Make Me an Instrument of Praise

“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.”

Psalm 150

Years ago, one of our Ladies’ Banquet’s themes was “Make Me an Instrument of Praise.” We had an amazing night as we used many avenues of praise to worship the Lord. Our decorations were instruments and many other musical items. We were blessed as many of the ladies in our church volunteered to practice for several weeks to play chimes that night. There was even a skit about a praise choir. Our special singer sang a song that talked about praising the Lord as another lady beautifully signed the song as yet another form of praise. I taught the ladies a song about praise that I love to sing. “I Sing Praises to Your Name.” But the highlight of the evening was the praise that about 20 ladies gave by way of “cardboard testimonies.” Wow, what a precious time that was as they each went across the platform and first held up one side of their cardboard that talked of a trial or struggle in their life and then as they turned the cardboard over, they wrote the victory that God had brought into their lives. I told the ladies that night that I believe that God Himself stood up

from His throne in Heaven and applauded as He received the glory and praise from each lady.

“For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.”

Psalms 96:4

I ended the evening talking about being an instrument of praise. Webster’s dictionary describes an instrument this way: “a means whereby something is achieved, performed, or furthered.” Means! We are that means. What does praise mean? One definition is “praise is thanking God for Who and what He is.” In other words, it means to value Him, to esteem Him, to brag on Him. How often do we praise the Lord? Is it reserved for only on Sundays in church? Do we praise only when something good happens to us or God answers a prayer? Do we make it a practice to praise the Lord every day?

“Praise the Lord; for the Lord is good: sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant.”

Psalms 135:3

We need to praise the Lord all the time. He wants to be a part of our lives every single minute of every day. He loves when He hears His children shout or even whisper “Thank You God!” God wants our praise in the good times but guess what, He wants our praise in the midst of the bad times too. How much harder is it to praise the Lord in the middle of a trial or crisis? I’ll be the first to admit that yes, it is hard to do sometimes, isn’t it? But which praise do you think is sweeter in God’s ears? The good times or the bad? Praise that costs us something is always more precious to Him.

“O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.”

Psalms 63:1-3

Do you know another benefit of praising the Lord? Because it gets our focus off ourselves and on God. Sometimes we get so caught up in our “woe is me’s” that our only focus is on ourselves. That’s not what God wants for us but unfortunately, many people live this way. Did you know that when you are praising the Lord it's hard to be negative and it's hard to dwell on your pain either in your present time or in your past? Did you realize that as you praise the Lord, you begin to forget the problems? And did you know that when you praise the Lord and really mean it, it doesn't leave any room for complaining and being negative? And one of the best things is that it makes the enemy flee. Then all of a sudden, you forget what you were complaining about. Praising the Lord not only gives Him the honor and praise that is due Him but also refreshes your own spirit.

"I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth."

Psalm 34:1

So, let’s make an effort to find new ways to praise the Lord. Let’s make it part of our daily life. Praise Him every day not just on Sundays or when something good happens. Begin and end every prayer with praise. Read through the book of Psalms to see how the Psalmist praised the Lord. I love reading the psalms of David because although each chapter starts out in despair, it ends in victory and praising the Lord. Think about praise and begin to make it a part of your daily walk with the Lord and see how God will honor it in your life.

"The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him."

Psalm 28:7