How Praise Can Change your Perspective on Everything

I’ve considered myself a “realist” my whole life. I see the worst scenario in situations so I’m always prepared. I like to be prepared so when things don’t work out (like of course they won’t), I am not overly disappointed because I was prepared for the worst. Sounds great, right?! Ha. I know it does not. In the preparation for things going wrong, I miss out on all the good. I don’t get to see the blessings because I’m just looking for the faults.

I tried to force myself for YEARS to try to be happier and not so negative, but I would always end up even more depressed. I hated that I couldn’t “fix” my brain or just “be” happy and enjoy life. I was always anticipating the worst so I could never experience the best. One day in my prayer closet something clicked. God revealed what my heart had been looking for all along – the secret to a changed perspective.

PRAISE

It seems like that should be obvious to someone who grew up in church. But it wasn’t for me. I had a very distorted view of Christianity in my early years. I thought I had to do things just right in order to continue being loved by God. Even though I praised God and thanked Him for things, I didn’t understand who He was and how our relationship was supposed to work. I didn’t get to experience the freedom that Praising God brings because I didn’t understand what He did for me or who I was in Him.

In college, God began to click in Grace for me. That was the beginning of a new relationship with Him. After college, I learned about my identity in Christ. That began to free me from the bondage of attempting to earn God’s favor in the flesh. You can read more about who you are in Christ here. From there, more and more realizations and freedoms began to come. God slowly removed the shackles I had enslaved myself in, and I started to experience the free, joyful life the Bible speaks about.

What is praise and how does it change your perspective?

Praise is active thankfulness to God for all His blessings. And this is not just saying words. It’s an active, full body act of worship. Every moment of your life is a chance for praising God. It can look like joyfully cooking dinner for your family or thankfully cleaning your house. It is a state of gratitude in everything. Once you recognize that every single good thing in your life is from God, it is not hard to start praising Him in every moment.

When you start to praise God constantly, your perspective on everything begins to change. You start to look at the good things God has done first instead of what you are lacking. You start to see things through His eternal perspective instead of the fleshly natural perspective.

What side effects come from a heart filled with praise?

Unlocks joy

² Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³ for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. – James 1:2-4

When you can start praising God through your trials true joy is unlocked. And this isn’t something you can will yourself to do. It only comes from God. Praising Him through the pain, even if it’s unnatural, will humble yourself before Him, and He will bless you with His joy.

Brings peace

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. – Colossians 3:15

Be thankful. Such a simple but hard action. Whenever we are thankful, His peace will rule in our hearts! We don’t have to force it or pretend like we are at peace when we aren’t. But we can receive His peace in the hardest situations when we stop and express our thankfulness to Him for all He’s done and yet to do.

Gives hope

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. – Romans 5:3-5

Rejoicing in our sufferings! It is so hard and unnatural to do. But when we can put ourselves aside and praise God for all He’s done, He will bless us with endurance, character, and hope. We can praise Him in our sufferings because we know that He is working out all things for our good and His glory. And the more we declare this truth, the more we will BELIEVE it!

Increases faith

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. – Hebrews 11:1

Praise Him for who He is. The more you learn about who He is, the more you will have faith that He actually will fulfill His promises. He is a good Father who never fails us. Do you believe that to be true?

Unleashes freedom

In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. – Ephesians 3:12

As you start to believe He is who He says He is, then you will start believing His Word is true about you too. Through retraining your brain to be thankful in all circumstances, you will start to see yourself as the saint He calls you once you become His. You will start to believe His grace is real and sufficient in all circumstances. You will stop believing the worst in yourself and start seeing yourself through God’s eyes. This will bring freedom to be bold in who God created you to be.

You too can experience this new perspective

It seems so simple but why is it so hard to do? Some people more naturally have a more positive attitude, but what about us “realists” or pessimists? Don’t we deserve the same joy of experiencing life?

You can have this joy too. It comes from a mouth and heart filled with praise. When you want to cry and scream and ask God why, praise Him first. When you want to ask for healing or financial freedom yet again, praise Him first. When you want to run away from God, muster that energy to praise Him. When I am crying out desperately to God for something to be “fixed”, I stop and praise Him instead.

Steps you can take now

1 – Take some time to write down all the things you can praise God for right now. Try to fight the urge to focus on the negative things that aren’t going right. Really seek those good things.

2 – Keep that list handy so you can add to it every time you think of something new. And then when you are starting to feel the darkness and negativity start to creep in, take out that list.

3 – Speak the list out loud. The more you speak it, the more you’ll believe it.

4 – When you pray, start and end every prayer with praising God. Thank Him for His faithfulness, goodness, sacrifice for you. Thank Him for the trials too. That’s He’s choosing to use you and your life for His glory.

5 – Even when you don’t believe it, speak and pray it. Over time it will become a natural way your brain will respond. You will begin to see the fruit of a changed perspective.

Sometimes you need help to find ways to praise God in the simple, mundane tasks of everyday. I created these prayers for your daily tasks like doing dishes and changing diapers. They are just a starting point or example of how you can praise God in EVERYTHING you do!

*If you don’t receive your download from cathy@thismommaneedsgrace.com within a few minutes please check the spam folder. You can also reach out to me at that email with any questions. I will never send you spam or sell your information.*

Conclusion

This act of choosing praise has completely transformed my life and way of thinking. In the past, I would automatically go to the negative, see and expect the worst. But by daily choosing thankfulness and a heart of praise, my brain has been retrained to first praise God then present my requests and as a result I have experienced more joy, peace, hope, faith, and freedom than I ever thought possible. This did not happen overnight! It took years for me to finally be at this place. And it was just daily choosing to praise even when I didn’t feel like it. I was speaking it until I finally believed it to be true.

I do want to say, there are definitely times and experiences where it is good to experience grief and sadness. I am not saying you will be without these emotions. It can be very healthy and healing for you to experience sadness, doubt, and grief. It’s what you do with these feelings that matter. They can bring you closer to God as you bring them to Him (with praise).

You’ve got this too! I pray you can find the free, joyful life God desires for you.

What are some things you can praise God for right now?