Praise God always! – Sis. Stella Dhinakaran

“I will bless the Lord at all times and His praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1).
King David was always praising the marvellous works and the wonders of the Lord by proclaiming, “I will bless the Lord at all times and His praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1). David was the man after God’s own heart. He was after the heart of God. He knew that God delights in praises and he always praised God. Whether it was tending sheep or tending Israel his heart was after what pleases God. God loves when we show our love for Him. When we value His love, His praises will automatically be on our lips and our hearts and that is how we worship God. Bible says, “Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel” (Psalm 22:3). Yes, God is enthroned in praises. We also read, “Above Him stood seraphim, each having six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they called out to one another: Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; His glory fills all the earth” (Isaiah 6:2,3). Angels are praising God all the time and so when we praise Him He comes to dwell within us.
 
There lived a man who was praising the Lord at all times with a grateful heart like David. Some people who saw this, made all attempts to somehow make him deny the Lord with his mouth, by speaking words of hatred against Jesus Christ and when he came to know about all their evil schemes against him, he prayed unceasingly that the Lord should make him a great witness for Him till the end. Therefore, the Lord gave him the strength to patiently bear every evil plan of these wicked people. He also enabled him to speak only words of praise at all times and when they saw this, they were surprised. They said, “We too should seek this great God of wonders in our lives and hold fast to Him.” The Lord through this one servant of God, enabled a large number of people to repent and return to Him and thus transformed their lives.

Dearly beloved! What a blessed privilege it is to be after God’s own heart. What a blessing it would be to have God enthroned in our lives. All that we need to do is to praise Him all the time. Praising Him does not mean we should be singing all the time. We should be thanking Him in our hearts.  We should “be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:18, 19, 20). So you should know the Lord Jesus Christ as Your Saviour and offer Him your praises so that He would do marvellous works and wonders in your life too and also surrender your lives to Him so as to enable others to receive this knowledge in their lives. 

Prayer:
Loving Saviour,

Thank You for teaching me and reminding me of what pleases You. Let Your praises always be on my lips and in my heart. Help me to be filled with Your Spirit so that I would always think of You and seek to please You in all that I do. Help me also to be the child after Your own heart.

In Your name I pray Lord Jesus, Amen.