Psalm 113

Praise the Lord! Praise O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. 

Look up the definition of the word 'praise' and ask yourself the question - do you praise the name of your Lord? Do you express admiration of and speak highly of the Lord Jesus? When you speak His name is it to 'rave about' go into raptures about',  'proclaim in awe and admiration'? 

I know that I do not praise Him as I want to, as I should. Somehow the words go missing from my vocabulary and I find that I just repeat the words 'thank You'. But praise is about Him alone, not about what He does for me. Praise is about His character and His power and His truth - it is all about HIM. So I have asked the Lord to teach me to praise - to give me His words, so that when I speak of Him I do so in words that properly proclaim His excellence. 

And of course He has answered me - I am struck over and over again at how He is described. Great are the works of the Lord...splendid and majestic is His work. The works of His hands are truth and justice, all His precepts are sure. Holy and awesome His His name....Psalm 111.

Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever; from the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised. Who is like the Lord our God, who is enthroned on high? Not to us O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth. Our God is in the heavens, He does whatever He pleases...Psalm 115

Go through the Psalms and underline all of the praises....mark them in red and speak them aloud. Praise Him from when you rise up in the morning until you lie down to sleep at night - shout to the rooftops that God is Sovereign, Creator and Sustainer of ALL things - that He upholds all things by the word of His power - that His gospel of grace is His power at work - that He simply speaks and things come into existence.

Tell the world that He alone is able to do the impossible - that there is nothing, absolutely nothing that is beyond His reach. Sing out the truth that He flung the stars into space and called them all by name - that He was and He is and He forever will be and that you and I are here to proclaim His glory - to praise His name and to love and honour and serve Him with every ounce of our being - because He is more, abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine.

Let us praise His name aloud together as the people He formed for His glory, as those who love His name and long for His appearing.