to or God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.”(Psalm 40:1-3, emphasis mine)
God seeks to put a new song in the mouths of many; a song of victory and praise in lieu of heartache. Out of love, God seeks to touch countless lives with mercy, grace, favor, restoration, and breakthroughs beyond reckon. It’s awesome when God steps in and does the seemingly impossible. Those touched by God’s abundant love cannot help but to sing praises unto Him, the maker of new songs.
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful. Psalm 33:1
Praise and the upright person go together. It is absolutely impossible to think of one apart from the other. The Lord delights in the praises of His people, and there is a distinct beauty, not only in the form of worship and praise, but also in its transforming qualities in the worshiper's life. Praise with thanksgiving and worship from the heart provide a garment visible on the outside and beauty seen on the inside of a person.
The psalmist declares he has been clothed with gladness (Ps. 30:11). In Isaiah 61:3 we are instructed to put on "the garment of praise." Praise is the customary apparel of the upright! If we stop praising, it is as if we are unclothed.
The King James Version of Psalm 33:1 declares "praise is comely for the upright." Maybe it will just make us a little better looking! That is certainly true in our attitudes and relationships. Praisers do not make good complainers. So continue growing as a praising saint. God loves it and it looks good on you!
In a loud voice they sang: 'Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!' Revelation 5:12
In heaven, not only will our sufferings win us merit, the sufferings of Jesus will have an eternal perspective, too. Our Lord will be honored as the slain Lamb. His sufferings will never be forgotten. Unlike us, he will always visibly bare his wounds to the universe, and for that, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will enjoy praise as never before!
If any dark demon in the corner of the universe ever doubted the righteousness of God in stooping to rescue debased sinners, he'll be set straight. No evil spirit will dare accuse God of having defiled His purity in order to redeem wicked men. No one will question God's righteous reputation for having condescended to save sinners.
"Rejoice in the Lord, O you [uncompromisingly] righteous [you upright, in right standing with God]; for praise is becoming and appropriate for those who are upright in heart."(Psalm 33:1, The Amplified Bible)
Praise. According to the Word of God, that's the most appropriate, becoming, thing that you as a believer can do.
Let me warn you though, God's idea of appropriate praise and yours may well be two very different things. The praise He calls for is joyous and uninhibited. And, at times, it's just plain loud!
If you don't believe it, look in the Bible and see the kind of praise that goes on in heaven. Read Isaiah 6 and find out how they act in the throne room. The seraphim shout in there until the doorposts shake! And when they do, the glory of the Lord fills the house.
When you get to heaven, you're going to be praising like that too. You're going to be leaping and praising God with every part of your being. But don't wait until then to start. Begin now.
Decide today that instead of praising God the way you like, you are going to start doing it the way He likes. Begin to release those praises joyously, uninhibitedly. Don't wait until you get to heaven to praise God with all your being. Do it now. He deserves it!
In Psalms 65 and 66, the psalmist recounts all that God has done and all that he has created. In jubilant psalms of praise, the psalmist describes God's "awesome and righteous deeds" (Ps 65:5), God's power displayed in his creation, God's abundance in caring for the land and watering it, God's bounty in providing for humankind and animals alike. "Come and see what God has done," he says in Psalm 66. "his awesome deeds for mankind" (Ps 66:5). Physician and author J. Matthew Sleeth invites us to share the healing that comes from bearing witness to the miracle of God's creation:
When the psalmists advise us how to heal spiritually, they do not tell us to purchase a television, car, house, self-help book, or exercise equipment. God, they say, is to be found in the natural world that he created, a world filled with the grandeur, beauty, and peace that are so often lacking in our material world.
Rediscover the heart of worship with today’s free lesson: 
