September 6

"Through him then let us offer a sacrifice of praise to God continually." Hebrews 13:15

Praise of God is Satan’s target. I do not say he does not oppose prayer; for you only have to start praying to God and sure enough, he intervenes. Yet even more does he assault the praises of God’s children. He would gladly exert all his strength to prevent God receiving one word of praise, for if prayer is frequently a battle, praise is victory. At the sound of it Satan flees. I discovered this during the first two years of my Christian life, and have not ceased to rejoice in the peace of heart it has brought me.

Let us not, however, make the mistake of equating praise with joyfulness. Look at the Scriptures. It was out of the pressure upon his people that God drew forth so many of the songs that there delight us. He does not measure praise merely by its exuberance. For in its nature praise is sacrifice. Not only must we exalt his name when we stand on the summit and view the promised land; we must learn also to compose psalms of confidence in him when we walk through the valley of the shadow. This is praise in truth.