Praise is the way to display Christ’s victory and overcome spiritual attacks; when we run out of strength to pray, when we’re oppressed or wounded, we should just remember, Why not praise God? Amen, we praise God!
Satan’s ultimate goal is to stop our praises to God, for he knows that, when we praise God, we display the victory of Christ, we stand in His victory, and we overcome any of his spiritual attacks.
Prayer signifies spiritual warfare, but praise signifies spiritual victory; whenever we praise God, Satan flees. Satan hates our prayer and does everything he can to frustrate us, and he especially hates our praises.
We all can testify that, whenever we want to pray, there are many things that come up, we feel tired, someone may call us, and there are so many distracting and frustrating things around us.
Even more, when we want to praise the Lord, Satan may “rationalise” this and cause us to think that we have nothing to praise the Lord about, since we are not that good, we failed, and we are not in a good condition.
But praise the Lord, we can rise up from any situation by praising the Lord! When we praise God, this has nothing to do with us, where we are, what is our situation and condition, and how we feel; it has everything to do with the Lord Himself!
And when we praise, He has a way to break down any prison we’re in, He unlocks any shackles that keep us there, and He releases us – and even brings in salvation in us and into those around us!
When we are in a situation where we’re so low and suffering that we cannot even pray, we should simply praise the Lord! In the book of Revelation – which is a book filled with the revelation of Christ, we see so much praise!
Many times the praise is like sounds of many waters, like thunders….no one can engineer or orchestrate praise, but the Spirit is moving in the Body of Christ to consummate praise from the members of the Body!
Just as Paul and Silas were praising God while they were praying at midnight, as they were in the innermost prison, so we can praise the Lord!
The Lord may do NOTHING to change our situation, He may not ease our pain, and He may not lower the suffering, but He is worthy to be praised!
When we are in a situation where we think there’s nothing to be joyful about and there’s nothing to sing about, we should be those who have transcendent spirits, those who surpass everything by praising the Lord!
When we praise God, the doors of jail are opened, our chains fall off, and even those around us will enjoy God’s salvation! Praise God! Praise the Lord!
When we Run out of Strength to Pray and we Feel we’re Oppressed, Why not Praise God?
Many times we’re ok, that is, we don’t suffer or feel down; however, even at such times we may not remember to praise the Lord. At other times, however, we may go through things that we do not understand, things that cause us to suffer and feel oppressed.
When we go through such things, we may pray and plead with the Lord, but the more we pray, the less we get out of them, for the Lord may not want to remove the suffering from us.
The Lord is not in the business of removing the difficulties or sufferings; He wants to work Himself into us so that we may become His corporate expression.
Whenever we run out of strength to pray and we may find that our spirit is heavily oppressed, wounded, or sagging, why not praise God? If we cannot pray, if we feel we cannot even open our mouth to pray, why not praise God? Try praising God whenever you can’t pray.
There are times that our burden is too heavy and so we can’t pray; there are times when we encounter unusual circumstances and problems, and we feel like collapsing.
In such situations we should remember to praise God. It seems that praising God is not something we should do in situations that leave us bewildered and when we feel like collapsing, but we should use such golden opportunities to praise God!
If we exercise to praise God even in our deepest suffering, the Spirit of God will operate in us, He will open all the doors, and He will break the chains.
Our situation may not change, the suffering may not be removed, but the Lord is still on the throne, His purpose is still being carried out, and we agree with the Lord in what He is doing to gain His purpose.
Many times we need to “get on the rocket” by praising the Lord, and blast off! When we praise the Lord, we activate the Spirit, and He can operate in us. Sometimes we may not suffer, but we may just sit there doing nothing; so why not praise God?
There’s something we can do all the time – we can praise God! When we praise God, the Spirit is activated, and He will operate. Prayer activates the Lord to do something, for in prayer we cooperate with Him for what He wants to do; praise, however, is even a quicker switch than prayer.
And the most simple way for us to praise the Lord is to call on the name of the Lord. Oh Lord Jesus! When we call on the name of the Lord, we praise the Lord!
When we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we touch Him, we switch Him on, and we blast off! Because when we call on Him, Lord Jesus, He comes in, and He is enthroned upon our praises!
Lord Jesus, remind us to praise God when we don’t feel like it, when we have nothing to do, or when we are suffering. Remind us to praise God whenever we ran out of strength to pray and when we find our spirit heavily oppressed and wounded. Amen, Lord, gain a sacrifice of praise from us even when we encounter unusual circumstances and problems that leave us bewildered and we feel like collapsing. Oh Lord Jesus! Why not praise God in all things! Remind us to praise, thus switching the Spirit to operate in us, open all the doors, and break all the chains!
When we Praise God we Glorify Him, He moves His Hand, and we Transcend Everything
In 2 Chron. 20 we see how the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir came to defeat and occupy the land of Judah at the time of Jehoshaphat; then, the king asked the people to sing and praise God in holy array.
Jehoshaphat’s answer to the multitude of enemies was to praise God and sing praises to His name, for His lovingkindness endures forever.
And when they began to shout in song and praise, Jehovah set ambushes for the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who were coming against Judah; and they were struck (see vv. 20-22).
As soon as the people of Israel began to praise the Lord, at that very moment, God rose to smite their enemies. This shows us that, when we praise God, we move God’s hand. Nothing moves God’s hand as quickly as praise.
Many times our reaction to the enemies and problems coming to us is prayer and desperate imploring before the Lord; but if we praise God, if we turn our prayer into praise even in front of the enemies, the Lord will move His hand. Praise the Lord!
As we sing and praise God, Jehovah strikes; as we praise the Lord, He moves His hand, and Satan is defeated. Every time we encounter a problem, we should pray for the mercy that we would STOP manipulating and plotting, and that we would learn the lesson of praising instead.
We need to realize that much warfare can be won by praising God rather than by our plotting, scheming, or manipulating. Many times we try to plot and manipulate our way out of a problem, but we need to stop and just praise God!
Prayers at one point will stop, but praise will last for eternity – praise will never cease (see Rev. 5:8-14; 7:9-12; 14:1-3; 15:2-4; 19:1-8; cf. 21:6; 22:20). In the book of Revelation we see how God gets praises from all His people.
In all the different situations, we see that the angelic elders, the four living creatures, and the redeemed ones all praise God and glorify Him.
The early overcomers praise the Lord with a new song; the late overcomers praise the Lord with a song that no one knows except them, for they were martyred, and they overcame the beast and its mark.
At the great wedding feast of the Lamb, we all praise the Lord! A person who praises God transcends everything; the way for us to overcome is not just to pray but to praise God, for we overcome continually by praise!
This is a principle, and this is also a fact: when we praise God, we overcome the enemy and we transcend everything. To praise God is to glorify God; God is worthy of our praise, no matter what we go through and what we feel.
May God gain abundant praise from all His children! We need to take the lead to praise God today, and all other creatures will follow us to praise the Lord!
At the end, the church will lead the praise, and everyone will say AMEN! We will go and fight together with our Commander-in-chief-Husband Christ, we will defeat the enemy, and the entire human government will be ended and the kingdom of Christ will come in!
The kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and the earth will be filled with His praise, with the glory of God! Hallelujah!
Lord Jesus, we praise You! You are worthy to be praised! We stop all our manipulating and plotting how to get out of our troublesome situations and sufferings, and we just praise You! Hallelujah, much warfare can be won by praise! Praise the Lord! Amen, Lord, make us those who continually overcome by praising the Lord. Make us those who transcend everything by praising the Lord continually! Amen! To God be the glory! God is worthy of all our praise, glory, and adoration! Praise the Lord! Lord, we give You abundant praise!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message given by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 48, “Messages for Building Up New Believers (1),” ch. 16, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Spiritual Warfare of the Church as the New Man (2018 Memorial Day Conference), week 6, The Prayer of the Age to Fulfill God’s Economy and the Sacrifice of Praise to Display Christ’s Victory.
- Hymns on this topic:
# I’m gonna praise God unceasingly / Because He lives in me, / He’s everything to me, / Gives life continually. / I’m gonna praise God unceasingly / Because He lives in me, / And He will never leave. (Song on, Praising God Unceasingly)
# To God be the glory, great things He hath done, / So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, / Who yielded His life our redemption to win, / And opened the life-gate that all may go in. / Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, / Let the earth hear His voice; / Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, / Let the people rejoice; / Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son, / And give Him the glory; great things He hath done. (Hymns #39)
# Blessing and honor and glory be Thine, / And glory be Thine, / And glory be Thine. / Blessing and honor and glory be Thine, / Both now and evermore. / Praise Him! Praise Him! / All ye saints adore Him. / Praise Him! Praise Him! / Both now and evermore. / Hallelujah! (Hymns #241)
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