PRAISE
When we bless
God for mercies, we usually prolong them. When we bless God for miseries, we
usually end them. Praise is the honey of life which a devout heart extracts
from every bloom of providence and grace.
Doth not all
nature around me praise God? If I were silent, I should be an exception to the
universe. Doth not the thunder praise Him as it rolls like drums in the march
of the God of armies? Do not the mountains praise Him when the woods upon their
summits wave in adoration? Doth not the lightning write His name in letters of
fire? Hath not the whole earth a voice? And shall I, can I, silent be?
C.H. Spurgeon
There should
be a parallel between our supplications and our thanksgivings. We ought not to
leap in prayer, and limp in praise.
C.H. Spurgeon
The Treasury of David, Comments on Psalm 61:8.
Praise is the
rehearsal of our eternal song. By grace we learn to sing, and in glory we
continue to sing. What will some of you do when you get to heaven, if you go on
grumbling all the way? Do not hope to get to heaven in that style. But now
begin to bless the name of the Lord.
C.H. Spurgeon
No chorus is too loud, no orchestra too large, no Psalm too lofty for the
lauding of the Lord of Hosts.
C. H. Spurgeon
The Treasury of
David, Psalm 145.
But the most
obvious fact about praise – whether of God or anything – strangely escaped me.
I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had
never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise…The world
rings with praise – lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite
poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game…
My whole, more general, difficulty about the praise of God depended on my
absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to
do, what indeed we can’t help doing, about everything else we value. I think we
delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but
completes the enjoyment; it is the appointed consummation.
C.S. Lewis
Reflections on the Psalms, Brace and World,
1958, p. 94-95.
A heart full
of thoughts about the splendor of who God is and what God does can no more
conceive of an end of praise than it can conceive of an end of God.
Sam Storms
Copied
from: Pleasures Evermore: The Life-Changing Power of Knowing God by Sam Storms,
© 2000, p. 201-202. Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.org. All rights
reserved.
God’s pursuit
of my praise of Him is not weak self-seeking but the epitome of self-giving
love! If my satisfaction in Him is incomplete until expressed in praise of Him
for satisfying me, then God’s effort to solicit my worship is both the most
loving thing He could possibly do for me and the most glorifying thing He could
possibly do for Himself. For in my gladness in Him is His glory in me.
Sam Storms
Copied
from: Pleasures Evermore: The Life-Changing Power of Knowing God by Sam Storms,
© 2000, p. 218. Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.org. All rights
reserved.
We praise
what we enjoy because the delight is incomplete until it is expressed in
praise. If we were not allowed to speak of what we value, and celebrate what we
love, and praise what we admire, our joy would not be full. So if God loves us enough to make our joy
full, He must not only give us Himself; He must also win from us the praise of
our hearts – not because He needs to store up some weakness in Himself or
compensate for some deficiency, but because He loves us and seeks the fullness
of our joy that can be found only in knowing and praising Him, the most
magnificent of all Beings.
John Piper
Desiring God, Bethlehem Baptist Church, 1996, p. 49, used by
permission, www.desiringGOD.org.
Satan so
hates the genuine praise of Christ that his fiery darts of discouragement are not effective against us when we respond in praise.
Bill Thrasher
A Journey to Victorious Praying, Moody Publishers, 2003, p. 206.
Self-love may
lead us to prayers, but love to God excites us to praises.
Thomas Manton
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 209.
Alas, for
that capital crime of the Lord’s people- barrenness in praises! Oh, how fully I
am persuaded that a line of praises is worth a leaf of prayer, and an hour of
praises is worth a day of fasting and mourning.
John Livingstone
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 209.
Praising God
is one of the highest and purest acts of religion. In prayer we act like men; in
praise we act like angels.
Thomas Watson
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 209.
If we would
talk more about the Lord and praise Him, we would have less time to talk about
ourselves.
M.R. DeHaan
If we want to
prepare for our final destination, we should begin to worship God here on
earth. Our arrival in heaven will only be a continuation of what we have
already begun. Praise is the language of heaven and the language of the
faithful on earth.
Erwin Lutzer
Taken from One Minute After You Die by Erwin Lutzer,
Moody Publishers, 1997, p. 87-88.
Eternity will
be too short fully to recount His praise. Let us not shorten our joy by
neglecting to begin on earth.
Henry Law
Psalm 100, 1878.