LESSON 17
The Power of
High Praise
There is a realm of
worship, called the high praises of God, that has a
force and a power in and of itself. In
the following verse is one of the most powerful truths of spiritual warfare
found in the Scriptures.
Psa. 149:6-9 [Let] the high [praises] of God [be] in their mouth,
and a twoedged sword in their hand; To execute vengeance upon the heathen, [and]
punishments upon the people; To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles
with fetters of iron; To execute upon
them the judgment written: this honour have all his
saints. Praise ye the LORD.
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The high praises of God
are a dimension of praise that seems to penetrate in the realm of the
spirit.
Let us look at it this
way. We understand that we live in two
realms. We live in the natural world and
in a spiritual world. Everything in the natural
world is tied to the spirit world. God
is a Spirit. God said, “Let there be
light” and there was light. From the
spirit world, God created the natural world.
The spirit world can transcend to the natural world.
We know that Jesus, the
Son of God, came down as a spiritual being into a natural body, born of the virgin Mary.
The natural world can
transcend to the spirit world. We think
that as long as we are bound into this natural realm that we can not transcend
into the spirit realm. That is not
true. Not only are you natural with a
natural body, but you are spiritual with a spirit.
Remember, it is not in
the realm of the natural that you communicate with God, but in the spirit. We deal with the forces of the devil in the
spirit, not in the natural.
2 Cor.
10:3-4 For though we walk in the
flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;).
Man
is a spirit. He has a soul. He lives in a body.
The everlasting part of
you is your spirit. You, right now, have
the ability to operate in the spirit.
You have the ability to effect things in the realm of the spirit.
We operate in two realms
at the same time. The things we do in
the natural effect things in the spirit, as do things of the spirit effect
things in the natural. When we pray, our
prayers ascend up in the spirit before God.
Your prayers have the ability to transcend the realm of the natural into
the realm of the spirit.
Not only do you as a
Christian operate in two realms, but so do unsaved people.
Have you ever noticed
how one person's attitude can change the attitude of those around him? You can be having a good day when someone
comes into the room with an attitude.
The next thing you know you have that same attitude; good or bad. It's called the transference of spirits. You must be careful to whom and what you open
yourself to. You must deal with it
correctly or you will be effected by the spirit of the people around you.
This is why it is
important to not engage yourself in intimate relationships with people who are
not serving God the way you are. The
spirit that is at work in them, the spirit of the day, will begin to work in
your own life as you open yourself up to that person.
Things you do in the
natural have the ability to transcend to the realm of the spirit. That is why you can grieve the Holy
Ghost. The Holy Ghost is spirit. You are natural. If you could not transcend the realm of the
natural into the realm of the spirit, you could not grieve Him.
The Bible says God
inhabits the praises of His people. He
shows up when we praise Him. Praise is
in the natural but it transcends to the realm of the spirit and causes a
spiritual result.
Remember, we are natural
and we are spirit. Things we do in the
natural effect things in the spirit.
Your praise in the natural causes an effect in the spirit.
In the case of high
praises, they have a special ability to penetrate the realm of the spirit and
literally destroy the strongholds of the devil.
No wonder the devil does not want you to praise God. He wants to keep you silent.
Let’s take a look at the
work of the high praises of God in the story of Gideon and his mighty men.
Judg. 7:2-7 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that [are] with
thee [are] too many for me to give the Midianites
into their hands, lest
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Gideon and his mighty
men were facing impossible odds. All
they could do was simply trust God.
Judg. 7:16-22 And he divided the three hundred men [into] three
companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and
lamps within the pitchers. And he said
unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold,
when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be [that], as I do, so shall
ye do. When I blow with a trumpet,
I and all that [are] with me, then blow ye the
trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, [The sword] of the LORD,
and of Gideon. So Gideon, and
the hundred men that [were] with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the
beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they
blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that [were] in their hands. And the three companies blew the trumpets,
and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their
left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow [withal]: and they
cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.
And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. And the three hundred blew the
trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even
throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, [and] to
the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.
Gideon and the 300
mighty men defeated the enemy with the high praises of God.
Joel 2:1 Blow ye the
trumpet in
The blowing of the
trumpet was a sound of war and a declaration of praise to God. It brought confusion into the camp of the
enemy. That day God brought a great
victory to
2Chr.
20:15,17,21-23 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants
of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by
reason of this great multitude; for the battle [is] not yours, but
God's.
Ye shall not [need] to
fight in this [battle]: set yourselves, stand ye [still], and see the salvation
of the LORD with you, O Judah and
And when he had
consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that
should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to
say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy [endureth] for
ever. And when they began to sing and to
praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children
of
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Jehoshaphat was facing impossible odds against a superior
enemy. God told him not to pick up
swords but to praise Him. He didn't send
out the best fighters. He sent out the
best worshipers at the front of the army.
When they began to praise God, disunity and confusion fell on their
enemies. Their enemies began to kill
each other.
When we lift up the high
praises of God, it causes disunity and confusion to fall on the enemy’s
camp. The devil and demons turn on each
other in confusion. It sends fear into the heart of the devil, because he knows
that with it we can bind him, it can destroy strongholds, and we can overcome
him.
Psa. 149:5 -9 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud
upon their beds. [Let] the high
[praises] of God [be] in their mouth, and a twoedged
sword in their hand; To execute
vengeance upon the heathen, [and] punishments upon the people; To bind their kings with chains, and their
nobles with fetters of iron; To execute
upon them the judgment written: this honour have all
his saints. Praise ye the LORD.
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The high praises of God,
with a two-edged sword in hand (the Word of God), executes vengeance on the
heathen. To execute vengeance on the
heathen is to destroy the works of the heathen.
The high praises of God
bind up the devil. It releases the
judgment written of God, upon the powers of the enemy. It can change the attitudes of people around
you. It can break spiritual strongholds
over a region.
If you want to change
the attitudes of the people around you, begin to sing the high praises of
God. If you want to change the spiritual
atmosphere in your home, begin to praise the Lord. The high praises of God destroys strongholds
in the spirit and people are saved, delivered and healed.
You have the power in your
tongue, through praise, to bind the power of the devil and to execute judgment on him. If you want to beat up on the devil, don’t
call him names. Begin to sing the high
praises of God!
Matt.
We ask God to bind the
devil, but God tells us to bind him. How
do we do it? One way is with the high
praises of God. The high praises of God
will bind satan with
"fetters of iron."
This
honor have all the saints;
to sing the high praises of God. It is our job to bind the devil and destroy
the power of the enemy over the lives of people.
Most of us don’t realize
the power of praise. That is why the
devil wants to pervert Christian music into entertainment. If he can turn Christian music into entertainment,
and not high praises, he can rob it of its power to stop him. High praises stop him in his tracks. It is not enough to have good sounding music
so we can get a “blessing”. We don’t
understand that the high praises of God not only bless us, but they also break
strongholds in the realm of the spirit to set people free.
The exaltation of the
name of Jesus Christ through the high praises of God destroys the strongholds
of the devil and allows the power of God to flow.
Close your eyes and
begin singing the high praises of God.
In Review:
1. What are the two realms we live in?
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2. In
which realm do we communicate with God ?
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3. What
are the three parts of a man and which is everlasting?
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4.
Explain the term “transference of spirits”.
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5. Name at least three things that the high
praises of God will do?
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6. What took place when Gideon and his mighty
men blew their trumpets? Why?
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7. What
is one way of binding the devil?
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8.
Schedule some time this week, on a daily basis to praise the Lord _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________