Heart of Worship: 30 Days to Deeper PraiseSample

Hi there, it’s Kenzie with Essential Worship and today’s Scripture is from Hebrews 13:15 (NIV):

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.”

When I was a kid, my parents told me that I used to bounce everywhere, as if I had an invisible pogo stick with me at all times. It earned me the nickname “Tig” from “Winnie The Pooh”, a nod to everyone’s favorite bouncing tiger and has taken me years to outlive. Now and then, one of my family members will still call me by this distant nickname.

Why do I tell you this? Because while I was known by my continual “bouncing” from place to place - Hebrews 13:15 encourages us to be known for something else: offering God continuous praise.

It’s hard to praise God continually. In fact, I’ll be the first to admit that I am far quicker to offer God my continual complaints than my praise.

“God, why are you making me go through this?”

“God, what is the purpose of this?

“God, I’m so exhausted.”

“God, I’ve literally had enough of that person.”

But that’s the thing about praise - it won’t always come easily. That’s why the author of Hebrews describes it as a “sacrifice of praise”. The word for sacrifice here in its original Greek is “θυσία” or thusia, derived from the word “thuó” meaning “kill” or “slay”. For a sacrifice of praise to happen, we have to let our human sinfulness die on the altar. Complaining has to die. Comparing has to die. Gossiping has to die. We have to sacrifice it; we have to give it up.

It’s a slow process - and we will never be perfect (hear me loud and clear there) - but when we actively choose to allow our lips to share words of encouragement over discouragement and praise over scorn, we look more and more like Jesus. Moreso, we honor our God with our praise and righteousness. In our darkest nights and hardest battles - praise won’t come easy. Yet, it is a worthy sacrifice to our God, our King of Kings, the One worthy of all our praise and worship.

Today’s Challenge:

Take a moment and reflect - what has the fruit of my lips been this past week? Have I sounded more like Jesus? It’s okay if not! He is always waiting with open arms to guide us to repentance and help us grow in our praise - and oh how worthy is He for our continual worship! Take a moment and speak a word of praise to Him. Practice this throughout the day! Whether you just say “holy” or “worthy” or “good” - it is praise unto Him!