Praising God can change us and the lives of those around us.
I was feeling grumpy for no particular reason this afternoon when I remembered how important it is to praise God. It is perhaps most important when we feel least like thanking and praising the Lord.
Of course, God deserves praise simply because he is God - our creator, redeemer, healer and loving Father. As we praise him for who he is, our minds turn away from our troubles to the Lord Almighty who is greater than anyone or anything in the universe.
Praise and thanks change me as I realize that, whatever my circumstances, God is in control of my story as well as the story of the world. And I am always in his caring hands.
But Cindy Jacobs puts her finger on another reason to praise God - driving away satan and his attempts to defeat us.
Jacobs, author of Possessing The Gates Of The Enemy, has seen the effect of worship and praise as she intercedes with others in prayer for difficult personal, local and national issues. She calls this "intercessory praise".
She tells the story of a woman who asked for prayer during a women's gathering. The woman had been hospitalized with depression and was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Ministers gathered around her and prayed over her without any noticeable effect. She felt horribly oppressed.
The head organizer then asked for a worshiper to come forward and lead worship.
While that person led worship, Cindy Jacobs went to the piano and "we began a type of warfare that is becoming quite frequent in prayer groups today - warring against the works of Satan by worshiping the Lord".
The women rose to their feet and sang and clapped and the depressed woman began to weep. She said the oppression had vanished.
"It was though a cloud had lifted, and for the first time in years her thoughts were clear," Jacobs says.
Terry Law says in his book The Power of Praise and Worship that worshiping and praising God turned his life around when he was bitterly angry with God when his young wife died in a senseless accident. He then saw people healed and saved in the midst of worship concerts he led in Communist Europe in the 1970s and 1980s.
Jacobs notes that David played music when King Saul was seized with "a distressing spirit" and the songs of praise to God would banish this spirit from him (1 Samuel 16:23).
As Jacobs says, the Bible speaks of praise as a battle weapon against satan and his forces in a number of places with remarkable results (2 Chronicles 20 and Acts 16, for example).
She writes that, some years ago, the Oakland, California, Police Department invited the Shiloh Christian Fellowship, led by pastor Violet Kitely, to go to Pleitner Avenue to see what they could do about the serious drug and crime problem there.
Working with the police, the church set up block parties there, giving away clothes, serving hot dogs, preaching the good news, and worshiping God. The atmosphere of joy and worship led to startling changes.
The police reported that 70 per cent of the drug lords left the Pleitner Avenue area after the block parties. They shared their reports with the local media.
We can worship in a variety of ways, from singing to silent adoration of our glorious Lord. We just need to do it.
Already, this afternoon's grumpiness has vanished as I think about God and praising him.
Praise God!
I was feeling grumpy for no particular reason this afternoon when I remembered how important it is to praise God. It is perhaps most important when we feel least like thanking and praising the Lord.
Of course, God deserves praise simply because he is God - our creator, redeemer, healer and loving Father. As we praise him for who he is, our minds turn away from our troubles to the Lord Almighty who is greater than anyone or anything in the universe.
Praise and thanks change me as I realize that, whatever my circumstances, God is in control of my story as well as the story of the world. And I am always in his caring hands.
But Cindy Jacobs puts her finger on another reason to praise God - driving away satan and his attempts to defeat us.
Jacobs, author of Possessing The Gates Of The Enemy, has seen the effect of worship and praise as she intercedes with others in prayer for difficult personal, local and national issues. She calls this "intercessory praise".
She tells the story of a woman who asked for prayer during a women's gathering. The woman had been hospitalized with depression and was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Ministers gathered around her and prayed over her without any noticeable effect. She felt horribly oppressed.
The head organizer then asked for a worshiper to come forward and lead worship.
While that person led worship, Cindy Jacobs went to the piano and "we began a type of warfare that is becoming quite frequent in prayer groups today - warring against the works of Satan by worshiping the Lord".
The women rose to their feet and sang and clapped and the depressed woman began to weep. She said the oppression had vanished.
"It was though a cloud had lifted, and for the first time in years her thoughts were clear," Jacobs says.
Terry Law says in his book The Power of Praise and Worship that worshiping and praising God turned his life around when he was bitterly angry with God when his young wife died in a senseless accident. He then saw people healed and saved in the midst of worship concerts he led in Communist Europe in the 1970s and 1980s.
Jacobs notes that David played music when King Saul was seized with "a distressing spirit" and the songs of praise to God would banish this spirit from him (1 Samuel 16:23).
As Jacobs says, the Bible speaks of praise as a battle weapon against satan and his forces in a number of places with remarkable results (2 Chronicles 20 and Acts 16, for example).
She writes that, some years ago, the Oakland, California, Police Department invited the Shiloh Christian Fellowship, led by pastor Violet Kitely, to go to Pleitner Avenue to see what they could do about the serious drug and crime problem there.
Working with the police, the church set up block parties there, giving away clothes, serving hot dogs, preaching the good news, and worshiping God. The atmosphere of joy and worship led to startling changes.
The police reported that 70 per cent of the drug lords left the Pleitner Avenue area after the block parties. They shared their reports with the local media.
We can worship in a variety of ways, from singing to silent adoration of our glorious Lord. We just need to do it.
Already, this afternoon's grumpiness has vanished as I think about God and praising him.
Praise God!
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