For
those who couldn’t make it to group Thursday night, our discussion centered
around one of the pieces of armor that a christian warrior takes into battle
and that is the “shield of faith”. We
talked about how to use that shield to extinguish the arrows of the enemy…arrows
like depression, fear of failure, labels
we hear about ourselves and many more.
Today
we area going to bring one of our most powerful offensive weapons to our
battles and that weapon is PRAISE.
To
master any weapon takes much practice….practice when you don’t feel like it,
practice when you aren’t particularly good at it. Today I have just a few points and then we
will jump right into some short content, but this is a workout that I encourage
you to use all throughout the day….and then every single day of your life in
order to win the battles you face. You
CAN do this!!
Point
1: the Word of God is a weapon: Jesus is literally called the Word in the
bible. The verses in the bible have
power and life and the very nature of God is in them as He breathed them. Praise is not just a positive affirmation….infuse
your words of praise with the Word of God and it will have great power and
influence.
Point
2: When we praise God, it draws Him out
on our behalf like a mighty warrior and will prevail against His enemies! This is how we are more than conquerors in
our battles….we get hit with something…temptation maybe and we begin to praise
God, sing praises, speak praises and He
does the fighting. The “Dread Champion”
comes out and there is no fight….the enemy flees! (I will give you verse for this in workout)
Workout
1)
The Word
a.
Read out loud:
i.
Isaiah 42:10-13
(bring out the mighty warrior on your behalf)
ii.
Isaiah 61:3 (have
your despair vanquished)
iii.
Nehemiah 8:10
(ask God for this joy and strength and praise Him for it)
iv.
Psalm 34 – read it
all (specifically verse 1 is about praise, but there is a great deal to praise
Him for in the rest of the verses)
2)
Music
a.
Listen to this
song and watch video – let the melody, the words, the pictures fill your heart
with praise for our amazing Father, incredible Savior and loving Holy Spirit
ii.
I would encourage
you to listen to other songs that you love.
For me sometimes a Christian rap song fires me up. Whatever it is for you….if your heart feels
drawn to God….listen to it and even try singing out loud. If this is strange for you….go do it in your
car while you drive around. You will
love it!
3)
Use God’s Word to Praise through your words during the
day
i.
Sometimes learning
to speak praises felt like trying to learn to speak a different language like
Chinese. Difficult, hard, clunky, makes
you want to give up. DO NOT GIVE UP! You got this.
Start slow.
ii.
Identify a battle
you are in with words. Example…Lord I am
feeling depressed or ashamed, etc. Then
try this…look up Romans 8:28 and meditate on it. Then speak out loud something like “Lord….I
praise You and thank You that even this depression I am experiencing that You
are using it for good in my life and making me stronger.” Now open to Psalm 34. “Father…even the way I feel today I praise
You. Praises for you are always coming
out of my mouth (vs.1)” Now flip to
Isaiah 42:10-13. “Papa – You are a
mighty warrior….thank You for coming out on my behalf. Please destroy and vanquish this enemy of
depression. Fill me with your strength
and joy now Father. Thank You – I love
You!!!”
4)
Declare Victory – your words have power in them.
a.
Declare victory
and truthful statements over yourself and the people and situations in your
life
b.
Death and life
are in the power of the tongue. Proverbs
18:21a NKJV
i.
One way to
declare life is to speak God’s Word out loud in the form of a statement
Men
– I cannot emphasize how important this is to you experiencing victory in your
battles. Try this today, but be
intentional about making it part of everyday.
Have
fun with it and I will be praising with you this morning and praying for each
of you to experience victory! I love
you!!
We Praise You Father for the life you
have given us this day!!!
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