Isaiah 12:4–6 ESV

And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

The Power of Praise

I think most of us like to come to church and praise the Lord together.

We sing songs.

We lift our hands.

We have this wonderful experience.

Of course, some of us can’t wait to get the “praise” part over so we can get to the message.

But for anyone who thinks that praise is just a part of our Sunday morning program, you need to know that there is SO MUCH MORE to praise.

There is POWER in praise!

As we begin to praise, we take our eyes off our problems, and we put them on our Creator.

As we praise, we move past the natural and into the supernatural.

As we praise, we open the door for God to reveal His glory and move in our situation.

Putting Our Eyes on God

Psalm 42:11 ESV

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

I know we all have problems.

Some of our problems are overwhelming.

It’s easy to give up hope, but it’s NOT hopeless.

Read that verse again.

Remember Job?

This man literally had everything taken away.

He went from being wealthy with a large, happy family, to being bankrupt, his children all dead, and his body covered with disease.

All his friends turned their backs on him.

They criticized him and judged him.

They tried to make Job’s misfortunes his own fault.

Or else God had rejected Job for some unknown reason.

What was Job’s response?

Job 1:21 ESV

And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

In the midst of this devastation, Job chose to praise God!

He put things in perspective.

God is going to do what he needs to do, whether or not I understand it.

I will choose to trust Him and praise Him through it all!

And what ultimately happened?

Because of Job’s faithfulness and attitude of praise, God restored Job.

He had more children.

His property was restored and increased.

His health returned.

He lived the rest of his life in blessing.

He lived to see 4 generations of his family.

There is power in praise!

Moving Into the Supernatural

John on the Isle of Patmos

John was made a prisoner on Patmos for preaching about Jesus.

But he kept right on praising the Lord.

Revelation 1:10–11 ESV

I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

The entire book of Revelation is an account of the vision John received directly from Jesus.

And it started while John was lost in praise.

He wasn’t complaining about being a prisoner.

And it’s fair to note that John was never released from prison.

But through his praise, John literally transcended his situation to see directly into the courts of heaven and catch a glimpse of New Jerusalem!

Peter’s vision (Acts 10)

Peter had gone up to the roof to spend time alone with God.

While he is there, God gives Peter a vision wherein God offers Peter ceremonially unclean animals to eat.

Through this vision, God reveals to Peter a call to preach salvation to the Gentiles.

Almost immediately after the vision, Peter is escorted to the house of a Roman Centurion where he preaches to them and sees them get saved and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Day of Pentecost (Acts 1 & 2)

In verse 4, Jesus instructs his disciples to remain in Jerusalem together to wait for the promise of the Father.

Verses 12-14 tell of how the disciples obeyed Jesus.

Acts 1:14 ESV

All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

While it talks about prayer, we need to remember that prayer for the Jews consisted of a lot of thanksgiving and praise.

They were always recounting all the ways God had been faithful in the past, and were declaring their faith in him for victories to come.

So in Acts 2, we read:

Acts 2:1–4 ESV

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

We know the rest of the story.

Jews from all over the world were in town.

They heard their national languages being spoken.

They gathered to find out what was going on.

Peter preached and led approximately 3000 souls to Christ!

There is power in praise!!!

Revealing God’s Glory

Jericho (Joshua 6)

For six days, priests carried the Ark of the Covenant and marched once around the mighty walls of Jericho

Seven priests played trumpets while they marched.

The rest of the Israelites remained silent.

On the seventh day, the priests played their trumpets and marched with the Ark of the Covenant 6 times around Jericho.

Then they marched one more time.

Joshua 6:16 ESV

And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city.

This time, all the Israelites shouted out to God in victory.

Joshua 6:20 ESV

So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.

No matter how big the problems are that we are facing, they will crumble when we quit crying about the situation and start shouting out in victory.

Gideon

Going to war against the Midianites, Gideon started out with 32,000 men.

Was reduced to 10,000.

Then they were tested at the river and reduced to 300.

Against the combined armies of the Midianite, Amelekites, and people of the East!

These 300 men, armed with trumpets and covered torches, divided into 3 groups and snuck around the edges of the sleeping enemy camp.

Judges 7:19–21 ESV

So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled.

As Gideon and his men called out, praising God for a victory they had not yet seen, God threw their enemy into a frenzy.

Paul and Silas (Acts 16)

Arrested for casting a demon out of a girl.

The girl was a slave, and the demon seemed to give her powers of fortune-telling.

Her owners were angry because she couldn’t tell the future anymore!

So now Paul and Silas are in jail.

Acts 16:25–30 ESV

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

When we choose to praise God in spite of our circumstances, it changes our view of everything!

We get a whole new perspective.

When we choose to praise God in the midst of our crisis, others can’t help but notice.

Some will be like Job’s friends.

Are you insane?

Curse God and die.

But as you continue to praise God, you are coming into His presence.

You will be filled with power.

You will be filled with joy and peace.

You will learn what REAL victory looks like.

And others will be jealous of what you have.

They will say, “If this is what it is to have Jesus, I want it too!”

Who is ready to see some walls come down in your life?

Who is ready to experience victory?

Let’s come together and praise God right now!!!