G’day Church,
Hebrews 13:15-16 tells us to “..continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name… for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
Whenever I come across a passage in the Word of God that tells us how we can please God, I am immediately interested in it. As a good Father, God loves us unconditionally but our decisions, attitudes of heart and actions determine whether or not our lives are pleasing to Him. There is a big difference!
Living a life that understands the power of offering a sacrifice of praise to God is a life that pleases Him! It is also a mark of life mature person of faith, something we are aspiring to be as a church. So how does this work in practice?
A SACRIFICE
The truth is being a person of Praise is a commitment, not a feeling or a good idea. And because we don’t always feel like praising the Lord it takes a sacrifice to do it. A sacrifice of the flesh, of pride, of caring about what others think of us, of our inhibitions. To sacrifice means “to surrender something of value for something that is even more precious”. Jesus is that far more precious thing!
THE FRUIT OF LIPS
Praise comes from our mouths, it is verbal in expression. It is impossible to praise God internally. There may be plenty going on on the inside of you in our times of Praise, but unless it makes its way out into audible words and expression, it isn’t praise! There is a power in verbally proclaiming the Truth of Jesus Christ, to the Lord, to the demonic principalities and powers and to yourself.
TO HIS NAME
It is the destiny of all creation to give Praise to the Lord Jesus Christ. As Jesus says, if we don’t praise Him “the rocks will cry out” (Luke 19:40). We are built to worship and to offer praise to something or someone. We choose the object of our praise. The same mouth that praises a football team, or a rock star, or even your own husband / wife / kids was created to offer praise to HIS NAME. Don’t sell your life short by offering praise to things of far lesser value than the one true and living God.
The bible promises us in praise we can witness the manifest presence of God (Ps 22:3), that the enemy is silenced when we praise Him (Ps 8:2), and that the Spirit of despair or depression lifts when we walk in the way of Praise - “continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name”.
God bless you Church
Finish 2011 Well,
Ps Bruce
