When is Praise really Praise?

Recently I have been delving again into learning more about prayer and how to make my prayer time more effective, more meaningful, and more pleasing to God. Here are some of the things God is showing me....

What is the purpose of prayer? In the Garden of Eden God came down and walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. They didn't have a list of petitions or requests from Him. they were just there to have a relationship with Him, to spend time together. They didn't need to repent of anything, (at first) and they didn't need to intercede for anyone, they just spent time with Him, walking in the garden. Spending time with someone is how we build a relationship. Even a relationship with God is built on spending time together, whether it's in prayer or in the Word.

There are different kinds of prayers: the one I want to talk about today is

  Praise and Thanksgiving. 

We usually associate singing with praise, And that's right; many times our singing is a form of praise. We call it praise and worship, although worship is much more than that. It includes every single thing we do. Praise itself has many forms too.

If you are in an active church, you are probably not new to the idea that we need to praise God through our storms, in our trials.There are songs about it, We have been taught how important it is to fight the spiritual battle by praising God. I have been a great advocate for this type of praise, encouraging others to stay thankful even in deep pits of trouble. If only we can give praise...we will see wondrous results when we persist in praise through our difficulties.
Praise You in the Storm by Casting Crowns   

Is it truly Praising God when we do it just to fight that battle? Does God even hear us? 

When we say, "I've been praising God for this for a whole week... I should be seeing some results..." Do you think that pleases God? Or is it an insult? He is Good. When He has been holding us in His hand the whole time, how do you think  He feels about our attitude? Where is my focus? 

When is praise really praise? 

It is interesting to me that when Paul and Silas were in prison they sang and praised God at midnight, not because they thought God would bring a miracle to get them out of prison, but because they loved God. How do I know? What did they do when the earthquake broke gates open and their chains fell off? They didn't even leave; they kept singing!

  It is apparent that the motive was Love & praise!

Praise is effective, but when it doesn't come from our heart, is it praise? How do we make sure our praise is pleasing Him? I admit there are times when someone says something negative to me, and I say tongue in cheek, with my mouth, "I love you" When in my heart that is the very opposite of what I'm feeling. I'm bridling my body and tongue to DO the right thing, confident that in time my heart will feel it too! Is that wrong? 

I have the feeling of standing on the brink of a great breakthrough! God is so great and so good, there are not enough words to fully describe His greatness, His faithfulness, His LOVE, yes His all consuming love. I am so overwhelmed by His love for me. Nothing can separate me from His LOVE!  Romans 8:38-39  Nothing can separate you from his love either!

He loves YOU! 

I believe something happens when we turn our focus from our troubles and turn our attention to Jesus! It seems rather berserk to say something like, "God I praise you for my bad back", can we honestly make a statement like that? maybe.  But what would happen if you turned your attention to Him and said something like this? "Jesus, I am so glad that You are bigger than my bad back, and I am so thankful that You LOVE me so much that even the pain I feel in my back is nothing when compared to what You went through so that I could be saved!"  How different the feeling you get when you exalt Him and give praise to Him! I think He feels the difference as well!

Pray the Answer, Instead of the Problem

When your eyes on yourself it is impossible to praise! It just kills it. But when your relationship is in the right place, in clear focus, you don't need to 'make' yourself praise Him.... it will just bubble up from that place in your heart and overflow to your lips and actions! You will sing and you will be telling people about how great, wonderful, faithful, powerful, and merciful HE is in the middle of your situation! Even through your tears the praise is beautiful. It's called the 'sacrifice of praise' but it in comparison to His sacrifice it feels insignificant! 

So are there times when I must through clenched teeth begin praising when I feel like complaining? Probably yes. As you can see, when I place the proper perspective on Him, I focus on Him rather than myself and soon I feel the praise bubbling up from inside and spilling out everywhere and God is very pleased with that kind of praise.

 Through this type of outpouring, comes many a breakthrough and the devil is defeated! 

He HATES to hear us praise God. It sends him packing! I can picture him with his fingers in his ears and running to get out of our hearing! I love it!!! :)