Last night, during my study time, I saw some interesting things tucked into Psalm 149. They, of course, were not hiding from me – it was more of a matter of my just glossing over the words before. This time it was different. This time, each word made itself known. It was as if the words leapt from the page and introduced themselves to me. I promise you, I have not been taking any medications that would cause such a vision – promise, promise. Instead, I believe that this is an area that God wants our attention – praise.

From my meet and greet last night with Psalm 149, I have some things to share.

• Praise is supposed to be joyful. Now, I know that sounds obvious, but think about it. Sometimes, when we start praising somebody or something, we manage to slip in a negative aspect. Let me share some examples so that you can see how easy it is to slip a polish into a praise:
  
  -It was good but it would have been better if…
  -That was good – that was the best she could do … I would have done…
  
• Praise is to be purposeful. Don’t just say the words – mean the words. Be sincere about what you say.
  
• Praise produces excitement. Be so excited about praise that you cannot even sleep! You know how it is when you are getting excited about something – it consumes you with joyous energy and thrills you so much that sleep becomes inconsequential. God wants our praise to be like this – where we recognize and appreciate his awesome majesty and as a result, we praise Him out of the sincerity of our heart.
  
• Praise is a result of privilege. Because of the love of the Father, His Son and the Holy Spirit, we have access to the Kingdom and one day the faithful will be God’s agents of judgment. That’s an incredible privilege for a people like us!

So, in your quite time, make sure you spend some time looking into Psalm 149 and watch the words come alive. I’m going to post a few of the verses here, just to get you started!

Psa 149:1 Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, [and] his praise in the congregation of saints.

Psa 149:2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

Psa 149:3 Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.

Psa 149:4 For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.

Psa 149:5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.

Scripture pasted from KJV:Blueletterbible.org; Emphasis mine.