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Praise the Lord!
Invariably our prayer meeting begins with praise. This
helps us to center and focus on the Lord and brings us straight into an attitude
of worship.
The word
‘praise’ is derived from the Latin word meaning ‘value’ or ‘price’.
Therefore to
give
praise to God is to extol his merit or worth.
The
Bible contains many words that express this. Words such as ‘glory’,
‘blessing’, ‘thanksgiving’, ‘thanks’, ‘alleluia’ and
‘hallelujah’.
‘Hallelujah’
is a transliteration of the Hebrew for ‘Praise the Lord’. The Hebrew title
of the book of Psalms (“Praises”) comes from the same root as
‘Hallelujah’.
Psalms113
– 118 are
specifically called the ‘Hallel’ (‘Praise’) psalms.
Psalms
145 – 150 the
last five psalms are also psalms of praise.
Praise
is consistently linked to instrumental music (Psalm 150:3-5) and to song
(Psalm 40:3).
Biblical
songs of praise encompass personal almost spontaneous outbursts of thanksgiving
for some act of God (Mary’s magnificat would be a good example of this (Luke
1:46-79)) and the more formal psalms and hymns adapted for corporate worship
in the Temple (2 Chron 29:30) and the Church (Col 3:16).
Col 3:16 Christ’s message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach each other with all wisdom. Sing psalms hymns and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts.
The call
to praise God is frequently heard in the Bible. The Lord wants a people of
praise. A people who will enter into his will and share his life – a people centered
on him rather than on themselves.
Ephesians 5:18-20 Do not get drunk
with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody
to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for
everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The
Catechism of the Catholic Church describes praise as ‘the form of prayer which
recognizes most immediately that God is God. It lauds Him for his own sake and
gives Him glory, quite beyond what He does, but simply because He Is.’
It goes
on to say that ‘by praise the Spirit is joined to our spirits to bear witness
that we are adopted children of God, testifying to the only son in whom we are
adopted and by whom we glorify the Father.’
Hebrews 13:15 Let us then, always offer praise to God as our sacrifice through Jesus, which is the offering presented by lips that confess him as Lord.
Praise
should originate in the heart and not be mere outward show:
Matthew 15:8 This people honours me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me;
Praising
God in prayer, song, music and tongues at the beginning of the prayer meeting
(and in ones personal prayer) helps to:
·
focus our attention
on God and away from ourselves
·
build up faith and
expectancy
·
open us to the
Spirit and His gifts
Father
of Light from whom every good gift comes;
send
your Spirit into our lives with the power of a mighty wind
and by
the fame of your wisdom open the horizon of our minds.
Loosen
our tongues to sing your praise in words beyond the power of speech;
for
without your spirit man can never raise his voice in words of peace or announce
the truth that Jesus is Lord
(from
the Opening Prayer, Liturgy for Pentecost Sunday)