Praise the Lord

"The voice of the LORD will shatter Assyria; with his scepter he will strike them down. Every stroke the LORD lays on them with his punishing rod will be to the music of tambourines and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm." Isaiah 30:31-32 NKJV

"After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: "Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever." As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated." 2 Chronicles 20: 21-22

"You have taught children and nursing infants to give you praise. They silence your enemies who were seeking revenge" Psalm 8:2

"I will sing praises to your name, O Most High. My enemies turn away in retreat; They are overthrown and destroyed before you" Psalm 9:2

Verse after verse I'm hearing lately has to do with Praising God. Okay, Okay I get it. There's something in here I really need to get hold of. Through all of the devotionals I've read lately, there is a thread. Our praising God does 2 things here in the natural. It stops the enemy in his tracks and brings about mighty moves of God on our behalf.

And on reflecting on these verses I think I see a case in my own life where this applies, even though I didn't know I was applying this principal.

As many of you know my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1990. Well a couple of summers ago, I went home to visit and returned to North Carolina. While nothing unusual or concerning happened during my visit, a few weeks after my return, I got a very unsettling feeling that I would loose my dad. I remember standing in my kitchen and crying, telling Jennifer, "I don't know why, but I feel like my dad is going to die." The weeks passed on and nothing ever happened, but occasionally that feeling would pop into my head and haunt me.
Then December came and I got the phone call. My brother called and said our dad's cancer had come out of remission and he'd been hiding it from me for a while because he didn't want me to worry.
I sat there numb.
This was it.
This is what the feeling had been all about.
And as strange as it felt at the time, all I felt like doing was praising God. So I did. It was the only thing that felt right, normal, good.
After a while I emailed my small group and pastor with this:

....But this is what I'd ask of you: First: PRAISE GOD!!! My mind tells me praising God at a time like this seems strange, yet my spirit has been singing all morning. I've been playing my cds all and I can't seem to get enough. So please join me in praising our father with all of your sincerity and all of your heart. He is a loving, powerful, awesome God who has placed me in a difficult situation yet not abandoned me. I feel his presence and strength today. And while I'm afraid of the outcome of my dad's battle I know that god's plan is so much bigger than me, my dad, or our family. Thank you Father, and Thank you Jesus.

I'm sure there were lots of people everywhere praying. I tried to get people praisin'.

Of course that was 2 years ago and my dad is still going stong. When the average lung cancer patient dies within 4 months of their diagnosis, my dad is aproaching his 17 year anniversary.
Could I have "heard wrong" that summer? It wouldn't be the first time.
Could Satan have been lying to me. Sure, he's good at that.
But maybe, just maybe, something in the spiritual realm was effected and changed that day when lots and lots of people stoped "asking" and starting celebrating who God is.

Get yo' praise on .