John Tyler - Westphal - Power of Praise

“But with praise as disinterested delight in the bare goodness of God, I am preoccupied only with God” – Merold Westphal (14) - "The Phenomenology of Prayer"

Praise is a powerful action that draws us out of ourselves and towards something much greater.  When we worship, and I mean really worship, God is the center of attention.  I like the term disinterested delight in that it signifies the object of concern.  In this phenomenon, God is praised for who He is and not by what he can give or do.  For example, Jesus is beautiful and it is fitting to delight in His beauty.  In doing so, we are taken beyond ourselves and become fully preoccupied with God.  If we were to thank God for a list of things he has done then we would still be in someway preoccupied with the self.  This is why praise is such a powerful action, because it is entirely concerned with who God is instead of a confession or petition.  There is a danger, however, in that we can sometimes have skewed perceptions about God’s character.  It would seem then that repentance is necessary before praise in order for Him to receive the praise He is due.