Living in Perpetual Praise
Praise is a natural response to demonstrations of God’s nature all around us. Living a lifestyle of perpetual praise means making a practice out of continually coming into the Father’s presence with an offering of gratitude, regardless of temporal circumstances.
Lift up a great shout for joy to the Lord! Go ahead and do it - everyone, everywhere! As you serve Him, be glad and worship Him. Sing your way into His presence with joy! And realize what this really means - we have the privilege of worshipping the Lord our God. For He is our Creator and we belong to Him. We are the people of His pleasure. You can pass through His open gates with the password of praise. Come right into His presence with thanksgiving. Come bring your thank offering to Him and affectionately bless His beautiful name! For the Lord is always good and ready to receive you. He’s so loving that it will amaze you - so kind that it will astound you! And He is famous for His faithfulness toward all. Everyone knows our God can be trusted, for He keeps His promises to every generation! Psalm 100 TPT
Praise is defined as “an expression of admiration, an offering of gratefulness.” It is an expression of the gratitude we feel in our hearts. Gratefulness is an emotional state while praise is an expression. It takes gratefulness and turns it into worship.
Praise strengthens us and upholds us. It invigorates us. It unifies us. It frees us. Praise refocuses us. It propels us into our destinies. Praises ushers in rest.
King David is the best biblical example we have of a man who grasped the power and purpose in a lifestyle of perpetual praise. He bolstered his faith by recounting the testimonies of God’s faithfulness to him and to generations before him. He said, “I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago” (Psalm 77:11). David sang, prayed, and declared praises through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in his life. He found rest and faith in the practice of remembering the wondrous works and the unchanging nature of God Most High.
As we read David’s Psalms we see a pattern of praise. Whether he was hiding in caves, staring at a battlefield, or ruling his nation, David developed a practice of perpetually praising the nature and deeds of God regardless of how excellent or terrifying his circumstances may have been at the time. This is a profoundly freeing and empowering way to do life. We see in the scriptures that as David declared the praises of the Lord his fears, his weaknesses, his mistakes melted away as the name of the Lord was lifted high. Praise shifted David’s focus from his lack to God’s abundance, from his fear to God’s faithfulness, from his sin to God’s grace.
We are invited to cultivate this same lifestyle of praise, too! In Psalm 100, David explains that praise is something we can do any time, any where, even as we are serving God. “Lift up a great shout for joy to the Lord! Go ahead and do it - everyone, everywhere! As you serve Him, be glad and worship Him. Sing your way into His presence with joy!” It’s not merely a Sunday morning thing we do during the worship set. I love how Psalm 100 reads in The Passion Translation, it says that we “can pass through His open gates with the password of praise. Come right into His presence with thanksgiving. Come bring your thank offering to Him and affectionately bless His beautiful name! For the Lord is always good and ready to receive you.” How inviting is that? We have full access to come right into God’s presence, just like David modeled for us, to offer our praises to God like an offering. The passage goes on to explain how incredibly kind, loving and faithful God is, so worthy to be worshipped and worthy to be trusted.
This was the song of David’s heart, the style of his life. Like David, our praises are not limited to only moments of great excitement, celebration or breakthrough. We can offer praise in the valley, or in the midst of a battle, and on the other side of deliverance. Whatever temporal circumstance we may find ourselves in - however wondrous or challenging - we can live in a state of perpetual praise because of the unchanging, faithful nature and promises of God.
Worship Songs:
Take a few minutes right now to listen to one of the songs below and recall the faithfulness of God to you this year. Consider the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord in your own life, maybe in an area like family, finances, friendships, or work. Jot them down as you listen and recall.
Counting Every Blessing
Ever Be
Catch the Wind
Yes & Amen
Do It Again
As Psalm 100 says, “God is so loving it will amaze you and so kind it will astound you!” Find strength and courage today as you recall God’s faithfulness and turn your gratitude into praise. This is a practice we can cultivate daily and find renewed strengthen, increased faith, and much needed rest. Like David, we can apply the faith fostered through perpetual praise to the circumstances we are trusting the Lord with right now. He is the same God yesterday, today and tomorrow. He will never fail you or forget you, friend.
Prayer
God you are famous for your faithfulness! Today we are reminded of the countless demonstrations in our own stories of how your have unleashed your unmatched goodness, divine protection, abundant provision, and loving kindness for our benefit and your glory. Lord receive our praise as a sweet offering today. Let your name be made great and give us opportunities to sing your praises to those around us and tell of the mighty works of your hands! Most of all, Holy Spirit tune our hearts to practice perpetual praise regardless of temporal circumstances. You are so worthy to receive it and we are so strengthened by offering it to you. For your name’s sake, A-men.
