Praise Is for the Lord

God is everywhere, even in hell, so how were Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:9-10) able to hide from God? There is an essential presence of God, which means that God is everywhere, but there is also an influential presence, such as our fellowshipping with Him, which can be covered up. We prepare God a habitation by our praise. Listening to praise and worship music is not preparing a habitation for God. Praise is aloud and loud. In Psalm 22:2-5, a Messianic psalm, it says that Moses and the Israelite fatherscried to the Lord. Luke 18:38-43 tells about the blind man crying out to Jesus for Him to heal him. He was annoyingly loud to the point that he was rebuked and told to be quiet. What did he do? He became louder! He was so loud that Jesus stood still and healed the man. Then, the other people started to praise Jesus, too.  We know Paul and Silas were loud in the prison, because the other prisoners heard them. Worship is for God, not to give you some emotion. Our praise is to Him, because He is holy. He is enthroned in the praises of His people. You don’t naturally want to praise God, and in fact, something in you inhibits your praising. When it says in Psalm 149:5-9, “Let them sing aloud on their beds”, it means that on the bed of sickness and affliction, we are to lift our praises to Him. [Pastor Dale shared the time he rescued a beaten-up missionary in Romania.] Praise binds difficulties, and sometimes that means that you have to praise in spite of heavy oppression. Praise Him until you get a note of victory. Heaven is a noisy place (Revelation 19:1). Salvation, glory, honor, and power belong to the Lord our God. Praise Him!