By Brother Sammy
26th September 2022
Let us pray
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for another opportunity to receive from Your Word. We ask that Your Word comes with power to transform and renew our minds. We receive Your Word with an open heart. Thank You, Father, for we know that You will grant us understanding tonight in Jesus’ mighty name. Yes, and Amen.
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Tonight, we are looking at PRAISE.
As a noun, the word praise means; the expression of respect and gratitude as an act of worship. “Give praise to God”.
Now note that the word ‘praise’ is synonymous with gratitude, which is thanksgiving. This means these two words cannot be divorced because praise is the expression of thanksgiving.
One very important truth I want to bring about the subject of praise is that it is a command.
It is not something to be done only when things are good, which means that praise should not be a function of your mood.
Let us look at the Scriptures as that is our basis and foundation for doctrine.
1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the heavens of His power!
2 Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness!
3 Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp!
4 Praise Him with tambourine and [single or group] dance; praise Him with stringed and wind instruments or flutes!
5 Praise Him with resounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath and every breath of life praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
[PSALM 150:1-6 AMP]
Can we see that the act of PRAISE should be engaged first because God is GREAT?
I really want us to understand this truth that we should offer God praise because He is glorious and not JUST because He has been good to you.
The enemy has no power over our lives, however, he can sponsor certain distractions that will make it seem like things are not working. Now when this happens and an individual is one who praises God conditionally, what then happens is that the devil has successfully stolen your praise to God.
Psalm 150:6 says;
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
This is not a suggestion, neither is it advice, it is a command.
It should not be done based on your emotion. This is where the devil gets many believers.
Let me show yet another scripture that pertains to praise.
1 Lift up a great shout of joy to the Lord!
Go ahead and do it—everyone, everywhere!
2 As you serve him, be glad and worship him.
Sing your way into his presence with joy!
3 And realize what this really means—
we have the privilege of worshipping the Lord our God.
For he is our Creator and we belong to him.
We are the people of his pleasure.
4 You can pass through his open gates with the password of praise.
Come right into his presence with thanksgiving.
Come bring your thank offering to him
and affectionately bless his beautiful name!
5 For the Lord is always good and ready to receive you.
He’s so loving that it will amaze you—
so kind that it will astound you!
And he is famous for his faithfulness toward all.
Everyone knows our God can be trusted,
for he keeps his promises to every generation
[PSALM 100:1-5 TPT]
Can you see what the psalmist is teaching here? The protocol of coming before our Father and King? So powerful!
Let us consider verse 4.
You can pass through his open gates with the password of praise. Come bring your thank offering to him and affectionately bless his beautiful name.
Psalm 100:4
I love this translation (The Passion Translation). It says the password to come through His gate is praise. And we should bring our thank offering to Him.
Notice that the two words are together as I pointed out in the beginning.
You have to trust the Holy Spirit to bring you to the place where you know God so intimately that you can spend 70 to 80% of your prayer time praising and giving God thanks.
Despite what you might be facing, praise Him.
So, one might ask, should I just praise God and forget about the problems I am facing?
The answer is simple and powerful.
We serve such a loving and faithful God who is aware of all we go through. And He comes through for His children every time.
Please note this very important next point.
Praise is a great weapon of warfare.
When you praise God with reckless abandon, laying aside all that worries you, it moves Him to act on your behalf.
Praise moves God to fight for His people.
Let’s look into the scripture.
20 Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.”
21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.”
22 As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.
23 The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
24 When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped.
25 So Jehoshaphat and his men went to carry off their plunder, and they found among them a great amount of equipment and clothing and also articles of value—more than they could take away. There was so much plunder that it took three days to collect it.
26 On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berakah, where they praised the Lord. This is why it is called the Valley of Berakah to this day.
27 Then, led by Jehoshaphat, all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned joyfully to Jerusalem, for the Lord had given them cause to rejoice over their enemies.
28 They entered Jerusalem and went to the temple of the Lord with harps and lyres and trumpets.
29 The fear of God came on all the surrounding kingdoms when they heard how the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel.
30 And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side.
31 So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.
32 He followed the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them; he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
[2 Chronicles 20:20-32 NIV]
I believe we all know the story of king Jehoshaphat and how 3 nations came against him.
He went before the lord seeking for a solution and the Rhema came, that is the word from God.
What Jehoshaphat did on the day of the battle showed the power of praise.
Verse 22 of 2 Chronicles 20 says ‘As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Sier who were invading Judah and they were defeated.
Praise moves into action on your behalf.
But note something that one might easily miss. The nation of Judah did not start singing and praising God after God had destroyed their enemies, rather they began praising God in the midst of what seemed like a lost battle.
Ahh! But scriptures say in the book of Daniel that, ‘they that know their God shall be strong and do exploits’.
PRAISE IS A WEAPON.
Remember, you must, first of all, praise God for who He is. That is always the order, as it is a commandment.
You might be here and things are not looking good at all. Well look away from the problem and praise the One who fixes every problem.
Let praise to God be a daily lifestyle henceforth.
God bless you all.
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Thank You Father for Your Word that has gone forth. We ask that You help us to praise You in every situation while we watch as You move on our behalf. We praise You Father and may Your name be praised throughout all the ages in Jesus’ mighty Name. Yes, and Amen.