In the Bible, praise is closely linked with worship and thanksgiving. Through all three, we honour and enjoy God.
Clearly, it helps me to think of worship as a Father with two beautiful daughters he sees as precious jewels. One jewel is Praise and the other, Thanksgiving.
Throughout the Bible, people expressed their worship in several ways. They bowed before God, often with a sense of awe, to honour Him, the chief gift being themselves.
Today, as in Biblical times, worship includes yielding to God as our Lord and Master. We see this in Romans Chapter 12 Verse 1, where God asks us to offer Him our bodies, our lives our entire person. This, He says, is true worship.
In genuine spiritual worship, we bow before the Most High God, the beneficent and merciful and reliable and winsome of all beings, and we crown Him as Lord of all that we are. We consent to His gracious, transforming work in our lives. We agree that He can work in us, so that we all are willing and able to do His will. In other words, we choose to let Him be God in our lives. This is our greatest privilege, the highest thing we can do.
Worship also includes adoring God, admiring Him, appreciating Him and letting Him know how grateful we are for His mighty works and the blessing He bestows on us. Thus, worship includes praise, and thanksgiving. As in ancient times, worship, praise and thanksgiving are interchangeable as we glorify and enjoy God through speaking, singing or in silent reverence.
In thanksgiving we express gratitude to the Lord for His love and goodness to us and to others, for His constant acts of care and for His gifts including the spiritual blessing He has lavished upon us.
In praise we admire God for who He is and what He does. Praise can be quiet and exulting in the Lord’s majesty and splendor, His sovereignty, His limitless power and His bountiful love, which we do not in the least deserve. In praise we exalt and magnify Him. Praise includes speaking highly of God to other people, as well as directly to Him.
So mount in the heart of the above mentioned Father is the fundamental act of offering God our lives and of honouring Him as God through the daughters who are the precious jewels of praise and thanksgivings; these precious jewels that radiate the glory of God, to His delight and ours.
Finally, it is fine if we blend worship, praise and thanksgiving any way we like. God isn’t in the least concerned if we say, “I Thank You” when “I Praise You” or “I Worship You” might be more appropriate. And it doesn’t matter whether our words are stumbling or eloquent. God looks on the heart. God is searching for people who simple want to honour Him through Worship, Praise and Thanksgiving.
