The main reason we are here on earth is to give God pleasure.
Revelation 4.11 says, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou has created all things, AND FOR THY PLEASURE THEY ARE AND WERE CREATED" The very breath that we breathe, belongs to HIM, so we need to give it back to HIM. David says in Psalm 34.1: "I will bless the Lord at all times; HIS praise shall continually be in my mouth" And even as an ageing king in Psalm 71, he writes: "My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long…I will praise you more and more"
It is our only opportunity to give HIM the only food He enjoys- Praise and Worship- and this is the only thing you and I would be doing in heaven (no winning souls, no helping poor etc). So we may as well start now. And if we don't give HIM our praise, GOD says that HE would get the rocks to do it (How shameful- we who have HIS breath!)
But why is praising God so difficult? Simply put, praise does not come naturally to most of us. We have to learn to praise. The very first reason I believe why we find it difficult is because we are just not accustomed to praising others, leave alone God. The second reason is that praise requires us to set ourselves aside and keep and think of God first- after all it is because of Him and for Him we live. And the third reason is that, in order to start praising, we need to change our pattern of life. We must take time to focus on God and His attributes. Therefore praising the Lord is not some kind of casual meaningless activity.
Now what can praising God do to you? Praising God has the power to change our lives. Praise takes our mind off our own selves and helps us see who God is. It transforms the perspective from which we approach life and places us in the context of who God is. Praise helps us recognize God and His ability to impact our lives, and reminds us that He loves us and is deeply involved in every detail of our daily living.
And here is something that can stir you up to praise HIM more. Psalm 67:3, 5, 6 says: "Let the people praise Thee, O God; Let all the people praise Thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase, and GOD, even our own GOD, shall bless us". Note the word 'then' in vs. 6. Most times we want God to bless us, then, we would think of possibly praising HIM. But see what vs. 6 says, "THEN". In other words, you start praising HIM first in faith, even before you've received anything and THEN see HIM pour out HIS blessings, because GOD dwells in the midst of praise (Psalm 22.3).
So I pray that this small but powerful book: 'Raise your Praise all 365 Days' will help you do just that. You will find 366 bible verses exclusively on praising God- one for every day of the year, including one for a leap year. You could use it as an everyday tool, by reading that day's verse and reflecting on God's Goodness, Greatness, Glory, Grace and His Gifts that He has blessed you with and all that you see around you- or you could just decide to use it completing all the 366 verses at one go.
I pray that this will be a blessing to you in your times of private worship.
