Praising God with Psalms

I love the book of Psalms. It is a collection of songs that the Hebrews would sing as they would dance and praise God. I believe that we should use Psalms more than we do in our prayer life. We can do this by speaking the Psalm out loud as we read them and personalize them. Let's look at a few of my favorite Psalms:

"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." (Psalm 100)

"My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music with all my soul. Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth." (Psalm 108)

"Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD." (Psalm 150)

Try praying some of the prayers and praises in the Bible by personalizing them. For example, Psalm 150 starts with:

"Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness."

Now try personalizing it like this:

"I praise You, LORD. I praise You in Your sanctuary; I praise You in Your mighty heavens. I praise You for Your acts of power; I praise You for Your surpassing greatness."

Just go on and on, showering Him with sincere praise and adoration. He is worthy and He desires your love and devotion!

When we study the Psalms to see how God likes to be praised, we find that we should rejoice in the Lord, we should sing joyfully to Him, we should praise Him by clapping our hands and shouting for joy, we should strike the tambourine and burst into jubilant song with music, and we should praise Him with dancing and with the clash of cymbals! The Psalms describe jubilant, loud, emotional, unrestrained, joyful worship from a heart filled with love and praise and rejoicing! The following psalms were written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which means that this is how God wants to be praised! Are we willing to be obedient?

"Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth! He subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet. He chose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loved. Selah. God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets. Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise." (Psalm 47:1-7)

"Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name." Selah" (Psalm 66:1-4)

"Sing for joy to God our strength; shout aloud to the God of Jacob! Begin the music, strike the tambourine, play the melodious harp and lyre." (Psalm 81:1-2)

"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. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods." (Psalm 95:1-3)

"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn-- shout for joy before the LORD, the King." (Psalm 98:4-6)

"Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints. Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King. Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp." (Psalm 149:1-3)

"Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD." (Psalm 150:1-6)

The Bible tells us that "the joy of the LORD is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10). The New Testament tells us that by believing in Him and loving Him we are "filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy" (1 Peter 1:8). We are commanded to "Be joyful always" (1 Thessalonians 5:16) because "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace..." (Galatians 5:22). Jesus says that He wants us to have "the full measure of my joy" within us (John 17:13) so that "[our] joy may be complete" (John 15:11). In the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us that when we are insulted and rejected because of Him we should "Rejoice in that day and leap for joy" (Luke 6:23).

Too many times we believe that praise, worship and thanksgiving are things that you do in a church service or setting. I do not believe that is the way God wants it. We should DAILY and on all occasions give God praise and worship. Why not start right now? I plan to! Blessings!

Pastor Rusty