BREAK-THROUGH PRAISE!!!

TEXT:  PSALM 150  

1  Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.

2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.

3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.

4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.

5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.

6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.

Psalms portrays Jesus as our “All Sufficiency”.  This division of Psalms has 246 verses, 43,743 words.  The authors are David and others.  The theme of Psalms is “prayer and praise”.  Psalms was generally written to express the deep inner emotions of the human heart in relation to God.  Many were written as answered prayers to God expressing a trust, love, adoration, thanksgiving, praise, a longing for close fellowship, discouragement, deep distress, fear, anxiety, humiliation, a cry for deliverance, healing or vindication.

Other Psalms were written as songs expressing praise, thanksgiving and adoration for who God is and for the great things He has done!!!!

Are you breathing today?  Well, that’s the only prerequisite that’s needed to give God praise!  So give God some praise!!!!

This message is about “BREAK-THROUGH PRAISE”!!!

The Bible encourages, exhorts and even commands us to praise the Lord!

In the New Testament the words praise, worship, glory, and honor are all translated from the same Greek word “doxa”.  Its base meaning is “GLORY”!  If there’s any difference between the two, it is “worship”.   “Worship” is how we esteem God.  It’s the attitude of adoration in the heart.  You can “worship” without a sound, but “praise” however is the articulation of that adoring heart!

When we are “praising”, we give vent and voice to our “heart of worship”!  Psalm 100:4  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

With the set-up of the tabernacle, one could only enter the “eastern gate” into the court, which was the only means of entrance into this sacred area.  John 10:9 - Jesus is the “door”!

This court of the Gentiles always faced the “east”, toward the rising of the Sun.  For it was a clear type of the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.

Just inside the gate or door [Jesus] was a brazen altar [cross – the starting point of our salvation experience] and to the west of this stood the brazen laver [separation and daily cleansing], containing water for the cleansing of the worshippers before they entered into the holy place of the tabernacle.

God had already laid out the plan of salvation for us that we can come boldly unto the throne of grace.  Hebrews 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

LET’S GIVE GOD SOME PRAISE RIGHT HERE!!!  We’re talking about “A BREAK-THROUGH PRAISE”!!!

The writer picks it up again in Psalm 66:1  Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands.  Sing forth the honour of his name:  make his praise glorious.

You see, you can’t “praise” silently because it has to do with “articulation”!  It requires action or voice.  There is power in “praise”!  There is power in lifting your voice in a song, or in a shout, or a prayer of praise.  Something happens when we applaud and magnify God!!!

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE PRAISE GOD?

• “Praise SECURES God’s manifest Presence”:  2 Chronicles 5:11-14  And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place:  (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course:  also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the “east” end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:)  It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in “praising” and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth forever:  that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD;  So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud:  for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.

In 1985 we witnessed the “glory cloud” at the dedication of my sister Jackie’s house to the Lord!!!  People were in different areas of the house, and as the “BREAK-THROUGH PRAISES” went forth, the “glory cloud” moved all through the house where the “PRAISES” were!!!  IT WAS AWESOME!!!!  OH HOW AWESOME IT CAN BE WHEN GOD TAKES OVER THE SERVICE!  WHEN THE SENSE OF TIME IS LOST!!!  WHEN PEOPLE AREN’T ABLE TO STAND BUT HAVE JUST BOWED DOWN AND LAID OUT ON THE FLOOR BECAUSE GOD IS ORCHESTRATING THE ORDER OF SERVICE!!!!

We can have these kinds of services!!!  We can have the “shekinah glory” fill the house!!!  When we “praise and worship” God!!!  God inhabits the “praises” of His people, and God dwells in the “praises” of His people!!!  “PRAISE SECURES GOD’S MANIFEST PRESENCE”!!!

• “Praise SECURES Victory”:  If you need “victory” in any area of your life, instead of focusing on that situation, or looking at that mountain, give God “PRAISE”!!!  “PRAISE HIM”!!!  For God inhabits “praise”!!!

Psalm 149:6-9:  Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written:  this honor have all his saints.  Praise ye the LORD!

Here we see the “praise” coupled with the “declaration” of God’s word binds the enemy in chains!!

The devil’s most common methods of attack are to bring discouragement, negativity, hopelessness, and despair into our lives to paralyze us from within.  The enemy wants to get our eyes off God!  Don’t let him do it!!!  

Give God some “BREAK-THROUGH PRAISE”, and get your eyes back on God’s greatness, declare His praises, sing and shout of His love, His faithfulness, His goodness, His mercy, His grace, His almighty power, and the enemy will flee!!  “BREAK-THROUGH VICTORY”!!!

• “Praise SECURES an unburdening”:  If you are burdened today, being weighed down with cares, you can get rid of the load today through “praise”!  Isaiah 61:3  To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

You might look fine on the outside, but your spirit man may be heavy!!  

There are times we have been in that state, but we mustard up a “BREAK-THROUGH PRAISE”!  Flesh will not feel like it.  Well, flesh is doing what flesh does!  That’s why we have to “BREAK-THROUGH” with some “PRAISE”, a song, a dance, or a shout because this is spiritual!  Exchange that weight for a garment of “praise”!

• “Praise SECURES Release”:  Acts 16:25-26  And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God:  and the prisoners heard them.  And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken:  and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.

There are many different circumstances we sometimes find ourselves in.  Here Paul and Silas were in a dire situation because they stood for what was right.  Does this sound familiar?  Paul and Silas were thrown into prison, humiliated, they were fastened in stocks and their backs lacerated from the beatings, but they didn’t gripe nor complain.  Their faith was steadfast, their hope was sure, and they had no doubt!  They looked at their mountain, or shall I say their valley, and they looked at each other and said, “We know just what to do”!  They prayed, and praised God in song, and the Bible says the prisoners heard them, and all their bands were loosed!  Why?  Because the sound was piercing, and it pierced through their natural hearing until their inner (spiritual) ears were opened!!  Someone may ask, “How do you know that”?  Because after it was over, the jailer cried out, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved”?  Even his household was saved!  He was saved twice by “BREAK-THROUGH PRAISE”, physically and spiritually!

In Rome, imprisonment was not on the list of legal penalties.  However, the greater the distance from Rome, the more likely governors were to condemn people to be imprisoned or held in chains.  

Many accused prisoners had to wait a very long time to be tried.  Governors were under no compulsion to provide speedy trials, especially if the accused was a “hot potato” like Paul!  It could be to the Governor’s advantage to allow him (the accused) to “cool his heels” for months or years without coming to trial.  This waiting period could also cool off an explosive situation if the Governor found himself in a delicate position.  In other cases, certain powerful groups could be appeased by the incarceration such as Paul’s case in Acts 24:27  But after two years Porcius Festus [Roman governor of Judea] came into Felix’ room:  and Felix [a Roman administrator of affairs in Judea], willing to shew the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound.

So with this information, you can really see the miracle that was wrought for Paul and Silas because they gave God some “BREAK-THROUGH PRAISE”!  They could’ve been held in that prison for years and years, but their deliverance came when they began to “praise” their God!!  And their “PRAISE” didn’t just give them a “BREAK-THROUGH”, but it freed the jailer and the other prisoners as well!!!  It was the “BREAK-THROUGH PRAISE” that gave them all the “VICTORY”!!!  HALLELUJAH TO OUR GOD!!!

Whatever prison you’re in right now - whether it’s guilt from the past, past relationships, present relationships, things said or things done to you - if that thing is like a “monkey on your back”, whatever it is, get your eyes off the bars and give God glory!!!  Give Him a “BREAK-THROUGH PRAISE”!!

~ Evangelist Mary Perry