Praise Brings Great Victories

I believe that the expression of praise and worship in the Lord’s church should always be present—not only on our lips, but in our hearts and minds—every passing day, from the moment we get up and throughout the day and night. Our lives should seek to be enveloped in this constant praise before the Lord. It is the only way. You know, there are some biblical propositions and teachings that help us understand that there is power in praise and that God acts.

How many believe that? The truth is that when Pastor Omar called the congregation forward, the Lord had moved me to speak about a verse in the book of Acts, but I was also reading Psalm 146, and I was saying, “Lord, which one is it? Tell me, which one is it?” They are both very good subjects, and I have tried to speak about them. And the Lord answered me through this call that Pastor Omar made to the congregation. How wonderful that, in the midst of our difficulties, our sickness, and our problems, we can come before the Lord’s throne in praise, come before the Lord’s throne in worship, and say to Him, “Lord, it does not matter what I am going through.” And we can say, “Lord, look, I say to my soul, as David did: ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits.’”

And perhaps the problem is severe; perhaps the doctor’s diagnosis is not very encouraging and is not something we would have wanted to hear. And our flesh, along with the enemy, will begin to say, “No, you had better become depressed. You had better become stressed. You had better start behaving badly, because this cannot be fixed anymore. You had better live your life in the worst possible way, bitterly.” As it says… there is someone in a discipleship class named Margarina. I loved that name. I am not going to give it to any of my daughters, just in case.

So the devil does not want us to enjoy the fullness of who the Lord truly is, and we must learn to make our lives in the Lord declare this: it is not circumstantial. I do not praise the Lord because of my circumstances; rather, I praise and worship Him for who He is, for what He means to my life, and for the salvation I have received through Jesus Christ. So… we could be sick all our lives yet remain grateful to the Lord, be true worshipers, and make that sickness our reason for praising the Lord.

Psalm 146 says the following, in the name of Jesus Christ.

“…Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord throughout my life; I will sing psalms to my God as long as I live. Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, for there is no salvation in him. His breath goes forth, and he returns to the earth; on that very day his thoughts perish…”

I just want to leave it there. Later we will read another passage from this psalm. Let us close our eyes. Take the hand of the brother or sister beside you and begin to declare praise and worship to the Lord in the midst of your difficulty. Begin to declare it with your mouth; begin to praise the Lord right there. Let the praise flow. When David sang, he flowed in the presence of the Lord, and David went through extremely difficult times. So, Lord Jesus, may my soul praise You fervently; may my soul praise You passionately; may my soul praise You, not because of my circumstances, but because of who You are. May my entire life be a life of praise and worship, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

I read these verses because they are important for the life of a Christian, for the person who has decided to follow the Lord and understand how to walk in the Lord’s ways. The truth is that we always say this is not a religion like the many others in the world. Walking in Jesus Christ, walking in salvation, and walking in the blessing of the Lord’s forgiveness and mercy is a way of life. Therefore, it completely changes the perspective that each of us may have on life. While some have a pessimistic, negative view of what is happening in the world, we Christians—although we certainly know what is happening and what is going to happen—place our trust in the Lord.

Pastor Omar asked a good question a few minutes ago. Each of us goes through times when we are sad, when certain anxieties probably begin to overwhelm us as they accumulate because of work, personal relationships, or family situations. But none of that can prevail over my relationship of praise and worship with the living God. None of it has the authority to displace the praise that I must constantly give the Lord every day.

I want to tell you that through praise we can win great victories. Through praise we can experience the Lord’s mighty hand. Through praise we can experience the Lord’s power and authority being manifested even in difficult circumstances, even in adverse circumstances, even in circumstances in which we might say, “There is no solution anymore; there is no way out. This is as far as I go, and here I will die.” In His Word, the Lord shows us so many examples of how men and women expressed their trust in Him through genuine praise and genuine worship arising from the heart as a result of their conviction in the power of God.

There is a verse in Matthew chapter 28, verse 17, containing a phrase that I love, where Jesus Christ says:

“…All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth…”

Do you know what that means? When we speak of worship and praise, we are not worshiping a piece of wood or an image. We are worshiping the One who has all power, the One who has all authority, the One who has declared that nothing is impossible for Him. And not only that: He has declared that everything—everything—is possible for the one who believes.

Consider this concept: we must understand to whom we should express our worship and praise, and to whom we should offer our spontaneous song. It says:

“…Praise, O my soul…” Whom? The television, the soap opera, the Red Sox game? Praise, O my soul, the car I bought, the house of my dreams? Praise the Lord, O my soul.

Can you say it? Can you say it louder? Now let it be heard. Hallelujah! How many say, “Hallelujah”? How many give glory to God? How many give three shouts of “Glory to God”? Yesterday I threatened Pastor Omar with something like that.

Look at what properly directed praise before the Lord and properly directed worship can do. Here the Word counsels us not to place our trust in princes, sons of men, or human beings. When the doctor tells you something, say, “Let me ask the Lord whether He agrees with you.” When the banker tells you something, say, “Let me ask my heavenly accountant whether He agrees with you.” When the devil tells you, “There is no solution for your family,” say, “Let me ask the One who formed my family. Let me worship Him. Let me exalt His name. Let me enter that moment, that time of restoration in the sanctuary, humble myself before Him, weep before Him, and acknowledge that He is wonderful. Then we will see whether they are right.” But the Lord has power.

Verse 7 says in part, “…Whom does the Lord set free? The captives. The Lord opens whose eyes?” How many were blind before? Not only physically blind, but spiritually blind. The Lord raises those who have fallen. How many have felt the hand that the Lord places there so that they can lean on it and rise? Is it not good at that moment to say, “Thank You, Lord”? Is it not good to say, “Glory to God that I am not alone”? The Lord raises those who have fallen. Perhaps, even as we walk in the faith, we try not to fall, and the first thing we do is fall. And the Lord’s hand is there, because we recognize that although we may have fallen, although we may have failed, we can acknowledge that He is Lord. And that praise, that worship, and that expression to the Lord move Him. The Lord is moved by that.

The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the foreigners and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but what does it say He does to the way of the wicked? He frustrates it. Do you still feel like praising the Lord? Say, “Lord, frustrate every plan of the devil; frustrate it. I praise You and bless You; I worship You. Frustrate it, Lord.”

Let us all read this together, verse 10:

“…The Lord shall reign forever—your God, O Zion, from generation to generation. Hallelujah!

How many give a shout of joy because of that? The enemy, or the devil, does not like these expressions of praise, especially when we begin incorporating them into our daily lives. In church, since we are all Christians, we all shout and sing. Well, if the person beside me sang, how could I not sing? You say, “If the sister sings, how could I not sing? If she claps, well, I will clap too, because all those things are done here in church.” People raise their hands; some come forward here to dance, and there I go, there I go.

That expression of joy and gratitude before the Lord is not necessarily only because life has been filled with complete happiness, but because, despite our circumstances, we can understand that we are not moved by them; we are moved by a plan of the Lord. And that plan needs to be praised and adored because the Lord designed it for us.

In the book of Joshua, chapter 6, during the capture of Jericho, there is a powerful expression of praise, and it is such a fitting comparison. I love that account because of how it expresses and affirms the message, and how it is written and designed to help us understand that there is nothing so high, nothing so wide, and nothing so deep that it can withstand a people, a church, that praises and blesses the name of the Lord.

There is nothing so sophisticated, nothing so complex, no higher criticism with such lofty vocabulary, that it cannot be destroyed by a man or woman who praises and blesses the name of the Lord.

Even if the world does not give you the importance you may think you have, make sure the Lord gives you the importance He knows you have through what you say to Him. This expression of praise had an entire order and arrangement. The Lord had detailed how it was to happen at the end, and He alone gives this principle of obeying the Word of the Lord.

I imagine that walking around that wall seemed crazy. It seems crazy for you to begin thinking that the great wall erected to keep you from accessing what the Lord has behind it will fall simply because you are praising the Lord. But I want to tell you something: there are people here before whom such great walls have been raised, and those walls are going to fall before their eyes because their hearts acknowledge that their God is an almighty God.

In the book of Judges there is another example: the example of Gideon in chapters 6, 7, and 8. But there is one specific expression when the Lord gives a dream and Gideon hears its interpretation. There is a very brief expression there: it says that when Gideon heard the account of the dream, he worshiped.

You know, that word is so powerful because it is the starting point of a process of victory that the Lord was going to bring about through this man, whom the Lord had chosen as a mighty man of valor. Some people say that he was quite fearful and very insecure. It says that when Gideon heard the account of the dream, he worshiped and went to the people.

You know, when facing an army as great as Midian, there are sometimes spiritual armies that seek to rise against your life. Midian represents those spiritual armies that come and steal your blessing. In these times, spiritual Midian is whatever steals your blessing in different ways, using different people and different resources. But you know, the Lord wanted all the honor, all the glory, and all the praise; He wanted it for Himself. And after calling people to serve and fight against Midian, He was left with only 300 men.

Do you know the most astonishing thing about this? The Lord took it upon Himself to confuse their minds, and the only things there were trumpets, shouts, and broken jars. And it was not because they broke the jars over the others’ heads, but because it was an expression of jubilation, noise, and confidence, since the Lord had already delivered that entire army into this man’s hands.

So you already know the enemy’s plan. The Bible tells us about it, but it also tells us how we can defeat him. Therefore, no matter what the circumstances may be, no matter what the cause may be, and no matter how the devil may rise up, declare the victory and worship the Lord. Praise Him with all your heart, because that is where you will find your gain; that is where you will recover what the Lord has given you; that is where you will take hold of what the Lord has designed for you.

A church that praises and worships the Lord is a church that walks through the streets praising and worshiping. They look crazy; anyone might think that they are talking on the phone using one of those Bluetooth devices. No, they have nothing in either ear. It is a special technology that the world has not been able to obtain—a technology in which we do not need cables and do not need to charge anything. We need only say, “Lord, I worship You. Lord, I praise You.”

If anyone says that the church does not have modern resources, let them produce something like this: this free-flowing relationship with the Lord. You are going to get on the bus, get on the train, be in the factory or the office, or be with your family, and your praise will be continual. Why? Because you are a grateful man or woman who recognizes that your victory is in the Lord.

We need a church in these times that begins to make a difference, instead of going around singing bachatas. I know some titles, but I’m not going to mention them because it might make some people feel melancholy—or salsa, or some bolero, or some norteño song. Start singing psalms and spiritual songs before the Lord; it does not matter what rhythm they have. If they have a bachata rhythm, fine; it does not matter. If they have a cumbia rhythm, do not worry—just give it to the Lord. But try to be original; do not change the lyrics while keeping the same music. That is the church that has to be active in this society. We remain quiet, silent.

A few days ago I had the opportunity to be in a classroom, and there were so many people saying what their favorite day was. And I put down Sunday, and I wrote that it was because I liked going to church, I liked being in fellowship with my brothers and sisters, sharing with the community of faith. And there were others who seemed to be Christians, but do you know what has encouraged me most about this? That there are others who are also doing the same thing. There was a Brazilian sister in the group, and she said, “I like worshiping the Lord; that day is my favorite day.”

There was another woman over there who was one of the Haitians, and she said, “I go to church on Sundays, and I like being there. That is the day I like.” The teacher was a little taken aback because most people preferred Fridays and Saturdays—I do not know why. I am not going to say anything, but do not forget to come on Sunday, because I am also a friend of Pastor Roberto.

Well, do you know what came to mind? That this is an expression of praise: acknowledging that you like being with the Lord—“I like being in Your house, sharing with Your people.” I remembered the account of Elijah, when Elijah thought he was going about alone in the world, doing the work of the Lord. He says, “No, Elijah, do not worry; there are still many there. There are 7,000 who have not bowed their knees before Baal. There are 7,000 who still worship Me. There are 7,000 who are still filling My throne with praise and worship because they believe that I have the power to set this people free.”

So you are not alone. Now look at your brother or sister and see whether they have a face of praise, and tell them, “Now I can see that look on your face!” Praise and worship the Lord in every place, at all times. Do not be ashamed, because the Lord deserves all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise.

Let us give the Lord a round of applause. Thank You, Jesus; thank You, Lord. We worship You.