Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. REVELATION 19-6
Paul and Silas are Rescued
In Acts 16 we read the remarkable story of how God rescued Paul and Silas. After being beaten they were imprisoned in a dark dungeon with their hands and feet bound in iron stocks. Most of us would have despaired but Paul and Silas began praising God and continued singing into the middle of the night. Their fellow prisoners heard them singing and praising God and suddenly there was an earthquake which somehow unlocked all the doors and padlocks and set all the prisoners free. The Bible says that God inhabits the praises of his people (Psalm 22:3). In other words, God dwells in the atmosphere of His praise. The very moment Paul and Silas began to praise God, the presence of God was revealed in a mighty way. When we trust in God and begin to praise him in the dark times of our lives, that is, during our illnesses and troubles, God will free us from our chains and release us from all the powers of darkness.
The Offering of Our Lips
Psalm100:4 says “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his holy name.” We read in the Old Testament how the Israelites came into the Lord’s courts with thanksgiving and praise and as an offering to God they would bring their sacrifices of blood in the form of bulls or lambs and offerings of silver and gold. The good news for us is that Jesus sacrificed his own blood for the atonement of our sins, so we don’t need to offer God any blood sacrifices, just the offering of our lips. What is the offering of our lips? Hebrews 13:15 says, “ Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.” The ‘fruit of our lips’ is praise and thanksgiving to our Lord. Jesus wants us to bring our shouts of praise into his holy presence. Each day is a new gift of God to us and every morning we should remember and thank the Lord for the precious gift of his love. It is a wonderful thing to enter into each new day with praise and thanksgiving. When we praise God, it releases an atmosphere of joy and peace and manifests the immediate presence of God in our lives.
Turn to the Problem Solver
We tend to praise God when something good happens in our lives but King David reminds us in Psalm 34:1 that we must praise God regardless our circumstances. When David’s first child with Bathsheba died, in his sorrow, he went straight to the temple to worship the Lord. (2 Samuel 12:20) David knew that no matter what happened in his life, God was in control and so was worthy of his devotion and praise. Even though David was a mighty warrior, his personal weapon was the weapon of praise!
There is another interesting witness of praise when King Jehoshaphat and his army were surrounded by their enemies. In the midst of his troubles, when defeat seemed inevitable, King Jehoshaphat turned to the Lord and told him, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” (2 Chronicles 20:12) Instead of focusing on his problems, the King turned to the ‘problem solver’ and began singing and praising the Lord. Miraculously his enemies were defeated and the King celebrated their victory by praising and thanking God. It is the same God who is ready to move on our behalf each time we are faced with any kind of problem in our lives. When we start to praise God, instead of having a negative and complaining attitude, there is a sudden transformation in our thinking pattern and we begin to develop a new attitude of thanksgiving. When we begin to praise God, Satan flees and his plans to keep God’s children from approaching God are thwarted.
Join the Angels and Saints Praising God
In fact the Angels and Saints in heaven sing endless praises to our living God enthroned in majesty. St. John says in Revelation 19:6 “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, Hallelujah. For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.” So we should not be embarrassed about what other people might think if we praise God. Each time we praise him we are surrounded by a heavenly host of Angels and Saints proclaiming the glory of God. Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips that acknowledge the mighty name of Jesus. Hallelujah!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, teach me to praise you at all times. Give me the grace to give you all the glory and honour and make my life an instrument of your grace. Amen.