Thanksgiving and praises are closely related for the two are fruits of our lips unto God. (Psalm 63:3; Hebrews 13:15). God has great pleasure in both of them. They have the same principles to the extent that in some versions of the Bible they are used to mean the same thing, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving in your heart and into His courts with praise; be thankful unto him and bless his name” (Psalm 100:4). “By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” (Hebrews 13:15). However, they differ slightly.

Thanksgiving has to do with acknowledging and appreciating God for who He is, and all that He has done for us in the past, all that He is doing presently, and all that He would do for us in the future. Praises on the other hand has to do with the declarations of His doings and his excellences - ascribing to him the honor and glory due to him in appreciation of Him.

Thanksgiving precedes praise; this implies thanksgiving comes before praises. Thanksgiving is the mechanism that spurs us to hearty praises. The overflow of thanksgiving from the heart gives birth to true praises. When a heart is thankful, the Spirit of God in man soars up and ascends to the presence of God who is Spirit. As the heart through the lips pours out thanksgiving unto the Benevolent God, the praises of God springs forth also especially in songs of praises. Other fruits which proceed out from a grateful apart from praises include doing good and giving to God and others.
The truth is that genuinely thankful people are oftentimes praiseful people because their hearts which is being saturated with gratitude will always break forth into ceaseless songs and words of praises effortlessly and continually to God. However, not all praiseful people are thankful people.

Although, both thanksgiving and praising God can be faked without meaning what one says, however, it is easier to fake praising God than thanksgiving. This is because the act of praise can be learned and one can become very good at it. Thanksgiving is more demanding than praises in that it demands more commitment and involves our gratitude to be in a high degree. This is why it is possible and easy to sing praises to God without knowing Him or meaning it as evidence in the lives of many professed Gospel singers and unbelievers as well; while it is impossible to be thankful and not sing His praises no matter how bad the voice may sound! What some people refer to as praise is nothing but mere recitation of attributes of God based on human knowledge - a learned art and not spiritual revelation therefore what they render is nothing but mere lip service praises. Only gratitude ignited/ motivated thanksgiving and praises are genuine and acceptable unto God.

GOD LOVES YOU AND SO DO I.
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