POSITIONED THROUGH PRAISE

INTRODUCTION/TENSION

We don’t get to choose our circumstances (seasons), but we do get the choice of how we respond to the circumstances that come our way. No matter the circumstance, situation, or season, praise is always the right response.

1) Our FOCUS is to seek His FACE

2) Our PRIORITY is to be in His PRESENCE

3) Our GOAL is to see His GLORY

TRUTH

EXODUS 14 – DEAD END AT THE RED SEA

How we respond to seasons of unfavorable circumstances determines how they are defined and in-turn how we will walk through them. Our FOCUS becomes our FRAMEWORK by which we FACE our problems. We often mark our seemingly unfavorable seasons by the negative circumstances, but God sees these seasons and defines them by the solutions He has already provided for us through His love, grace, and Spirit-led direction.

When the Israelites were being chased down by the Egyptian army, the people were so terrified and focused on the problem chasing them down that their declarations were of their death and demise. Moses, however, turned his gaze to the Lord and received divine direction which opened the hidden highway through the sea. In the moment, Moses could have been tempted to look at the very real problem that was literally chasing him down. However, it was his decision…his response…to look toward and listen to God that defined the moment for all of history.

Moses was following God’s direction that led them to a dead end at the Red Sea. But instead of complaining, judging, or being wrapped in fear…Moses responded with an unrelenting focus on God. This focus and priority on God’s voice over the millions of negative voices around him redefined history. What should have, in the natural, been the end of the story for the Israelites was transformed into one of the greatest examples of God’s deliverance in all of history. The response to the unfavorable circumstance determined how they were able to walk through the problem, quite literally. The response to focus on God and not the problem defined the season not as the massacre of His people, but of the miraculous deliverance of His people.

We often mark the unfavorable seasons or circumstances by the DILEMMA that we are facing, but God always defines unfavorable seasons by the DELIVERANCE He has already provided by grace through faith.

NUMBERS 14 – SPIES, COMPLAINING, FEAR AND REBELLION

1 Corinthians 15:57 (NASB95)

but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 2:14 (NASB95)

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

Complaining is the attitude and action of unbelief. It’s the message spoken from a mouth that is motivated by the meditation of a heart that has lost sight of the goodness and faithfulness of God.

Praise is the attitude and action of belief. It’s the message spoken from a mouth that is motivated by the meditation of a heart that has remain fixed and focused on the goodness and faithfulness of God.

If God inhabits the PRAISES of His people…imagine who might inhabit the COMPLAINTS?

Praise is more than music, but certainly includes it. It must contain two elements. Without both of these, it is not true praise:

1) It’s a heart overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness towards God.

2) And it’s lips that openly declare, through spoken word and song, the magnificence and majesty of God.

PRAISE POSITIONS US WHERE WE NEED TO BE

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 (NASB95)

Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 13:15–16 (NASB95)

Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Worship is measured in surrender and demonstrated in sacrifice.

Surrender to Him through praise is only a sacrifice when it’s offered in a moment that the circumstance wouldn’t naturally dictate a praiseworthy response. We only get the moment we are in to offer up a sacrifice of praise that God’s pleased with. When the moment is gone, when the circumstance shifts to a more favorable situation, the opportunity to give God a sacrifice of praise is over. And it’s only in our earthly existence that we are ever presented with this opportunity. Heaven will be filled with praise for all eternity, but it will never be a sacrifice of praise.

PRAISE POSITIONS US WHERE WE NEED TO BE

APPLICATION

1) Praise positions us in His Presence

Psalm 100 (NLT)

A psalm of thanksgiving. Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Psalm 100:4 TPT

You can pass through his open gates with the password of praise. Come right into his presence with thanksgiving. Come bring your thank offering to him and affectionately bless his beautiful name!

Praise positions us in His presence. If we are in His presence, we have the ability to experience His love and gain His perspective on whatever situation we are facing.

PRAISE POSITIONS US WHERE WE NEED TO BE

2) Praise positions us in the Fear of the Lord

Fear of the Lord: A sense of awe and respect for the power of God. Extreme reverence and admiration of the Lord. It’s to regard Him as Holy, to treasure Him, to admire Him, and to worship Him.

We can either have the Fear of the Lord or the Fear of Man (or any other Spirit of Fear), but we can’t have both.

If we are positioned in the fear of the Lord, we are positioned to receive divine wisdom for our circumstance and situation.

Proverbs 9:10 AMP

The [reverent] fear of the Lord [that is, worshiping Him and regarding Him as truly awesome] is the beginning and the preeminent part of wisdom [its starting point and its essence], and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding and spiritual insight.

PRAISE POSITIONS US WHERE WE NEED TO BE

3) Praise positions us for the Renewed Mind

Romans 12:1–2 (NASB95)

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Praise is the prerequisite for renewing our minds…it’s not the only thing we need to renew our mind (it’s His word and truth that renews our mind)…but it is the entrance to renewing our minds. And it’s the renewed mind that brings about the transformation we all need in our souls.

PRAISE POSITIONS US WHERE WE NEED TO BE

4) Praise positions us in a Place of Faith

Colossians 2:6–7 (NKJV)

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Abounding in faith…through thanksgiving (praise).

Romans 4:20 AMP

No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God

Praise positions us in a place of faith, and faith is what access the supernatural power of God and what He has provided through His grace. Faith accesses, appropriates, and activates what God’s grace has already provided.

PRAISE POSITIONS US WHERE WE NEED TO BE

5) Praise positions us for Deliverance and Breakthrough

WORSHIP TEAM START COMING UP

Israel in the wilderness – You can either WANDER in the wilderness, or you can WONDER in the wilderness.

Acts 16 – Paul and Silas in prison – praise broke the chains and opened the prison doors, not just for them but for all those imprisoned with them.

“There’s a new sound for a new season…”

(Psalm 96: New song – “New” is Hebrew word ḥāḏāš (khaw-dawsh') which comes from a root word meaning to rebuild, renew, repair, and restore)

LANDING

PRAISE POSITIONS US WHERE WE NEED TO BE (LET’S PRAISE!)