Prayers of Praise in Scripture
Text: 1 Chronicles 16:7-36, Psalm 100
Yesterday, we acknowledged the importance of gratitude to our Heavenly Father, but today we wonder: where do we even begin? It’s as if we just received the best present of our lives (every single day of our lives) and we’re sitting at our kitchen table with a blank pad of paper and a massive case of writer’s block trying to write a thank you note.
Fortunately, there are many examples in scripture of praise and thanksgiving for us to follow. David wanted to ensure that the Levites praised the Lord daily, and in 1 Chronicles 16 (NIV), we see his instructions to them:
Proclaim His name. Make known what He has done. (v. 8)
Sing to Him, tell of His wonderful acts. (v. 9)
Seek His face always. (v. 11)
Remember the wonders He has done and His miracles. (v. 12)
Proclaim His salvation day after day. (v. 23)
Declare His glory among all people. (v. 24)
David asked that all these things be done with great joy, with jubilant singing, with many instruments and voices. He wanted to pull out all the stops in giving God the glory He is due.
We can find more instruction on giving praise in the Psalms. Psalm 100 urges, “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalm 100:1-2, NIV, emphasis added)
We may not have bands of lyres and harps, of cymbals and trumpets. Any songs we sing may have the cat desperately scratching at the back door to get out. But we still have a voice (no matter how off-key) and an audience—perhaps of many, but most definitely of One.
Don’t think that God is so important that He doesn’t desire your praise. His heart is so tender for us, He longs for us to praise and adore Him. He loves to be loved. Tell Him you love Him. Praise Him in your prayers. He’s listening.
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The GOD of the universe hears me!
This devotional is so relevant for me today. I spent all of last night and this morning in deep pain, and wound up in the hospital tonight for my appendix. I still feel a lot of pain. But God is so good. He directed the hands of the doctors who did the surgery I needed. God has given me strength through the pain and he has helped everything to go smoothly. He has comforted me in my pain and discomfort. Today, there has not been many obvious blessings in my life-it has been difficult, painful, inconvenient, and led me to worry about missed hours of work…but today, his grace is sufficient for me. And today I must thank him and praise him for his grace.
I love you so much Father God.
The devil tries to get in the way of my daily morning worship and prayer / bible study time. He always places huge problems in front of the time to unsettle me and be angry with God. But over time of immersing myself in His word whether or not I am in the mood to, God really taught me how to be CALM and STILL and thank Him anyway regardless of all circumstances. He delivers me from them and in turn, my daily morning worship gets so much sweeter because I know that thanking Him in times of goodness and remembering Him in times of bad and EVERY DAY of my life just to tell Him how glad I am that He's in my life is the best thing I can do.
Thank You God Hallelujah!!!!!
God, you know when to give me the sun and when to bring the rain. I praise you for the beautiful day that you so graciously made today… the blue skies, everything. Your ways are good and your love is free. Thank you for all the blessings this day came with and reminding me that my tender heart is your tender heart.
You are good!
I’m learning to praise Him in the storms also. He is worthy even when we don’t feel like it.
So true. I've had a tough couple of days but I'm learning to just keep the praises flowing as best I can, even though I don't really feel like it. I'm so thankful that His love & grace isn't dependent on our feelings.
Seeing all the comments from you women just warms my heart tonight as I sing songs in my heart and prepare to sleep. Francesca Battistelli’s “Constant” lyrics come to mind right now:
You’re my Constant in every moment.
Constant
You’ve never failed me all my life
You have never left my side
You are my Constant
So thankful for God and His benefits.
Ah! Matt Redman’s “10,000 reasons” was the first song I listened to today and I’m ending my day with it in my heart.
“…for all Your goodness I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find!”
You are above all my great and awesome Lord. You knew that I would never be able to live a life of peace without You. You sent Jesus for me. Thank you!
When i begin to thank you Lord, i am filled with love for you. Then you pour the warmth of your Holy Spirit in me. Glory to God in the highest!