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Praise Puts Things into Perspective |
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More and more these days I am learning the power of praise. When we can praise God in the midst of our circumstances that is a powerful thing!
Praise puts things into perspective. When we praise God simply for who He is, our situations and circumstance pale in importance. Many Old Testament intercessors knew this to be true. Often, as they prayed during a time of crisis, they would just start by reminding God who He was and the things He had done in the past. Sometimes they would forget to pray about the situation! Jeremiah did this when Babylon was about to overrun Jerusalem. In Jeremiah 32 he prays about the situation. But the vast majority of his prayer just focuses on God’s might and power.
When we praise God for certain attributes in the midst of our
struggles, our faith in His power to bring resolution rises. We
actually begin to believe that He is what we are praising Him to be!
Praise
brings a deeper lever of intimacy with God. Psalm 22:3 tells us that
God is enthroned or dwells in “the praises of his people.” Jack Hayford
once wrote that “just as God is sovereign whether we worship Him or
not, He will indwell us mightily and majestically whether we are
felling happy or sad when we praise Him.” When I led worship regularly,
I always found that no matter how I was feeling, once I began to praise
Him (even as we started practicing before the service) His presence
became real and my own feelings drifted away. If I had had a
particularly rough week or day, I would listen to worship tapes for an
hour or more on Saturday night, to prepare my heart. The presence of
God seemed to envelop me during those times.
Praise is a
powerful spiritual warfare weapon. Psalm 8:2 tells us that “from the
lips of children and infants you have ordained praise . . . to silence
the foe and the avenger.” Satan hates to hear God praised. He runs from
it. When we praise God regardless of what we are feeling in life, it
puts us in a victorious position—we are not trying gain the victory, we
are victorious! That does something both in our lives and in the
heavenlies.
In my experience churches that have powerful,
praise-filled worship often see the transforming power of God at work
more regularly in their midst. Why? Because praise loosens the grip of
Satan in people’s lives.
If you want to see the power of God
more visibly active in your life, develop your attitude of praise. If
you want to see God work mightily in transforming power in your church,
put more time and effort into praise during your worship services.
--Jonathan Graf is the president of the Church Prayer Leaders Network. You can email him at
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September 2006