LET EVERYTHING THAT HAS BREATH PRAISE THE LORD

Proclamation:

“Praise The Lord … Praise Him for His acts of power; praise Him for His surpassing greatness … Let everything that has breath praise The Lord.  Praise The Lord.”  Psalm 150:1-6 (NIV)

Explanation:

The words of this psalm are also thought to have been written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by King David.  This psalm is the “grand finale” of the “Hallelujah” psalms and the final psalm.  The focus of this psalm is praise.  The word praise is mentioned three times in the first verse and twice in each of the remaining five verses.  The Lord God is the object of our praise and everything that has breath should praise Him.

Application:

We should praise the Lord God more often than we do.  It does not matter how often we praise Him, we could never praise Him enough.  Even if His praise was continually in our mouth, we would never give Him too much praise.  When we think of who He is, and all that He has done, and all of His goodness that He has shown to us, we should shout praises to His name.  To God be the glory!  Hallelujah!  Praise The Lord!

WE SHOULD PRAISE THE LORD GOD EVERY DAY

Proclamation:

“I will exalt You, my God The King; I will praise Your name for ever and ever.  Every day I will praise You and extol Your name for ever and ever.”  Psalm 145:1-2 (NIV)

Explanation:

The words of this psalm were written by King David under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  This psalm is a psalm of praise, one of the “Hallelujah” psalms.  It is also acrostic, meaning that each verse begins with one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, only the letter “nun” is missing.  The reason for that omission is still being debated by Bible scholars.  David begins by saying that he will lift up and praise the name of The Lord God every day. (Psalm 145:1-2)  Then he states that each generation of believers will tell the next generation of His great works, His mighty acts, and His goodness. (Psalm 145:3-7)  After that he proceeds to glorify God’s kingdom and recounts some of the reasons that The Lord God is worthy of all this praise. (Psalm 145:8-20)

Application:

As believers we are to praise The Lord God for who he is and not just for what He has done or can do for us.  We should also praise Him every day of the week and not just on Sunday when we go to church to worship.  We should not forget to praise the redemptive work of Jesus, The Christ, on Calvary, which He did for our salvation.  Nothing that we do is more important than our prayer, praise, and worship.  Maybe we should read one of the Hallelujah psalms each day. (Psalms 112 to 118 and 145 to 150)  Maybe this would help us in our praise without petitions.  We should not approach The Lord God only when we want something from Him.  Some of the time we ought to just praise Him and say thank you.

PRAISE THE LORD FROM THE RISING OF THE SUN UNTIL

Proclamation:                                                                                                       

“Let the name of The Lord be praised, both now and forevermore.  From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of The Lord is to be praised.”  Psalm 113:2-3 (NIV)

Explanation:

Although the name of the human author of the words of this psalm is unknown, it is clear that it was written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  This is the first of the “Hallelujah psalms”, (psalm 112 through 118) which were sung at the Feast of the Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles, and probably at all of the feasts of Israel.  This is a psalm of praise for the redemption of the people by Christ.  It is a shortened version of the song which Hannah sang after the birth and dedication of her son Samuel. (1 Samuel 2:1-10)  Here, all saints are encouraged to praise The Lord (Psalm 113:1) not just in the morning and in the evening, but to continually praise Him throughout the day.

Application:

The people of God know Him best, we know what He has done, and we have the most reasons to thank and praise The Lord.  We praise The Lord daily, and probably do it several times a day.  However, we do not spend our entire day in continual praise, from sunrise to sunset, all day long.  It does not matter how many times we pray and praise The Lord, there is more that could be said, sung, and done.  In all four corners of the world and by all of the people of the world, He is worthy of all praise.

WE THE PEOPLE OF GOD WILL PRAISE HIM FOREVER

Proclamation:

“Then we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will praise You forever; from generation to generation we will proclaim Your praise.”  Psalm 79:13 (NIV)

Explanation:

The words of this psalm were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by Asaph, the director of music appointed by King David, who was also a seer who was said to prophesy. (2 Chronicles 29:30)  This psalm is thought to be written by the psalmist, under a prophetic spirit, who foresaw and foretold things which would come to pass regarding the destruction of Jerusalem and the affliction of the Jews by their enemies. (Psalm 79:1-7)  This disaster came upon them because they did not keep their end of the covenant with God.  His prayer is that The Lord God would not hold their past sins against them, that He would forgive them, and that He would avenge their suffering and pay back their enemies seven times the suffering that they had cause them. (Psalm 79:10-12)  For this His people would be eternally grateful and praise His name forever.

Application:

When we pray and petition The Lord God for mercy, forgiveness, and a blessing, we should believe that He will answer us and we should thank Him and praise Him as if it has already been done.  Many times the suffering that we endure we bring upon ourselves by our willful disobedience to The Word of God.  That is why we should first as for His mercy and His forgiveness before we ask for His favor.  We need to acknowledge our sins and then ask Him to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (Psalm 51:1-4 and 1 John 1:9)  Then we can ask for that which will give Him glory.

PRAY AND PRAISE GOD MORNING AND NIGHT

Proclamation:

“It is good to praise The Lord … proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night …” Psalm 92:1-2 (NIV)

Explanation:

Most Bible scholars, but not all of them, attribute this psalm to King David.  This is a song for the Sabbath day which was written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  Here the psalmist expounds upon the virtues and benefits of praising The Lord.  The benefits are that: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.  Those that be planted in the house of The Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.  They shall bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing ..." (Psalms 92:12-14)  He clearly states that the people ought to praise The Lord more than once each day, i.e. morning and night. 

Application:

These verses were recorded in a psalm for the Sabbath day.  Unfortunately, some of us only praise The Lord on Sunday when we attend worship services.  We breath every day, we eat every day, our hearts beat every day, and we should thank God and praise Him every day.  As believers we should give thanks and praise to The Lord in prayer the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night.  Doing this several additional times during the day would not be a bad idea either.  In fact, it would be good to praise Him all day long. (Psalm 34:1)  He is worthy of all of our praise. No one can comprehend the extent of His greatness. (Psalm 145:3)  Regularly and repeatedly praising The Lord will lead to the blessings of a long, productive, and fruitful life, even into one's old age.  “Praise The Lord…Let everything that has breath praise The Lord. (Psalm 150:1 and 6)

Praise The Lord For All His Blessings

"Praise The LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name.  Praise The LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits;  who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."  Psalms 103:1-5 (NIV)

This psalm of King David is a song of praise.  He encouraged the people to praise The Lord God with all that is within them because of all of the good things that He has done for them.  They should praise Him because He forgives their sins, heals their diseases, lifts them up when they fall, loves them in spite of their selves, and He gives them the desires of their hearts while He preserves strength and their ability to function.

We should praise and thank The Lord much more often than we do.  He has done so much for us.  He is worthy of all praise.  In fact, His praise should continually be in our mouths. (Psalms 34:1)  We have been blessed in more ways than we can count.  He wakes us up each day.  He forgives our many sins.  He blesses us with His loving kindness and His mercy.  He allows us to recover from illnesses.  He renews our strength.  He delivers us from death.  We ought to praise The Lord with all that is within us, and we ought to praise Him often.

How Often Should We Praise God

"Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws."  Psalms 119:164 (NIV)

The author of this psalm stated that he praised The Lord seven times each day.  Some Bible scholars take this literally to mean seven times a day.  While others suggest that the number seven is used here as a statement of perfection or completion, and therefore it means an attitude of continual praise.

How often should we praise The Lord?  The Prophet Ezra stated that The Lord should be praised every morning and every evening. (1 Chronicles 23:30)  King David said that he would praise The Lord "at all times" and then he said that he would continually speak praise unto The Lord. (Psalms 34:1)  An unknown author said that we should praise The Lord from this time forth and for evermore. (Psalms 115:18)  Another unknown author said that he would praise The Lord as long as he was alive. (Psalms 146:2)  It is my belief that most believers praise The Lord twice a day, in the morning upon waking and in the evening just before bedtime.  It is also my firm belief that most believers do not praise Him seven times each day.  It is also my belief that very few of us, if any of us, praise The Lord continually, all day long.  The Bible says that The Lord is to be praised from sun rise until sun set, literally all day long, or every waking moment of every day. (Psalms 113:3)  All of us fall short of this.  We all need to praise The Lord more often.  We need to get ready and practice praising Him, because that is what we will spend eternity doing in heaven. (Revelation 5:13)

Praise God From Sunrise To Sunset

"From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of The LORD is to be praised."  Psalms 113:3 (NIV)

This psalm of praise was sung was normally sung before the Passover meal.  The author is unknown.  The message, however, is quite clear, The Lord God is to be praised from the beginning of each day until the end of each day.

This verse literally says that we should praise God from sunrise to sunset.  However, some Bible scholars would say that it means that all who enjoy the benefit of a sunrise or a sunset should praise God. (Matthew Henry)  While other Bible scholars say that it means that we should praise God continually. (William MacDonald)  Still others say that we should praise God "from the first moment of consciousness in the morning to the last waking moment before sleep." (John MacArthur)  It is clear that we should praise God, and we should praise Him multiple times during each day, and not just during the daylight hours.  

The Lord Is To Be Praised

"From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of The LORD is to be praised."  Psalms 113:3 (NIV)

The psalmist states that God is to be praised from sunrise until sunset, literally all day long.  This implies that Christians ought to be continually praising God.

We are to praise God all from the first thing in the morning until the last thing at night.  Some of us wake up before the sun rises, and most of us stay up long after the sun sets.  So, we are to spend every waking moment praising The Lord.  We should strive to live in such a way that all we think, say, and do will give God glory.  If we could do that, we would live a perfect life.  However, due to our sinful nature, such is not humanly possible.  But just because that kind of perfection is not possible to attain, does not mean that it is not a goal that is well worth striving for.  We should all want to sing the song "Praise Is What I Do" and mean it.  Let's praise The Lord everyday, multiple times each day, and not just on Sundays.  Praising God is not just an action, it is an attitude, a way of life.  We should also sing "Praise Is Who I am" and mean that too.