The Power in Praise

The Bible has much to say about the power of God in praise and in the prayer of praise. The prayer of praise releases more of God's power than any other form of prayer of petition. The Bible gives examples which demonstrate this fact again and again. We shall discuss some of these examples.

God has the right to praise as His due, firstly, for who He is, the creator of the universe and all in it. Secondly, for all that He has done for us in making provision for our eternal salvation and our life here on the earth. It is one of the basic Biblical requirments of believers to praise the Lord. In order to do this meaningfully we need a revelation of God as our Heavenly Father and that He is the God of love.

Paul said: "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened" (Romans 1:20, 21, NKJV).

This passage of Scripture states that every person is born with an awareness of God through creation and therefore rejection of God is a deliberate choice. God expects us to glorify Him and give Him thanks. Praise is an acknowledgement that God is God and He is worthy to be praised. Humanism, atheism and evolution deny God the praise that is rightfully His, for we are fearfully and wonderfully made. If we are believers then God expects praise from us as part of the daily walk and relationship and not just in meetings or Church services. It is part of the walk of the Spirit.

Not only can we praise God for who He is but also for what He has done. Our salvation alone is priceless, apart from all the other blessings God gives to those who love Him. Deuteronomy 28 lists the blessings which Old Testament believers were entitled but as New Testament believers we have been blessed with evey spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3).

David, the psalmist said: "Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction. Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Ps. 103:1 - 5).

We need to be aware how important praise is in the move of the Spirit and why there is so much emphasis on it. God delights in being exalted to His rightful position in our lives and responds to those who do this.

The Lord inhabits the praises of His people

David, the psalmist said: "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel" (Ps. 22:3, KJV).

God's power and presence is near when we praise Him. He actually dwells, inhabits, and resides in our praises!

The following are some examples of the power in praise:

King Jehoshaphat of Judah

Jehoshaphat was king of Judah. One day he discovered that his little kingdom was surrounded by the powerful armies of his enemies - the Moabites, the Ammonites and the Meunites. Johoshaphat knew that little Judah did not have a chance in its own might, and he cried out to God: "O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against the great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You" (2 Chron. 20:12).

An important step in the act of praising God is to take our eyes off the threatening circumstances and look to God instead. Notice that Jehoshaphat was not just closing his eyes to the threat against his kingdom or pretending the enemies were not there. He took careful stock of the situation, recognized his won helplessness, and turned to God for help.

We are not to be blind to the very real threats of evil in our lives. Seeing them for what they are only gives us greater cause to praise and thank God for working in them with perfect control and authority. But we are not to be preoccupied with the appearance of evil around us. See it, admit our helplessness to cope with it in our own strength, then turn to God.

God said: "Do not be afraid nor desmayed because of this great multitude, for the battle in not yours, but God's" (2 chron. 20:15).

I think that is a tremendous statement. We don't have the power to deal with the circumstances of our lives, so obviously, the battle isn't ours, but God's!

What a promise! Now what kind of position did God want Jehoshaphat to hold while he was to stand still and watch God at work?

The next morning Jehoshaphat appointed those whose who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying "Praise that Lord, for His mercy endures forever" (2 Chron. 20:21).

The scene took place right in front of the massed ranks of the enemy-armies ready to slaughter the men of Judah. Can you imagine the reaction of their captains as they saw the small band of singers coming out on the battlefield agains them? They would have thought they were mad!

But what happened to Jehoshaphat and his men? "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. For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another" (2 Chron. 20:22, 23).

There was total confusion and they killed one another. We can assume that if Jehoshaphat had decided that "he better play it safe" and had ordered his men to fight, the outcome would have been very different.

Many of us are constantly defeated by the circumstance around us because we are not ready to accept that the battle is God's and not ours. Even when we realize our own powerlessness to cope with the enemy, we are afraid to let go and trust ourselves ot God's power. This is where we've allowed our own understanding to assume the wrong position in our lives. We don't understand and therefore we don't dare to believe.

God's Word makes it clear that the only way out of that dilemma is the step of faith on our part. Believing that God's promises are valid, accepting them, and daring to trust in them leads to understanding. The Biblical principle here is ver clear - Acceptance comes before understanding.

Jehoshaphat would never have dared follow God's plan if he had insisted on understanding it. God's proposal and promise undoubtedly staggered and went beyond Jehoshaphat's understanding. But Jehoshaphat, we read in the account, was a man who believed and trusted God. With his understnding, he relied on and trusted God.

The Battle of Jericho

Joshua was another leader who received battle orders from God that must have staggered his understanding and challenged his willingness to accept what must have seemed absurd to many who watched.

The city of Jericho was a fortified stronghold, and the Israelites who had wanderd for forty years in the wilderness certainly didn't have the weapons or the power to take the city. But Joshua believed God when He promised to deliver the enemies of Israel into their hands.

God told Joshua to march aroung Jericho six days in a row. On the seventh day they were to blow their trumpets and shout. "... then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him" (Josh. 6:5).


Joshua trusted God, but I wonder what you or I would hae thought and said if we had been among his followers. Would we have grumbled and balked at his foolhardy suggestion? I wonder what the inhabitants of Jericho thought as they stood on the sturdy fortified walls of their city and watched the Israelites marching around, carrying the Ark of the Covenant with them.


At one time I used to think that the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho was a mixture of myth, exaggeration, and fairy tale. But archaeologists have located the ruins of old Jericho in recent years, and found ample evidence that the walls of the city did collapse at a time in history corresponding to the Biblical record. The walls of Jericho did come tumbling down. The Power of God was at work while His people showed their trust and confidence by praising Him with trumpets and shouts.


Earthly ministry of Jesus Christ


The examples of Jehoshaphat and Joshua clearly demonstrate that God wins our victories by means and principles that look untterly foolish and contradictory to our human wisdom and strategies.


We are told to trust Him, praise Him, and watch Him work. This is essentially how Jesus Christ operated during His time of ministry in Israel. He openly admitted that by Himself He could do nothing; His part was to submit to His Father's will in perfect obedience, trust, and faith, so that God's power could meet the needs of the people.


We may take a look at a couple of Jesus' prayers concerning a different problem.


1. Feeding of 5,000


There was the case of the 5,000 who had followed Him out of town to hear Him preach. They wer hungry. The only food available was one little boy's lunch - five loaves of bread and two fish.


How did Jesus pray? Did He plead with God to perform a miracle?


"And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. So they all ate and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish. Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men" (Mark 6:41 - 43).


Some of us may object here and say, "But that was Jesus; He knew what God could do. It wouldn't work for us!


But Jesus told his followers, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:12, 13).


Jesus said we could do greater things. Does that mean that God possibly has a plan concerning famines around the world and the projected food shortage that environmentalists and agricultural experts so solemnly predict?


Yes, I do believe it does. I know of several instances where people have taken God at His Word, thanked Him, and praised Him for a limited food supply, and seen it stretch to feed many more that it was originally projected for.


2. The raising of Lazarus from the dead


When Jesus was confronted with the death of Lazarus, He again prayed a simple prayer of thanksgiving. When the stone was rolled away from the grave opening where Lazarus had been buried for four days, Jesus lifted His eyes, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me" (John 11:41). He then commanded Lazarus to come from the grave. And the man who had been dead four days walked out!


Jesus made possible for us to praise God


The Bible says that Jesus came to earth to make it possible for us to praise God. Isaiah the prophet fortold Jesus' coming and said that He would come "to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengence of our God; to comfort all who mourn, 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" (Isa. 61:1 - 3).


You may recognize your own condition on the list. Are you brokem-hearted? Bound by physical limitations, sickness, and spiritul limitations? In physical prison, or imprisoned by you own spiritual blindness? Are you mourning? Unable to rejoice, be thankfull, or praise God? Is your spirit heavily burdened and failing?


Perhaps it is because you haven't fully accepted and understood the Good News Jesus came to bring.


Praise is an active response to what we know what God has done and is doing for us in our lives and in the world through His Son Jesus Christ and the person of the Holy Spirit.


If we doubt in our hearts what God has done and is doing, we cannot wholeheartedly praise Him. Uncertainty about the Good News will always be a barrier to praise. If we want to be able to praise God in everything, we need to be sure or foundation is solid and without cracks of doubt and uncertainty.