“Praising God is a powerful spiritual weapon for all Christians to use. Satanic powers lack this weapon but are aware of its awesome power.”
This sermon titled “What’s the Point of Christians Praising God?” was preached by Paster Pamela on Sunday 30th July 2023.
Sermon Transcript
What’s the Point of Christians Praising God?
In the second book of Chronicles, we are told that Jehoshaphat became the king of Judah (God’s chosen people). Now he was a good king, he followed the example of his great great great grandfather David in that he did not worship false gods but followed the commandments of the only true God, Yahweh. And because of this, the LORD established Judah in his control, and all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat. He had great riches and honour because he took pride in the ways of the LORD. Hallelujah for that!!!
One would think there will be no trouble for him because he’s a good king. Most of the others weren’t but he was! He loves God. He’s got the nation all sorted. He will definitely live in peace all the days of his life…. But then we read in 2 Chronicles 20
That the armies of the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites declared war on Jehoshaphat. Now we’re talking three nations declaring war against Judah, not one, but THREE!! Pretty scary stuff!!
Messengers came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army from Edom is marching against you from beyond the Dead Sea. They are already at En-gedi!!.”
The bible tells us that, Jehoshaphat was so terrified by this news that he begged the Lord for guidance, and he also ordered everyone in the land of Judah to begin fasting.
Fasting is a very good prerequisite to prayer. Serious prayer goes hand in hand with fasting.
So, people from all the towns of Judah came to Jerusalem (the capital of Judah) to seek the Lord’s help. And then King Jehoshaphat stood before his people and prayed.
The king stood before his people and prayed.
What a beautiful picture that would’ve been.
The great king humbling and submitting himself in prayer to God before the people, before his subjects.
Dads and mums I sincerely hope you humble yourself to pray to God before your children.
That’s a good thing. It’s ok to let your children know that you are 100% reliant upon GOD. You don’t have all the answers, but God does! Reflect this kind of leadership to your children.
King Jehoshaphat prayed (could we have this on the overhead please?), “O Lord, God of our ancestors, You alone are the God who is in heaven. You are ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth. You are powerful and mighty; no one can stand against You! O God, did you not drive out those who lived in this land when Your people Israel arrived? And did you not give this land forever to the descendants of Your friend Abraham? Your people settled here and built this Temple to honor Your name. They said, ‘Whenever we are faced with any calamity such as war, plague, or famine, we can come to stand in Your presence before this Temple where Your name is honored. We can cry out to You to save us, and You will hear us and rescue us.’
“And now see what the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir are doing. You would not let our ancestors invade those nations when Israel left Egypt, so they went around them and did not destroy them. Now see how they reward us! For they have come to throw us out of Your land, which You gave us as an inheritance. O our God, won’t You stop them? We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We do not know what to do, but we are looking to You for help.”
“We do not know what to do, but we are looking to You for help.”
What a brilliant prayer! It’s got it all! You want to know how to pray? Just look at the structure, the main points of the prayer of Jehoshaphat. That’s how you pray!
Continuing with the story…
As all the desperate men of Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, wives, and children, the bible tells us that the Spirit of the Lord came upon one of the men standing in the crowd. His name was Jahaziel and he said, (could we have this on the screen too please?) 15
Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
For the battle is not yours, but God’s.
If you’re a God-fearing Christian, you belong to HIM. And when any unjust force comes against you, the truth is, it’s really picking on GOD not you.
Jehaziel’s prophecy continues… “Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow, march out against them. You will find them coming up through the ascent of Ziz at the end of the valley that opens into the wilderness of Jeruel. But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out against them tomorrow, for the Lord is with you!”
In response to this amazing prophetic message King Jehoshaphat bowed low with his face to the ground. And all the people of Judah and Jerusalem did the same, they bowed low with their faces to the ground as they worshipped the Lord.
That’s ground hitting worship right there people! If you’ve never done it, give it a go. Lying flat on your face, on the floor before the LORD. Total submission, total worship to God.
Then the Levite clans in the crowd who were lying flat on their faces suddenly stood to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud shout.
They stood to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud shout! They praised God by standing and shouting!
That must’ve been an awesome sight! I think they would’ve have been quite pumped by then! 😊
Early the next morning Jehoshaphat and the army of Judah went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. On the way Jehoshaphat stopped the army to deliver a caring word of encouragement (which is a very wise thing to do as a leader of God’s people). He said, “Listen to me, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be able to stand firm. Believe in His prophets, and you will succeed.”
Then after consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising Him for His holy splendour. This is what they sang:
“Give thanks to the Lord;
His faithful love endures forever!”
“Give thanks to the Lord;
His faithful love endures forever!”
Now if you could just get a picture for a minute. Jehoshaphat appoints singers to sing a lovely song to God in front of the army that is sent out against the THREE fast approaching powerful armies.
Over many years I’ve given this quite a lot of thought because hey I’m a singer, and looking at this in a realistic sense, I’d say the singers are kind of shielding the army. So, if a spear just so happens to come flying towards the army more than likely the singer will get it. Splat.
Now I don’t know about you but I’m sure many singers would find a good excuse NOT to come to work on that day. Many would suddenly come down with a sore throat. But it seems that they all turned out, an army of people who praised their God on the FRONT LINE OF BATTLE. Oh LORD give us more of those.
Now get this,
They didn’t chant a terrifying war cry like
‘We will crush and smash our enemies to pieces; they will flee from us in every direction. Our swords will drip with their blood. We will not be afraid of their BIG FAT ugly faces!’ No no no no
Their “war cry” was “Give thanks to the Lord, for His loving-kindness is everlasting”.
Huh????
What kind of war cry is that?
It doesn’t seem much of a war cry to me.
Rather it was a loving worship song “Give thanks to the Lord, for His loving-kindness is everlasting”.
They just focused on God and His awesome character in a loving and, may I, say “docile” manner. They didn’t focus on the problem (the enemy) the focused on the promise that GOD is loving and kind forever to His own.
“Give thanks to the Lord, for His loving-kindness is everlasting”.
What is the takeout from this????
I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED!!!!
DO NOT FOCUS on the problem because before you know it the problem becomes the idol in your life by stealing all your BRAIN FOCUS, time, energy and emotions. There’s only room for ONE THOUGHT and that is GOD and HIS GOODNESS for He alone is worthy of PRAISE. So, as you enter any warfare make sure that that is exactly what you are doing. PRAISING & WORSHIPPING GOD.
He’s the One who is worthy of our fear.
Fearing Him is the beginning of WISDOM.
Do not focus OR FEAR on anything else.
The enemy is not worth, nor deserving of, the effort.
Then the Bible says,
“At the very moment they began to sing and give praise,”
Let me just repeat that,
“At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves.”
Firstly, the armies of Moab and Ammon turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every single one of them. After they had destroyed the army of Seir, they began attacking each other. Go figure!!!!
So, by the time the army of Judah arrived at the lookout point in the wilderness, all they saw were dead bodies strewn everywhere all over the ground as far as they could see. Not a single one of the enemy had escaped.
Well, that would’ve been a sight to see. The frontline singers would’ve been exceedingly joyful at that.
Joyfully, I’m sure, King Jehoshaphat and his men went out to gather the plunder as they did in ancient times. They found vast amounts of equipment, clothing, and other valuables—more than they could carry. There was so much plunder that it took them three days just to collect it all!
And on the fourth day they gathered in the Valley of Blessing, which got its name that day because the people of Judah praised and thanked the Lord there.
Then all the men returned to Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat leading them, overjoyed that the Lord had given them victory over their enemies. They marched into Jerusalem to the music of harps, lyres, and trumpets, and they proceeded to the Temple of the Lord.
When all the surrounding kingdoms heard that the Lord himself had fought against the enemies of Israel, the fear of God came over them. So, Jehoshaphat’s kingdom was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side.
Wow that true story could be turned into one of the best epic movies! Couldn’t it?
Roughly, 3000 years ago Jehoshaphat had a mighty victory which today still serves as a wonderful example of victory to us as Christians.
Cityview Church spiritual BATTLES come in all shapes and sizes. They may present as physical battles, emotional battles, and battles of the mind …they are out there just lining up in turn to wreak havoc on our souls.
Doesn’t matter who we are, sooner or later we will be facing a battle because that’s the way of the world and the world lies in the grip of the evil one…1John 5:19. Sometimes because of our own stupidity we find ourselves in battle but then other times through no fault of our own, we just happen to be in the line of fire.
And we as Christians have been given, in the book of 2 Chronicles, this WONDERFUL POWERFUL TRUE account as a relevant example to follow in our own BATTLE FIGHTING LIVES.
Praising God is a powerful weapon for spiritual warfare that only Christians can use. Satanic powers do not have this weapon. They are fearful of this weapon because they don’t have it and they know it’s awesome power. CHRISTIANS NEED TO PICK IT UP AND USE IT.
The Bible says in Psalm 150:6 “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”
Why? Because praise facilitates access to God.
Our perpetual praise provides a clear and unhindered passage as it says in Psalm 100:4 Therefore, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise”.
Praise is where God lives. His presence is especially intense in an atmosphere of praise. The Bible says God is “Enthroned upon the praises of Israel” (Psalm 22:3).
Praise chases away despair. There’s no better way to beat the blues than to change our focus from self to God. Such a shift produces “the oil of gladness instead of mourning” (Isaiah 61:3).
God is worthy of PRAISE. Psalm 145:3 says, “The LORD is great and deserves all our praise! No one can fully understand His greatness” While it’s obviously good to praise and encourage those around us, God alone deserves our heartfelt worship and supreme allegiance.
In fact I would go so far to say that PRAISE is THE highest form of prayer. There are many different kinds of prayer but there is no prayer like praise. In those times when you don’t know what to pray, just praise God because you’re speaking absolute truth to yourself, and to the spiritual forces around you and as a consequence they will want to flee from you. That battlefield that was supposed to be a dreadful place (in the eyes of Satan, the enemy) actually became a source of blessing. It took King Jehoshaphat three days to collect the spoil!! There was food, garments and valuable things for the taking. How many times has a valley experience suddenly become a mountain top for you when you broke through in praise?
Well, if you never have had this experience now is the time to do it in your Christian life. Get into the habit. Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD when everything is going right. Praise the LORD when everything is going wrong. Just praise God because He is worthy of our praise.