Praising God Out Loud with Words

 Last week when I was at Roxbury Camp Meeting, the evening speaker, Tony Rohrer, began his sermon at least two times, with a time of praise. He wanted everyone in the congregation to praise the Lord out loud. For many, including me, it was a challenge. Why? I will speak for myself . . .

I was afraid of my voice amid the silence around me. In recent years I have learned to pray and praise out loud in my own quiet devotional times. But this was very public with many people around each other.  Perhaps there were a few whispered praises but I couldn't hear anyone around me praising vocally, at least not loud enough for me to hear. 

I didn't want others to hear my heart. My praise to God is personal most of the time. I have reasons to praise Him that are not for others to hear.  But we can learn to praise God for many things that are common among us.

I didn't have a large vocabulary of praise words and phrases memorized and stored in my heart that I could use to praise my God.

This got me to thinking that I need to find scriptures that praise God and use them in my times of prayer and praise! And of course, I thought of King David who wrote many of the Psalms. I knew he could teach me a few things about praise.

Here are a few phrases from Scripture (not all from the Psalms) to help you (and me) find the words to praise the Lord.

Psalm 8:1 – O Lord, my Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (this psalm is a good one to memorize in its entirety)

Psalm 59:16 – I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, the God who shows me steadfast love.

Psalm 63:1-8 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. . . You have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

Psalm 92:1-4 It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night . . . you O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the the works of your hands I sing for joy.

Vs5 – How great are your works, O Lord!

Psalm 95:6 – Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker.

Psalm 99:5 – Exalt the Lord our God; worship at his footstool! Holy is He! And verse 9 – Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy!

Psalm 100: Make a joyful noise to the Lord . . . come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 111: Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Great are the works of the Lord . . .full of splendor and majesty is his work and his righteousness endures forever.

Revelation 5:9 – Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.

Exodus 15 – I will sing to the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously; The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? Vs 20 – Then Miriam the prophetess, the Sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang to them: Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”

Psalm 145: I will extol you, my God and King and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

Psalm 146: Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.

Psalm 150: Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise

him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

I am finding there is no place to stop when looking for scriptures on praise to God! These are just a few. But a few verbs stuck out to me as to what we are to do: praise, sing (aloud) extol, bless, worship, kneel, raise hands. Then a few descriptive words (adjectives) of our great God: holy, worthy, steadfast, righteous, faithful, mighty, great, glorious, majestic, awesome, love.

There are many more praise phrases to be found in the Psalms and elsewhere in the Bible and I challenge you to find some of your own.  I am going to try to learn some of these scriptures so I can better praise my Lord, out loud, with words!