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Praise
Let’s talk about praise. You know, good old fashioned worship. The kind that lifts you up where you can’t stop thinking about it long after you’re done. Praise that fills you up. Praise that sinks real low into your core and gives you a warm feeling of contentment and exaltation at the same time.
And I’m not sure about you, but along with praise I love a great anthem song. I love an inspiring old fashioned hymn. And I am moved by the ones that show heart. The ones that have a story behind them.
Kind of like the Psalms.
I feel like we can all use some praise time right now. Some time to give thanks and give glory to God. Because all through our toughest times. All through our bouts of loneliness or fear or discontentment; He is there waiting for us to come back to Him. He doesn’t push. He doesn’t force Himself on us. Yet, there He is. Watching over us. Speaking to us through the Holy Spirit. Waiting for our prodigal return.
Welcome Home
You see, when you feel lost or betrayed or confused or scared and you feel like you have no place to turn, He will welcome you back with open arms. When you feel disconnected. Or when you have allowed stress and busyness to control your thoughts and you’re not sure of the best tactic to take toward improving your fellowship time with your savior, know that there is a simple solution.
Connect
It doesn’t take anything fancy or intricate to connect with the LORD. It starts with prayer and opening your bible and reading. A good place to start is by visiting the Psalms. Or in studying the life of some of your Bible favorites. Some of mine are Joseph, Joshua, David, Esther, Ruth, Rahab, Mary Magdalene, Paul… There are so many! Or you could choose the gospel of John perhaps and study the life of Jesus. Because you see, right now what we all need is to connect to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. And I cannot think of a better way to do that than through praise. Using a great reference tool like The New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance is extremely useful for studying your bible. (The print is small so you may also want to order a full page magnifier such as this one, and remember it requires three AAA batteries as well.)
G.R.O.W.
I created this simple guide called G.R.O.W. You may have heard of the G.R.O.W. Bible Study Method and I’ve linked a study guide here for you to use in the future for that purpose. But, what I’m talking about right now is a purposeful plan to lead you to Grow in His Grace through
- Glorifying God
- Rejoicing in his promises
- Obeying his purpose for your life (which is to praise him by the way)
- Worshiping him
Feel free to print this G.R.O.W. plan out and write out your feelings and findings as you choose scripture that will lead you through each step.
If you’re a person that studies better by listening to music, choose uplifting praise and worship music or hymns that give you all the feels. I’ve listed a few of my favorites here.
Some of my Favorites
- All My Hope – David Crowder ft. Tauren Wells
- How He Loves Us – David Crowder
- Way Maker – Leeland
- Love Broke Thru – TobyMac
- King Of Glory – Third Day
- Great Are You Lord – Casting Crowns
Glorify
You may choose this prayer of David in Psalm 86 to start. By verse 5 he is thankful, praising the LORD for his mercy. By verse 8 he has begun his praise. And, I especially like verses 10 through 12. And, tip, I like to replace the talk of enemies later on with whatever is troubling me at the time and perhaps that will help you connect better as well.
Rejoice
I chose to mention here Philippians 4:4. Simple and to the point.
Rejoice in the LORD always: and again I say, rejoice always.
There is always reason to rejoice. We may not be happy in our circumstances. And, we may be struggling with doubts or fears or heartache, sickness, the loss of a loved one even. But, we always have reason to rejoice. We can always give praise to God who sent His only son to die for us. We have His promise and covenant and that, my friend, is reason to rejoice always. So flip to your concordance if you need to and find a passage that will inspire you in your rejoicing.
Obey
We’ve started out by glorifying the LORD. And, we’ve lifted our voices up to Him, rejoicing in His presence and His saving grace. Now we turn our thoughts to obeying His purpose for our lives. That is the heart of our praise and worship, isn’t it? Obedience. Christ Himself lived a life of obedience to His Father in Heaven. He set this example, of obeying God, so that we too could understand our own walk and obedience to Him.
though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him…
~Hebrews 5:8
Jesus gave us instruction for such obedience and promised to send the Holy Spirit, of whom would abide with and in us, to give us guidance and comfort.
If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
~John 14:23
Worship
One of the praise songs I mentioned above, Great Are You Lord, references Ezekiel 37. In this story, the Prophet Ezekiel is visited by the LORD. He challenges Ezekiel in asking him if the very bones he sees in this desert valley can rise and live again.
And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.”
~Ezekiel 37:3
I personally love the image this entails. Here Ezekiel was, placed down, (in the Spirit of the LORD), in this valley, before this great pile of dusty, dry bones. And even though he was looking upon this great showing of death and drought, yet he trusted, that upon his prophesy, those dry bones would come to life!
And as he prophesied, they indeed fleshed out and had an appearance of life but with no breath. And once again the LORD spoke to him and commanded him to prophesy life into those dead bodies and when he did, they came to life!
This is what worship can do for you! It can breathe new life and belief into your spirit and soothe your soul. I do hope this praise and worship tool will help you when you experience “dry bones”. When you need a boost, or a starting point, I pray you will be able to use this G.R.O.W. praise tool and it will assist you to Grow In His Grace. May it be multiplied in you so that others may be encouraged as well. ~Dale
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
~Psalm 95:6
