Ever been bombarded with negative thoughts? “I’ll never succeed”, or “I’ll never get out of debt”. “Things will never turn around for me”. “My spouse will never change”. Yada, yada, yada. Let me tell you, those thoughts are not coming from your cerebral, they are coming from your contender, Satan.
On and on the accusations come and we seem powerless to stop them from invading our minds. Well, scripture has the answer. Praise. Praise will silence your enemy. Flat shut him up! Psalm 8:2 says that God has ordained or established praise to silence your enemy.
Now I don’t know how this works spiritually, I just know that it does, and it does 100% of the time. When I take my thoughts and emotions and energy off of my current problem and start praising the Lord, my atmosphere changes. My circumstances don’t immediately change, but the atmosphere around my life and home lighten, and brighten and I am no longer frightened. My heart soars, my emotions completely change, my spirit goes through the roof, and I become a happy camper. Every time I praise.
Praise is a weapon. It causes you to focus on your Father and not your fears, and I am convinced praise allows Him to work more efficiently for you in your problems. When you praise, you are taking your hands off of trying to solve the problem by your works, and you are allowing Him to do His work through your worship. Big difference.
Praise easily defeats the enemy who comes at us with a constant barrage of negative thoughts about ourselves, others and even God. Praise releases power! Praise liberates your spirit. Praise prepares the way so God can deliver you. Praise ushers in the presence of God into your circumstances. Praise changes the atmosphere and realigns your spirit with His. Praise lifts your soul up out of hopelessness. When we concentrate on praise, robust, loud, verbal praise, other distractions and thoughts can’t take our attention.
Psalm 50:23 says that if you sacrifice and offer God thanks (and sometimes it feels like a sacrifice to do that), then that prepares the way for God to show you His salvation which here means not just eternal salvation but deliverance and prosperity.
God has given you a key to not only defeat your negative thoughts (the enemy of your mind), but also bring about solutions to your problems and that key is praise.
Here’s a personal experience I had regarding the importance of out-loud verbal praise:
A client had just turned me down and my livelihood was at threat! My spirit and body fell to the floor and as I was wallowing in my grief, the Lord broke through……and said, “What are you supposed to be doing right now?” I then remembered how I was to respond. I was to verbally praise Him for all things. I walked across the room with a heavy heart, reached for the iPhone to go for a walk to praise the Lord. As I approached the door and touched the knob, my spirit soared like an eagle. By choosing to repent, change my thinking and do something that manifested that repentance (reach for the iPhone to go outdoors to praise), the Lord had broken through and released celebration into my spirit. That one choice lasted me for 3 weeks!”
Praise is a phenomenal weapon that turns your frustration into celebration!