Praise, Worship and Thanksgiving

4. PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING

 In our relationship with God, praise and thanksgiving play a very important role. When we praise God, we worship Him for who He is, and praise Him for what He has done.

 As we praise Him, we appropriate His blessings as we already read in Ephesians 1:3. When we praise God we accept and acknowledge all that He has given us. God wants us to praise Him so that we can be blessed. Thanking God is also vital in our relationship with God. When we thank God it affirms our position and strengthens our stand in Him, and helps us to hold on to our blessing.

 Thanksgiving also changes our heart’s attitude towards God and one another, and to the situation around us. Hence by thanksgiving we not only become recipients of His blessings, but also become channel of blessings to each other.

 As we learn to thank God, no one will be able to take away what God has done for us or given to us. Thus, thanksgiving has tremendous power in our lives. That’s why we must learn to thank God for everything. You can honor God by offering Him your gratitude. (Ps 50:23, 14-15).

And by thanking God in all circumstances we are fulfilling His will in our lives. (1 Thes 5:18)

 The enemy cannot touch the person who has praise on his mouth and thanksgiving in his heart. Enemy not only hates such a person, but flees from such a believer. As it is written “May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations, and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, to carry out the sentence written against them. This is the glory of all his saints. Praise the LORD. (Ps 149:6-9)

 Praise and thanksgiving not only brings us in the right position with God but it also draws us closer to Him, and hence, it leads us to worship Him and have intimacy with Him. Thanksgiving keeps us in a position of humility as we acknowledge that every good and perfect gift comes from Him. As we thank Him we are not taking His blessings for granted, but show our heart of gratitude towards Him. This will bring healing and wholeness to us in return.

 5. WORSHIP

 As we draw closer to God we begin to exalt Him for who He is. We adore Him, enthrone Him, we proclaim His Lordship and Kingship over our lives. When we worship God we come under His rule, His authority, we learn to subject to His will.

 Worship is the place where we accept His authority over our lives. It is the time when we humble ourselves before Him. Worship from the heart positions us for obedience, as it is absolute surrender. This is the reason worship leads us to His inner chamber where we begin to speak the things that are closest to His heart. Thus, worship gives us a strong desire to pray, and enables us to be intimate with God. When we worship, we offer our lives to God as a living sacrifice. (Romans 12:1). That’s where our intimacy begins; hence let us learn about this in detail.

 From “Catch the Glorious Fire” by Ps Paul Quadros