Ruth Myers - A Treasury of Praise

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Contents

Cultivating a Life of Praise

Praising Godas He Shows Me Myself

A Life of Praise and Victory

An Invitation to Praise

I f youre just beginning to praise and worship, youre on the threshold of a great adventure. Youll find that your gracious, mighty, and majestic God is delightful beyond imagining. Youll discover what a high privilege it is to praise Him! And whether youre a beginner or someone who has long understood the benefits of praise, youll find that the more you glorify the Lord, the more He will refresh you and deepen your experience of Him.

Woven into this book youll find truths about God that affirm A. W. Tozers words: The man who has God as his treasure has all things in one, and he has it purely, legitimately, and forever.

O UR G OAL : A L IFESTYLE OF P RAISE

The days of praise in this book have been designed to help you praise and give thanks both in your times of blessing and in your times of trial. These praise pages will expand your praise life and help you develop the practice of giving thanks always for all things (Ephesians 5:20, NKJV). They will help you cultivate a lifestyle of praise.

But before you begin, lets take a look at what praise is and why its so importantwhy its more than a pleasant pastime.

In the Bible, praise is closely linked with worship and thanksgiving. Through all three we honor and enjoy God. It helps me to think of worship as a beautiful crown adorned with two brilliant jewels. One jewel is praise; the other, thanksgiving.

Worship

Worship is our greatest privilege, the highest thing we can do.

In genuine spiritual worship, we bow before the Most High God, the most merciful and reliable and winsome of all beings, and we crown Him as Lord of all that we are. We consent to His gracious, transforming work; we agree that He can work in us so that well be willing and able to do His will. In other words, we choose to let Him be God in our lives.

Worship includes yielding to God as our Lord and Master. We see this in Romans 12:1, where God asks us to offer Him our bodies, our lives, our entire person. This, He says, is true worship.

Praise

Praise includes adoring God and admiring Him for who He is and what He does.

Praise can be quiet and meditative. But it can also be celebrating and exulting in the Lords majesty and splendor, His sovereignty, His limitless power, and His bountiful lovewhich we do not in the least deserve. In praise we extol our wonderful God; we exalt and magnify Him.

Praise includes speaking highly of God to other people as well as directly to Him.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is appreciating God and letting Him know how grateful we are for His mighty works and the blessings He bestows on us.

In thanksgiving we express gratitude to the Lord for His love and goodness to us and to others, for His constant acts of care, and for His gifts, including the spiritual blessings He has lavished upon us.

So mounted in the crown of worshipthe basic act of offering God our lives, of honoring Him as Godare the jewels of praise and thanksgiving, jewels that radiate the glory of God, to His delight and ours.

All three of theseworship, praise, and thanksgivingoverlap as we glorify and enjoy God. Sometimes we do this in speaking, sometimes in singing, sometimes in silent reverence.

Its fine if we blend worship, praise, and thanksgiving any way we like. God isnt in the least concerned if we say Thank You when I praise You or I worship You might be more appropriate. And it doesnt matter whether our words are stumbling or eloquent. God looks on the heart; Hes searching for people who simply want to honor Him.

How C AN W E P RAISE G OD AND B E T HANKFUL IN E VERY S ITUATION ?

A life of praise may appeal to you. But what does it involve? You may be puzzled about what it means to praise continually and give thanks always, in every situation. Wont this lead to denying your true feelings? Does it mean that when you stub your toe or hit your thumb with a hammer, your spontaneous response must be Thank You, Lord? Isnt it dishonest to give thanks if you dont feel thankful?

Several things have helped settle these questions for me.

Its Based on More Than Feelings

One is that the Bible doesnt command us to feel thankful in every situation. It doesnt command us to manufacture positive feelings. Instead, it commands us to give thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:18). As Dr. John G. Mitchell, cofounder of Multnomah School of the Bible, put it: To give thanks when you dont feel like it is not hypocrisy; its obedience.

This does not mean you should deny your negative thoughts and feelings and attitudes, sweeping them under some inner emotional rug. It doesnt mean you should repress them into some deep cavern where, again and again, they can sneak back into your thoughts, press you into unwise choices, and filter past your defenses to pollute the emotional atmosphere around you.

Notice that David and the other psalmists were honest about their feelings, facing them and telling God about them. They knew how to pour out their heart before Him (Psalm 62:8). Often they praised God first and then expressed their disturbed emotions, their perplexities, even their complaints. After this they went on to praise God again, despite their struggles. They did not deny their feelings or simply ignore them. Nor did they wallow in them until theyd all but drowned. And it doesnt seem that they postponed their praise until they had worked through their emotions and felt better. Instead, they mingled an honest pouring-out of their feelings with sincere, God-honoring praise.

Take, for example, Psalm 42. The psalmist composed this song in a time of exile and oppression, when he felt deeply disturbed and downcast. People were saying, Where is your Godwhy doesnt He do something for you if Hes the true and living God? The psalmist told God how troubled his heart was. But even as he did so, he honored God, speaking of Him as the living Godmy Godthe God of my lifeGod my rockthe help of my countenance. His every reference to God showed his desire to exalt and glorify Him. And he assured his soul that the time would come when he could once again join the festal worship in the house of God and praise the Lord for deliverance. Psalm 43, written in a similar situation, likewise honors God in very special ways: O Godthe God of my strengthGod my exceeding joymy God.

What happens when we follow the example of the psalmistswhen we express our impressions and feelings yet choose to keep praising in spite of how things seem to us? I find that sooner or later (often sooner) the Lord releases me from being a slave to my distressing emotions. He unties the tight knots within me and settles my feelings, though He may not answer my questions about how Hes handling my affairs. And when at times praise does not quickly bring inner freedom and joy, I can say, Lord, I cant praise You in the same way I did last week (or last year). I cant seem to respond to You with the same sense of delight and celebration. But I do choose to lift You high, praising You for what You are and what You mean to me.

Lifeand praiseisnt always a feast of pure, simple gladness. Dont you find that in many situations you can experience both pleasant and unpleasant emotions? Like Paul, you can be sorrowful yet always rejoicing (2 Corinthians 6:10). You can groan and suffer in this fallen world, yet you can learn to rejoice. You can learn to triumph in your hope, in your tribulations and the good things they produce in your life, and above all, in God Himself (Romans 8:22-23; 5:2, 3, 11).

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