It is quite unfortunate how many Christians today have relegated how to praise God to just singing fast-tempo songs and dancing. But in the real sense, how to praise God goes beyond just singing.
But the singing and dancing should be something that springs out of experiencing God. That experience inspires us to know how to praise God in prayer and even singing and dancing from the right heart that understands what it means.
There are several different ways on how to praise God, sometimes it comes like an outburst, and we shout out with joy with drops of tears rolling down our eyes as an expression of great joy and happiness for what God has done, we sing and shout using musical instruments or things around to make melodious sounds, and sometimes we even make noises to praise God, which is a spontaneous response to a knowledge of God’s wonders.
Sometimes we get confused about how to praise God because we are dumbfounded and lost for words on what to say when praising God.
How to praise God with words somehow seem like an intricate thing because we have entered the realm where we grasp just a glimpse of God’s awe and wonders, and we know no words in any human language can truly express what’s in our hearts.
Hence, we lack words to describe this knowledge of God in praise. So we end up just crying, shading tears of joy, which is also praising God because it springs from the right heart, from the inside.
We can only know how to praise God when we have the right heart, a heart that acknowledges who God is, what He has done, what He is doing, and what He can do.
The heart knows and recognizes God’s divine eternal attribute: God’s eternal supreme sovereignty, all-knowing, all-powerful, loving, all-merciful, and gracious.
One peculiar thing that I’ve noticed in scriptures is that the characters in scriptures often praise God based on a revelation of God. Their praises to God spring from that knowledge, that personal experience they have about God.
They know how to praise God for who He is (Ezra 3: 13) because they have a relationship with Him. They know how to praise God for His goodness (Psalm 71: 15 – 24) because they have experienced God’s goodness.
We can learn from this so that when we ask ourselves how can we praise God in our daily lives, it is first to experience God in our lives, then praising God in our everyday lives will flow from within.
We can only rightly know how to praise God for answered prayers when we have experienced it when we have prayed and received answers.
It is that experience that most times causes an outburst of a shout for joy, and we then know how to praise God for His goodness because we have a firsthand personal experience of God’s goodness. But before we move further to discuss more on how to praise God, let us briefly discuss what praise is.
What Is Praise?
Encarta Encyclopedia dictionary defined praise as an expression of admiration: words that express approval or admiration of somebody’s achievement or for something’s good quality.
Applying this to Christendom, we must first remember that praise is due to God and God alone. So it is when we express our admiration and approval in words and our lifestyle of God’s achievement in the sense of His excellent work of creation and bringing salvation to humanity and His eternal goodness towards all of humanity.
It is about recognizing and acknowledging God’s eternal attributes: His Supremacy, Sovereignty, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, merciful, and gracious to all.
And this can only indeed be done by those who have witnessed God’s acts in their lives, who have firsthand practical knowledge of God based on scriptures.
How To Praise God
If you are confused about how to praise God, and you want to know what it means to praise God, to praise God means to first be aware of who God is, that is have the knowledge of the person and attribute of God and to express it in words of admiration, by shouting it with all joy, because you have a firsthand experience of God’s characteristic manifesting in your life.
Thus, in that awe and wonder of what God has done for you, you burst out in joy to show forth your praises to God. You can’t genuinely praise God if you don’t know God; you can’t express what you have not experienced.
To take it a step further, understanding how to praise God goes beyond just words. It transcends through our everyday lifestyle.
It is a combination of the gratitude in our body, soul, and spirit that has been expressed in our daily lifestyle. This lifestyle acknowledges expressing the knowledge of the attributes of God, both in did and action.
We should praise God by confessing and surrendering everything in our lives to God, recognizing the Supreme Sovereign superiority of God, and remaining loyal to God. Use musical instruments to make laud noses and shout for praise to the Almighty God.
Imagine when you think about the power and greatness of God, the sense of awe that we have any time it crosses our minds. This should inspire us to praise God. To make this more practical, let’s see how to glorify God in difficult times.
How To Praise God In Difficult Times
Knowing how to praise God in difficult times is to remain in your place and position of praise, to continue the words of adoration and admiration to God.
It doesn’t mean your heart won’t be heavy as humans, or the hard times will automatically disappear, or the problem will solve itself.
No, not at all! But you maintain and continue your words of praise because your praises spring from the inside, based on the knowledge and experience you have about God.
This can be somewhat difficult and almost impossible to do because you sometimes might not feel like praising God at all. After all, life challenges have put a weight on you, and you have become so ungrateful that you become oblivious of what God has done for you.
But you should consider the attributes of God. With the knowledge of God’s attributes as a backdrop, you are aware that God loves you, he knows about your situation, He wants to help and is helping you out, and has been and still is ever-present in that situation from the start till this time, He has been the strengthened you when it seems like you are almost giving up.
You should know that God still allowed it to be the way it is in all of these. He allowed it to be the way it is for reasons which I believe are for your good.
The Bible says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8: 28 NIV). So what are the 7 types of praise that you can engage in to help you know how to praise God even in difficult times?
7 Types (Or Dimensions) Of Praise
In the Bible (Old Testament precisely), the Jews have different ways to praise God. Each of these praises is done in response to an experience of God’s goodness and wonders in other dimensions. This is what is called today the 7 types of praises, these includes:
- Yadah (Psalm 107:15): Yadah means throwing hands up in praise and giving thanks in laud praise. • Towdah (Psalm 42: 4): means to give the sacrifice of praise.
- Barak (Psalm 63: 4; 95: 6): Barak is the Hebrew word for blessing; as the Psalmist says, ‘bless the Lord oh my soul’ (Psalm 103: 1). It means to come on bended knee. When one comes on bended knee, it shows a sense of submission and loyalty in honor and reference to the superior. So to say bless the Lord oh my soul is more than just words. Instead, it is an expression of physical obedience to the Sovereign Supremacy of God.
- Halal (2Sammuel 14: 25): Halal means to shine forth in God’s favor. So figuratively, it is talking about being boastful of God’s goodness, praising God for His goodness towards you.
- Tehillah (Exodus 15: 11, Psalm 34: 1): this means singing praises to God based on how God has rescued and blessed you.
- Zamar (Psalm 47: 6; 68: 4): Zamar means to use a musical instrument to make melodic music to praise God.
- Shabak (Psalm 63: 3): this means to praise and commend God for what e has done for us.
How To Praise God – 10 Ways
1. Through Prayers
Praising God through prayers is one of the simplest and most common ways to praise God. Prayer of praise is when we glorify God as the King of glory and the Supreme Sovereign Lord overall in our prayers.
We praise God through prayers by declaring His wonderful works, His attributes, hallowing His name, and placing Him far above all.
We can only do it from a personal understanding and experience of God’s greatness and power, which gives us knowledge about God.
Therefore, we should begin our prayers with the prayer of praise because it is the right way to approach the throne of God. In Psalm 100: 4 (NIV), the Psalmist says, ‘enter His gate with thanksgiving and His court with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.’
2. By Singing Songs Of Praise
The Bible is filled with scriptures that encourage us to sing songs of praise and rejoice in God. Singing songs of praise is one of the most common and most popular ways to praise God.
Music is a powerful form of expressing our praises and gratitude to God. We can praise God by singing uplifting songs that talk about His greatness and His extraordinary wonders. We shouldn’t bother about the texture of our voice.
As long as it is coming from God’s right heart and correct knowledge, we should raise our voices to sing the song of praise to God. In Psalm 96: 2 (NIV), ‘sing to the Lord, praise His name; proclaim His salvation day after day.’
3. By Reciting Of Psalms
One of the best ways of rendering praises to God is through reciting psalms. So many Psalms talk about rendering praises to God and declaring His beautiful works. You can pick a Psalm, like Psalm 150: 1 – 6 (NIV) ‘Psalm 150 (NIV) ‘Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the trumpet’s sounding, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of, praise him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.’ Read this psalm out loud, let the words sink deep down into your heart, soul, and spirit, ponder and reflect on the words, then connect with the terms and begin to recite it, declaring the wonders and awe of God’s glory, hallowing His name, then you can add other Psalms as well.
4. By Our Lifestyle
Genuine praise is born out of personal knowledge of who God is. We cannot indeed praise God if we don’t know Him, so having or developing a lifestyle of praise is first to know and have an intimate relationship with God, and the lifestyle of praise will spring out.
A lifestyle of praise is understanding and acknowledging who God is and summiting to God. One of the Hebrew words for praise is ‘Barak,’ which means to come on bended knee, which means summiting to God, and it is one of the ways on how to praise God.
5. By Showing Love To Others
A lifestyle of praise is a life that knows and acknowledges God’s supreme greatness and summits to it. If you submit to God, you must obey His commandments.
And what sums up God’s commandment is love, loving God, and humanity. To love humanity includes loving your neighbor and even your enemy as you love yourself. This kind of love has nothing to do with emotional attachment, affection, or sentiment.
But it is talking about doing what is suitable for someone who needs it irrespective of who the person is or what the person did, but you show the person love by doing what is right, and this in itself is also a lifestyle of praise.
6. By Lifting And Waving Our Hands
In Psalm 134: 2 (NIV), the Bible says, ‘Lift your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord.’ Lifting our hands in waves offering to praise God has been one of the ways on how to praise God.
It was even a common practice in Biblical times to praise the Lord by lifting our holy hands in wave offering, and it is mentioned in 23 scriptural passages.
In ancient Israel, it was a gesture that signifies surrendering and loyalty to authority. So when we wave our hands in praise to God, we offer to God’s will and are loyal to His power.
7. By Dancing With Instruments
Though I know, praises go beyond singing and dancing fast tempo songs, singing with a musical instrument and dancing to praise God is one of the favorite and most common ways to render praises to God. It is what is called Zamar in the 7 dimensions of praise.
The book of psalms stated over 100 references to dancing with an instrument to praise God. This means it was evident that singing and dancing with instruments is essential in praising God Almighty.
8. By Fellowshipping With Other Believers
We should make it our duty to make fellowshipping with other believers an intentional act. When we fellowship with other believers, it portrays a beautiful testimony of God’s goodness to humanity because it is us showing forth our praises to the world, testifying with our lives how Christ has saved us.
That is why we belong to the community of believers. The Bible says in Hebrews 10: 25, ‘And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.’
We also share the wonders of God’s grace with fellow believers when we fellowship together. Hebrews 2: 12 (NIV) ‘He says, “I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation’s presence, I will sing your praises.”
9. Make A Shortlist Of What God Has Done For You In Recent Times
Sometimes, we don’t know how to praise God or why we lack words to praise God because we have allowed the challenges and worries of this life to overwhelm us. We think and ponder too much on our circumstances, and we forget who God is. We forget His attributes.
So it will do us a great deal of good if, in these challenging times, we take our time to list what God has done for us. You begin to count your blessings and make a list of them, thanking God for them. This will uplift your spirit and cause you to burst into praise because you will see how much of God’s hand is upon you.
10. Praise God Through Confessing Our Sins
Sin brings a great void between God and us, though the relationship is still intact. When there are un-confessed sins, we cannot honestly and freely flow in offering our praises to God.
The burden of guilt and bitterness will so occupy our thoughts, and we won’t be able to see beyond our present state, to enter the realm where God is all and where we can freely commune with Him in worship and praise His name.
So when we confess our sins to God, it cracks open that free flow of prayer and praises. Our mouths and thoughts will now be filled with words of admiration and adoration to God.
Confessing our sins as praise also helps us see how most hallowed God is and helps us appreciate the fact that we are privileged to be in God’s presence.
See the example of Isaiah. In Isaiah 6, when Isaiah got a revelation about Heaven and saw God on His throne, he quickly recognized that He was just a man of unclean lips and confessed his sins, recognizing God’s hallowed nature.
Conclusion
There are many ways to praise God. What we stated here is but a list of a few ways that can help us to kick start praising God as an act. How can we praise God Almighty won’t be a thing to ponder on because we will have the right mindset and understand to glorify God.
Some Bible Verses About Praising God
1. Psalm 7: 17- ‘I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.
2. Psalm 69: 30- ‘I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.
3. Ezra 3: 11- ‘With praise and thanksgiving, they sang to the Lord: “He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.”And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.’
4. Psalm 95: 1 – 3- ‘Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods.
5. Psalm 106: 1 Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
6. Psalm 18: 46- ‘The LORD lives! Praise to my Rock! May the God of my salvation be exalted!’
7. Job 19: 25- ‘But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end, He will stand upon the earth.’
8. Psalm 145: 1 – 3- ‘I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever. 3 Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.’
9. Hebrews 13: 15 – 16- ‘Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.’
10. Psalm 18: 3- ‘I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.’
11. Isaiah 43: 7- ‘Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them.’
12. Psalm 107: 21 – 22- Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind. Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.
13. Psalm 9: 1- ‘I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.’
14. Psalm 35: 18- ‘I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among the throngs, I will praise you.
15. James 5: 13- ‘Is any one of you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises.’
16. Psalm 98: 6- ‘With trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn shout for joy before the LORD, the King.’
17. Daniel 2: 20- ‘He said, “Praise the name of God forever and ever, for he has all wisdom and power.’
18. 1 Chronicle 29: 12- ‘Both riches and honor come from You, and You are the ruler over all. In Your hands are power and might to exalt and give strength to all.’
19. Psalm 150: 6- ‘Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.’
20. Psalm 138: 5- ‘and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord.’ Praising and thanking God should be a part of our everyday lifestyle irrespective of the circumstance we find ourselves, praises should not cease from our lips, and even when we lack what to say and how to say it, we can use the listed scriptural text as a guide to help ourselves, read it out loud and use it as words to praise God.
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