The Power of Praise

I love taking my puppy for walks, and he probably loves it even more than I. Recently, we have started incorporating some jogging into our morning walks. Some day Riggins will be my running partner, so I thought I should start training him in that direction. Something I noticed early on in our training was that when he was running next to me and not trying to bite the leash, or chase something, I would praise him and tell him what a good puppy he was and he would speed up a little, bouncing along happily. As we jogged along together, that scenario happened again and again. Riggins would be running alongside me very well, so I would praise him and he would happily speed up a little, as he expressed his pleasure in my approval.



His reaction got me thinking about the effect of praise in our lives. This brought three things to mind:

1) The book of Psalms is chock-full of examples of the psalmist praising the Lord. It is important in our Christian walk to not only express our needs and desires to the Lord, but also to praise Him for who He is and what He has done. Praise is not only beneficial in acknowledging our need for, and delight in the Lord, but also keeping our mindset right and not becoming like selfish little children who only want and don't give.

2) Praise is a great thing to receive. My bosses at work are great at giving me praise and accolades for my work. I love hearing of their approval. It makes me more conscious of giving compliments and praise to those around me.

3)  Since we love receiving praise, and we know God loves receiving our praise, I would assume those around me enjoy hearing praise. It's so easy to be self-focused and hear all the praise, but it can be so difficult to be humble enough to give recognition and praise to those who deserve it. Above all else, God deserves all our praise and adoration. If nothing else, change the direction of your conversations with the Lord and include more praise. He is worthy!

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