Last post we went over the definitions of praise, and this week we’ll study how God shows up on the scene when we praise. If you haven’t read the first study, I encourage you to at least download and print the PDF.
Let’s jump right in with an Old Testament story of Joseph and view it in a different light that you may have not seen before…
Genesis 37-50 is the completely story of Jospeh, but we’ll go through it quickly.
Most of us know the story of Joseph and how he was his father’s favorite. He wore a special coat of many colors, and his brothers, being jealous and angry about his dream, sold him into slavery. Through the process of time and personal growth, Joseph becomes second in command over all of Egypt and saves the middle east from a great famine. Jospeh’s brothers came to Egypt to buy grain to survive, and Joseph gives them a hard time. He has his servants fill their sacks with their money, some food, and put Jospeh’s silver cup in his youngest brother Benjamin’s sack. The servants chase the brothers down after they leave and accuse them of stealing. The brothers say, “With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves”. Uh..oh…They found the cup in Benjamin’s sack, and Jospeh was going to keep Benjamin with him. Judah speaks up in his defense by explaining to Jospeh that their other brother, Jospeh, was dead, and if they don’t bring home Benjamin, their father’s other favorite, their father will die. Judah says in Genesis 44:33-34
33Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. 34For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would come upon my father?”
Judah stepped up and took Benjamin’s place. People like to say, “This is a type of Christ.” That feels weird to say to me. This is a prophetic situation showing how Christ will step up and take our place, but let’s take a closer look…
Judah means praise. Benjamin means son of my right hand. We should see this as praise came forth and said I’ll take his punishment. Jesus is The Lion of The Tribe of Praise. We know we are seated with Jesus at the right hand of the Father with Christ (Ephesians 2:6). You are a son of the right hand of the Father. That means
The Lion of The Tribe of Praise took our place, our punishment of death and slavery, because we are the sons at the right hand of the Father.
We can say, “Yeah! Jesus died for us by taking our punishment. Amen!” Yes, but this is so much more! Praise steps up and takes your place. What that means is when you’re facing a bad situation, when you’re facing an impossible situation, when everything is stacked against you, PRAISE TAKES YOUR PLACE! Praise steps up and says I’ll take the punishment away from you! Jesus taking your place has to be activated! I had to learn that this won’t just fall into my lap like ripe cherries off a tree. That’s why we sometimes miss these blessings because we’re taught everything is automatic, but that’s not written in the Word. Praise brings God’s power on the scene to fight for you.
Oh this is so exciting!! Let’s look at another verse.
Acts 16:16-40 Paul and Silas were in jail.
For many days a slave girl followed Paul around saying in verse 17, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” Who wants a demon mocking and speaking on their behalf to cause confusion? So, Paul being greatly annoyed, turned to the slave girl and cast the demon out by saying, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” The demon leaves the slave girl. Her masters see that she can’t fortune-tell anymore, and they lost their income. Ful of anger, they went to the magistrates to complain about Paul and Silas. The magistrate orders Paul and Silas to be beaten and put securely in jail. Let’s pick up in verse 25.
25But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
33And he (the jailer) took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes.
Paul and Silas, with bruises on their bodies and backs bleeding, sang praises unto God in the prison so that the other prisoners heard them, shabach praise. When they shabach praised the Lord, praise took their place. The power of the Lord showed up on the scene and fought for them. The entire situation turned around. Do you think if they blamed God and complained about their situation, they would have had the same results? What if Silas said to Paul, “Paul, I think we’re having a Job moment. God is testing us to see what we’ll do.” Do you think they would have had the earthquake? No. They looked to the Lord, focused on the Lord not the situation, and began praising the Lord. The power of God showed up and fought for them WHILE they were praying AND singing hymns. When you need the power to show up, do what Paul and Silas did.
Two more examples on the power, real power, showing up to fight. Let’s go back to the Old Testament. They weren’t even filled with the Holy Spirit, but power was in manifestation for them! Before we get there, people often ask, “Why don’t we see this type of power in manifestation today?” We do, people just don’t believe it. I was attending my friend’s church, an independent church, and a missionary came to visit. He told a story about how when he was on the mission field, they needed a miracle. He, his wife, and the couple that pastored the church gathered together to pray. They said the apartment shook, all the cabinets and door flew open, and they got their answer. The missionary’s face was light up like a Christmas tree as he tried to tell the members of this church that the power of God is real and working today. I sat there fighting laughter because, while I never experienced this, I do believe God’s power still shows up and the people of this church were angry and uncomfortable. They wanted the missionary to shut up. Their reactions were comical, and the missionary kept trying to draw a positive reaction and stir up their faith, which he wasn’t getting. It’s not in their doctrine! I want to encourage you NOT to be shocked like these people. It’s better to say, “God teach me and show me,” than stop the power of God. It’s better to over believe God than under believe Him.
Back to our example, The Walls of Jericho in Joshua chapter 6.
The Israelites were going to take Jericho, but the walls were too high to climb. We have since learned from archeology that Jericho had two walls. The huge outer wall, then what we can only assume was cheap housing, and then a second wall to guard the innermost part of the city. It was double walled. That’s how Rabah, the woman that helped Israel spy out the city, lived “in the wall.” We would say in-between the walls.
3You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. 4And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.”
Archeologist dug up the site and identified it as Jericho, before it was reburied by other archeologists and labeled as something else. Jericho is in Palestine, and proving the Bible to be true isn’t a good look for Palestine. Archeologists that worked on the site said that the walls of Jericho fell outward turning the walls into ramps for Israel to easily walk into the city.
The Hebrew word shout is teruah, and means an alarm sound, as in a blast, shout of joy, or a war cry. The story of Jericho isn’t just in the Bible, so we say, “Oh that’s nice.” But it’s in there to reveal God’s character to us, how He operates, what power is available to us, and how we get God on the scene. During your time of war, when the battle looks impossible and lost, teruah! Shout for joy! Make a joyful noise. Get yourself a battle cry. You might be wondering, “Isn’t this about praise?” Yes, it is! Our praise, especially in time of trouble, should be a loud happy battle cry. We shouldn’t mope around defeated, “Oh. you just don’t know what I’m going through.” No! Get yourself a battle cry. The Lord expects us to sound the alarm of victory.
One last example in the Old Testament, and it’s one of my favorite stories, in 2 Chronicles 20:1-30 about Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir being defeated!
The Bible tells us some people came to tell Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, that the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir were coming to do battle with him. Jehoshaphat was afraid and proclaimed a fast throughout all the land of Judah. The Word of the Lord came saying,
“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.”
This is the good part, Jehoshaphat and all the people bowed down to the Lord, and then the Bible says, “Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high.” They halal the Lord.
They got up early in the morning for battle, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, gives Israel a pep talk, “Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” Then he gives out military orders, 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.”
22Now 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. 23For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. 24So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped. 25When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much.
Wow! I really love that story. It’s the same thing as Paul and Silas, when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord showed up on the scene and fought for them. Don’t forget all of Judah fasted so they sowed in to reap a huge reward, three days in gathering up the spoil. But I want to remind you of this when you sing and praise…
Colossians 2:15 NKJV
(Jesus) Having disarmed principalities and powers, He (Jesus) made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
The Greek word for disarmed is apekduomai and means to strip off oneself. Jesus disarmed our enemies and stripped them right off of us already. After he did that, if you read the Greek, He paraded them around making a show of them. I’ve heard teachings that say it’s done, over, we’re past that, don’t do anything. No, we have to go get our spoil. Did you ever notice the people that teach this is just an automatic, over and done with don’t have any spoil? Don’t let them make your praise stale! Get up, sing, and praise the Lord. Go get your spoil. My first praise spoil was 24 years ago. I needed my gallbladder removed, and my mother had hers removed. I wanted to keep mine, so I praised in my spoil. By the time I went for my test, I was completely healed! I went from not being able to eat a drop of fat, to eating a chicken parmesan and spaghetti dinner with garlic bread and lots of cheese! All glory be to God, my healer, Jesus the Healer, and The Holy Spirit my Comforter, Helper, and Guide.
Praise is a battle strategy. Anytime you feel attacked, feed your spirit on these scriptures that we went over, and get your praise on! You don’t have to go to church and do it in front of anyone! Do a Jericho march around your kitchen island or dining room table. I know it sounds completely silly, but when you feel like the enemy is closing in on you and you feel like you need more help than just praying with the pastor and your prayer group, praise is your battle weapon! Bad report from the doctor, praise! Bad news with bills, praise! Need favor at work, praise! If you’re right with God, there is nothing you can’t praise your way into and nothing you can’t praise your way out of. Say what the land of Judah said,
“Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever.”
I studied myself happy and ready to praise God right now for victory! I hope you’re just as stirred up to action as I am. Next week will be just as exciting. See you next week to study the garment of praise. Thank You, Lord, for this study and I asked You, Holy Spirit, to remind us to praise when the heaviness of life comes on us, or when we’re in a bad situation and can’t see a way out. Remind us that God is good, and His power will show up on our behalf. In Jesus name, Amen.
Christi
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