Hi, my name is Lydia Marrow and I serve at Shake the Nations Ministries, and this is God Today. I want to take a moment to talk to you about something that as somebody who has led worship for most of my life, I hear a lot of people say things like this. They’ll say, “Lydia, I love worship. I’m just not really into praise.” And I always think to myself, man, they’re missing out on such a tremendous element of what can happen in their life.
When you open the door to praise, the Bible tells us in Psalm 100 that the gateway to the presence of the Lord is praise and thanksgiving. So there’s a protocol to entering God’s presence and it is praise that sets the table for worship. You must understand that there’s an element of praise that can actually bring about a tremendous breakthrough in your life. And sometimes I think when we try to be super-spiritual and just jump ahead to the worship, it explains to me, then, why there’s no breakthrough in your life. You’ve kind of cut your feet out from under you.
Let me show you something in the Bible. In the book of Genesis in chapter 29, the Bible says that Jacob and Leah had a son and they named him Judah. And everyone knows that Judah’s name means praise, but watch it. Now later in the book of Genesis, we find that Judah had a son and he named him Perez. What does Perez mean? Perez means breakthrough. So praise is what produces your breakthrough. It is your praise, not a preacher laying hands on you, not a prayer line, not a fire tunnel, and not even your financial giving, but it is only your praise that produces your breakthrough.
Sometimes I think that we think, oh, the fast songs are praise. No, no, no. Praise is when I echo back to God His reputation. Let me say that one more time. I want to make sure you got it. Praise is when I vocally echo back to God His reputation. I like to practice like this. In my house, no matter what I’m doing, folding laundry, studying – whatever the enemy is attacking me in, I give God praise in the opposite. So if the enemy is attacking my health, then I’m going to praise like this. I’m going to say, “Jesus, You are the healer. I give You praise.” If the enemy’s coming against me in my finances, I’m going to say “God, You’re my provider. I give you praise.” If we’re being attacked in the ministry, I’m going to say, “Lord, I give You praise that You are the mighty warrior and You have never lost a battle.”
See, praise is what produces my breakthrough. The Bible says in 2 Chronicles 20 that as Jehoshaphat sent the praisers first in the battle, they got in the enemy’s face and said, “For the Lord is good. And His mercy endures forever.” What are they doing? They’re echoing God’s reputation back to Him. As they did that, the Bible says that God released ambushes. What does that mean? It means that the angels of the Lord began to fight on their behalf. And of course, they won the battle. There is never a record of an angelic army losing a battle, friend.
So my praise produces my breakthrough and it releases angelic reinforcements into my life to fight for me. How many know God is with us? God is for us. He is fighting for us. I want you to understand that the key to your breakthrough is actually in your mouth. If you will open up your mouth and begin to give God praise, no matter what’s going on in your life, if you will begin to echo back to God His reputation, as we see it in His Word – I promise you, friend, you’re going to release breakthrough over every category of your life. Let me just pray for you real quick.
Friend, I bless you in the name of Jesus that you will begin to understand the power of praise. In every area where the enemy has come against you, may you begin to release praise to the Lord. As you do, God is fighting for you. Father, I ask you to release angels to fight on behalf of Your people. I ask you to move the natural with the supernatural. Do what only you can do God. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen. God bless you, friend, in Jesus’ mighty name.