There are many so-called praise songs that are not celebrating the beauty of Gods holiness and are thus unacceptable to the Lord. The sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving can produce abundant prosperity, according to 2 Corinthians 9:11. Let us consider prosperity through the sacrifice of thanks, as we see in John 6:11-13.

We as children of God need to understand that God has numerous ways by which He can do whatever He says He will. We should not waste our time in trying to pre-empt God or dictating to Him how our blessings or prosperity should come. We are to simply pray for what we want with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6).

When the battle against the children of Israel raged in 2 Chronicles 20:1-37, King Jehoshaphat merely obeyed the voice of the Lord by appointing choristers to sing unto God. Who would have thought that soldiers from the attacking nations would go to war with so many precious jewels and expensive clothes? God had purposed to bless His people because He knew from the onset that they would praise and bless the beauty of His holiness and He had to compensate them for giving Him His due!

Another lesson we must learn from this story is that our praise and worship must be inspired by the Holy Spirit. Some of our so-called songs of praise are from our carnal man, not the Spirit.

“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
John 4:23-24

When we give God heartfelt praise and worship, He in turn showers us with blessings. However, if we deny Him the praise He is worthy of, He would also deny us His prosperity. In John 6:11-13, our Lord gave thanks upon five loaves and two fishes; the response of His Father was phenomenal - five thousand men were fed to satisfaction. Many of us are so ungrateful. How blessed we would be if we could learn to offer God the sacrifice of thanks.

Let us cultivate the habit of giving God worthy praise and thanksgiving and He will bless us with abundant prosperity.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.