January 14, 2021
The importance of loving God with all our heart, mind, and soul, praising Him, and spending time with Him are emphasized throughout His Word. Not only hearing from Him through His printed Word, His voice to us in prophecy, or the whispers of His Spirit in our heart and mind, but also speaking to Him and telling Him of our love for Him and our thanks to Him, praising Him for the wonderful blessings He has so abundantly poured out upon us.
Relationships that involve a lot of taking but not much giving can be mostly one-sided. The Lord generously gives to His children every day, and He certainly doesn’t mind our taking all that He has for us. But in return, He looks for our thanks and our appreciation, our acknowledgment that we are grateful for all the gifts that He dispenses to each of us with such care, making sure that they are what we personally need—tailor-made just for us! He is thrilled to give His good gifts to us, but part of His pleasure is receiving our thanks and gratitude for the things that He plans so carefully for us and prepares with such great love and tenderness.
Often we are so busy and occupied with the challenges of the day that we neglect to see the showers of blessings that are falling upon us! The courteous, polite thing to do when one receives a gift is to write a thank-you letter—to take the time and effort to acknowledge your gratitude. When you take the time to voice your appreciation, the sender knows that it meant something to you. However, if he hears nothing, or maybe just a “one-liner” stuck in the middle of another barrage of requests, the sender would probably figure that his gift must not have meant very much to you. He also can quite legitimately figure that giving you all the other things that you are asking for will be met with the same lack of gratitude.
If we truly love God with all our hearts and minds, part of expressing that love is acknowledging the gifts He so freely gives us, showing our gratefulness and thankfulness by pausing and formulating our “letter of thanks” to Him for His priceless gifts.—Blessing upon blessing of the gift of eternal salvation, a personal relationship with the God of the universe, the knowledge that it will all turn out well in the end and all things will work together for good, the gift of sharing His love with others, His promises of protection and provision, of understanding and peace, and freedom from fear—and the list goes on and on.
We all know that no matter how much we would like to do something, if we don’t make time for it in our busy lives and schedules, we may not get around to it. Likewise, unless we intentionally put aside time devoted to worship and praise, it might not happen. Human nature being what it is, our time can be consumed by the immediate needs we face, which is why it can take reserving a time to be alone with the Lord, completely away from all the hubbub of the daily activity and demands on our time and focus.
It is important that we take the time for praising Him and showing our love for Him by thanking Him for giving us “all things richly to enjoy.”1 I was reminded of the verse “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice.”2 There are so many minutes throughout the day that we can take a pause to praise the Lord and “remember the wondrous works that He has done”3 in our lives and throughout history.
Besides singing songs to Him and expressing our praise to Him in words, there is another part of praise that we can often neglect, and that is raising our hands to Him. A verse in Psalms tells us to “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord.”4 As another example, we are told in the Bible how Moses and the Israelites were winning a battle they were fighting as long as Moses had his hands raised to the Lord. But when he got tired and put them down, the Israelites began losing the battle. So Moses’ helpers held up his arms for him, and as long as they continued to do this, the enemy continued to be defeated. As a result, God’s people finally won the victory.5 His raised hands literally symbolized their dependence upon the Lord.
When we raise our hands to the Lord, it gives us a feeling of surrender. It also seems to signify our dependence on the Lord. It’s like a reaching up for Him. It’s just a little physical gesture, but apparently sometimes important as a visible declaration of our need for Him. It’s a bit like the importance of expressing our worship in words, not just hearing and mentally assenting. His Word says, “With my mouth I will make known Your faithfulness.”6
I learned a little song when I was a child in Sunday school that says:
Daniel was a man of prayer,
Daily prayed he three times.
Till one day they had him cast
In the den of lions.
Even then, in the den,
Fears could not alarm him.
God just shut the lions’ mouths,
So they could not harm him!
Praiseful prayer can shut the mouths of the lions of anxiety or discouragement in your life! But most of all, when we lift up our prayers of praise and worship to Him, we know that it pleases Him because He inhabits the praises of His people.7
Throughout our lives, the Lord is constantly trying to teach us the importance of our relationship with Him. He desires our love and our devotion. Our worship and praising prayers are a testament to our faith, as we lift up our prayers to Him in song and word.
As we enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise throughout the day, and pause to bless His name, we can express a spontaneous prayer or sing a chorus or remember verses of praise to express how much we appreciate all the blessings that He has given us.
As we pause to offer our praise to our wonderful Savior and acknowledge Him, we also receive priceless gifts and His blessings that are promised to us. “Happy are the people who are in such a state; happy are the people whose God is the Lord!”8
Originally published June 1995. Adapted and republished January 2021.
Read by Carol Andrews.
1 1 Timothy 6:17.
2 Psalm 55:17.
3 1 Chronicles 16:12.
4 Psalm 134:2.
5 See Exodus 17:11–12.
6 Psalm 89:1.
7 Psalm 22:3.
8 Psalm 144:15.
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