The other week I heard a testimony of a man with horrific
injuries, having been hit by a truck at 50mph. God spoke to him about praising
Him in and through the pain and trauma and praising Him for every little bit of
healing as it came. This man, who was not expected to live, was eventually completely
healed. Not in one dramatic moment, but over time and he attributed it to the
power of praise. He listened to praise music even right through the night, and
that brought healing to the nightmares and flashbacks he would have at night. His
testimony really got me thinking about the power of praise.
It reminded me of the story in 2 Chronicles 20 where a huge
army is coming against Judah. King Jehoshaphat calls a fast and humbles himself
before God, praying “We do not know what to do but our eyes are on you” (v.12).
The Lord brings a word of prophecy through Jahaziel: “Do not be afraid . . .
You will not have to fight this battle . . . stand firm and see the deliverance
the Lord will give you . . . go out and face them tomorrow and the Lord will be
with you.” (v.15-17).
Jehoshaphat and the people respond in praise and worship
instantly. They don’t wait to see the fulfilment of the prophecy before they
praise God for their deliverance. What an incredible act of faith – they’re
praising God while the enemy is still advancing against them, before the battle
has been won. They took God at his word
and received the victory by faith. They then respond in obedience to go out to
the battlefield.
Further evidence of their faith and trust in God’s
deliverance is shown in verse 21:
“Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and
to praise him for the splendour of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army”.
The worshipers were in front of the army because actually it
was the praise and worship of God that was winning the battle in the heavenly
places:
“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.” (v.22)
What if they had decided they wouldn’t praise God until they
had seen the victory? Would those ambushes have been set against their enemies?
We don’t know the answer to that, but in a way we cannot often see and cannot
understand, praising God is a powerful weapon in fighting spiritual battles. Here are a few reasons to praise God:
1) Praise lifts our eyes to God and that reminds us how
great and powerful He is.
“I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help
come from? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 121 v
1, 2
As we declare his greatness and meditate on it in song, our
faith rises and is strengthened.
2) Praise takes our eyes off the circumstances which so
easily drag us down.
When I look at how
sinful and broken I am, I despair. When I look at the things I cannot control,
I feel hopeless. When I try to understand everything in order to sort it out
myself, I am left crushed and helpless. When I lift my eyes and sing “How great
is our God”, I remind myself of how great the One is in whom I have put my
hope. He is my reason to praise.
3) Praise blesses us.
The enjoying of God and expressing it is not simply a duty and service
to Him, but something that does us good too.
When I enter into His presence in praise and delight myself in the
greatness of my God, it is one of the greatest pleasures – praising Him who is
truly and completely worthy of all praise.
Hezekiah Walker’s ‘Every praise’ is
one of my favourites at the moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuuZMg6NVeA
I recommend turning the volume up and try dancing for joy to
this one.
For those who prefer a more intellectual response, there’s a
C S Lewis quote that expresses all of this much better than I’m doing on this
website: http://www.cslewisinstitute.org/God_Invites_Us_to_Enjoy_Him#.VTTroxcn5lE.facebook
4) Praise brings us into the Lord’s presence.
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”
Psalm 100 v 4
God is everywhere and we can never get away from him, and
yet there is also a very real variation in the experience we have of his power
and presence. As we worship and praise God, it is as though in the spiritual
realm, we come closer to God. It increases our awareness of the reality that
was there all along – God with us. It clears our gaze to see that God is
present. It tunes us in to hear what He
would say to us. It removes the barriers that block our hearts from receiving
the love and grace He wants to pour in.
5) Praise changes the atmosphere.
I found our home was more peaceful and
relationships seemed more harmonious on the mornings I spent time in worship
first and continued to have worship music playing through the morning routine.
It’s not a magic spell to make everything rosy, but as the words of the worship
songs kept bringing my heart back into a place of worship, God was able to
minister to me and the family to receive His love and so be able to let that
love flow between us, when our own love falls so woefully short.
Finally I want to share a beautiful song that blessed me
greatly recently – a simple, lovely song
which has helped me praise God:
Father, I praise You. You are worthy of all praise. Thank
you for the privilege of praising You – that it is not just a duty, but a means
of receiving even more of your blessing in my life. Teach me to praise You more and more each
day. Amen.
I’ve struggled for several weeks over writing this post –
partly because I’ve felt that I haven’t expressed myself very well and there’s
so much to say about praise that I’ve not covered. And also because I have been falling so
woefully short of truly learning this lesson myself. I’ve had a really struggly
time where I’ve felt really low. I have found praising hard work and it hasn’t
transported me effortlessly onto fluffy clouds of ecstasy. When I have praised,
it hasn’t instantly lifted my spirits or stopped arguments in the home.
It’s a spiritual battle. The enemy doesn’t want me praising.
I’ve finally felt that maybe the reason I’ve felt so much ‘opposition’ to
writing this post, is because the enemy doesn’t want even one more person to be
encouraged to praise God more. So here it is, rather imperfect like me, but I
offer it with a prayer that God may use it to encourage you to find out more of
the power and blessing of praise.
No comments:
Post a Comment