Need a Raise? Get your Praise on

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Hello Beautiful Friends!

It’s a time when many people start to review their achievements so far for the year. More often than not, a lot of us feel that we have not fared so well ,but the lyrics of a popular hymnal admonishes us to– “count your blessings, name them one by one  and it will surprise you what the Lord has done”. There are many blessings we overlook, because to us they appear insignificant, but God is found in the midst of “little” and big blessings. Remember that a man can receive nothing except it be given him from above! Someone said- “When the acts of God are too small for you, you stop seeing them altogether”.

I have realized once again that the power of praise cannot be overemphasized. Anyone remembers my write up about Judah and how He was chosen as the lineage through which Jesus would come? You can read it at http://to.ly/pVCB. In an interesting story I read again in the bible, the enemies came harassing the Israelites at a point in time and Jehoshaphat, who was leading them at that time called on God for help .God’s words came to him as quoted below:

And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.” (II Chronicles 20:15-17 NKJV)


Now, if God has promised him that he wouldn't have to fight a battle, should he not just have gone home to relax, with an assurance that God has taken care of his issues? Any human being in such a circumstance may not even go to sleep but will probably go back home apprehensive, watching the enemies through the windows or gates intermittently to see what they were up to.

There are  4 distinct lines in that prophecy that came to Jehoshaphat:

·         Do not be afraid

·         Tomorrow go against them

·         God will fight this battle for you

·         Position yourselves.

If God was going fight for him, then there was no need going for battle at all. God might as well send an angel to kill the enemies like an angel killed 185,000 people without any human assistance in 2nd Kings 19:35. So in the same light, He was going to fight for them, but in this case, there was a twist; they had a part to play and they needed to be well positioned.  Jehoshaphat didn't receive any further instruction, but He was wise enough to know what to do.

And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever.” (II Chronicles 20:21 NKJV)

God says to fight their battle, Jehoshaphat reasoned and consulted with His people to do nothing but praise! How would that work for them?

Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. (II Chronicles 20:22 NKJV)

Praise is a breaker. It moves God's hands in heaven and breaks through places on earth. Praise moves the hand of the Most High to work wonders on earth. As they were praising, the hand of God was setting an ambush against their adversaries. In the instance of the walls of Jericho falling down flat, as they were praising, those divine hands were pushing the walls down. Whenever you are at your wit's end, switch to praise, it does wonders, it cuts the bars of iron asunder and it moves the immovable.

You will end this year on a most remarkable and interesting note!

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