Devotional by Rev. Matthew Taylor

Need to Breathe

By: Rev. Matthew L. Taylor

“Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.” (Psalm 150:1-5)

I have often wondered at the phraseology of these verses… the word structure and the purpose of saying these words in this particular way….  I believe they are written this way for a reason. Praise Ye and Praise Him are phrases that would seem to be imperative statements or commandments. For others, they may seem to simply be directives.  But the truth be told, they are both.  In this passage, we are both commanded and directed to praise the Lord.  We are given reasons to praise Him. Then, we are given options on what to use to praise Him.  Finally, we are told, “let everything that hath breath…” But why that choice of words?

Simply put, I believe that praise to Him is as important and necessary to our survival as is breathing.

I know life begins at conception, but the reason the doctor smacks you is to get you to cry so they will know if you are breathing or not.  When we take our first breath, it is considered the day our life begins. At least, according to the calendar.  And when that breathing stops, it is a sure sign your life is over. 

A sure way to gauge the life of a believer is, are they still a praiser? When you stop praising, your spiritual life is over! If you want to live for Him, you need to praise Him! If you want to survive with Him, you need to praise Him! If you want to make it to where He is, you NEED to praise Him! It is very simple. You NEED to breathe, and you NEED to praise Him!

Now let us look more closely at verse 6. “Let everything that hath breath, praise the Lord….”  Notice again the word choice here. After commanding us, after directing us, after giving us reasons, after giving us options of HOW to praise Him, He says “LET everything…” You see, as much as we need it, as much as it benefits us, as much as He wants us too, He will not FORCE us to praise Him. 

He could have used words like He did in Genesis 1:3 where He said, “Let there be light, and there was light.” He could have said, “Let there be praise…” and there WOULD have been praise. We would all be walking around like robots just praising, praising, praising. But that is not what Jesus wants from you.  He wants you to not only feel the NEED to praise Him, but He also wants you to have the DESIRE to praise Him!

Even though we were created, designed, and built to praise Him, we will never be MADE to do it. Just like no one is standing over us and forcing us to breathe in and out, it is a naturally occurring phenomenon which we were created to do.  We ought to let our praise be just that automatic. Our praise should be as normal and frequent as breathing!

Psalm 34:1 says, “I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” You need to keep your praise handy.  You never know when you are going to need it. 

Praising can get you through a lot of junk and can keep you OUT of a lot of stuff! Praising can help when your children are killed and everything you have is gone… Ask Job.

“The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)

Job wasn’t praising God FOR his problems, he was praising God in spite of his problems!

            Praising can destroy your enemies! Ask Jehoshaphat.

“And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever. And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.”(2Chronicles 20:21-22)

When they began to sing and praise…. Not when they got in the right place, or the right frame of mind. But when they started praising! The LORD send ambushments against the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the people of Mount Seir. Who were those people? They were the enemy for that battle. Tomorrow you may face another enemy, but your God is the same and you can get the same results if you will just keep praising Him!

            Praising can shake the foundation of your prison. It can unlock the chains of your bondage. It can open all the doors so you can go free!! Just ask Paul and Silas…

Praising can bring revival. Acts 2:47 says, “Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

Now no matter where you are, I believe you are in the right place. No matter how you feel, you can praise Him in some way! What do you want Him to do for YOU? Restore your life? Defeat your enemies? Set you free? Help you have revival? If you really want any of those things, it’s time to get beyond your “normal” into a realm of unprecedented praise! Let praise become as natural as breathing!! Praise Him as if your very LIFE depended on it, because IT DOES!