Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.  Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.  Knowing ye that the Lord he is God:  it is he that hath made us, and not ourselves; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations – Psalm 100:1-5.

The Hebrew verb for make a joyful shout is a highly charged command for public praise.  The command is addressed not just to Israel but to all the earth.  The Israelites were to be a people who would attract the nations to worship God.  The word “praise” in the superscription is actually the word “thanksgiving” or thank-offering that one presented when God had especially answered a prayer or given a great deliverance. Praise is powerful in places us in the presence of God.There is power in praise, the power of God is released to the believer while the believer praises God.  But to be effective, praise must come from the heart and be a lifestyle, not just a mechanical gimmick used as a means of escape when we get in trouble.  That’s not true praise, true praise flows out of a loving relationship with our Father.  We praise God because we love and trust Him, not because we’re trying to manipulate Him to do something for us.   Often people who have been born again or healed are deeply grateful to God and praise Him continually for His blessings, but sometimes it seems that those who have been saved for years and have walked under the protective hand of God fail to praise God as we should.  It’s almost as if we take God’s blessings for granted.

God doesn’t just want us to praise Him while we’re in church, and we’re instructed to praise Him.  God wants the praise to be sincere, gratitude is so real, you don’t need anyone to pump and prime you to praise God.  When you think about how He gave His Son to redeem you from sin and then being reconciled to God, that’s a praise in itself.  True praise will rise in your heart when the Word of God is being preached or taught, you don’t need music to praise Him!  In order to experience this power of praise and live in victory, we must make sure we’re obedient to God and His Word.

Determine to live a life of consecration to God in every area of your life the praise will automatically begin to flow from a heart of gratitude.  When we praise God from our hearts it places us in the presence of God and the angels of God.  The angels are in presence saying “Holy, holy, holy”, they are praising God, so when we praise Him, He dwells in the praises.  Praising God will remove sadness, it will remove depression and oppression. Praising God brings about changes in our lives and in our circumstances when we’re praising Him from the heart.  You will find that praises are one way God has provided for us to rise above the circumstances and issues of life which sometimes try to press upon us and keep us down and discouraged.

When you woke us today, that calls for a praise, looked around and you were in your apartment or home, that’s a praise break.  Walking without a cane or walker, praise!  Going to a place of employment, praise! Money in your pocket and bank account, praise! Having family and friends, praise! Most of all having a relationship and fellowship with the Father and Holy Spirit, praise!