In a previous article, I've shared briefly about the power of thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving and praise go hand in hand. We can't thank God without praising Him and we can't praise God without thanking Him. Both are inseparable and both contain in them the power to bring about God's solution to our problems.
By shifting our focus from our problems to God, we get to see things is a whole new way. Suddenly, things aren't so bad anymore in your point of view.
Thanksgiving as an action of the mouth results in gratitude as a feeling in the heart.
Giving thanks to God magnifies what His goodness in the things He's already done in our lives. Praise, on the other hand, exalts who He is and what He can do. Both of these give us a complete overhaul in the way we think. God becomes bigger and the problems become smaller.
Let's look at how King Jehoshaphat utilized praise as his chosen weapon of war, literally.
2 Chronicles 20 says that out of nowhere, three large armies decide to come together and attack the kingdom of Judah, where Jehoshaphat was King. His army was small compared to the ones that were coming their way and their enemies had the ability to annihilate all of them.
Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard and said:
"Lord, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? They have lived in it and built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, 'If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword or judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.'
Jehoshaphat did not begin with the problem. He began by reminding himself of who His God is and what the Lord can do and he did so by praising and magnifying God. This is how we must approach the Lord during our troubles.
Jehoshaphat then continues with his prayer:
"But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power over this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are one you."
"But our eyes are on you," ends Jehoshaphat's prayer. Praise enables us to have our eyes fixed on the Lord and on His power.
In response to this prayer, the Lord spoke through a prophet saying:
"You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you."
God is saying, "Face your enemies and watch me fight for you."
In the same way, God will also require us to face our problems, but as we exalt Him, He will be with us and He will fight for us. If God is for us, who can be against us?
Do you know how Jehoshaphat faces the three large armies coming against his kingdom?
After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise Him for the splendor of His holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:
"Give thanks to the Lord, his love endures forever.""
Normal armies send foot soldiers ahead to the battle line, but in this day, King Jehoshaphat assigned musicians to praise God and give thanks to Him. See? Thanksgiving and praise are inseparable. Jehoshaphat literally used praise as his weapon for war.
As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
As the musicians were singing praises and thanksgiving to God, the enemies of Judah killed each other. How'd you like your problems to get rid of themselves?
Furthermore,
When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped. So Jehoshaphat and his men went to carry off their plunder, and they found among them a great amount of equipment and clothing and also articles of value---more than they could take away. There was so much plunder that it took three days to collect it.
The people of Judah fought using the power of praise. The Lord gave them great victory and moreover, a tremendous amount of blessings that took three days to collect.
See, when we continually praise the Lord, we enter into a realm where our troubles begin to get rid of themselves one by one until all that's left for us is to stand our ground and collect the spoils.
A blessing is always behind a problem. Thanksgiving and praise breaks the our problems so that we can grab our blessings, but in all of these, the focus has to be on God and on his Son Jesus Christ.
A passage in the book of Hebrews says this, "Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith."
Thank Him, and praise His name; stand your ground, then, receive your blessing.
