How do you praise the Lord?

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How do you praise the Lord? My 5-year-old daughter has been singing a song, maybe you've heard it. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. And every time she yells it louder and louder. I think it's the only part of the song she knows. But, it brings up the question, how do you praise the Lord? We know it's something we're supposed to do, it's all over the Bible. The last line in the book of Psalms says, let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. And then if you go over to the time of Jesus, you actually see it happening in real time when he's walking down the road. It says, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Now, it makes sense to praise someone when you see him. We tell our kids good job when they do something great. When someone helps us, we're taught to tell them thank you. And in this instance, they're praising God for the miracles that they've seen Jesus do. But, how do we praise the Lord when we don't see him or his miracles easily? Well, we have an example of that in Psalm 43 where it seems like someone's depressed and they start talking to themselves saying, why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him, my savior and my God. So, even though they're not feeling it, they're telling themselves, no, we will choose to praise him because he is still my savior and my God. That's powerful. But, what are some other ways to praise him if it's not necessarily calling out miracles? Well, we have an example of that in David. That song we're singing in the beginning? David opens up with it. Praise the Lord my soul. Wonder where they got it from. And David goes on not to call out God's miracles, but says, forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion. So, even if we don't necessarily have miracles to point to right now, we can still celebrate God for his character. Has anyone ever celebrated you for being kind, for being patient, for being helpful? God is all of those things. And we can praise him by simply acknowledging it. But, when we praise God, what does it actually look like? For most of us, the first thing that comes to mind is probably singing, which comes from here. Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him with joyful songs. So, immediately think of worship and praise songs, which is great because even if we don't feel it, those songs are typically filled with scripture and speaking things out in faith, fueling our soul, praising God. But, there's more to that passage that's titled a Psalm for giving grateful praise. Enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name, for the Lord is good and his love endures forever. Important thing to remember, regardless of how we feel, God still sacrificed himself as Jesus to die for our sins so that we could have a relationship with him. That is why we are praising God. So, we can praise God by singing, by saying thank you, and just knowing he's God and living a life that shows that. Sometimes we're not going to feel like praising God, but that's where we have to do what David did and make the decision to command our soul that we are praising God because his goodness isn't depending on if I am feeling good. Got a promotion at work? Praise God. Made a new friend? Praise God. Hardest day of our life? We can still praise God because he will get us through it. Let me know, how do you praise God? Praying for you today, friends. God bless.