It’s time to get your praise on! Carl takes time to review powerful case studies in God’s word, where praise became a powerful weapon for those in dire straits. Join Carl now for part one of this compelling broadcast which will challenge you to personally pursue God with greater devotion and desire. Great ready for an encounter with the living God!
Here is a complete transcript of the broadcast (below)…
Friend, I want to welcome you today, and we are going to talk about the power of praise. Now I’ve talked about praise in the past, but there is a power associated with it, a power that is available if we press in. Do you know in 1 Peter 2:9, it talks about the reason you were created, and many people are surprised about this. Let’s read that verse right now. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Friend, you’ve been chosen to call forth the praises of God. You’ve been created to do so. Why? Because you’ve been translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of his dear son, Colossians 1:13. Friend, let me recap in this verse. It says you’re chosen, you’re a priest, you’re holy and peculiar. Thanks pastor for telling me I’m peculiar. But friend, that word peculiar means acquisition.
It actually means purchased or possession in the Greek. You are God’s possession, and praise is your calling. You’ve been chosen to be conformed to the image of Christ. You’re a priest and king because it says so in Revelation 5:10, and you are holy based on what Christ did, not what you did. And friend, you are a possession. You are his possession called out and set apart, sanctified from this world to sing forth the praises of God. Now friend, the weapons at our disposal, they’re not carnal. We don’t have hand grenades. We don’t have maces, axes, swords, physical shields.
No, no, no, no, no. Second Corinthians chapter 10 verses 3 through 5 says, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal or physical, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Friend, don’t give the enemy a foothold, otherwise he will develop a stronghold. And when he does, you will be in bondage. Satan cannot just simply devour somebody.
Remember what it says in 1 Peter 5:8, that he goes around as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. There has to be a legal right for him to devour you. Don’t give him substance. Don’t give him thoughts and imaginations. Don’t entertain and meditate upon those thoughts, otherwise he could build a foothold and eventually a stronghold in your life. Now friend, let’s talk about the weapons of our warfare.
Number one, in Ephesians 6:17, the word of God, the Logos word, and the Rhema spoken word are the swords of the Spirit. Number two, I can pray in a known tongue, 1 Corinthians 14:14, but I can also pray in an unknown tongue, or the Spirit, as it’s mentioned in Ephesians 6:18, praying always in the Spirit. So there’s three weapons right there. But friend, did you know that praise and worship is also a weapon? What? Yes, friend. Now let’s discuss King Jehoshaphat. He is a classic Old Testament example of praise as a weapon.
This can be found in 2 Chronicles 20, verses 1 through 23. The king of Judah was in a pickle. He was outnumbered and outgunned. The Ammonites were surrounding him. They came against Israel to annihilate them. But what did the king do? In verse 15 of that chapter, it says, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid, nor dismayed, by reason of this great multitude.
For the battle is not yours, Jehoshaphat, but God’s. Wow. God takes it personally, friend, when the enemy attacks one of his children. And he is going to step up and fight for you. And you’re asking yourself, how on earth is that going to happen, pastor? Well, I’m going to tell you. Let’s read verses 20 through 21.
And they rose early in the morning and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Israel. Believe in the Lord your God, so you shall be established. Believe his prophets, so you shall prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord that should praise the beauty of holiness. As they went out before the army and to say, Praise the Lord, for his mercy endures forever.
Friends, what was the strategy of this secret battle? To get the navy seals out? No, we didn’t need Delta Force. We needed the praise and worship team. They were to stand before the army and say, Praise the Lord, for his mercy endures forever. Get this, praise is an offensive weapon. So what happened? Did the praise and worship team get slaughtered? No. Let’s read in verse 22.
And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which were come against Judah. And they were smitten, for the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants, everyone helped to destroy another.
Friend, check this out. When the praise and worship team went before the army and they said, Praise the Lord, for his mercy endures forever, all of the enemies turned upon themselves. Ooh, this is a typology of the demonic. When you lift up your hands and praise and worship God, friend, the enemy becomes confused. The demonic realm becomes confused. You are activating your weapon that is not carnal, but it’s powerful through God.
When you praise God, you are empowering your faith, friend. You are changing your perspective. When you begin to praise, you’re bringing God on the scene. You’re bringing angels on the scene. Remember, them that before us are more than them that be against us. What other examples are there? Well, there’s the famous one about Joshua in chapter 6, Joshua, verses 1 through 5. Israel took the city of Jericho without a fight.
What was their secret? After marching for seven days and then seven times, a loud blast from the ram’s horn and a loud shout caused the walls of the city to fall flat. Not one weapon was used, friend, other than a ram’s horn, a shout, and the walls came down. Friend, praise is a weapon. You don’t even need to lift a finger. The Lord will fight for you. It says that in Deuteronomy chapter 20, verse 4, you need only to be still and praise God and he will fight for you.
So what does the word say about praise? Well, there’s many examples of it. In Psalm 150, it goes on and on about praise the Lord, praise him, praise him for his mighty acts, praise him according to his excellent greatness, et cetera, et cetera. But in verse 6, it says, let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Whoa, everything that has breath. Then in Philippians 4:4 in the New Testament, it says, “rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice.” In Psalm 34, verse 1, it says, I will bless the Lord at sometimes, no, all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Okay, so let everything that have breath praise the Lord, rejoice in the Lord always.
His praise shall continually be in my mouth. And then finally, in 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 17 through 18, it says, pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. So let’s recap. Everybody’s supposed to praise always, continually, and in everything. Now I didn’t say for everything because not everything is from God.
God’s not sending the sickness, the disease, or cancer, I want to make that very clear. But we do praise him in everything and in spite of everything. And I’ll talk more about that shortly. You know, Kenneth W. Hagan said a very profound thing, and I’m going to quote him now. But Canaan, friend, is not a type of heaven. Remember Numbers 13. They were going to go into Canaan, into the promised land with the pomegranates, with the size of men’s heads. There were giants in the land, et cetera, et cetera. But remember, you have a Canaan yourself on this earth.
Canaan is not heaven, right? There’s no kings to overcome there. There’s no battles to be fought, all right? So it’s a typology of you obtaining everything that Christ has for you on this earth. And I’m going to quote Brother Hagan now. He said, the Christians’ Canaan is taking possession in this life of what is already rightfully ours in Christ. Taking possession of our inheritance in Christ is much the same spiritually as taking Canaan land was in the natural realm for the children of Israel. Canaan is not a type of heaven, because in heaven there are no battles or giants to fight, no cities to take or kings to overthrow.
Canaan is a type of the Christians’ life down here on earth, unquote. Now, friend, it’s very important that if you read 1 Corinthians 10, verses 5 through 12, you will have a complete outline by the Apostle Paul of the five things that prevented Israel from entering into Canaan. Then he says that these Old Testament examples are examples to us, the New Testament saints, that these things can also prevent us from receiving all that God has for us in this lifetime. And I’m going to list them for you now. There’s five of them. The first one is lust. The second one is idolatry, then tempting Christ, murmuring, and fornication. Now, you know which one of those resonates with you the most. I hope it isn’t fornication, friend, because sex out of marriage is a sin. If you’re not in covenant, you are out of God’s will if you are sexually active. That is a common sense word. Many people are going to fight me on that.
I didn’t write it. God did, okay? So we start with lust. What is that? The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, the things that pull us away into the world and away from God. Number two, idolatry. Well, I don’t worship Moloch or Ashtaroth or any of those weird gods, pastor. I understand that. But we can make ourselves idolatrous by being obsessed with ourself and focusing too much on our will and not the Lord’s. And then tempting Christ is another thing. We’re not giving God the praise and the glory, and we’re not honoring him correctly, but we’re expecting him to do things on the fly. Murmuring. Murmuring and complaining, that’s probably the one that we suffer from the most. This is an issue, friend.
And the best way to annihilate murmuring is to transfer your mind into praise and start thanking God in advance for what he’s about to do. You know, praise is thanking God for who he is and prophetically thanking him for what he’s about to do. You could say praise is prophetic gratitude because it’s a thank you for what is to come. And finally, fornication. Like I said, sex out of marriage is a sin. Few people talk about that today, but it can really hinder or hamper your Christian walk, friend.
So these five things, I’d like you to study them yourself in 1 Corinthians 10, verses 5 through 12. And let me give you a few more words about praise. In Psalm 50, verse 23, it says, Whoever offers praise glorifies me. Psalm 22, verse 3 says, But you are holy, O you that inhabit us the praises of Israel. Friend, God inhabits our praises. He inhabits the praises of his people.
From the rising of the sun and to the going down of the same, the Lord’s name is to be praised. And finally, Psalm 67, verse 5 through 6. Check this out. Let the people praise you, O God. Let all the people praise you. Then shall the earth yield her increase, and God, even our own God, shall bless us. Did you notice that praise came before the increase? If you want to see an increase in your life, you need to start praising.
And it’s required, it’s requisite before you see the increase. If you’re lacking an increase recently, it’s time to get your praise on, friend. Now, friends, let me shift gears here. My wife had a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit, and she’s going to share that in the coming days. Probably in the next two or three broadcasts, we will discuss this powerful encounter. And she’s right here. Go ahead. Hey, everyone. This is Amy Joseph.
I’m Pastor Carl’s wife, and I’m really looking forward to sharing about just an amazing experience that God shared with me. And something that was empowering, it was inspiring, and it led me to a greater relationship with him. You know, my wife grew up in a godly home, and her parents were word people. They were very focused on honoring God, and that’s a great thing. But there was missing a dunamis power encounter. And she had that about eight years ago now, and it was a radical change. And it just changed her life. And I wanted to share that with you because many people out there right now are sort of seeking that power encounter and don’t know how to obtain it. So stay tuned.
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