The Power Of Praise

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 15th of February, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.  

"...for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
Nehemiah 8:10

“But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.” 
Acts 16:25-26

The power of praise! We don’t always feel like it, do we? But we need to praise God because the joy of the Lord is our strength. Many years ago when I attempted the mighty Comrades Marathon, we would be in a bus together. That is a group of people running together with a bus conductor in the front, and when we were taking strain on those big hills, he would start singing a song and you cannot believe how those words just gave us strength to get up the next hill. 

John Henry Jowett said, “Let us sing even when we do not feel like it, for in this way we give wings to our feet and turn weariness into strength.” Of course, the devil, himself, hates it when God’s people start worshipping Him in songs and praise. Many years ago, I had the privilege of preaching in Wales. Now, I think the Welsh people can sing like no other nation on earth. Even when they speak it sounds like they are singing. Their words are so beautiful. I was speaking to a thousand Welsh farmers and their wives and children in the southern part of Wales. That evening they sang a song, one of the old revival songs from the famous Welsh revival. They started singing it in English and it was beautiful, and then they started singing the same hymn in Welsh, in Gaelic, and I just stood there and wept. It is very hard to preach after that. The power of God!

I remember in 2010, at the Mighty Men Conference, here on the farm at Shalom, over 400,000 men were gathered together, worshipping and praising God. It was like we were in Heaven. Folks, I am telling you, every demon fled that place. The Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up. Men were healed, men were set free that day, and men were born again. It was something I will never forget. I found it extremely hard to preach after hearing that praise and worship, and of course, right at the end that, “Amen”, that war cry of the Mighty Men Conference - So be it! Amen! I will never forget it as long as I live.  

Today, worship Him. Sing songs to Him in your pick-up, in the car, wherever you are, give Him praise and He will lift your spirits up to a new level. 

Jesus bless you and goodbye.