WHAT PRAISE IS NOT

It feels good when we are appreciated for who we are or for what we have done.
When praise is timely and accompanied with a reward we are encouraged to do better and greater things for the praise-giver.
When we praise someone, there is always a motive for it.
We praise God when our hearts are filled with joy and gratitude towards him.
Usually, we praise God to acknowledge him for who he is and to express our appreciation for what he has done and what we believe he is able to do for us in our immediate and distance future.
Praising God for that is easy. What do we give him when we feel he has not responded according to our faith in him?
Do we give God the same measure of praise both in times of sorrow and in times of failed expectations as we give him in times of our jubilations?
I ask myself , why can't I praise him heartily in every situation?
Does God change ? So why should the volume and extent of my praises to him change or be dependent on my situations ?
Does God change with your situations? Why don't you praise God in everything?
God inhabits our praises and as children of God, praise is a means of communicating with God and of invoking his presence.
In the presence of God there is fullness of joy and at his right hand there are pleasures forever. Praise gets us into his presence.
However,praise is not a bargaining chip to gain access to God's favours and pleasures.
It is not a prayer "filler" ; used just to make our prayers sound "good" and "acceptable" before God!
Praise is NOT our "show of thanks "to God because he has been good to us!

Praise is a sacrifice ; it has to be costly, pure and acceptable to God.
Only the purity in our praises is acceptable to God ; that is, a pure incense from an defiled altar.
Genuine praise is a love song from a heart brimming with unconditional love.
The heart of the lover of God offers praise to God at all times !
I will bless the Lord at all times : his praise shall continually be in my mouth. Psalm 34:1.
Violent praise ! Praising God in good times and in bad times ; in the time of plenty and abundance and in the austere times; in victory and in defeat;
in times of joy and glory; in shame and sorrow; in sickness and in death!
Even in "barrenness"; when we have not borne fruit in our due seasons and we are asked , continually ;
"What is your joy , your pride and your hope?" "Where is your God?"
and yet we shall praise him , continually,in the presence our mockers!
This is highest level of praise; it is the Faith-Praise level.
Very pleasing to God and that is what he expects from us,at all times.
Without Faith , it is impossible to please God .Hebrew 11:6
At the level of Faith-Praise , it is Faith that moves the hand of God.
The realm of Faith-Praise is reached when we praise God even when all our months and years of praying and praising God, have not yielded the expected results.
Faith-praising God is what we do when we have not SEEN or RECEIVED our miracles and even when all we hold dear seem to crash all around us.
When all hope is lost and there is no solution in sight ;yet we still praise him!
Whatever may be, our heart-felt praise should resound in his presence , at all times.
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines;the labour of the olives shall fail;
and the fields shall yield no meat;
the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds feet,and he will make me to walk upon my high places.
Habakkuk 3: 17 -19.