Like our previous teaching, acceptable praise parts one and two exposed the purpose of praising God and the enemies of praise. The devil might have a plan of scheming loads of problems on our way but we face him by praising God. This will take us to part 3 which will tell us that not all praise is acceptable to God, which means even if our praise is a weapon to face the enemies of praise, we might still lose the battle if not in the right mind.
Assuming we are hungry and need to get food but the only available place to get the food is a hostile environment and we don’t have a choice but to eat the food in that environment. It’s a normal phenomenon that we won’t enjoy or love the food. This is also like praising God with a heart that is troubled or far from Him. God will not love that kind of praise because it is void.
David in psalm 8:1-4 says “Oh Lord our God, how excellent is your name”. David always knows God’s worth and praise Him whole heartedly. This attitude we must always inculcate in praising God in order to face the devil.
As we have learned since the beginning of the month that God is mindful of us, God doesn’t think about His other creation but man, which means He gave man attention; that’s why the song says ‘Great is thy faithfulness’ because we are the apple of His eyes and love us tenderly and what He wants in return is genuine praise.
We are the image of God and we are created willfully, so God won’t force us to do anything but lead us in inspiration which we do by choice and when we do it, it’s then that it is acceptable in His presence.
When the enemies of praise target GOD WITH US, then we will be cast away in His presence, and this will make us lose glory and also be vulnerable.
Singing, shouting, or screaming is not equal to praising God, if it is, then all singers will be qualified to be ministers of God. We are not to praise God when it’s convenient. We must possess the right attitude in order to give acceptable praise unto God. (Psalm 116:17-19)
In Malachi 1:6-8, the bible recalls the priest ministering unto God by bringing forth polluted sacrifices, they sacrificed animals that people rejected in the market which is not acceptable unto God. Don’t serve God with leftovers, God deserves the best. You better don’t waste your resources if you can’t give God your best. Can a blind or lame animal be presented to the king? Such action will in return be punishable talkless of sacrificing such animals to the king of kings.
Most don’t treat God like they treat their boss or President and yet they want their praise to be acceptable. It’s either you give God the best or nothing. It’s either you make Him number one or He is not there at all. God will never sit as a backbencher in your life, of course, our God is a jealous God. If you fail to regard God, He also will disregard you. It’s better not to do it at all than do it in the wrong way because no room for excuses.