10 Days of Praise: Day 6

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My 10 Days of Praise is nearly over, but I thought it appropriate to clarify why I made a point of focusing only on praise and clarifying why it's different from worship and thanksgiving.

• Worship: the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity

• Praise: to express warm approval or admiration of someone or something

• Thanksgiving: an expression of gratitude

So often we interchange these three behaviors as if they are all the same. They're not, as you can clearly see from their definitions. Each is a different type of honor shown to God, given of our free will. They address three distinct areas that we are to bless Him.

We worship God when we give him reverence and adore him in our actions, words, and thoughts. This is generally a stance we take such as singing, lifting hands, prayers of adoration. When he blesses us, we express our thankfulness by giving him thanks, just as you would anyone who did something for you.

But praise is something completely different from the other two. Praise shows our approval of God and His choices for us. It's admiring Him for His abilities and His character. The power and grace and mercy of God should be awe inspiring. It should result in an earnest praise of his attributes.  It is more than thankfulness. Praise is admiration and approval for all that God is and all He does, and all that He has yet to do.

Praise is the complete surrender to God as the beginning and ending of our faith. It is a form of surrender. When we approve of God and his methods, we're saying He knows best, that He is in charge and we approve of that arrangement. Praise is a form of submission to God by showing our admiration and approval of his actions, regardless of how we think or feel about them.  It is acknowledging his authority and accepting Him as that authority. You see in these verses the use of both praise and worship. Exaltation is a form of worship.

I will bless the Lord at all times;

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul shall make its boast in the Lord;

The humble shall hear of it and be glad.

Oh, magnify the Lord with me,

And let us exalt His name together.

  --Psalms 34:1-3

I praise you, Lord for your authority and kingship over me. I give You my approval to manage the affairs of my life and I admire You for the grace and mercy You have shown.

Take time today to give God your praise. Even if it is just for one day.

10 Days of Praise: Day 5

Let every breath praise the Lord. Let every tongue confess that He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Hear, Oh Lord, the voices of praise to you.

Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The everlasting God, the Lord,

The Creator of the ends of the earth,

Neither faints nor is weary.

His understanding is unsearchable.

Isaiah 40:28

I praise you, Lord. You're awesome, God. You're the Hope in hopeless, the Love in loveless, the Rest in restless. You are grace and mercy. Your power and might keeps the universe in balance and extends beyond my imagination. 

I praise you because you are worthy to be praised and you have made me complete and wholly yours by your love. You are an awesome God.

I give you praise because You are the Holy One of Israel, there is no God before you nor ever will be. You have declared it. 

Your arm is not too short to save us. Your ears not deaf to our cries. Your eyes see all that we do or say. 

From the east to the west there is none but you, Oh Lord. You form the light and create darkness. You make peace and create evil. You do all things and by you are all things. There is no power except that which you possess and direct.

Great is the Lord. I give you all my praise, oh Lord. 

10 Days of Praise: Day 4

For the times I couldn't sleep and you gave me rest, I praise you.
For the times I couldn't walk and you carried me, I praise you.

For all the miles I've traveled on roads unfamiliar to me,
And the pieces of myself lost in dark places, I praise you.

For all the trouble and trials, I praise you.
For all the tears, fears, and years of pain, I praise you.

For broken dreams and a broken heart, I praise you.
For lost people, lost hopes, and lost dreams, I praise you.

For the all the days of my life, I praise you.
For all that I was, I am, or could ever be, I praise you.