The fantastic thing about praising God is that everyone and anyone can do it, any time, any place, any way. We are called to praise. And yet, in all the church services this writer has attended, the praise component is very short. And praise and prayer are different- one might say they pray several times a day, but praise?
Ask yourself how much time you truly devote to praising Jesus.
Amazing things happen when we praise. Our little human selves need more opportunities to lay our weary burdens down, come to the cross, and physically interact with our God through praise. Something blessedly amazing happens when we do. This writer thinks that God uses the opportunities when we praise to put His arms around us and fill us with His love. Think of a child coming to their parent just because they love them and want a hug. The joy of the Lord is our strength, and remembering His goodness and mercy and triumph over evil is humbling- but praising Him is pure joy. He asks us to do it, and when we listen to our Lord, we are rewarded in ways we don’t expect and His love fills us like nothing on this earth can. Praising God is like having a reunion with your best friend- you relax, you laugh, and you leave rejuvenated and can’t wait til next time.
And then there’s the community component. Whenever two or more are gathered in His name, He is there. We don’t need to agree on the rules of the religion we’ve chosen- but we can agree that we worship the same God, and we can agree that we want to praise Him. It’s so amazing to be in a group of people who are actively praising God- it’s euphoric, really. It’s like we are knocking on the door of Heaven, delivering our message of love and passion for our God together, like an offering- and He accepts it and moves His Spirit among us and through us.
Our praise nights are meant to be an opportunity to gather together to bring our love of our Saviour to Him.
We want to lift our instruments and voices in praise with the intent that our offering of ourselves, the worries of the day left behind, connects us with God and brings us closer to Him. We are musicians from different church backgrounds, but we gather together with one focus, and we want to invite anyone who wants to worship Jesus to come to our praise concert and experience the connection that comes from lifting His name high and remembering not just our love for Him, but His love for us.
O come, let us adore Him- Christ the Lord!