Thoughts for Life: #62 Your Praise Can Rout the Devil

Dr. Wesley L. Duewel- There are many times when it is more important to praise God than to continue in petition. Praise lifts your eyes from the battle to the victory, for Christ is already Victor, and you have the Victor in your heart that you might have His victory in your life and your prayer.

Normally, all prayer should begin with praise (Ps. 100:4). The Holy Spirit often wants to lead you out of hurried intercession into victorious praise. Burden-bearing is scriptural, but praise is even more so. (Google image, Woman praising God)

Have you ever realized that God's answers to your prayers are at times delayed because you do not praise Him enough? Have you realized that mountains of difficulty often remain before you because you have failed to Praise Him? Did you know you can often rout Satan faster by praise than in any other way unless it be by the command of faith?

Or that the command of faith is often related to a praise barrage? Did you know that depression can be lifted by the sacrifice of persistent praise? Praise pierces the darkness, dynamites longstanding obstructions, and sends the demons of hell fleeing.

Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, author of Streams in the Desert and co-founder with her husband of One Mission Society International, pointed out that Christians often repeat the familiar statement, "Prayer changes things." God taught her the deep spiritual truth that after you have prayed and believed, it is often praise that changes things.

Prayers that have been repeated for a long time with no seeming response from God are rapidly answered when the intercessor turns from pleading to praise. Mrs. Cowman emphasized that two wings are necessary for the soul to reach God's throne—prayer and praise.

Why is it that we put more emphasis on prayer than on praise when the Scripture gives far more exhortations to praise than to pray?

There are three levels of praise that can bless your life and add effectiveness to your prayer: (1) praise for what God has done. (2) praise for what you expect God to do and (3) praise for who God is. Such praise is not only worthy worship, it is powerful spiritual warfare.

(Chapter 18, pp. 138-139, italics added for emphasis)

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Let's pray-

Father, for us to lift our eyes from our battle to praise You in our continued petitions, may we see that the victory is Real, and that our praise is important to You. We understand that all praying should begin with praise, and that our praying needs not to be hurried. As burden-bearing is scriptural, praise is even more so.
The truth is, that sometimes our prayers are delayed because we simply do not offer praise enough. We will often rout Satan faster with our praises than any other way, unless it is by using the command of faith.
As there are more exhortations to praise than to pray, help us praise You for what You've already done, for what we expect you to do, and for Who You are! Let it become a powerful spiritual warfare for us!

I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen

Today's Bible verses-

Matthew 24:4-8 (NIV) “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.”

John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
Rom. 8:26 "We do not know what we should pray for as we aught, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."

Quotes for today-

~ Oswald Chambers- "Have we come to realize that our "body is the temple of the Holy Spirit"? If so, we must be careful to keep it undefiled for Him. We have to remember that our conscious life, even though only a small part of our total person, is to be regarded by us as a "temple of the Holy Sprit." He will be responsible for the unconscious part which we don't know, but we must pay careful attention to and guard the conscious part for which we are responsible." [Nov. 8, in MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST UPDATED EDITION]

~ Max Lucado- Jesus equipped his followers with farsighted courage. He listed the typhoons of life and then pointed them “to the end.” Trust in ultimate victory gives ultimate courage. Author Jim Collins makes reference to this outlook in his book Good to Great. Collins tells the story of Admiral James Stockdale, who was a prisoner of war for eight years during the Vietnam War. After Stockdale’s release Collins asked him how in the world he survived eight years in a prisoner-of-war camp.

He replied, “I never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade." [Italics added]

[Taken from Fear of Global Calamity]

Words of wisdom-

~ Are you willing and ready to follow Jesus into new adventures where things won't be the same? Have you seen Him lead you through some anxious moments when you had to encounter new experiences which brought new grace and truths He wished to bestow upon you? Be ready to go!

Read Our Analysis: President Trump’s Style Is Working. The ACLJ Team

"Donald Trump’s style of governing has made Americans safer, more prosperous, and more motivated to be involved in their government. President Trump has not started any new wars, has purchased more military hardware and equipment to scare off adversaries, brought U.S. troops home from overseas deployments, and all while also creating multiple peace agreements between countries long unable to get along.

President Trump has confronted growing problems with blunt realism and has lessened the threats, like he did in North Korea. And the President has been unafraid to utilize U.S. military power when U.S. national security is threatened, like he did when he bombed Syria and ISIS and took out the Iranian terror leader Soleimani.

Trump’s unpredictable style is an asset, not a liability as the D.C. crowd tries to make it out to be. His unique way of dealing with the Washington media and politicians has proven effective. And while the establishment doesn’t like it, Americans should see the complaints from Washington as proof that President Trump is delivering results for the rest of America."

Praying for President Trump

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