15 May 2019

DO WE REALLY UNDERSTAND THE POWER OF PRAISE?

By John Ollis

It was Saint Augustine the renowned Theologian and Bishop of Hippo in North Africa who made the statement:

THE NEW TESTAMENT IS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT CONCEALED AND THE OLD TESTAMENT IS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT REVEALED.

So many New Covenant truths are in seed form in the Old Testament but have their complete fulfilment in the New Testament in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church. I want to write today about PRAISE.

When King David returned the Ark to Jerusalem, he put it under a simple tent structure and it was on open display for forty years. It became known as the “Tabernacle of David”, which James refers to in Acts 15:16-17 when he stood and prophesied at the Jerusalem Council that God would restore it, which has been interpreted that all the teaching and activities that took place in it would again be part of the new Testament church. When David set up the T.o.W. he introduced a completely new order of worship, which was completely different and missing in the Tabernacle of Moses such as:

Singers & Singing 1 Chron, 15: 16-27

Musical Instruments 1 Chron. 23:5, 25:1-7

Recording 1 Chron. 16:4

Thanking 1 Chron. 16:4,36

PRAISE 1 Chron. 16:4,36

Psalm singing 1 Chron 16:7

Clapping Psalm 47:11

Dancing 1 Chron 15:29

Shouting 1 Chron. 15:28

Lifting up hands Psalm 134:1

Worship-Access-Bowing 1 Chron 16:29

One of my favourite and well know verses on this truth is found in Psalm 100:4 NKJV Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
For the Lord is good;

David, was referring to Moses Tabernacle and we must THANK God what is represented in the brazen Altar, and the brazen laver, but do not stop there, but move into the Holy Place, and PRAISE God for what is represented in the Golden Lampstand, the table of Shewbread, and the Altar of Incense .That was as far as in could go in those days, but now we can enter the Holy of Holies and worship. I would suggest we need to prepare our hearts for worship by firstly, being thankful, and by praising the Lord before we go into the Holy of Holies.

So let us think about PRAISE and its power. Turn with me to 2 Chron 20:21-22NKJV. Jehoshaphat spoke to the tribe of Judah (which means PRAISE) And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:
“Praise the Lord,
For His mercy endures forever.”
Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.

Here we see the Ministry of Singers and the importance of praise, plus the POWER OF PRAISE TO DEAL WITH AN ENEMY. The Psalmist expresses it this way in Psalm 149:6 NKJV Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
And a two edged sword in their hand. See the combination of praise and the two edged sword. Remember St. Augustine’s statement, we take these verses and pass them through the Cross and apply New Covenant principles to them and we see as New Testament Believers the importance and the power of praise.

Many of my readers will not have heard of a Rev. Merlin Carothers, who had been a Military Chaplain and became a distinguished author. His two best sellers were entitled “The Power of Praise”, and “From Prison to Praise”, I don’t know whether they are still available but if they are I recommend you purchase them.

An awesome New Testament illustration of the power of praise is found in Acts 16:25-26 NKJV But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.

PRAISE IS A WEAPON OF WARFARE, as illustrated in the verses above, many of God’s people need to get revelation of the power of praise, it must become a daily part of our prayer lifestyle, and also in those times of trouble and testing, and everything seemingly going wrong let us remember OUR GOD IS ALWAYS WORTHY OF PRAISE, manty times a time of praise will deal with the situation, as it did in Paul & Silas’s situation as God works on our behalf, and at other times, God will use the circumstances and the praise to DO A WORK IN US.

There is so much more I could say about praise today, I have actually shared a number of seeds of truth here today, that need developing. (I trust I have not confused you). I believe it is time for a fresh emphasis to be declared regarding the power of praise, it seems to be almost lost amongst all the modern expressions we have in the church.

For those who would like to know more about the Restoration of the Tabernacle of David, get a hold of the book written by Kevin Conner entitled “The Tabernacle of David”.

LET US BE A THANKING, PRAISING & WORSHIPPING PEOPLE