Engage in Spiritual Warfare by Praising the Lord; Christian Life Soars through Praise

From the portion in 2 Chronicles 20:15-22 we can learn to engage in spiritual warfare by praising the Lord; the Christian life soars through praise, and the highest expression of our spiritual life is our praise to God. Praise the Lord!

This is one of the last and highest crucial aspect of living in the good land after returning from captivity.

We thank the Lord for His mercy and grace, for He brought us out of anything of the captivity in the degraded Christianity and brought us into the church life where we can enjoy the Lord with the saints.

One of the crucial items we need to practice in the church life today is the matter of expressing God’s will in our prayer, and expressing our desire to have our border enlarged.

The Lord has given each one of us a certain measure of Christ, and we need to have the aspiration of increasing our enjoyment of Christ and that we would be protected from the evil one.

Also, we need to join our will to God’s will so that He would infuse His heart’s desire into us and make us one with Him so that our prayer would express His desire.

We need to express God’s will in our prayer.

This is the valuable prayer that we can offer to the Lord.

In the matter of prayer, it is important for us to not only pray what is in our heart, opening to Him concerning our problems and also our joys but also echo His thought in our prayer.

God is looking for a group of people on earth who are one with Him, who expresses His desire in their prayer, and who just echo what is in His heart to Him in prayer.

When God gains such a prayer, when there are some on earth who are in tune with His will and echo His desire in their prayer, He can carry out what He desires, and His will can be done on earth as in heaven.

May we be such ones. May we be those who not only tell the Lord what our needs are, what our situation is, and what is our yearning before the Lord but also those who listen to Him, receive His desire and make it their desire, and pray what He infuses into us.

The function of the church is to be one with the Lord in prayer.

The church and all the believers in Christ are not here for their own purpose but for God’s purpose, and when the church is attuned to God to utter the intention of God through prayer, the Lord has a way to do what He wants to do.

The way we cooperate with God is not mainly by doing many things for God or performing things in His name but our opening to Him, listening to Him, and uttering in prayer what He puts in our hearts.

When God gains some on earth who echo what is in His heart at this time, He can do what He desires, and His blessing will also follow.

We need to learn to Engage in Spiritual Warfare by Praising the Lord

2 Chron. 20:15-22 is a very encouraging story concerning the nation of Judah which was surrounded by the enemy and seemed to have no way out.

It was at the time of Jehoshaphat’s rule, and the nation was weak, even in shambles; they felt that defeat was certain.

The king was a revive and God-fearing person, seeking after God. So he repented before the Lord, asked for His help, and told Judah to believe in God.

He then didn’t just sit and wait for God to come in and deliver the nation; rather, he appointed singers to sing and praise the Lord (v. 21).

He told the people not to be afraid nor dismayed because of the great number the enemies, for the battle is the Lord’s and not theirs; it was not for them to fight this battle but for the Lord!

He asked these ones to praise the beauty of holiness and to walk out before the army.

The people were surrounded, and there was no outward help coming, but they still praised the Lord.

Many of the serving ones praised Jehovah the God of Israel with an exceedingly loud voice (v. 19).

They began to shout in song and to praise, and when this happened, Jehovah set ambushes for the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Senir (v. 22).

At the moment that they began to praise God, God set ambushes against the enemy and deliverance was there.

As believers in Christ, we need to learn to engage in spiritual warfare not by praying bold and attacking prayers but by praising the Lord.

When we are praising the Lord, though the outward situation doesn’t seem so positive and no change seems to happen, the Lord will move His hand and the spiritual warfare is won.

We need to pray, and we need to pray every day; however, we can overcome many things mainly by praising.

When we praise the Lord, we do not focus on ourselves or on the help that He gives us; our focus is on Him, and we praise Him for what He is.

Spiritual victory doesn’t depend on our ability to fight the battle or spiritual strength; spiritual victory depends on our praising the Lord.

Praising the Lord may seem counterintuitive humanly speaking, for we may not do things to fight nor may we ask God to do this or that but simply praise Him.

But this is what He wants. He is enthroned on our praises.

Though we may be under severe trials and we may be frequently tested, being even shut in by our trouble, but we can still praise the Lord.

One side may be too strong and we may be too weak, and our problems may be too great, even beyond our ability to overcome.

At such times, we may simply focus on our problems and try to sort out the issues that are at hand.

However, in such great times of testing, we should turn and simply praise the Lord.

The more we are tested, the more we tend to look at ourselves or at our environment.

But if we know God, if we know His heart, we will simply put our trust in the Lord and we will learn to praise.

May we learn not to set our eyes on ourselves.

May we learn to focus not on our problems or tests but on the Lord. May we simply lift up our head and praise Him.

We praise Him not merely for what He can do for us or for what He gave us but for what He is.

Beyond everything and above everything, God simply is. We praise Him. This is a sacrifice of praise.

We may not be in the mood to praise the Lord, but we still praise Him; this is a sacrifice of praise.

The outward environment may be contrary to us and the trials may not stop, but we lift up our head and just praise the Lord.

The praises that issue from the heart and the praises that flow out of wounded feelings are the sacrifices of praise that are pleasing to God and acceptable to Him.

It may not make sense to us humanly speaking, but this is what God is after.

He is above all these things and He can deliver us, but He needs our praising the Lord to do it.

Our sacrifice of praise is very effective before God. We need to learn to fight the spiritual warfare by praising the Lord.

If we see this, if we realize that our loftiest praises enable God to grant us the victory, we will not focus on our situation or our problems but simply exercise to praise God.

May we let our loftiest praises burst forth to God so that we may withstand and overcome!

When we praise God in this way, we will discover that the way of victory is wide open before us and we will simply overcome!

Lord Jesus, we want to learn to fight the spiritual warfare and win by praising the Lord! Amen, praise the Lord! Lord, You are above everything. We praise You. We refuse to look at and focus on our problems – we simply lift our head and look to Jesus! Praise the Lord Jesus Christ! Jesus is Lord! Amen! Though we may be tested and going through trials, we want to offer You a sacrifice or praise! Hallelujah, Satan is defeated and Christ has won the victory! Jesus Christ is Lord, and the enemy is under our feet, for we are one with Him in spirit! Lord, we offer You a sacrifice of praise! Even from our wounded feelings we just want to praise You! Praise the Lord!

The Christian Life Soars through Praise, for Praise is the Highest Work carried out by God’s Children!

The highest work carried out by God’s children is praising the Lord (Psa. 119:164; Heb. 13:15).

We may think that our work for God is measured in how much we do for Him and we may consider that our highest work for Him is how much we outwardly achieve to do in His name.

However, the highest work carried out by God’s children is praise. We can even say that praising the Lord is the highest expression of our spiritual life.

If we only pray and ask the Lord for things, we still need to advance in our fellowship with Him and in our experience of Christ.

Our highest work as the children of God is praising the Lord.

God’s throne is the highest point in the universe, but He sits enthroned on our praises (Psa. 22:3).

When we praise the Lord, we enthrone Him. When we praise the Lord, He is exalted through our praise.

The enemy tries to deny and lower the name of Jesus, but when we praise the Lord, God’s name and even God Himself are exalted through our praise.

Our Christian life soars through praise (Acts 16:19-34). We may be in the lowest pit, even in prison, but we can praise the Lord.

When we praise the Lord, we soar in our Christian life. To praise the Lord is to transcend everything to touch the Lord (Rev. 14:1-3; 15:2-4).

No matter what is happening outwardly, we can soar above all things by praising the Lord.

We may pray for our situation but nothing may happen outwardly.

We may ask and beseech the Lord concerning the trials we’re in but nothing seems to change.

We need to realize that there’s something higher than prayer: we can praise the Lord.

When we realize this, when we praise the Lord no matter what happens to us outwardly, we soar above anything else and He gains all the glory.

Spiritual victory doesn’t depend on warfare – it depends on praise (2 Chron. 20:20-22).

We may think we’re tough and strong, so we may not back down from fighting with the enemy, but this is not how we win the spiritual warfare.

In our church life and in our personal Christian life we need to offer consummate praise to God (Psa. 22:22; Heb. 2:12).

We need to offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually (13:15).

It is a sacrifice because the situation may be painful and we may be suffering, not knowing what will be the outcome, but we still choose to praise the Lord.

Through the Christ whom we have experienced and enjoyed, we need to offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually!

May we learn to exalt the Lord and praise Him.

May we cause our Christian life and experience to soar by simply praising the Lord.

May we learn that spiritual victory in battle does not depend on our fighting or on our spiritual strength but on praising the Lord.

He is worthy to be praised; we are not worthy, but He is.

May we praise the Lord, our God, with all our heart, and may we glorify His name forever (Psa. 86:12).

Once we praise, we soar above any problems, any trials, and any suffering.

Nothing can ripen us more than praising the Lord. Nothing can mature us more than offering Him a sacrifice of praise.

What should we praise the Lord for?

We may be under the discipline of the Spirit, and we may suffer under His mighty hand, but we can still praise Him for what He is.

We may be in pain because of the suffering we experience and we may not seem to get out of the particular trial we’re in, but we can lift our head and exercise our spirit to praise the Lord.

We can simply praise the Lord by saying,

Lord, we praise You for redeeming us. Praise You for destroying the devil on the cross. We praise You for being obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Hallelujah, Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth! We praise You for being our wonderful Bridegroom. You are the all-inclusive Christ, and we praise You for all that You are to us! We exalt You, Lord. You are worthy to be praised. We glorify You. We look away from our situation and we don’t focus on our problems. We look away unto Jesus and we choose to praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, He is the Author and Perfecter of our faith! Hallelujah, He is our High Priest and the heavenly Minister, interceding for us and ministering the heavens into us. Lord, we just praise You! Praise the Lord!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas in the message, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 48, ch. 16, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther (2022 winter training), week 2, entitled, Crucial Aspects of Living in the Good Land after Returning from Captivity in Babylon.
• Further reading on this topic:
  – Praising before understanding, a portion from, Praising, Chapter 1, by Watchman Nee.
  – Praise, a portion from, Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee.
  – Faith-producing praise, Praising, Chapter 1, by Watchman Nee.
  – Praising, Praising the Lord is one of the most effective and enjoyable ways to release our spirit in our worship to God (Psa. 150). A portion via, Local Church Meetings.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Praise Him! Praise Him! Christ is Victor! / He has won the victory! / Sin is judged, old Adam finished, / Full redemption now we see! / Vanquished all the evil powers / Thru the Cross triumphantly! (Hymns #124 stanza 1)
  – Glory, honor, praise and power, / Be unto the Lamb forever! / Jesus Christ is our Redeemer, / Hallelujah! Hallelujah! / Hallelujah! Praise ye the Lord! (Hymns #240)
  – Hallelujah! sing to Jesus, / His the scepter, His the throne; / Hallelujah! His the triumph, / His the victory alone. / Hark, the songs of His redeemed ones / Thunder like a mighty flood: / Jesus out of every nation / Hath redeemed us by His blood. (Hymns #125 stanza 1)