Keep in mind, when we pray, our Father God will either send ministering or warring angels into our circumstance on our behalf or He’ll rearrange our circumstance. However, when Saints praise God, our Heavenly Father for who He is, He’ll show up personally and show out.
Throughout the Bible, the commands to “praise the Lord” are too numerous to mention. Angels and the heavenly hosts are commanded to praise the Lord [Psalm 89:5;103:20;148:2]. All inhabitants of the earth are instructed to praise the Lord [Psalm 138:4;Romans 15:11]. We can praise Him with singing [Isaiah 12:5;Psalm 9:11],with shouting [Psalm 33:1;98:4], with the dance [Psalm 150:4] and with musical instruments [1 Chronicles 13:8;Psalm 108:2;150:3-5]. We keep hearing “when the praises goes up – the blessing come down” because this is a profound life giving truth for the Saints. Prayer is the handle and Praises to God is the two-edged sword.
The power of praise propels us into obtaining a lifestyle of worship and not just as an occasional activity. Jesus said the Father is seeking those who will worship Him “in spirit and in truth” [John 4:23]. The Holy Spirit living inside us will tell us how to truly worship our LORD by the lifting of hands, bowing, adoring Him with our prayer language [tongues], etc.
When we worship our Father God, it comes from a different place within our spirit. Worship should be reserved for God alone [Luke 4:8] and is the art of losing self in the adoration of God being greater. We cannot worship until we enter His courts with praises. Praise is not always easy.
Often we must sacrifice how we feel in order to worship God. We cannot worship God until we pray and humble ourselves. Then acquire an attitude of gratitude for what He’s already done for us. We must truly let go our self-worship, surrender every aspect of our lives to His will and control.
When worship takes place, Satan is paralyzed and defeated. When Jehoshaphat went to war, he appointed singers to lead his army into battle with praises unto our LORD. In return, God set ambush and their enemies were defeated [2 Chronicles 20].
When you experience a Church praising God for who He is, they are demonstrating publically and unapologetically that they are not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with an attitude of gratitude. It also reminds Satan of his sin of being jealous of God. Satan followers are still being driven by jealousy today [Isaiah14:13-14]. Whenever he can’t get people to worship him, he’ll try to keep people from worshiping God as their LORD.
I encourage every church to start their service with a loud and joyful praise. Praise makes the devil sit down and shut up at church and it makes the devil flee from your presence. Prayer, praise and worship releases the anointing of God.
In scripture, praise is usually presented as boisterous, joyful, and uninhibited. God invites praise of all kinds from His creation. Jesus said that if people don’t praise God, even the “stones will cry out” [Luke 19:40]. When the Bible mentions worship, however, the tone changed.
We read verses like, “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness”[Psalm 96:9]. And, “Come let us worship and bow down” [Psalm 95:6]. Often, worship is coupled with the act of bowing or kneeling, which shows humility and contrition [2 Chronicles 29:28; Hebrews11:21;Revelation 19:10].
It is through true worship that we invite the Holy Spirit to speak to us, convict us, and comfort us. Through worship, we realign our priorities with God’s and acknowledge Him once more as the rightful Lord of our lives.
Do not be deceived Church, God will not be mocked. Yet, in these last days there will be mockers because they bear the spirit of the antichrist. These people are on an assignment to intimidate you to tone down your prayer, praise and worship to the only true God. Their objective is to redirect you to yourself and to Satan. He just doesn’t give up. Neither do we. Because every “praise” belong to our God. And every “Hallelujah” belongs to our God.
