A True Heart of Praise

By: Cherith Shiflett

Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights. Psalm 148:1

I was challenged to do a study on praise and the more I studied, the more convicted I was. There are endless verses, whole chapters and even books in the Bible directed toward praising the Lord, and yet we can go days, weeks and months without truly praising Him. 

We’re going  to look at three topics here. The purpose of praise, the places of praise and the power of praise.

Purpose of Praise 

Psalms 148:1-13. “Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights. Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.  Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created.He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass. Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling his word: Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl: Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth: Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children: Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.”

What more can be said… “every creature, every element, every firmament, every person, old, young, male, female, rich, poor… we are to praise. Why? His name alone is worthy. He alone is worthy. We have no excuse. Pride, complacency and sometimes just plain ungratefulness has stolen worship from the One who deserves it the most! He is so worthy.

One of my favorite phrases I heard in a song- you may know it. The words are this:

Were it not for grace 

I can tell you where I'd be 

Wandering down some pointless 

Road to nowhere 

With my salvation up to me 

I know how that would go 

The battles I would face 

Forever running but losing the race 

Were it not for grace 

So here is all my praise 

Expressed with all my heart 

Offered to a Friend who took my place 

And ran a course I could not start 

And when He saw in full 

Just how much His love would cost 

He still went the final mile 

Between me and heaven 

So I would not be lost

That phrase “here is all my praise, expressed with all my heart” should be a continual prayer.

Psalms 147:1 “Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely”

Praise is PLEASANT and COMELY to the Lord. Aren’t you thankful we have something to offer him that is pleasant and comely? Isaiah 64:6-7 “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness’s are as filthy rags..”  Our righteous deeds are filthy, but our worship can be comely and pleasant to Him. Do you want to offer something pleasant and comely to the Lord? Or do you want to offer your filthy rags? What makes the difference? Praise!

One last purpose of praise. Praise God for the children’s sake! They’re watching and listening. Who do they hear you praising? Some “influencer on social media?” a sports figure? Yourself?

We should not worship to be seen, but we should worship because we’re being watched. 

I think of these babies raising their hands in church. They're imitating, but even so, this instills a path and life of praise.  It takes one generation for that to be gone. First, it becomes abnormal, then it becomes non-existent. This goes for a lot of other things then just a heart of praise. That goes for any standard or principle. To sum up “the purpose of praise", I’ll quote a well known verse: “Let everything that hath breath praise ye the Lord” that in itself is good enough reason for me.

Places of Praise

Personal Praise: Praise should be personal before its public. It is an outward expression of what is happening on the inside. Don’t be the person who fake praises… 

Praise should be at church Psalms 149:1 ”Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.” Psalms 150:1 “Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary:”  BUT  is it pride or praise?? We all have pride, the devil knows exactly what to do to feed that pride. Here are a few lies he will tell you to feed that pride.  I’m irreplaceable- you are not. Trust me, from experience, I know, you’re never irreplaceable. God provides for His church. I’m the only one good enough to do this- this is false. There is no one “good enough” to do anything for the Lord. We are all servants and we should do our best. The mindset of “I want it done right, so I’m just going to do it because I’m the best one” is pride. This is my position, I’ve been doing it for years-  this is also pride. You’re taking something holy and making it about YOU. Faithfulness is always encouraged, but you never “own” a position in the church. These mindsets come from a heart of pride.

True worship comes from a heart of humility. 

Church should never be a performance. Church should never be a competition.  If you start feeling that way, pride is creeping in, and that is wrong. Let’s see what God thinks of pride. Proverbs 16:5

“Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord, though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.” Pride not only is a sin, it is an abomination. God hates it. When you have pride in the talents and abilities God gave you, that worship goes from comely and pleasant to something he hates and despises.  That is pretty harsh, but it’s the truth.

The Last place of praise is Heaven- and I won’t linger long here, simply because I really have no idea what the praise will look like in Heaven. I love to read about every nation, every tribe, every tongue bowing and worshiping the Lord, it’s a beautiful thing to think about. We were created to praise, I can’t think of anything more fulfilling than doing what we were created to do for the rest of eternity. I am so thankful for the promise of what is to come. I think of loved ones and friends that have gone on to heaven, that’s what they’re doing right now- Praising the Lamb who is worthy!

 Power of Praise

Psalm 22:2 “But thou art Holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. What does inhabit mean? To be present or to occupy, to dwell in. This simply means God dwells among or is present among the praises of His people.

When we praise our creator, we are inviting Him to be present.

2 Chronicles 5:13 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord; So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.

I think most of us here have experienced a service where there were people openly praising the Lord and God’s presence was felt.  I think that’s one of the closest experiences we get to knowing what Heaven will be like.

It doesn’t have to just be in church though! Paul and Silas were in prison, and they sang praises unto God and He manifested Himself through an earthquake that set them free. God’s power revealed in response to praise.

 Hebrews 13:15

“By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name”

Praise should not be just a momentary act in church, but it should be a continuous lifestyle that invites God to dwell with you. I want him to inhabit, to dwell, to sit and stay awhile, and that comes through the power of praising his name.

 I encourage you to ask the Lord “in what way can I praise you?”  The answer may surprise you, or you may already know in heart what He’s asking you to do. And then make sure it’s with a right heart to be pleasant and comely to Him who is worthy.