Praising God - what can it do in and for you?

When I was at church yesterday evening, a word came from the Lord through the pastor's wife that He wants us to praise, because those who are worshippers are those who hear the voice of God. If you want direction from the Lord in any area of your life, get into praise. This puts you in such a place in God where you can hear His voice clearer.

This morning as I was praying the Lord spoke to me and said that our family needs to get more into praise, because in that there is strength for us. We become trong as we praise God. I then asked the Lord to give me some Scripture that shows that praising God will bring strength to you, IT WILL MAKEYOU STRONG. He reminded me of a Scripture in Psalms:

Psalm 16:8 I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

The Lord showed me that when we praise God, we are setting the Lord before our eyes. And what is the result of that? We shall not be moved! We shall be so strong that we will be immovable when the enemy tries to shake us from the place apointed by God for us. We will be imovable when temptation comes, when trouble and trials arise or when discouragement hits.

I then did a small study on the word praise to see how as a result of us praising God we get strengthened. Well... I got reminded of the fact that praise is a tool in God's hand through which He can destroy our enemies.

Here are some examples in the Bible:

“But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel. (Psalm 22:3)” When we praise God, God is enthroned in our lives and being enthroned, it provides a chance for Him to do what He wants in our lives, to put things in order according to the order of His kingdom. 'Your kingdom come, Your will be done”. Since He get enthroned when we praise Him, therefore praise brings the Kingdom of God in our lives and circumstances.

Another verse says: “Let them give glory to the LORD, And declare His praise ... The LORD shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies.” Isaiah 42:12 – 13

From this verse we learn that as we give God glory and praise, He starts to act in battle for us and prevail against His enemies in us (which might be sin, a negative attitude, discouragement,etc), His enemies in our lives and in the lives of others.

We can see the same effect in 2 Chronicle 20:22 Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.

God defeated the enemies of the children of God as they began to sing and to praise, and He will do the same in our lives. One particular enemy that He specifically says He defeats when we praise is the spirit of heaviness, the spirit that makes us feel opressed, discouraged, disheartened, sad, unhappy, cast down in our soul:

To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, THE GARMENT OF PRAISE FOR THE SPIRIT OF HEAVINESS; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified." Isaiah 61:3

Another powerful example of how God starts to fight against our enemies is the battle at Jericho. The battle was won through praise. God defeated a giant of an enemy that was seating in the way of the future of God's people. God was enthroned in the praises of His people, and He went forth as a mighty man of war, and defeated the enemies for them. He obstacle standing in the way of God's people's destiny was removed and they could thus take possession of the promises of God for them.

I myself found by experience that praise does quite a number of things in our lives.

Firstly, it makes us put our eyes on God rather than our circumstances. It makes us gain the right perspective between who God is and who we are, it puts us in our place, so to speak. It reminds us who God is for us and makes us confess the truth of the Word of God and of who God is for us, which can bring faith and encouragement to our souls.

It also brings us into a place where God is enthroned in our hearts and our hearts get softened and malleable in God's hands for His purposes and plans. We start to let go of our plans and agendas and let God take over. It brings us into the presence of God, into the holy of holies, where we can hear God's soft voice speaking to us about our present, past or future. I have found that the best way to get into a place where I can truly hear God with confidence is by praising God until my heart is utterly stilled from the noises and distractions of the things around us and I am truly still in my soul.

Then I wait upon the Lord, ask Him to speak to me and wait quietly before Him in faith expecting Him to speak. And He does, maybe not each time, but when He decides that I need to hear something specific from Him. I do not try to force Him to speak through these actions (I can't anyway), but I make myself available to listen in case He wants to speak to me at that time. If you think God SHOULD speak to you each time and you wait believing He will speak every time, this attitude can lead you into hearing the wrong kind of voices which can lead you astray. So our attitude is one of humble servant, showing up before the Master just in case He has any specific instructions for us. If He doesn't I carry on doing what He previously spoke to me about or just doing the general will of God written in Scripture.

I have also found that when I had problems that were beyond my control, if I would start praising God for let's say half an hour or so, I sometimes saw that God moved to turn things around. When we were running a web hosting business, the server crushed when the data center was closed, it was right after the business hours were finished and the workers were on their way to home. Usually they do not come back to fix your problem,you have to wait till the next morning, but after praising God for half an hour, one of the workers decided to go back and fix our problem, even though he did not have to. That was inconvenient for him, but God moved him so we would not loose our customers.

Also, if I felt down or discouraged at times, or hurting or oppressed, I would CHOOSE to praise, against what my feelings were telling me to do, and I would sing those things about God, who He is towards me, the opposite of what my circumstances were screaming at me. Sometimes it really hurt to sing those things, as it did not fit my present reality, but this is what a SACRIFICE OF PRAISE is, something that hurts to do and the results are that God starts to move in your life.

So I hope this encouraged you to praise God and see His miracles unfold. We all need miracles. You need miracles. So why not invite God to take over through praise and defeat your enemies? I would encourage you to apply what I have said above and then write in the comments below the testimonies of what God did for you through practicing this teaching. Looking forward to reading your testimonies of miracles!