🕊️ PRAY HERE Devotion 🕊️ Praise Check

Scripture: Psalm 150 KJV

“Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.

Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.

Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.

Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.

Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.

Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.”

Devotion :

We may not realize this, but sometimes we give the stranger who held the door for us more gratitude than we give the Waymaker, miracle-working God. 😬

You may be thinking:

“I only say THANK YOU! I don’t praise the person!”

Okay… but sometimes God doesn’t even get that simple “Thank You.” 😮‍💨

Whewww!

I’ve literally witnessed this over the years in church.

Someone says:

“PRAISE THE LORD!”

👏🏽…👏🏽…👏🏽

A few claps.

But then somebody says:

“Let’s give a hand to the pastor, the angel of this house!”

And suddenly the response sounds different!

👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Louder applause. Whistles. People standing.

Now, I know you love God. I know you’re thankful for everything He’s done.

BUT MAYBE YOU’VE BEEN KEEPING YOUR PRAISE IN WHEN YOU NEED TO LET IT OUT!

Maybe we don’t completely understand what praise looks like because praise comes in many forms.

Let’s read today’s Scripture together.

Psalm 150 tells us to praise God in His sanctuary.

Praise Him for His mighty acts.

Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.

Then it starts naming instruments.

Trumpets!

Harps!

Timbrels!

Stringed instruments!

Organs!

LOUD CYMBALS!

Then Scripture closes with:

“Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD.”

WHEWWWW! 🙌🏽🔥

DOES THAT SOUND QUIET TO YOU?!

😂

I’m not saying everybody has to praise God the exact same way. But Psalm 150 certainly doesn’t paint a picture of people who have nothing to express!

Think about WHO we’re praising.

The God who spared our lives.

The God who protected our families.

The God who healed us.

The God who provided when we didn’t know where it was coming from.

The God who kept some things from DESTROYING US.

The God who forgave us.

The God who saved us.

The God who woke us up THIS MORNING!

And we give Him…

👏🏽…👏🏽

OH NO! 😂

If anybody deserves our gratitude, honor, celebration, and praise…

GOD DOES!

That praise ought to sound like THUNDER sometimes! 🙌🏽🔥🔥🔥

And praise isn’t confined to Sunday morning.

At home, you can simply stop what you’re doing and tell God:

“Lord, THANK YOU! You’ve been GOOD to me!”

You can put on a worship song and sing to Him.

And yes, you can lift those hands right there in your living room and PRAISE HIM! 🙌🏽

You don’t need an organ.

You don’t need a praise team.

You don’t need a preacher telling you:

“COME ON, SOMEBODY!” 😂

You have something better.

YOU HAVE A REASON.

😊🙌🏽

Over the next few days, we’re going to learn more about the different ways we can praise God.

But today, we’re starting with a simple PRAISE CHECK.

Think about the praise and appreciation you freely give people.

Then think about the praise you’ve been giving God.

👀

Has He been better to you than your praise suggests?

Whewww! 😮‍💨

When I think of the goodness and grace of God…

MY SOUL CRIES OUT HALLELUJAH!

Before you get up and start doing everything else today, give God praise for waking you up THIS MORNING.

You have breath.

You have another day.

You have another opportunity.

And according to Psalm 150, that’s enough qualification right there:

“LET EVERY THING THAT HATH BREATH PRAISE THE LORD!”

🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🔥

HE IS WORTHY TO BE PRAISED!

Reflect & Respond

Here’s today’s Praise Check:

When was the last time you intentionally stopped everything just to praise God?

Not because you needed something.

Not because you were asking Him to fix something.

But simply because you remembered WHO HE IS and WHAT HE’S ALREADY DONE.

Before you move on with your morning…

GIVE GOD SOME PRAISE!

🙌🏽🔥

Prayer

Father God, I praise You!

You have been better to me than I could ever deserve.

Thank You for waking me up this morning. Thank You for protecting me, providing for me, keeping me, forgiving me, loving me, and saving me.

Lord, forgive me for the times I gave people more visible appreciation than I gave You.

Forgive me for the times I felt praise in my heart but held it in instead of giving You what You deserved.

I don’t ever want to become so familiar with Your goodness that I stop being amazed by it.

Teach me to praise You freely—not only in church, but in my home, in my car, throughout my day, and everywhere I go.

As long as there is breath in my body…

I WILL PRAISE THE LORD!

You are worthy.

You are wonderful.

You are faithful.

And YOU DESERVE MY PRAISE!

In Jesus’ name, Amen. 🙏🏽🙌🏽🔥💙