The Effects of Praise

Jesus Christ not only knows how to save, but how to sustain. All things do not count; what counts is Jesus. Jesus is all you need.


Let's learn a few things about praise.

Who can praise? 

Psalm 150:6
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!

Everyone is a candidate of praise. If you can breath, you owe God a praise. 

What are some of the effects of praise?

Psalm 22:3

But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

When you start to praise, God inhabits your praise. Jehovah can transform the status of the one who praise Him. He inhabits in the praise of His people. When you start to praise, He takes His place in your praise. 

Psalm 69:30-31

I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bull, which has horns and hooves.

Praise pleases the Lord more than sacrifice of any sort. When you praise God, He delights in it. Back then, they sacrificed animals in order to maintain a good relationship with God. David says in this text that praise pleases God more than the sacrifice of perfect animals, that have horns and hooves to be precise. Praise is the perfect sacrifice!

Psalm 68: 1-4

Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let those also who hate Him flee before Him. 2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. 3 But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God; yes, let them rejoice exceedingly.
4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name; extol Him who rides on the clouds, by His name YAH, and rejoice before Him.

When the Lord arrives, all His enemies will be scattered. When you praise, your troubles have to perish, before the presence of the Lord. All sorts of wickedness melts before the presence of God. Poverty, sickness, oppression etc. are all wicked and, as David tells us, they all melt in the presence of God. When He shows up, nothing wicked will stand in His presence. 

You can praise yourself out of every captivity, out of every situation. When you start to praise, you become an enemy of hell. Whatever can't stand God will never be able to stand you. 

2 Chronicles 20:21-25

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.”

22 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. 23 For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. 24 So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped. 

25 When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much.

Judah means praise. Praise is more deadly than any weapon of mass destruction. 

When you begin to sing in praise, something is activated in the heavens (verse 22). The Lord ambushed the enemies because He had come, and taken over. 

Deuteronomy 28:7

“The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

Something starts to happen when  you start to praise. In the natural eyes, it may not be seen. In the spiritual realm though, things are happening. 

No enemy will escape a praiser (verse 24b). 

Praisers will never lack (verse 25a). Praise gives you access to access or key to spoil the kingdom of the enemy. Praisers will strip and plunder the enemy. 

God knows where the valuables are; praise, and He will lead you to them. When you praise, God gives you access to more than enough. 

Your situation may not be that good or seem to be changing, but still, like Habakkuk, you need to rejoice and praise:

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—
18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

19 The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.

When you are praising, you are telling God that He is Jehovah. Praise takes your mind off yourself and your situation, and places it on God. It magnifies God and His might, above your situation. Your situation suddenly seems small, compared to your God. 

Acts 16:25-26

But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 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.

Make a decision that your praise will not be private any more. Paul and Silas did not offer "silent" praises to God. They sang out aloud, and got their sudden breakthrough. 

Every person is qualified for sudden breakthroughs as everyone can be a praiser. "Suddenly there was a great earthquake." verse 26. If you want a sudden breakthrough, start praising!

Just like praise shook the foundation of the prison, praise also will shake the foundations of your problems. 

No captivity can be able to contain a praiser. You have a solution that will break captivity/ yokes around you. If you and the people around you are in captivity, start praising God and watch the chains being loosed. 

You and I can change our situation, if we make the decision to praise through any situation that comes. 

Choose to praise!

-- Apostle Dr. David Karanja. 

(03/5/13 Kesha Sermon, Africa Transformation Mission. At Pramukh Plaza, 6th Floor)

Apostle Dr. David Karanja is the Senior Pastor at Africa Transformation Mission, a ministry under Christ Harvesters Ministries.