God’s children, followers of Jesus Christ, are called to praise God–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Praise and thanksgiving are part of our sacrifices to Him, and bring blessing.
Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. (Hebrews 13:15)
We should praise Him specifically for one or more of His attributes, His being. When a parent or supervisor praises the child or the employee, they like hearing you think they’re great. But they really like hearing something specific. I think God does too. You can say, “Praise God,” all day without knowing Him at all. When we know Him, we can specifically praise Him, for example, as creator, immortal, or faithful. (See When Storms Come, Chapter 16).
This is the start of a monthly series on praise: why praise Him, and some of His praiseworthy attributes.
The Abider
We are called to abide in Him.
And, for children of God, who abide in Him, He abides in us. (See Becoming a Child of God.)
He is the Abider.
“Abide” means God will remain with us: He’ll stick around; He’ll stay close; He’ll continue with us permanently. “Abide” means He will never leave us or forsake us. (Deuteronomy 31:6)
God the Father
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. (John 14:23)
By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:13–16)
God the Son
In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (John 14:20)
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4–5)
Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27)
God the Holy Spirit
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. (John 14:16–17)
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19)
Praise the Abider
God—Father, Son, Holy Spirit—I praise You for abiding with me, with all Your children. You live in us, faithfully, eternally, and will never leave us or forsake us. It’s beyond my understanding how the eternal Creator made us His dwelling, His temple, His body. Yet that is what You tell us, and You never lie. I praise You, the Abider, for being in me and with me as I write this, as I go about the day You gave me. Help me be conscious of Your presence. I love You.
