Pleasing Praise Requires Listening

If we are to know how he wants us to praise him — whether we’re alone in our quiet times or with other believers — then we must learn to listen to him speak to us. There are exactly four ways that God speaks to His people today.

First and foremost, He speaks through His Word, the Holy Bible. In 2 Timothy 3, Paul urged Timothy to listen to God by studying His Word. The Bible is the final authority for all the other ways He might choose to communicate.

A second way God speaks to us today is through other believers. “With many counselors, there is safety,” Proverbs 11:14 tells us. The Lord often uses godly men and women to encourage us and counsel us.

A third way God can use to get our attention and communicate with us is through circumstances. Romans 2:4 says, “The goodness of God leads you to repentance.”

One other channel through which our Lord speaks today is His Holy Spirit. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2, “We speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.” Although the Spirit doesn’t actually speak out loud, Jesus said in John 15, “He will be telling you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.”

God wants to speak to his children. If you’re his child, he wants to speak to you. He will lead you to praise and worship him more powerfully and effectively than you could possibly imagine — if you’ll learn to listen and obey his voice.

>>Excerpt from my worship study called Praise More Powerful: Insights to Transform Our Worship.