#7daysofpraise

THE PASSION OF PRAISING

PRAISE INSPIRATION:

7 “You are my strength and my shield from every danger. When I fully trust in you, help is on the way. I jump for joy and burst forth with ecstatic, PASSIONATE PRAISE! I will sing songs of what you mean to me! 8 You will be the inner strength of all your people, the mighty protector of all, the saving strength for all your anointed ones. - Psalm ‭28:7-8‬ ‭(TPT‬‬)

PRAISE REVELATION:

King David, in the Bible, is a perfect example of a passionate worshipper, who was also known for being an amazing songwriter, psalmist, prophet, warrior and royal king. It is obvious that he understood worship from every perspective. One of the greatest things he’s known for is being the author of Israel’s hymnal of praise, that we call the book of Psalms. The Hebrew name for this book is “Tehillim,” and it means praises. Ironically, the word passion originally meant to suffer pain or feel emotion. In modern times, we have redeemed this term that was often used negatively, and have turned it around for something positive. Now we define passion as enthusiasm, zealousness, or even a powerful or compelling emotion or feeling. We talk about having passion in our marriages and relationships, passion for businesses and careers, passion for schooling or education, but how about our passion for God? When we have a true passionate love for God it becomes the source of our praise. We praise God because we love Him and adore Him, like a man a woman should love their spouse. The level of our praise shows the depth of our intimacy with our Creator, Heavenly Father, and Compassionate King. This is why this verse uses the intimate Hebrew root, “yadah” ידה, which means to extend your hands towards the one you desire to praise. In fact, the Hebrew word for hand is “yad” יד, which is the pictograph of the 10th Hebrew letter that spells the word for praise in this verse, the letter “Yud.” The three letters of this Hebrew root for praise gives us three pictures to consider. The first letter “Yud” means a hand as we’ve already discussed. The second letter is “Dalet” which is the pictograph of a door, and finally, the third and last letter is “Heh,” which is a “window.” These three pictures together show us a hand that opens windows and doors. We can say that praise opens the windows of heaven as well as doors of opportunity, from a God who reveals that He opens doors that no man can shut, and shuts doors that no man can open. What an amazing revelation of how powerful praise is, that it can open the right doors by the power of God. Once we open our mouth to praise Him, we should expect divine doors to open up for us, as the heavens are opened up to receive our praise. So let’s praise the Lord passionately, and trust Him daily, as David did, to be our strength and shield in the midst of danger. Let’s declare the next seven days, as days of praise!

PRAISE DECLARATIONS:

1. We declare that God will be our inner strength and shield from danger in the days to come, as we praise Him as our Protector.

2. We declare that divine doors of opportunity will open for us as our praise opens the windows of heaven over our lives, our families, our businesses and our congregation.