How wonderful to end our study in praise and worship. We’ve done so much work to get here! We’ve given thanks, lamented, repented, waited and now we end our study in such an appropriate way; PRAISE! The word praise is used 278 times in 243 different verses. It is used 166 times in Psalms alone! One might say it is an important command! To praise God is to acknowledge who God is and in so doing giving glory to the one who is the object of praise. Praise and worship is our response to God and the posture of our heart as we journey through life. But how do we praise God every day? How do we praise God when life is great, mundane and also when life is falling apart?

A couple years ago a dear friend sent me a video of her family singing the hymn, “This Is The Day That The Lord Has Made”. The video showed her singing alongside her parents, siblings, husband and her 3 young children. I fell apart. You see her young 65 year old, wise, God loving Dad, had been painfully battling Parkinson’s disease and cancer for the past 5 years and was nearing the end of his earthly life. He knew his days were numbered and was experiencing unbearable pain but his voice was by far the loudest heard in the video. He unwaveringly sang these words loudly….

This is the day
This is the day
That the Lord has made
That the Lord has made
We will rejoice
We will rejoice
And be glad in it
And be glad in it
This is the day that the Lord has made
We will rejoice and be glad in it
This is the day
This is the day
That the Lord has made.

My friend sent me that video that day to simply keep us posted of the daily happenings in this wretchedly hard season for her family. It was simply an update. However that video message taught me so much more as I watched it. I witnessed an intimate moment of a family praising the Lord in one of the hardest times in their lives. I watched a family trust the Lord with that day and in doing so, acknowledging who God is.

Is it really possible to give God praise in every circumstance? How can we know the Lord deeply in our soul and esteem Him above all and know Him more intimately through all circumstances?

We will look at 5 Psalms:

Psalm 113: Praise the Lord
Psalm 118: His Steadfast Love Endures Forever
Psalm 146: Praise the Lord
Psalm 147: He Heals the Brokenhearted
Psalm 150: Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!

Watch this week’s teaching video here: