Psalms 34:1, “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Psalms 66:2, “Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.” Psalms 66:8-9, “O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard: Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved.” Psalms 106:2, “Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew forth all his praise?” Psalms 106:12, “Then believed they his words; they sang his praise.” Psalms 149:1, “Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.” Proverbs 27:21, “As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise.” Isaiah 42:10, “Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.” Isaiah 42:12, “Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.”
Did you know that God loves to be praised? He sure does! We know that truth for a few reasons. First, God created man in His divine image. God exists in the three persons of the Godhead; namely, the Father, the Son and The Holy Spirit. In the book of Psalms, which contains 150 chapters, the word “praise” appears 150 times. I thought that was pretty amazing and more than a mere coincidence. David was a man after God's own heart, and He loved praising his God. The Lord loves man's praise, not because He is an egocentric God, but because God is love, and those who raise Him love Him. God desires to be loved dear friend. The Lord is worthy of our love. 2nd Samuel 22:4, “I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.”
God created man in His own image. Just as God is triune in nature, so also are humans spirit, soul and body. What saith the Scripture? 1st Thessalonians 5:23, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Man is comprised of a SPIRIT and SOUL and BODY. Man is not a body with a spirit, but a spirit inside a body. When the body can no longer house the soul and spirit, death occurs. Ecclesiastes 12:7, “The spirit of a man is life. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” When we die, our spirit returns to God that gave it.
By the way, this verse also exposes abortion as first-degree premediated murder (Exodus 20:13). God is the Giver of all life. The Bible says God gives a spirit to each and every human being. When you see that contemptible creature—whether it be the smelly homeless person, the hardened criminal, or the obnoxious person with a few loose marbles upstairs—God loves them all, enough so that God's only begotten Son died on the cross to pay for their sins (John 3:16; Romans 5:6-9). Man is a threefold being, just like God. We are one entity of spirit, soul and body. Likewise, there is one God (Deuteronomy 6:4), Who exists as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19-20).
Proverbs 27:21, “As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise.” Humans love to be praised. I do and so do you. A fining pot is used for refining metals, to purify silver and other precious metals. As the metals are heated, the heavier elements settle on the bottom of the furnace, and the lighter elements rise to the top. That is exactly how giant oil refineries work today. On the very top is propane gas that is produced, and on the bottom is the thick pasty grease used for wheel-bearings. Gas and diesel fuel are somewhere in between.
The Bible teaches that in the same manner that praise purifies human character. A wise wife understands that by using the powerful tool of praise, she can build strong, good, positive characters traits in both her children and husband. And likewise, men can build up or tear down their wives. Many men are jerks. A husband needs to give his wife reasons to stay. A wife needs lots of praise. Now, every family member will have faults, but we all have to choose whether we will criticize the bad or praise the good. Strong, healthy and happy families are raised to praise! Five minutes of praise will do more for a person than a lifetime of criticism. Instead of being critical, we should always offer solutions to fix or improve things.
People are not thankful because they are happy, they are happy because they are thankful. Romans 1:21-22, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,” I hear so many people express bitterness and hatred toward God. We are so spoiled as Americans. I recently watched a video about the 150,000 homeless people in California.
There is ALWAYS something to be thankful for. If you are not stuck in a wheelchair, as are so many people in the world, then you have a lot to be thankful for. In the United States alone 3,000,000 people use a wheelchair full-time. If you can walk and take care of yourself, you ought to jump up and down with joy, praising God for His goodness. If you have food on the table you should thank God. If you don't have food on the table you should thank God, because in America there is always somewhere to obtain food if you need some. There are many places in this world where if you don't have any food, there is nowhere to go to get any. Many places in Africa today are without food, and there is no help available for various reasons. The COVID-19 pandemic has put 370,000,000 people in the world at risk of starvation in 2021.
One homeless man in Los Angeles, who was searching for food in a smelly dumpster, quoted a Bible verse about God meeting his needs. The man had a thankful spirit toward God, for providing food for him in a dumpster. That man is thankful to God, so no matter what bad things happen to him, He will always be thankful. I was humbled when I saw that. May we always maintain a spirit of thanksgiving toward our God, no matter what befalls us in life. Philippians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” I think one of the main reasons why believers don't receive answers to prayer is a spirit of ingratitude. As we just read, the Bible teaches to bring everything to God in prayer, with thanksgiving. James 4:6 teaches that God resists the proud. Not having a thankful spirit toward God at all times is sinful pride.
God loves to receive praise, which shows Him that we love Him. After the six days of creation in Genesis, God rested to look over what He had made. As a habit, I read over my articles when I am done. I usually find many typos and fix them. I apologize for the ones that I miss. I like to look back over my work, to see if it is acceptable and good, just like God did in Genesis. We are created in God's image. We are created in God's image in multiple ways. Not only are we three-fold in nature (spirit, soul and body) as is God triune in His nature (Father, Son and Holy Spirit); but also, we are like God in that we love to be praised, we desire to look over our work to see if it is good, and we want to be loved. People just want to be loved.
It is impossible to praise God and complain at the same time. Just like it is impossible to have a plan of salvation that is by both grace and works (Romans 11:6). The moment that we start to worry we stop trusting God. The moment we start trusting God, we stop worrying. When we complain, we are not doing so with a thankful heart. I am happy because I am thankful. I am thankful because I choose to look at all the blessings God has given me. Many people choose to look at what they don't have, and are therefore miserable. Hey, my name is written in Heaven in the Lamb's Book of Life. That is something I can and should rejoice about continually.
“Praising God in the valley may not do away with the pain or sorrow or difficulty in your life, but it will bring you into the presence of the Lord.” —Pastor Jeff Fugate
I am lonely because of the wickedness of professed Christians today. The Harvest Baptist Church on Guam has sinfully ostracized me since 2014. They hate me because I told THE TRUTH to help them (Galatians 4:16). I haven't had a church family over the past 6 years, and my blood is on their hands at Harvest. Marty Herron is in big trouble with God. Gary Walton is in big trouble with God. Steve Pettit is in big trouble with God. These men have betrayed the inspired Word of God. But it is not God's fault that the Bob Jones University crowd lack His love for hurting people like me.
You see, the Bob Jones crowd stopped walking with God a long time ago. They use, sell and promote the Devil's corruptible seed (Genesis 3:15; Luke 8:11; Proverbs 30:5-6). They preach the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 13:23-24; Acts 15:1, 24; Galatians 1:6-9). But I am bigger than they are spiritually. I still love them while preaching the truth; even as they hate and reject me for exposing them for telling lies! Psalms 109:4-5, “For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer. And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.”
I never thought when I graduated from Hyles-Anderson College (HAC) in 1993, after eight years of pastoral training, that my biggest enemy would one day be the Bob Jones crowd. Many of my teachers at HAC were BJU alumni, back when BJU was still truly Fundamentalist. Sadly, BJU has gone to the dogs spiritually in recent decades. Take a look at how their female students dress today (I got this photo from BJU's Facebook page). That is shameful! No girl should walk around with her buttocks on display. BJU has moved away from the hope of the Gospel, foolishly embracing the folly of Dr. John MacArthur's Lordship Salvation.
Dr. Steve Pettit has been the theologically incompetent president of BJU since 2014. God desires our praise dear reader. It will change your life forever if you'll learn to start praising God every day for the wonderful things He has made around you. I praise God when I see the sun, moon and stars. God's wisdom and power is seen so clearly in science, history and astronomy. I praise God when I see the colors in a peacock's feathers. I thank God for every meal I eat. I thank God for another day of life. I thank God for eyes to see, ears to hear, a mouth to speak, a tongue to taste, and a nose to smell. Many people lack those blessings. We take everything for granted as human beings. Being thankful to God starts by taking time to notice all the little things in life that make it such a blessing. Slow down and pay attention.
Five minutes of praise will do more for a person than a lifetime of criticism.
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