Lesson 23: Be Filled by Hope (2)
Read Psalm 46 - https://www.bible.com/bible/59/psa.46

The second reason God leaves us here on earth we call PRAISE. Praising God has at least three immediate results: 1) it builds our personal relationship with God, 2) it builds our personal faith in God, and 3) it is a witness to those around us who see the praise. In 1 Chronicles 16:28-29 we see one of the Jewish hymns being used both as a reminder to the people and a command to the people, that they are to praise God. Praising God is part of worshiping God. To praise God is literally to tell back to God who He is. The reason? In doing so we repeat to our own minds just who God is to us. We cement in our own lives, in our own thoughts, His majesty, glory, power, and so on. We bring it to our conscious minds. We make ourselves think about His attributes. The immediate result of this in our hearts will be unspeakable thanksgiving. This thanksgiving becomes praise in itself. This becomes a beautiful circle of worship.


As we look at Jesus' life, we note many times when Jesus was amazed at the lack of thankfulness in the hearts of the people around Him. One specific incident is found in Luke 17:18 and following where we find the story of the 10 lepers Jesus healed and only one returned to thank Him – and this one was not even a Jew. God wants every one of us to be thankful for what He gives us and to express all our thanks to Him in praise. As we have discussed before, this is not an arrogant desire on God's part; it is part of His way of teaching us to be dependent on Him. Being unthankful is essentially being selfish and self-centered.

So what are we supposed to give thanks for, or what are we to give praise to God for? We find the answer in 1 Corinthians 10:31. Everything! In other Scriptures we find that we are to give thanks "in all things" as well as "for all things" (Philippians 4:6 and Ephesians 5:20). Even when we can't understand the circumstances surrounding us or affecting us, we are to be thankful and we are to praise God. This attitude will be obvious to those around us who know us or hear us, and that attitude will point them to a God who is worthy of such praise.

*What in your life are you finding difficult to thank God for?
*Write a prayer telling Him how you feel about this, and then finish your prayer by telling Him “thank you” for this thing.