TITLE: THE WEAPON OF PRAISE
SCRIPTURE: PSALM 22:3 / 34:1
Last Sunday we examined the thought “The Battle Cry of Praise.” I want to continue this morning and perhaps over the course of the next few weeks to continue this examination on the subject of “Praise.” God has given us a powerful spiritual weapon to use in spiritual warfare. That weapon is praise. Living a life of praise is not only the most enjoyable way to live, but it’s also one of the most powerful ways to change your life.
• Praise isn’t like the caboose that just follows what happens
• It’s more like the engine of a train that makes things happen
• Your Faith isn’t complete without Praise
• Our Praise life is closely connected to our faith life, because Praise is an expression of Faith
PRAISE AFFECTS YOU - IT AFFECTS THE DEVIL - AND IT AFFECTS GOD. It touches everything and every part of your life. Likewise, a lack of Praise affects you in a negative way, turns the devil loose in your life, and doesn’t bless God. You have to get this area of your life right. Many Christians do not fully understand the place praise holds in receiving answers to prayer.
• They pray, yet fail to receive answers
• Oftentimes, they’re not missing it in their praying, their believing, or in their confession of God’s Word
• They’re missing it because they don’t understand that the secret of a victorious life comes through Praise!
• Prayer has to be mixed with Faith and Praise in order to produce results
Let’s pause for a moment and ensure we understand what exactly is Praise? Praise is the expression of approval or admiration for someone or something. For Christians god is the object of our praise. Christian praise is the joyful thankfulness and adoration of God, the celebration of His goodness and grace.
• Praise comes from a Latin word meaning “Value” or “Price”
• So to give Praise to God is to proclaim His merit or worth
• Many terms are used to express this in the Bible, including “Glory” -- “Blessing” -- “Thanksgiving” -- and “Hallelujah”
There are many actions involved with Praise to God —
• Verbal expressions of adoration and thanksgiving
• Singing
• Playing instruments
• Shouting
• Dancing
• Lifting or clapping our hands
But true praise is not “merely” going through these motions. Jesus spoke about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, whose worship was only an outward show and not from the heart. ST. MATTHEW 15:8 “THIS PEOPLE DRAWETH NIGH UNTO ME WITH THEIR MOUTH, AND HONOURETH ME WITH THEIR LIPS; BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME.” Genuine praise to God is a matter of humility and sincere devotion to the Lord from within.
The enemy, Satan and his demons, despise our praise of God so much that he cannot even be in the presence of anyone who is actively doing so. Praise is our correct response to God for all He has done and is doing in our lives. So whenever you want the enemy to flee, Praise God. It is one of our greatest weapons in the war against him.
We live in a negative world, a fallen world where it seems that the ungodly are getting more and more prominent. So much of what we hear is just negative, and we have to make a deliberate effort to be positive and counter the culture we live in. Praise is a great tool to help us achieve that.
If someone were to pass out, to fall out - the first thing we would do is check their pulse to see if their heart is still beating.
• In the same sense, checking our life of Praise is how we check our spiritual pulse
• If we don’t live lives that are constantly giving, thanksgiving and praise unto God, we are not spiritually healthy
• Some people may take offense at that, thinking I just don’t know their situations
• But Paul said in PHILIPPIANS 4:4— REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS: AND AGAIN I SAY, REJOICE
Paul didn’t just say it once; he said it twice. He didn’t want anyone thinking that perhaps he had made a mistake or that there were exceptions to what he said. We are always supposed to be rejoicing in the Lord. The Christian who knows how to praise God regardless of the circumstances is a Christian who really knows God. Circumstances can’t hurt you when you’re really believing God. Jesus has already won the battle and has obtained victory for you in His death, burial, and resurrection. And He knows how to see you through any test or trail.
• It’s a command, not a suggestion to do it if we feel like it
I love the Apostle Paul because he lived what he preached. When he was beaten and thrown in the deepest darkest part of the dungeon, he and Silas broke out in praise at midnight.
• Around midnight, I guess they said, since we can’t sleep we may as well Praise
• They didn’t just do this as spiritual warfare
• They weren’t praising God through gritted teeth, just to get out of their problem
• When they were set free, they didn’t leave right away
• They were actually praising God because they loved Him and were worshiping out of a pure heart
• It so affected the other prisoners that none of them left either
• Praise caused a revival right there in the middle of the prison
Even in the OT, believers were told to “ENTER INTO HIS GATES WITH THANKSGIVING, AND INTO HIS COURTS WITH PRAISE: BE THANKFUL UNTO HIM, AND BLESS HIS NAME.” But the nation of Israel didn’t always do this. In fact, the Lord said that because they did not serve the Lord with joyfulness and gladness for the abundance of all things, He was going to bring judgment upon them. This shows that God holds us responsible for rejoicing, praising him, and being thankful for all the good things He’s given us.
• How many of us came in this morning with Thanksgiving?
• How many of us entered the sanctuary this morning with Praise?
• How many of us walked in this morning Thankful, no matter what you are going through?
• How many of us have already Blessed His name this morning?
We face a lot of tough circumstances in this life, and the world expects us to behave a certain way when problems come.
• But God told us to respond a different way
• To not let our hearts be troubled
• We get to choose
• We have the option of following Jesus’ words and acting on the Word of God
• Praise is what I do whatever I’m going through
I have personally felt the benefit of rejoicing in the Lord. I have seen it destroy the devil. He cannot stand it. I really believe the strength of PSALM 22:3 that GOD INHABITS THE PRAISES OF HIS PEOPLE. God is so pleased when we look beyond the natural and see things in the light of faith. That blesses God. Praise is not the inevitable byproduct that comes when everything is going right in our lives; it is the driving force. Praise will get our focus where it needs to be — on God. If we start praising God in the middle of our problems, our problems will shrink so much that we’ll hardly remember to bring them to God! We’ll be so busy praising Him and thanking Him for His blessings that our problems will be an afterthought.
What do you do in times of trials and tribulations? Do you become angry at God and ask why, or do you praise your way through the storm? Praise is a powerful weapon that the children of God possess, and it halts the enemy of our soul.
• You have a choice
• You can choose to keep quiet in the trials
• Or you can choose to use your voice to get your praise on and experience victory as the King of Glory comes to your defense
Every day in life we are faced with challenges - be it –
• In our homes
• The job
• Our relationships
• Health
• Finances
Every one of us is subject to battles in one form or another but the way we chose to deal with our challenges will make the difference in the outcome. Let me be very honest here, I find it very difficult to stay focused on God when –
• My body is plagued with pain
• When the bills are piling up
• My finances are running low
• Family seems to be falling apart
Perhaps you can identify with the struggle because we all know the struggle is real. Unfortunately, believers often get caught in the trap of the enemy by choosing the wrong point of focus which is the size of the problem. Often when we’re thinking about a big problem, it’s all we can think about. It colors everything in our lives.
• That’s why when you have a fight with your spouse, it tends to become everything you think about
• Or whatever situation you are struggling with, it will consume your thoughts
• Praise will correct the imbalance
• It will remind you that not everything in your life is bad
I have heard it said time and time again, "the battle is won or lost in the mind" and I believe this to be very true because the Apostle Paul admonishes us to renew our minds daily. ROMANS 12:2 “AND BE NOT CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD: BUT BE YE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, THAT YE MAY PROVE WHAT IS THAT GOOD, AND ACCEPTABLE, AND PERFECT, WILL OF GOD.”
• Our thought life is so very precious and important and if we do not renew the mind we are subject to give in to every desire and walk in fear and failure
• Our minds never seem to be blank at any time
• Even when we are asleep, we still have sweet dreams and sometimes even nightmares
• Our mind stays active
Do you spend most of your time focusing on the problems in your life? Do you spend a lot of time talking about your Problems - Pain - Past Hurts - Frustrations? Whatever you spend your time thinking about actually make its way even into your sleep time.
• God designed us to be consumed with Him
• But the enemy infiltrated and now we find ourselves constantly thinking about US - OUR NEEDS - OUR PROBLEMS - OUR TRIALS - OUR TRIBULATIONS AND A WAY OUT
While we may not have control of all the thoughts that run through our minds, we do have the control to decide what stays, and our point of focus will determine where we end up. The good news is, God has not left us stranded but has empowered us with a weapon to combat every lie of the enemy and it's called praise! That is a Promise from God!
A promise from God is as good as it gets, there is --
• No shortfall
• No reneging
• No changing His mind
God is just looking for someone who will take him at his word and Praise their way through because God will bring you out of your trouble, and He will lead you into all His goodness. The problem many of us face is the fight to believe God will come through. We read His word, we repeat and declare His promises, but we don't really believe what we are saying. The Apostle James calls a person who prays but does not believe a Double-Minded Man.
God is with us all the time in the person of the Holy Spirit but when we praise God based on His Goodness – Faithfulness - Love for us, we experience a manifested presence of God where miracles can happen. So the more we believe God is who he says He is, the more faith we can express in His promises, and so those promises will fuel our praise.
Always remember - the enemy cannot stand praise and worship. He hates a joyful believer, and if we persist on praising God instead of complaining about our problems, it drives the enemy mad and he gets very angry. If only we could catch a glimpse of what really happens in the kingdom of darkness I think we would start praising more and complaining less.
But if we look at the natural realm we can surely understand what praise does to the enemy. have you ever hurt someone to the core? I know we have been really hurt to the core by others, but there have been times that we severely hurt someone else. I am talking about you really hurting someone and that hurt should have taken a lifetime to get over but during the time of anger and pain --
• The person seems to rise above it
• They seem to dress better
• They seem to be getting more attention than before
• They seem to be growing and prospering
All of a sudden you find yourself getting upset- jealous- even confused.
• Well multiply that feeling a million times over and that is how the enemy gets when in spite of all you have been through you can still throw your hands up and give God a Praise
Too many times when we go to Pray or Praise, we focus our words on the enemy instead of our great God; thereby diluting the warfare and that leaves us exhausted – frustrated - defeated. If you have gotten hold of a promise from God, then it is time to stop shouting at the enemy.
• It is time to zone in on that promise and declare who your God is
• Go to your secret place of prayer and stand on that promise
• Focus your Praise on God and see him come into your situation and give you the victory
• King David was also a man who faced many trials and tribulations in his life
• Being anointed to be king in his teenage years
• Yet never took his throne until he was thirty
• In all his troubles he said in PSALM 34:1 "I WILL BLESS THE LORD AT ALL TIME; HIS PRAISE SHALL CONTINUALLY BE IN MY MOUTH"
If the devil has ever troubled you, let me tell you this - you can trouble him a lot more than he troubles you when you learn to Praise and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ in his presence.
• He hates it
• It embarrasses him
• He'll go somewhere else
Praise is not just clapping your hands or applauding God. It is showing respect – honor - gratefulness using your whole heart – mind- spirit - body despite your circumstances. In the midst of difficult circumstances, just start to Praise God and receive the breakthrough you desire.
• When you have a heart for God and you know He loves you, your confidence in His ability to deliver you soars
• You know help is on the way and you eagerly anticipate it
--My challenge for you is to learn to make Praise your natural response for everything you face — good or bad
--Develop that habit in your life and then see what God does
--When God’s people begin to Praise His name, it sends the enemy running!
--I challenge you to become a person of Praise, and you will experience the release of the power of God!
--HEBREWS 13:15 - Declaring of thanks
--PSALM 47:1 - Clapping hands and shouting
--PSALM 150:4 - Musical instruments and dancing
--PSALM 9:11 - Singing Praise songs
--EPHESIANS 5:19-20 - Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
--PSALM 98:4 - Making a joyful noise
--PSALM 134:2 - By lifting our hands
--PSALMS 4:3-5 / 46:10 - By being still
--PSALM 33:3 / 95:1-6 - By being loud
--THE WEAPON OF PRAISE
