THE SPIRIT wrote in Hebrews chapter 13:
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.
10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.
11 For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp.
12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.
13 Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
14 For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.
15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
The word sacrifice means surrendering a possession as an offering to God: an offering. A sacrifice is given when the current circumstances need correcting. Man’s fallen state was corrected by the sacrificial blood of The Lamb. Praise is an acknowledgment and admiration of a benefit received. When we praise Our Heavenly Father, we are acknowledging HIS Character and works with our lips. This act is an acknowledgment of the reality of HIS omnipotent power over all our circumstances. A sacrifice of praise is done in faith and in expectation of our current circumstances being overcome because when there are no issues at hand, there is no sacrifice or correction needed. At all times we should be lifting our voices in praise, even when things are going well.
In Acts chapter 16, Paul and Silas were imprisoned for preaching the Gospel thus the opposition wanted to keep them from fulfilling their calling. What did they do?
25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns (praises) to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
Instead of sulking and being sad, the two men prayed and sang songs of praise to FATHER. The opposition intended evil against them and they devised a plot which they are not able to perform because Paul and Silas were serving FATHER and HIS Divine Plan. Paul certainly knew Psalm 28’s importance:
6 Blessed be the LORD, Because He has heard the voice of my supplications!
7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.
When we declare the greatness of FATHER by word or song, we are requesting HIS manifested Presence to work among us. In the Revelation of Jesus Christ chapter15, those in Heaven were singing the song of Moses and the song of The Lamb. These two songs express appreciation and admiration for FATHER’S acts of deliverance. The song of The Lamb is sung by a company of full overcomers who had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name. Victory first comes in the Spiritual realm and then manifests in the physical realm just as it did for Paul and Silas.
Our sacrifice of Praise sets us up for victory over the circumstances in which we find ourselves. As we hear ourselves bring forth praises, the problem grows smaller, and FATHER’S deliverance grows greater in our hearts and minds. HE is moved by the purity of our hearts in time of need just as any father would respond. Without question, there is power in the sacrifice of Praise, and we should never discount the importance of it. Paul and Silas didn’t.