Chapter Five

      Praise

      Paul and Silas also sang praises in the dungeon that night. With fresh wounds all over their bodies, chains on their hands and legs and in the usually dark underground prison cell, they sang praises to God. Praise and worship are some of the most powerful tools given to the believers by God. I mean spirit-filled praise and worship. There is great power in praise and worship. They are tremendous weapons of our warfare and the devil knows that. That is why he would do everything possible to stop or at least, corrupt them.

      When we praise God, we bring down His presence and glory.

      Now, you cannot make a success of midnight prayers without praise and worship. Midnight battles must start and end with them. Even, there are times you may not need to make any request, but just praise our great God and you will see your needs melting away on their own. I have tried it severally. I would get up around midnight and start to praise Him. I would do that for hours hoping to pray after, but would be submerged in His presence and consequently forget my file of requests. Then, I would watch those needs sorting out themselves.

      In fact, I see praise as more powerful than prayer, though both are means of communicating to God. When you make it a habit to praise God at the face of every difficulty or persecution, the devil will begin to think twice before he brings problems to you, because he would have known what your reactions would be.

      Praises usher us into the presence of God. An intercessor and all Christians should always have this in mind. The presence of God has a gate to it and praises and worship are the keys. When you come to do battles in the midnight, the first thing you must do is to open the gate of His presence with the key of praise. Then, you can begin to receive the answers to your requests.

      The Psalmist knew this very well when he said in Psalm 100:4,

      And you know what will happen when you go into the courts of the LORD through the gates. Definitely, you will not come out the same. Your burdens, needs and requests will be met. Praise and worship will open the gates!

      There are also other things that a spirit-filled praise will do for us. It will give you the wonderful privilege of joining the heavenly beings in worshiping God and bringing heaven down to the earth.

      Just look at Rev. 4:2-11,

      “I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it! The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones-Jasper and Carnelian. And the glow of an emerald circled his throne like a rainbow. Twenty-four thrones surrounded him, and twenty-four elders sat on them. They were all clothed in white and had gold crown on their heads. And from the throne came flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder. And in front of the throne were seven lamp stands with burning flames. They are the seven spirits of God. In front of the throne was a shinny sea of glass, sparkling like crystal.

      “In the centre and around the throne were four living beings, each covered with eyes, front and back. The first of these living beings had the form of a lion; the second looked like an ox; the third had a human face; and the fourth had the form of an eagle with wings spread out as though in flight. Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night, they keep on saying’ ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty – the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.

      “Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, the twenty four elders fall down and worship the one who lives forever and ever. And they lay their crowns before the throne and say, ‘you are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power.

      Majestic! This is the duty of the fearful four living beings and the twenty-four elders in heaven. I ran the whole record so that you can understand exactly what you do when you praise and worship God. I am always conscious of this fact when I am in worship – that I am joining the hosts of heaven and the billions of believers all over the earth to say that our God and King is worthy to be worshiped forever. This is sweet!

      We also sacrifice when we praise Him. And you know a sacrifice is offering something precious and of great value to somebody. God deserves our best. We must give Him the fruit of our lips – that is praise as sacrifice. Our praises must ascend to Him as a sweet smelling savour.

      Hebrew 13:15 says,

      Praise and worship are also mighty weapons in the hands of the believers. When you praise God, you throw Satan and his dark kingdom into confusion and panic. You disorganize and defeat their plans. Look at the case of Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah again; when those three enemy nations came to attack them. After praying and getting directions from God, the bible said that King Jehoshaphat assembled the singers and marched to the battleground. They did not only defeat their enemies, but went home with more than enough spoils of war.

      “After consulting the leaders of the people, the king (Jehoshaphat) appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the LORD and praising him for his holy splendour. This is what they sang: ‘Give thanks to the LORD; his faithful, love, endures forever! The armies of Moab and Ammon turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them. After they had finished off the army of Seir, they turned on each other.

      “So when the army of Judah arrived at the look-out point in the wilderness, they were dead bodies