Psalm 148:1 (NKJV) “Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise Him in the heights!”
Recently, God spoke to me about humility and how praise is key to godly humility. He said, “Humility is not how you imagine it. You think of humility as lowly, like face-on-the-ground, or “less than” existence. Humility is not low like that; it is just lower than Me. It’s more like a hot air balloon. As you exalt Me, the balloon, I lift you up, the basket. When you place Me first and humble yourself below Me, then I raise you up to heights where you could never go on your own.” Then, He reminded me of what was spoken of Moses. Moses was referred to as “…very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth…” Numbers 12:3 (NKJV). God took Moses to the heights of Mt. Sinai and spoke to Moses face to face. As in the image of the hot air balloon, one of the chief ways we exalt God and humble ourselves is through praise. When we praise God like the psalmist did in Psalm 148, we are raised up with God in His creation, which is also declaring His majesty.
As Christians, we are identified in the Bible as priests and kings. Only is this identity fully walked out as we submit ourselves to Almighty God. Praise gives us freedom and authority to walk in the fullness of our identity as sons and daughters of God as well. Praise is also a weapon. Praise accomplishes mighty feats in the spiritual realm and then releases them in our earthly realm. Praise breaks chains of bondage. Praise releases healing. Praise is powerful. But praise lifted for the purpose of gaining any of the aforementioned blessings is flattery, performance, or manipulation. This type of worship places our needs and desires above God. We must be careful to confess and repent of this kind of worship. God wants our praise. He deserves it. He is worthy of our wholehearted, fully abandoned, no-agenda worship. When we get the order right, not only do we bless God, but He blesses us in return in ways beyond all we could ask or imagine.
Try starting praise like this: Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty, who was and is and is to come…declare His goodness and worth. Shout it. Whisper it. Cry it. Sing it. Get low before Him and allow Him to take you on the heights of His glory.
[As adapted from The Bondage Breaker and Stomping Out The Darkness by Dr. Neil Anderson and Dr. Dave Park.]