Why does God want our praise and worship?( click this link for the whole article:You may also click the other post of this similar topic in this blog)
...We are suspicious of those who blow their own trumpet and who seem to be demanding they be loved and glorified. Why not apply this to God as well?
So, why does God want our praise and worship?
Here are five quick thoughts to help you think this question through.
1. He alone is worthy
It is entirely right to give God glory and for God to demand glory because He alone is worthy. One of the most elementary teachings of the Christian faith is that there is a God and you are not Him. God is glorious in Himself and as the Creator and the Redeemer. At the end of it all, all creation will give appropriate praise and glory (see Revelation 5).
2. It’s good to glorify what is glorious
C.S. Lewis observed this years’ ago in one of his essays. He pointed out that at the end of a concert it is a natural response to give glory to the performer by applauding, whooping, hollering, asking for an encore and so on. We know this because of the awkwardness that sometimes occurs when something great is done in church and we feel we ought to acknowledge it. If God is glorious and has done glorious things, then it is entirely appropriate to make this known and celebrate it.
3. God wants – but doesn’t need – our praise
At the back of this ‘narcissist God’ claim is the idea that somehow God needs our praise, our approval, our gratitude and our glory to shore up His fragile ego and help His self-development. This is far from the case for the God who has existed in perfect community,
( Furthermore, as a Trinity God , God the Father has loving relationship with God The Son and Holy Spirit within Godhead; God is Love so Love is complete in Trinity Godhead ; the internal glory in Trinity God is complete too. ( added note: Jesus on earth was glorifying God the Father and promoted Holy Spirit above Himself : He claims offending the Holy Spirit is the only unforgivable sin while to offend Jesus Himself is a forgivable sin. God the Father promotes Jesus' name above every name. It implies God can give Himself glory in a tri-union way.
Zechariah 4:6 And he answered and spoke unto me, saying:
`This [is] a word of Jehovah unto Zerubbabel, saying: Not by a force, nor by power, But -- by My Spirit ( Holy Spirit who can be both in Trinity Godhead and outgoing His way independently too),
said Jehovah of Hosts. And the Holy Spirit is always at work to bring God the Father's will to fulfillment.)
Therefore God lacks neither glory nor loving relationship,
but tells us to give Him glory for our own benefit)
4. It is to our benefit that we give glory to God
It is an expression of His goodness to us that we glorify Him, as this is what we were created for. We were created as worshiping beings. To give glory to the only true Creator God is to fulfill one of the very basic aspects of what it means to be human...
Why Does God Desire Our Praise? | Anchor ( Click this link for the whole article)
Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him—his name is the LORD.—Psalm 68:41
Consummation of joy
C. S. Lewis saw that praising God is the consummation of joy in God. Therefore, when God is pursuing—even demanding—our praise, he is pursuing the consummation of our joy. This may feel at first counter-intuitive—that when we are small and feel insignificant, while God is great and central, at those very moments we reach our highest joy. But it’s not counter to our deepest sense of where joy comes from.
Joy is not in thinking highly of ourselves. Joy reaches its height in moments of self-forgetfulness in the presence of beauty and greatness.—John Piper
*
Think about the things you really love. Praise comes escaping from your lips before you can even think about it. As [C. S.] Lewis puts it, “the world rings with praise.”
Think about a book you recently read you just loved. The words fell off the page like brilliant jewels, and the story captured you from the first page to the last. You can’t wait to sing its praises. You can barely stand not to talk about it, and refer your friends to it.
“I think we delight to praise what we enjoy,” Lewis continues, “because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.”—Amanda Hill
Joy in relationship
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!—Psalm 100:1, 42
*The Lord honors your coming into His presence with praise and thanksgiving. The Lord loves praise: the High and the Holy One dwells in the praises of His people.3 The fragrance of the Lord is in the perfume of the praises of His children. He likes to smell our praises and our prayers like the fragrance of flowers.
He made all things to glorify Him, and all things were created to praise the Lord. Like a sea of sound, God’s wonderful creation just throbs and pulsates so beautifully in living sound. “All nature sings of Christ our King!” It’s like the very rocks crying out to the Lord, singing His praises. Even the meanest and ugliest little creatures can praise the Lord and sing praises to Jesus. Even the lowliest, most despised creatures can lift up their voice in song. His whole creation praises Him; they all sing His praises!...
5. It is to our detriment that we give glory to the wrong god
This is graphically seen in Romans 1 when Paul talks of exchanging the glory of the true God for false gods concocted out of the created order. The result of this great exchange is a slide into all sorts of unhelpful behaviors which incur the wrath of God. We become what we worship. Give glory to the only true Creator God means we can grow into the image of our God and Saviour... ( added note: Remember the 1st commandment from 10 commandments.)
So, why give God our praise and worship? Because we only find our true selves when we give glory to the living and true God–the one who has revealed the fullness of His glory in His Son, Jesus Christ (Revelation 5:13).
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