Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times
offer up to God a sacrifice of praise,
which is the fruit of lips
that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.
Hebrews 13:15
Oh, what encouragement I have received this week as I’ve read daily through the Seeking Him devotional! (You, too?) Ann, Ahmee, Clella, Cynda, and Tina have each written devotionals reminding me of the importance of offering my praise—a sacrifice of praise—to our wonderful Father God and drawing me closer to the One Who I do seek to praise and glorify!
In The Fruit Of Lips, Cynda took a good in-depth look at just what a ‘sacrifice of praise’ is and also asked a really good question…along with a few answers she found.
“But why are we compelled (Hebrews 13:15) to do it ‘constantly and at all times’? Here are just a few of the reasons I found:
- it glorifies God and pleases Him
- (because of) His enduring love and goodness
- because Jesus did
- it is our shared inheritance
But, I think my favorite reason for giving thanks is to tell others and remind myself of all He has done in my life.“
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Then, Ann gave us some great reasons in Praise At All Times just WHY we praise God—
- for what He has done (Psalm 9:11)
- a four-fold reason— because we are “…a chosen people, a loyal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God….” (1 Peter 2:9)
- and, as a commandment (Psalm 63:7)
She wrote, “So we are all to praise God; let us make a choice of doing so in the morning …in the afternoon …and in the evening time!”
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Clella shared a wonderful translation of Hebrews 13:15 with us in Proclaim Allegiance To His Name. She wrote,
“The New Living Translation says it this way:
Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God,
proclaiming our allegiance to His Name.
The phase ‘proclaiming our allegiance to His Name’ popped out at me. It sounded so different than the other translations that refer to ‘the fruit of lips that confess His Name.’ I just had to do a little research to understand what this verse is really saying.
– to “confess” God’s Name is to declare, state, acknowledge His Name
– to “proclaim allegiance” is to announce publicly, or to declare something one considers important with due emphasis, which in this case would be one’s loyalty or commitment of a subordinate to a superior.”
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In Verbal Sacrifice, Ahmee brought us back to the central element in Hebrews 13:15 of ‘sacrifice.’ She reminded us of reasons we have to offer our sacrifice of praise.
“Those days when you don’t feel like giving praise are the days when praise is a sacrifice. When we praise God even in our less-than-favorable moments we are saying to Him — and those around us —
- God is our God
- we trust Him with our lives
- we trust in Someone bigger than us
- we have the Almighty on our side to fight for us”
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And in Giving Thanks Tina encouraged us to remember how abundantly blessed we are here in the USA.
“The Pilgrims were so grateful to have a land to call their own and the freedom to worship God. After such a hard crossing and a hard harvest, they decided to celebrate and praise God for what they had. Let us do the same. Continuous praise should be on our lips and in our thoughts.
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So after being encouraged and admonished this week reading these devotionals each day, I am determined to be thankful to God not only on Thanksgiving Day but the next day…each day. We are to be thankful, joyful people today, tomorrow, and every day! Truly living in this manner—
Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times
offer up to God a sacrifice of praise,
which is the fruit of lips
that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.
Hebrews 13:15
Here’s My Thankful Heart
My open hands receive blessings You pour out on me
Your tender care restores my soul
Your faithfulness endures, as mercy covers all my sin
Your perfect love has made me whole
Beyond the words I’m searching for
I long to give You something more
Here’s my thankful heart, thankful heart
Offered up in gratitude for all You’ve done for me
Here’s my thankful heart, thankful heart
Offered up in praise to You
I’m unworthy of the gift of Your unfailing love
But You embrace me as I am
You provide my needs, and raise a harvest from the seeds I sow in vain
I bless Your Name
Beyond the words I’m searching for
I long to give You so much more
From the raising of the sun
‘Til it’s going down
The name of the Lord be praised
Written by Gary Forsythe
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We can offer up our thankful hearts to our ABBA Father at any time; while
The vital point is THAT we DO give praise to Him out of the abundance of our thankful hearts!!!
Listening to this sweet song, this is my oh-so-very-favorite part:
Beyond the words I’m searching for I long to give You so much more….
How about you…do you ever find yourself exclaiming that same thought to God? Oh, I do! So often I am simply without adequate words to tell God all that is in my heart! (As if He does not already know!!!) But I am encouraged that He wants us (you and me!) to come to Him with all that is in our little hearts…what a kind, compassionate, loving Father!
Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to You!
Psalm 102:1
Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out Your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah
Psalm 62:8
…Unto You will I sing praises with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
My lips shall shout for joy when I sing praises to You,
And my inner being, which You have redeemed.
My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long….
Psalms 71:22-24
A big key to heartfelt praise and thanksgiving is to recognize where we were before God saved us through His grace and love. Truly we were in a desperate situation. You could not save yourself from God’s righteous judgment. But God sent His Son, to save you—to save all mankind!—by His grace. Because now you have experienced His great love and grace, you delight in Him and His great salvation and you can’t help but sing for joy! May I encourage you, friends, to never hesitate…never hold back…never deny yourself the joy of singing praises to our Almighty God!
Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones;
Praise is becoming to the upright.
Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings.
Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
For the word of the Lord is upright,
And all His work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice;
The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.
Psalms 33:1-5
While studying through Psalm 33, I read Matthew Henry’s Commentary. Here is a portion of what he wrote, “What a pity it is that this earth, which is so full of God’s goodness <verse 5>, should be so empty of His praises, and that of the multitudes that live upon His bounty there are so few that live to His glory!”
I hope that will not be said of us. As God’s “righteous ones,” let’s be all about offering up our thankful hearts through our praise and songs of joy. Our lives are the proof that He delivers our souls from death. Our response should be to praise Him with thankful hearts.
Remember that line of this song that I shared I just love so much—’Beyond the words I’m searching for I long to give You so much more’—perhaps the words of the psalmist in Psalm 138 can help to express them. These are my prayer; maybe yours, too.