Psalm 95:1-3 says we are to “sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! ² Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! ³ For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.” [NRSV] During times of isolation we can sometimes think we cannot fully praise God, or do him justice as we’re not musical, self-conscious etc. Twice in this Bible passage the writer says ‘joyful noise’, to me this means despite my lack of musical talent, below average singing voice the Lord will always accept my praise.

We are made in the image of God, who is love and when we love someone we will want them to know that we love them. This can be through word written or spoken, acts of kindness and obedience and for the record in my opinion obedience within a relationship / marriage is a two-way action.

For the majority of people reading this blog post, if they were asked what does it mean to praise the Lord? they would respond by saying through sung worship, but are we not praising the Lord when we pray or when feed the homeless? When we meet the needs of those who are in need we are we not showing kindness and obedience to Scripture.

In Acts 16:25 we Paul and Silas who had been falsely arrested, whipped and put in jail singing and praying to God; if I were in their situation I doubt I’d be singing hymns, praying possibly. But their love for Christ was so deeply rooted in their lives they were singing and praying, and we read how their fellow prisoners were listening. What an amazing evangelistic opportunity through which God’s love and faithfulness was shown, and we see a family come to faith.

Jesus in John 14:15 says “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” [NRSV] by keeping His commandments we are being obedient, and following the second commandment ‘love our neighbour’ we will be showing acts of kindness while being obedient to God.

Paul in Colossians 3:16-17 instructs us to ‘let the word of God dwell in us and to sing Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to God and we are to give thanks to God’ (paraphrased). When we do this we are obeying the first commandment and the by-product of loving God with all our heart, soul and mind will be us praising Him.

This coming week try and think of new ways where you can praise your Lord and Saviour.

All Bible verse and quotes have been taken from http://www.biblegateway.com