When we praise the Lord His presence is manifested!
Praise is our Spiritual Weapon!
Let’s continue today’s lesson by meditating on the following scripture:
2 Corinthians 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
Our praise magnifies the name of Jesus Christ. Praise is a spiritual weapon! We see in Second Corinthians 10:4 that praise can diminish a strong hold. What are some examples of strongholds? One example, is fear. Fear comes in many forms and here in second Chronicles King Jehoshaphat feared the armies coming to kill and destroy his kingdom. Today, some people fear leaving their homes, getting impeding viruses, and feeling the effects of pestilences. Today, people fear that they will get the coronavirus, because the illness may end in their death or the death of their loved ones. Now, the question is does God want us to fear? No! Check out this scripture I’ve listed below:
Philippians 4:6-7 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
So, according to the above scripture when we fear, we should go directly into prayer. Then, when you come to prayer be specific in explaining your needs. When we verbalize these things to God the scripture states that He will give us peace that surpasses all understanding. Likewise, the verse also gives us the good news that Christ will guard our hearts. Worrying is for the fools of this world and not the Christians.
Part 2: What does singing actually do for our spiritual being?
Have you noticed, in this scripture that we have not been studying phrases; such as: “Hallelujah, glory to his name, amen, or praise God?” These phrases are evident in this Old Testament scripture, but not in this particular scripture? Instead we find phrases; such as, the battle is the Lord’s! For further explanation lets read 2 Chronicles 20:15 and 2 Corinthians 10:4 and discover why the battle is the Lord’s.
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Today, the battle is the Lord’s, because Jesus was not defeated by death. In the death on the cross Jesus was seen as loosing the battle, but on the third day Jesus defeated death through his resurrection and ascension to the Father. Our faith in Jesus assures us that we are granted forgiveness for all our sins and the victory over our death. Our battles then belong to the Lord, because He won and this gives us the victory. When our battles are over on this side of life- we win, because we gain Heaven and shun the gates of Hell.
When we praise the Lord His presence is manifested. The eighth benefit of praising God is that magnifying His name brings us to feel His presence. Then, God seems to open the window of heaven and pour out His presence. King Jehoshaphat and his people felt the presence of the Lord and knew that He was in there mist. Knowing that God is in the mist increases our faith.
Sensing the presence of the Lord gives us reassurance that He is our sovereign God. Our battles are not impossible when God is on our side. The king and his people in 2 Chronicles had an everlasting trust in God. The scripture below proves that the people trusted the Lord, because they were praising Him for their victory. God will make our problems His problems and through Christ we are all winners.
2 Chronicles 20:21-23 21After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever.” 22As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 23The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
Jesus gives us reassurance that God will intervene our behalf every time. Since, He loves us he will come to our defense and He wants to help us solve all of our problems. Presenting our thanksgiving through praise guarantees the presence of God. The people of Judea knew if they praised the Lord He would win the battle for them. Their belief helped them remain calm and they stood steadfast in the knowledge that God will deliver to them victory.
We can infer from this lesson that God loves and protects his own. As we conclude today’s lesson we can infer that showing your love for someone is more than saying, “I love you?” How do you show someone that you love them? (Hint: list how God shows His love toward you or explore why we sometimes need to put feet onto our prayers)
