I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; before the "gods" I will sing your praise. 2 I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. 3 When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted. 4 May all the kings of the earth praise you, O LORD, when they hear the words of your mouth. 5 May they sing of the ways of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD is great.

How much time do we spend in praise to the Lord? Do we praise him and his holy name at times other than when we are in church? Praise may be in the form of prayer and thanksgiving, it may be in the form of singing or it may be in the form of expressing our adoration about him to others. The real problem is do we think of his greatness, his majesty, his goodness toward us during a “normal” day at the office, while in school, while riding in the car or while doing chores around the house? We should train our hearts to think about God when we are about our routine daily activities. When we think about him, we will praise him. When we hear good news, the first thought in our minds should be “thank you Lord”. This is what is meant when we are told to keep our “minds set on things above” and “our eyes fixed on Jesus”. For too many the idea of walking and talking with God all day is foreign. While there is obvious reason and good to God’s plan for us to attend church services for our encouragement, learning and praising him it is also his plan that we spend time alone with him. Jesus so often went off alone and prayed for extended periods of time that it was said to be his habit or custom. It is during these times of being alone with God, meditating on his word and his greatness and talking with him that we are drawn closest to him. It is during these times that his Spirit shares his wisdom from above in our hearts and motivates and empowers us to do his will. Just as a husband and wife can talk with one another and build a strong relationship while in the presence of others, this does not take away the need for the two of them to have their private time alone. It is during this private time that they can share their most intimate thoughts and express their deepest feelings – both positive and negative. So it is with God. We need that time alone with him t o praise him.

O God, giver of life and all physical blessings, I praise your holy name. I thank you for all that I have and all that I am. I realize that you are in my life all day and I ask to be able to feel and acknowledge your presence always. Give me greater faith that I may praise you more. Open my eyes so I can see your goodness, your greatness and your majesty in all things. In Jesus name.

May God bless each of us as we praise him in all we do today.