How Do I Exalt God? Four Practical Tips
How Do Christians Exalt God?
As Christians, few questions are more important than this one. It is one thing to know that we are to exalt God. But knowing how to exalt Him and actually doing it is another thing.
So, how do I exalt God? To exalt means to raise to the highest of heights. To exalt God is to raise God to the highest place in our lives. To give Him first place in every thought in our mind, every word spoken, and every deed done. This cannot be done apart from His Son, Jesus Christ. God has highly exalted Jesus and made Him Lord over everything (Philippians 2:8-9)! Thus, to exalt God is to highly exalt or make much of His Son.
Let’s look at four specific ways we, as Christians, can exalt God in our lives through thinking highly Christ. If you need some motivation to exalt God, see our related post Why Should We Exalt God?
1. Revelation
When I speak of revelation, I do not mean NEW revelation. Rather OLD revelation. God has revealed who He is to us through His Word, the Bible. Jesus declared in His High Priestly Prayer in John 17:3,
And this is eternal life, that they know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Eternal life is knowing God and His Son. The only way to know God and Jesus Christ is through the Scriptures. The revelation of who God is.
God has revealed Himself to His people through His word. The Bible is not just a bunch of historical narratives. It is an inspired book about the character and working of the living God. If we are to exalt God in our lives, we must read the Scriptures.
We must be careful not to just read the Scriptures for knowledge and information. We must read them to KNOW God. If we do not know Him, we cannot exalt Him properly. Instead, we will form and fashion a god in our own mind that we are comfortable with or that we can understand. Yet, the Scriptures reveal the character of God, the nature of God, the workings of God, the will of God, and the commands of God. It tells us what pleases Him and what angers Him. Much of this is different than we would imagine or come up with on our own. Because God is greater than us.
If we truly desire to exalt God, we will study the Scriptures to know Him. Then we will apply that knowledge to our life so that in every thought, word, and deed God would be exalted.
The best way to get to know what the Scriptures say is to simply read them for yourself. From beginning to end. Many try and take shortcuts in this process of learning about what the Bible teaches by relying upon what others tell them the Bible says. We urge you to read the Bible for yourself and take the time that is necessary to truly see for yourself how God reveals Himself through His Word.
We know that it can be a daunting task to read the Bible, cover to cover, for the first (or even second or third) time. We have a resource that may benefit you as you read every word for yourself. Our book, Every Word: Read Your Bible in 90 Days, is a discipleship resource that is intended to be like a personal trainer to help you stay on track and not get discouraged along the way. We pray it will be a benefit to you in your desire to exalt God in your own life. It can’t do the work for you, but it can help you stay on course and finish the task with greater understanding.
2. Communication Through Prayer
Every effective relationship must have communication. God has given sinful man access to Him in Christ.
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of Grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16, bold added)
It is in the sinless perfection of Christ Jesus, the Son of God, that we can draw near to God who is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). Christ is our confidence. Apart from being clothed in the righteous robes of Christ Jesus we have no merit to stand before God. Nor do we have any ability to ask anything of Him.
Yet, in Christ we have everything.
He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)
God’s love for His Son cannot be measured. How astounding that God gave Him up for us! How amazing to learn that all who would believe upon the Son would have eternal life because of God’s grace and kindness. How awesome to find that we who are in Christ would be granted the wonderful pleasure of knowing the only true God and His Son whom was sent for us! This is truly amazing.
God has given us His prized possession. Will He not also give us so much more, if only we would ask?
God is exalted in our lives when we pray.
When we ask things of God (according to His character) He is being exalted in our lives. We are saying, “Lord I cannot do it, but You can!” We are in truth declaring our complete dependence upon God. God tells His people to ask. God is pleased when we do ask.
Also, when we pray, we should ask to know Him more. The Apostle Paul prays this in Ephesians 1:17,
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
We, too, should be praying to know God more. For fellow Christians to know Him more. For non-believers to have their hearts and eyes opened to the truth of who God truly is.
We are not only dependent upon God for our material needs. Or for His working in the world to save sinners. But also, to know Him. God is pleased when His people ask for more of Him!
The ultimate reality is that we, as Christians, do not pray as much as we should because God is not truly exalted in our lives. We exalt ourselves. Or other things. God is truly exalted in us when we pray according to His will.
Jesus taught His people how to pray according to the will of God. We must be taught these things because, quite frankly, they do not come naturally to us. If you’d like to dive deeper into how Jesus taught His people to pray, we have a book on this very topic! We highly recommend that you learn to pray more faithfully, according to the seven principles Jesus taught. For more on our book, click this link: Faithful in Prayer: Seven Biblical Priorities in Prayer.
You may also enjoy this related video.
3. Fellowship With Believers
Another part of how we are to exalt God in our lives is through gathering with His church. The author of Hebrews says,
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:23-25)
We are commanded to gather as believers. So that we might grow together in love and good deeds. The Scriptures tell us that we, the church, are one body. Christ is the head of the body. And each individual has different functions within the body (Romans 12:6).
Each of us are gifted in unique ways. We are to use our gifts to exalt God together. To glorify God and to edify the church. As we continue to stretch and stir one another on to love God more and work more for His glory, God is exalted. When we praise Him in unity together as His church. (For more on the true purpose of spiritual gifts, check out our video linked here.)
The Scriptures also say,
So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19, bold added)
We cannot fully know God apart from one another. So, we must seek to fellowship with His church consistently. Exalting God through Christ in unity together. Sadly, many factors contribute to an attack on true Christian unity in our culture. We wrote an article on one of the biggest threats which lurks under the surface and sabotages unity amongst Christians. We encourage you to read it by clicking here.
We also have two books we wrote and can recommend, on the church and church leadership.
4. Proclamation
Human beings can only be saved by the grace of God through faith. In order to have faith, they must hear the word of Christ.
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)
God has chosen the proclamation of the gospel as the means for the salvation of men.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. (Romans 1:16)
The Apostle Paul also says,
For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:5-6, bold added)
As we proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ in the world, God is exalted. God has chosen to redeem the world to Himself through His Son. And “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). (For more on this, be sure to read our article Call On The Name of Jesus.)
Yet, unless we exalt God through proclaiming Christ crucified, resurrected, and exalted how can anyone be saved? They cannot be. God is glorified and exalted in the salvation of men. So, we should be about proclaiming the gospel that man would be saved and God would be exalted!
You may enjoy our devotional study guide on the book of Acts, Witnesses to the Ends of the Earth. You may also be encouraged by our book Ministers of Reconciliation: Proclaiming the God We Know.
We also have a bunch of reviews of different training materials available on our sister site. You can check those out by clicking here. There are more than ten different resources reviewed there, with strengths and weaknesses, so that no matter your age, spiritual maturity, or personality-type, you can find something to encourage and help you be better equipped to proclaim Christ faithfully and boldly in the world!
Related Questions
What does it mean to extol God? Extol means to enthusiastically praise. Thus, to extol God is to enthusiastically praise Him. There are several reasons why we would enthusiastically praise Him. Four of the best reasons are because He created the world, He sustains the world, He works in the world, and He is saving people from the world in and through Christ.
What does highly exalted mean? To exalt is to raise to the highest of heights. To highly exalt emphasizes that there is absolutely nothing above the person or thing being highly exalted. God has highly exalted Christ Jesus and made Him Lord over everything (Philippians 2:9-10). He has placed Jesus above all other things. We should, too.