The Weapon of Praise

Happy Thanksgiving weekend! I hope you all had a good celebration on Thursday and continue to have thankful hearts. I’ve always felt that this is one of the happiest holidays in America. Christmas and Easter have such profound spiritual significance for those of us who truly understand God’s plan of salvation for the world, but the forces of secularism have eroded that understanding for our nation as a whole. Christmas is now mostly about consumerism, and what is Easter about, the Easter bunny?

However, Thanksgiving is still mostly about being thankful. Saying “Happy Thanksgiving” is still acceptable to people who insist on “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” I guess there is the risk of overindulgence in good food, but the gathering of family and friends is generally a happy time, especially if we remember how truly blessed we are.

What is the connection between Thanksgiving and spiritual warfare? Today we are going to talk about another important weapon in our arsenal: the weapon of praise. Praise and thanksgiving are often mentioned together in the Bible. For example, Psalm 100 calls God’s people to

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.—Psalm 100:4

Some people distinguish between praise and thanksgiving, saying that praise expresses our gratitude to God for who He is and thanksgiving for what He has done. The Bible tend to blur them together more than that. (For example, Psalm 150 tells us specifically to praise God for His mighty acts.) But it is important to remember both aspects. Sometimes if everything seems to be going wrong we may not feel very thankful, but we can always praise God for who He is, because that never changes. He is always great and powerful and loving and merciful and just and so on, and we can praise Him just as He is. At the same time we can always find something that He has done for us that we can thank Him for, even if we are not in the mood, even in the worst of times, even when it seems like Satan and all his forces are arrayed against us and are getting the upper hand.

Praise is indeed a weapon. It is like a hand grenade that we can lob at Satan at any time. Sometimes a spiritual attack comes like a wave of fear or doubt or simply a great heaviness in our spirit that seems gray and hopeless. In the book of Psalms we can see how David frequently swings back and forth between lament and praise. In his darkest times he would call out to God, not holding back on his anguish and questioning, but at the same remembering God’s goodness and faithfulness. Psalm 13 provides us a compact example of this:

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?  How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.  I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.—Psalm 13:1-6

Brian Doerksen set this psalm to music, and it has blessed me many, many times to listen to it. It’s not your typical happy, clappy worship song – Jesus and me, everything’s wonderful. It faces up to reality. Life is hard. Sometimes we hurt, and the Lord seems very far away. Where are you, God? Why don’t you help me?

David was often beset by military and political enemies. In this particular case, it seems as if they are getting the upper hand. David asks how long would they triumph over him. But he also recognizes the significant battle within himself, as he wrestles with his thoughts. That is something we can all relate to – that internal struggle with fear or doubt or resentment or lust or guilt or any number of other negative emotions. Whatever circumstance it was that had brought on this crisis, it had stressed David to a point of hopelessness, where he even questioned his faith in God. Some commentators posit that David was seriously ill, wondering if he would even survive, or if he would “sleep in death,” allowing his enemies to finally be victorious. His pleading with God to give light to his eyes could imply physical healing, but it certainly means a restoration of his spirit as well. It feels like the Lord has forgotten him – for too long.

David was seeking God’s face, which he did his whole life. He wanted to have communion with Him, to understand what God’s thoughts and intentions were toward him. Seeking God’s face is such a distinctive metaphor for pursuing intimacy with him. Do you appreciate video calling over a normal phone call? I spend a lot of time communicating with people over the internet. Sometimes I prefer just a voice connection, but most of the time I feel like I am able to connect with them much better if we can see each other. The nonverbal communication opens up a whole different level of understanding and closeness. David would have loved to be able to use Skype or Facetime with God. He wanted to know God’s heart.

But here the connection is broken. David feels forgotten by God, and he is down in the dumps. His doubts and fears are getting the upper hand, and whether he is thinking of the Devil or not when he refers to his enemy triumphing over him, he is in a spiritual battle that is very real. His faith is weak and battered, but in that moment of despair he remembers something: God loves me. And because of who God is, that will never change. His love is unfailing; it goes on and on and never weakens or diminishes in any way. So his heart is able to rejoice in God’s salvation, even though he does not see it at the moment. He takes up the weapon of praise. He remembers the good things that God has done and makes them into a song.

Why is it that we sing praise songs every Sunday? It isn’t just to make us feel good or even to bring us closer to God – those are more the side benefits. In the first place we praise God because that is why He created us – that’s what we are here for. So we praise Him to be obedient and submissive. But we also praise Him because we are His warriors, and we decimate the forces of darkness with a blast of praise. That’s why it is important to praise God even when we don’t feel like it. We praise Him by faith, and something happens in the spiritual realm. Sometimes we feel its effect and sometimes we don’t.

Did David understand this? It appears that he did. In Psalm 8 he writes

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.—Psalm 8:1-2

What an amazing statement! Somehow the praise of children and even babies establishes strength against God’s enemies. So you know this must be happening on a spiritual level. Little kids may not even understand what they are saying when they join in praising God. But Jesus held up the faith of a child as the standard to which we should all aspire, to enter the kingdom of heaven. Our praise should express that simplicity of faith, and it becomes an awesome weapon in the war – silencing our enemies, it says. We have talked before about Satan’s role as the Accuser of the Brethren. He not only accuses us before God, but he whispers his accusations in our hearts, telling us how weak and worthless we are. Sometimes he tells us how superior and self-sufficient we are – an equally harmful lie.

But praise silences both kinds of lies. When we praise God, we reassert a proper conception, not just of who he is but of who we are. In praising him we submit to his authority and receive from his abundant grace. A head knowledge of God is not enough, believing that he exists or even that he is supreme. James 2:19 says

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

What the demons cannot do is praise God. The Brothers Karamazov is one of Ian’s favorite books. In one scene Ivan is visited by Satan in the form of an elderly gentleman. They have a long and confusing conversation in which Satan tries of explain and justify his existence. Ivan maintains that he is just a figment of his imagination. In spite of the visitor’s dissembling manner, he does make a very significant statement about praise and what it means:

“I am perhaps the one man in all creation who loves the truth and genuinely desires good. I was there when the Word, who died on the cross, rose up into heaven bearing on His bosom the soul of the penitent thief. I heard the glad shrieks of the cherubim singing and shouting hosanna and the thunderous rapture of the seraphim which shook heaven and all creation, and I swear to you by all that's sacred, I longed to join the choir and shout hosanna with them all. The word had almost escaped me, had almost broken from my lips ... you know how susceptible and esthetically impressionable I am. But common sense—oh, a most unhappy trait in my character—kept me in due bounds and I let the moment pass! For what would have happened, I reflected, what would have happened after my hosanna? Everything on earth would have been extinguished at once and no events could have occurred. And so, solely from a sense of duty and my social position, I was forced to suppress the good moment and to stick to my nasty task.”— Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

It sounds like something out of The Screwtape Letters, doesn’t it? Satan tempted to praise God at the resurrection of Jesus, but stopping the hosanna at his lips out of a sense of duty. He knows of course that it would not be everything on earth extinguished, only himself and everything in opposition to God. Praise and defamation are mutually exclusive. Praise is incompatible with who Satan is. This is because praise accepts and submits to who God is. And as I said, it puts us in the proper position before Him. We are indeed weak and sinful, not worthy to stand in the presence of our holy God, but we come by grace, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, acceptable to stand in the Holy of Holies and glorify Almighty God, creator of the universe and judge of all people. “Nothing in my hands I bring; simply to thy cross I cling.”

So our praise silences the enemy in the heavenly realms but also the enemy within us, allowing us to walk in the reality of Jesus’ victory on the cross over the Evil One. We can praise God for all His wondrous deeds throughout history and in our own lives, remembering His love and help and provision. That is why our prayers should include adoration and thanksgiving as well as supplication. Thanking God for what he has done in the past builds our faith for the present (and future). Praise lifts our eyes from the battle to the victory.

When I gave the message on prayer, our secret weapon, I mentioned the importance of living a life of prayer, not just taking it up at certain times. The same principle applies to praise and thanksgiving, as that Chapter 5 in 1 Thessalonians says:

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.—I Thessalonians 5:16-18

Of course this does not mean pretending everything is wonderful when it’s not. It means accepting what is wrong and hard and painful but looking beyond that to the ultimate reality of who God is and who we are in Him. This is God’s will for us “in Christ Jesus.” It is only as we are in Christ that we can truly rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances. Regardless of what is happening we can praise God for who He is, rejoicing in His love and salvation. And while we don’t give thanks for all circumstances, we can give him thanks in every one because of all of His precious promises and His great faithfulness to us.

One of the promises that we can trust and thank God for is a familiar one from Romans 8:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.—Romans 8:28-29

Verse 28 is often quoted to proffer hope in difficult circumstances. But a few weeks ago someone reminded me of the importance of understanding it in the context of verse 29. The good that God wants to work in us is to conform us to the image of his Son. It’s not some vague blessing that he wants to bestow in the midst of suffering. As it says back in verse 18 of that same chapter

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.—Romans 8:18

The glory to be revealed in us is the presence of Jesus. And that is the good work that God wants to accomplish in us in all circumstances as we love Him and respond to His calling. It’s what gives meaning to suffering and gives us something to be thankful for in all circumstances: Lord, please have your way in us and make us more like Jesus.

If we are indeed able to rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances, one of the side benefits is that our lives will be much happier. For me, this brings to mind the Veggie Tales song: “For a thankful heart is a happy heart. I’m glad for what I have, that’s an easy way to start.” The tune might be a little annoying, but the words are so true. A thankful heart is a happy heart. Focusing on what we don’t have just leads to discontent and frustration. God has blessed us in so many ways, and there is always something to thank Him for.

So, once again, what does this have to do with spiritual warfare? How we feel is not the primary concern, but we are motivated by our emotions. That is part of how God created us. And many people take themselves out of the battle, giving up fighting the good fight, because of their emotions. Satan will use whatever means he can to gain the advantage. That’s why praise is such an important weapon. It allows us to hang onto faith even when the feelings are not there. Fill your mind and heart with songs of praise, so that they can come back to you when you need them the most. Memorize and repeat psalms and other Bible passages that focus on praise to God. In the same way that light dispels darkness, speaking or singing the truth of God’s word will bring hope and victory.

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,  who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. –Psalm 103:1-5