Praising the Lord Enthrones and Exalts Him and makes us Soar in our Christian life

Praise is the highest work carried out by God’s children and the highest expression of our spiritual life; praising the Lord is the way to soar in our Christian life.

We have been enjoying the matter of the prayer of the church as the Body of Christ, and now we come to the matter of praising the Lord. Praise is a work, a labor, something that doesn’t come naturally but we need to exercise to have and utter.

However, we shouldn’t think that prayer is one thing and praise is another. Prayer and praise is a continuum, and they follow and involve one another. There would be no praise without prayer, and prayer is something without a goal if there’s no praise.

We need to praise the Lord more, based not on what we feel and how our situation is, but based on what God is and what He has done. Our praising the Lord has much to do with spiritual warfare.

In Acts we see how Paul and Silas were in prison in Philippi, and in the middle of the night, while they were praying, they sang Hymns of praise. While we pray, we can praise the Lord, and as we praise the Lord, He is enthroned upon our praises.

As we pray, we are being led into a transcendent state in which we cannot but praise the Lord.

When we make mention of others before the Lord, we should do so with thanksgiving, which is also a matter of praise. We shouldn’t just ask God about this one or that one, but we should thank Him for what He is to us.

Another example of prayer and praise going together is in the book of Revelation, where we see the elders and four living creatures are praising the Lamb, and they had bowls with incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

As they were singing praises, they had the prayers of the saints with them. These two things must be practiced together. We need to turn our focus from our situation and condition and praise the Lord. Praising the Lord has nothing to do with us – it has everything to do with the Lord Himself.

When prayer doesn’t work, and when we don’t even know what to pray about because our situation is so complicated and intermixed, when we don’t even have the strength to pray or tell the Lord about our situation, we should just praise the Lord.

Praising the Lord will enthrone Him. Our sacrifice of praise will satisfy Him. Praising the Lord – no matter what our situation is and indifferent of the circumstances – will cause us to soar above everything and everyone, and will join us to the Lord to overcome the enemy.

Praising the Lord Enthrones and Exalts Him and makes us Soar in our Christian life

God’s throne is the highest point in the universe, and yet, He sits enthroned upon the praises of His people (Psa. 22:3). How does His throne look like? His throne looks like praises, for God is enthroned on the praises of His saints.

We don’t even need a reason to praise – we simply need to praise the Lord for what He is, and we will enthrone Him! Praise the Lord! God reigns! This is a declarative praise, not begging or feeling sorry for ourselves….we need to look up, get out of ourselves, and take a look at God. Then, we will praise Him!

We may be on our way to work, but we praise the Lord! We may be driving or riding our bike, but we praise the Lord! Wherever we are and whatever we are doing, we need to be those praising the Lord! God’s name and even God Himself is exalted through praise.

Whomever we praise, we exalt; we may think that God is so high that He can’t go higher, but actually He wants His people to praise Him, so that He may be exalted even higher and enthroned even more!

Our praise causes the Lord to be enthroned! Praise the Lord! David said that he prayed three times a day, but he praised God seven times a day (see Psa. 55:17; 119:164). Our Christian life soars through praises, for praising the Lord causes us to transcend everything to touch Him!

Too many times we are earthly people, walking with our heads down looking at our situations; our Christian life should be a life of praising the Lord, thus mounting wings like eagles by taking Jehovah as our strength!

When we praise the lord, we ascend on high with Him and are seated with Him in the heavenlies! Let’s soar! Let’s not remain on earth, being weighed down by things and situations, but transcend all this stuff by praising the Lord!

When we praise the Lord, we are one with Him instantly – we are joined to Him in spirit, in the heavenlies!

Praise the Lord! Lord, You are worthy to be praised! We lift up our eyes from our situation and condition and we focus on You! Hallelujah, Jesus is Lord! Christ is Victor! He has defeated and destroyed Satan on the cross, and now all things are under His feet! Praise the Lord, we are one with Him in spirit, and we are joined to Him to share in all that He is, has done, and has accomplished! Hallelujah, we are in Christ, and Christ is over all things! Praise the Lord Jesus Christ!

David appointed Levites to play instruments to commemorate, thank, and praise God before the Ark of the Covenant of God (see 1 Chron. 16:4-6). He wanted that the serving ones would not just work and take care of God’s service but some of them would just praise the Lord full-time!

This is what we will be doing for eternity; don’t think we will be “bored” doing nothing for eternity – we will be busy praising the Lord, singing, psalming, and saying Hallelujah!

When Solomon completed the building of Jehovah’s temple, the priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah into the Holy of Holies; when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the Levites stood beside the altar, sounded the trumpets, and sang with cymbals, harps, and lyres; together they sounded praise to God, and at that moment the glory of Jehovah filled His house (2 Chron. 5:7, 12-14).

We should turn all our questions to God, our complaints to Him, and our murmurings into praises to God. We should praise the Lord all our life; we should sing praises to our God (Psa. 146:2). Our life should be full not only of prayers but also of praise.

When we, the many sons of God, meet as the church and praise the Father, Christ as the Firstborn Son of God sings hymns of praise to the Father in our singing (see Heb. 2:12).

How can the Son praise the Father if we don’t praise the Father? When we get together, we should sing to the Father, enjoy His presence, His moving, His anointing, and His life-imparting within us by praising the Lord!

When we praise the Lord, He is enthroned upon our praises, we soar in our Christian life, and His name is exalted!

We praise You, Lord Jesus! We may not know what’s going on, but we give You all the glory! Lord, You are worthy to be praised. Fill our life and daily living with much praises to the Lord. May the glory of God fill church as the house of God as the believers in Christ are praising the Lord! Hallelujah, praise the Lord! We enthrone You, Lord Jesus! You are the Lord, You have the lordship, and You are the One who is ruling both over the universe and in our life! Praise the Lord Jesus!

Offering God a Sacrifice of Praise Continually, even when we Experience Hardships

Through the Lord Jesus Christ we need to offer up to God a sacrifice of praise continually, that is, the fruit of lips confessing His name (Heb. 13:15).

Many times praising the Lord seems impossible, so we need to offer God a sacrifice by praising Him with our lips and confessing His name. We need to praise the Lord with strength, by opening our mouth and praising Him; the more we praise the Lord, the more strength we gather.

We shouldn’t use only our mind to praise the Lord but especially our lips, our tongue, and our throat. Don’t love your throat: love God and praise God! Don’t take care too much of yourself: take care of God’s glory!

In the book of Psalms we see many praises to God, but at the same time we see a lot of sufferings; it seems that sufferings and praises go together in the experience of God’s people (see Psa. 8:1-2; 84:4-6; 42:7, 11; 45:1-2).

God wants His people to know that the praising ones are the very ones who have been led through trying situations and whose feelings have been wounded, and yet God perfected praises out of these ones.

We may be wounded; we may be going through trying situations which others may not know of, and we may be in much tribulation. In such situations, may praise issue out of our mouth; God perfects praises out of the suffering ones.

It is easy to praise God when we’re doing well – even though many times we forget to praise God when everything is fine; but when we don’t understand what’s going on, it is harder to praise, but this can create a deeper praise in our being!

Words of praise rarely come from the mouths of the smooth-sailing ones, but it is precious when they come out of those under discipline and trial.

In the book of Psalms we see a lot of wounded feelings, and it is here that we see the greatest and highest praises. God uses many hardships, difficulties, and slanders to create praises in His people; He causes His people to learn through difficult circumstances to become praising persons before the Lord.

The happiest people are not those who have everything going well for them; rather, the loudest praise comes very often from the ones who are passing through hardships, adverse environments, and downtrodden feelings.

This kind of praise, this sacrifice of praise, is most pleasing to God and is blessed by Him (see Psa. 23:4). The nature of praise is an offering, a sacrifice; praise comes from pain, suffering, and loss.

God wants that we as His children would praise Him through everything and in every situation. We all may have had such an experience of praising the Lord not with laughter but with tears, not with joy but with pain, not with gain but in loss. In such situations we may not have prayers to utter, but we can praise.

We praise the Lord for what we go through – even though we don’t understand it. Such a praise matures us; the outward environment and situations strip us, but the praise matures us.

Lord Jesus, we want to offer up a sacrifice of praise through Christ to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips confessing His name! Oh Lord Jesus, we confess Your name, we praise Your name, and we call on Your name even when we go through hardships, trials, and tribulation. May praise be perfected out of our mouth even as we are led through trying situations or when our feelings are wounded. Lord, may we offer You a sacrifice of praise even when we’re passing through hardships, adverse environments, and downtrodden feelings. Amen, Lord, we praise You even though we don’t understand what’s going on. Lord, You know – and that is good enough for us!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message given by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 48, “Messages for Building Up New Believers (1),” ch. 16, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Spiritual Warfare of the Church as the New Man (2018 Memorial Day Conference), week 6, The Prayer of the Age to Fulfill God’s Economy and the Sacrifice of Praise to Display Christ’s Victory.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # O let us rejoice in the Lord evermore, / Though all things around us be trying, / Though floods of affliction like sea billows roar, / It’s better to sing than be sighing. / Then rejoice evermore, rejoice evermore, / It is better to sing than be sighing: / It is better to live than be dying; / So let us rejoice evermore. (Hymns #717)
  # Praise to the Lord! Oh, let all that / is in me adore Him! / All that hath life and breath, come / now with praises before Him! / Let the Amen / Sound from His people again; / Gladly for aye we adore Him. (Hymns #166)
  # Our mouth shut up defeats us / And wins the Devil’s smile; / So why not open battle / And chase him all the while. / By “sacrifice of praises” / And shouts of victory— / ’Twill cost us but our faces / God’s chosen fools to be! (Hymns #1095)