THE PRAISE SERIES (PART 10) - RESURRECTION PRAISE: THE ENEMY HAS BEEN DEFEATED

If Christ Has Not Been Raised,
Your Faith Is Futile,
You Are Still In Your Sins
1 Corinthians 15:17 (NIV)

The resurrection validates everything we believe in - this includes all our praise and worship to our Lord and King. Without it, the Bible is bold enough to say, our faith is worthless. The resurrection also validates our faith in the redeeming work of our High Priest, Who has taken away our sins. It allows us to live with a sense of risk and adventure, because it makes us part of a new order of creation that ultimately cannot fail - our lives are grounded in Someone who reigns in eternal victory - Chris Tiegreen

NO RESURRECTION, NO CHRISTIANITY! 

 Michael Ramsey

For Paul, this transformation was more than just another event in salvation history. The resurrection of dead and the transformation of believers to immortality meant:

1) The Final Defeat Of Death

"And when this perishable puts on the imperishable and this that was capable of dying puts on freedom from death, then shall be fulfilled the Scripture that says, Death is swallowed up (utterly vanquished forever) in and unto victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Now sin is the sting of death, and sin exercises its power [upon the soul] through [the abuse of] the Law" - 1 Corinthians 15:54-56 (Amplified)

THE ENEMY HAS BEEN DEFEATED!

Lyric :
The Enemy Has Been Defeated
Death Couldn't Hold You DownWe Gonna Lift Our Voice In Victory             

We Gonna Make Your Praises Loud

Shout Unto God With A Voice Of Triumph
Shout Unto God With A Voice Of Praise
Shout Unto God With A Voice Of Triumph
We Lift You Name Up, We Lift Your Name Up

2) A Hymn Of Thanks!
This leads Paul to a moment of praise. For Paul it is very important to remind us that we must give thanks for the greatest gift that could be given: complete victory over death

"But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory [making us conquerors] through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57 (Amplified)
3) Final Encouragement

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be firm (steadfast), immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord [always being superior, excelling, doing more than enough in the service of the Lord], knowing and being continually aware that your labor in the Lord is not futile [it is never wasted or to no purpose]" 1 Corinthians 15:58 (Amplified).
It is important for Paul that Christians respond to what the have learned through their everyday actions. The experience of the Corinthians had been anything but firm, unmovable and abounding in the work of the Lord
Some, like a lot of Christians today, accepted the resurrection as a future reality but not as a present dynamic. They forgot what Paul emphasizes in Ephesians 1:19-20 - that the very power that raised Jesus from the dead is the power that is working in those who believe. We can live with that blessing not only in the future physical resurrection but also in the present spiritual one.

Have a blessed and victorious week!

TPWC

THE PRAISE SERIES (Part 6) - THE POWER OF PRAISE (II)

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.

In the city of our God, in His holy mountain

Psalm 48:1

Our PRAISE, in other words, should be in proportion to God's greatness - which means it has to be measureless. We can never exhaust the POWER and the possibility of PRAISE. The more we PRAISE God, the more we acknowledge His greatness.

Let's continue to expand on the POWER OF PRAISE - What happen when we choose to PRAISE our great God?

1) PRAISE SILENCES THE ENEMY

O LORD, our Lord, how excellent (majestic and glorious) is Your Name in all the earth! You have set Your glory on [or above] the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and unweaned infants You have established strength because of Your foes, that You might silence the enemy and the avenger.Psalm 8:1-2 (Amplified Bible)

- Notice the weapon that king David is using here is the NAME OF THE LORD. PRAISE is the way to silence the enemy. A practical translation of that would be, "that you might make the devil shut up!"
- PRAISE is also the ordained strength of God. Our PRAISE may be weak as a child but it is powerful to shut up the enemies
- Notice also the use of the word "mouth" in this verse. All spiritual weapons have only one launching pad, and that is our mouth

2) PRAISE IS A GARMENT OF THE SPIRIT

Isaiah 61:3, speaks of "the garment of PRAISE for the spirit of heaviness."

                                                                   
- Isaiah 61 was quoted by Jesus in His home synagogue in Nazareth immediately after His temptation in the wilderness to launch the preaching of the Good News (beauty for their sadness/ashes, oil of joy for a mourning spirit and a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness)
- In contemporary language we would call it a spirit of depression which is a stronghold of the enemy. In other words when we choose to PRAISE GOD there is deliverence from the spirit of depression.
- PRAISE is a spiritual garment and every believer must wear this garment at all times. We have to make a choice to "PUT ON" the garment of PRAISE daily.

3) PRAISE LEADS THE BELIEVER INTO THE TRIUMPH OF CHRIST

Psalm 106:47, "Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles, to give thanks to Your holy name, to triumph in Your praise.                                                 

- We are to triumph in the PRAISE of God. This verse applies not only to Israel as a nation, but also to every believers.
- There is a great difference between victory and triumph. Victory is the accomplishment of the defeat of the enemy, whereas a triumph is a celebration of the victory already won!
- See also Colossians 2:15 & 2 Corinthians 2:14

To be continued .... (Part III)

Have a blessed & victorious week as you continuingly let PRAISE be in your mouth! 
Psalm 34:1 - I WILL bless the Lord at all times; His PRAISE shall continually be in my mouth.
TPWC

THE PRAISE SERIES (Part 3) - PREVAILING THROUGH PRAISE

"From the lips of children and infants 

You have ordained praise because of your enemies 

to silence the foe and the avenger" 

Psalm 8:2

Throughout the book of Psalms David refers continually to his enemies. Few men had more enemies than David. Persistently they pursued him and surrounded him, seeking his destruction. He survived only because he learned the secret of dealing with his enemies. He did not meet them in his own power or wisdom. Rather, he evoked against them the presence and power of God.

One main way that he did was through PRAISE. This was the way God Himself ordained for David says' "From the lips of children and infants You have ordained praise ... to silence the foe and the avenger." In the natural order, children and infants are the weakest of all. But when praise comes from even the weakest, it's effect is powerful to silence the enemy and the avenger.
The Bible reveals that we too, like David, are surrounded by enemies, though ours are primarily in the unseen spiritual realm. The chief of these enemies is "the foe and the avenger" - Satan himself. He is the accuser of the brothers, the one who misrepresents us, who misinterpret everything we do, who even seeks to accuse us before the very throne of God.
How can we silence him? David has shown us the way: by PRAISE. When our praise ascends to God, it silences Satan. It cancels his accusations and shuts his mouth. It leaves us free to live out our lives without the continual condemnation of his accusations. Through praise we invoke the presence and power of God against all forces that oppose us.
(extract from "Through David's Psalms" - by Derek Prince)

For those of you who leads worship, try this ... there are times in the midst of praising the Lord, I would challenge the people of God to make a choice to open their mouth to proclaim the praise of God. I began to say that though they may be in the midst of diverse difficult circumstances to praise God, they could and should "put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness (Isaiah 61:3)." I began to quote Psalm 8:2 and tell the congregation that even though their praises may be weak they are powerful to silence the enemies' accusations and intimidations. We begin to lift our voices, raise our hands and give a unanimous victory shout (Hallelujah!) ... very often we could immediately sense a spirit of victory and breakthrough. You could often "see" in the spiritual realm "the walls of Jericho and strongholds" collapse.

* PRAISE is our power weapon to the pulling down of strongholds (Psalm 149: 6-9; 2 Corinthians 10:4)

* The enemies cringe when we PRAISE Him (Psalm 66:1-2)

* God inhabits in our PRAISE (Psalm 22:3)

Praise is born in faith, is an instrument of war and a method of creating an atmosphere for the presence of the Lord. Praise requires effort, will power and boldness  - TPWC