Praising God...out loud!

Many of us regularly praise the Lord. We may do so aloud and/or silently. I want to encourage you today to be mindful to vocalize your praise whenever possible. Our praise is a weapon against the devil. It puts the devil on notice that we trust God. In sports we have defense and offense. When we play defense, we are responding to our opponent’s actions; attempting to stop them from scoring. When we play offense, we are proactively moving forward, staking our claim, moving toward our goal. It is the same in combat. And choosing to praise our God audibly is an offensive move in combat. The enemy of our soul (our opponent) cannot read our minds – he is not clairvoyant or omniscient. However, Satan is a powerful being with spiritual insight into humanity. So when we praise God audibly instead of silently, it is an aggressive offensive action that puts the enemy on notice that we are moving forward, staking our claim, and intending to capture all that the Lord has for us. Many of the scriptures we read that refer to praising God, do so in the context of praising Him vocally.

Deuteronomy 32:3 - I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Oh, praise the greatness of our God!

1 Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

1 Chronicles 16:9 - Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.

Psalm 35:27 - May those who delight in my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say, “The LORD be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant.”

Psalm 35:28 - My tongue will speak of your righteousness

When we worship the Lord aloud, we are less likely to be distracted. Robert D. Kalis would advise “Forms and rituals of worship which may be performed while the mind is occupied with other things are not acceptable. Our worship is to be thoughtful and real.” For those of us who are familiar with singing, you likely have experienced a time when you were singing and your mind was drifting. You know that when you know a song well, that can happen even in the middle of a performance! Even those of us who sing around the house while doing housework know that we are not constantly conscious of what we are singing, but we don’t miss a word! This is what Kalis is talking about but I would submit that audible praise minimizes the occurrence of praise by rote. Side note: let’s not erroneously define praise as singing. We can praise through singing, but the two are not synonymous.

We are to be engaged in praise; not dialing it in. When we worship, we are to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. Praise is a form of worship – it is to be done in spirit and in truth.

Some of the benefits of praising God:

When we praise the Lord, He is present. (Psalm 22:3, 2 Chron. 5:13&14)

When we praise the Lord, our focus is upon Him. (Revelation 5:12)

When we praise the Lord, His great power is released on our behalf. (Acts 16:25&26)

When we praise the Lord, He is pleased. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

When we praise the Lord, it builds others up/encourages others. (Ephesians 4:29)

When we praise the Lord, we are delivered from the power of the enemy. (2 Samuel 22:4)

When we praise the Lord, the enemy is defeated. (Joshua 6:20)

Joshua 6:9-10, 16, and 20 - The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. But Joshua had commanded the army, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!” The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.

Audible praise is our war cry! Like the children of Israel facing the walls of Jericho, we believe what God has said, we intend to lay hold of what He has promised, we wait on Him, and at the right time we move forward in power! PRAISE IS POWER!

Precious one, lift your voice boldly and praise God for who He is and for all that He has done and will do!!!! When you do, you are choosing to let the enemy know where you stand – the Rock upon which you stand. You are engaging in combat…in a battle that you have (by Christ) already won!

Hebrews 13:15&16 - By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.