Praise brings great victories

I believe that the expression of praise and adoration in the Lord's church should always be present, not only in our mouths, in our hearts, in our minds, every day that passes, every day as soon as we get up and spend the day and the night, our life should try to be wrapped in this constant praise before the Lord. It is the only way, you know that there are some proposals, Biblical proposals so that we 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 to the front, the Lord had moved me to speak about a verse in the Book of Acts, but I was also reading Psalm 146, and I said, Lord, what is it? Tell me what is? Both are very good topics and I have tried to talk. And the Lord answered me through this call that Pastor Omar made to the congregation and how good that we can, in the midst of our difficulty, in the midst of our illness, in the midst of our problems, arrive in praise before the throne of the Lord Arrive in adoration before the throne of the Lord and tell him, Lord, no matter what I am going through, and tell him, Lord, look, I say to my soul, as David said, my soul praise the Lord and do not forget none of its benefits.

And maybe the problem is serious, maybe the doctor's diagnosis is not so auspicious, it is not something we would have wanted to hear, and our flesh, and the enemy on the one hand, are going to start saying, no, better than you better get depressed, you better get stressed, you better start behaving badly because this is no longer fixable, you better live your life in the worst way, bitterly, as it says... there is a kind of discipleship that there is a person called Margarina, I loved that name. I'm not going to put it on any of my daughters, just in case.

So, the devil wants us not to enjoy what the Lord really is in his totality and we must learn that our life in the Lord says this, it is not circumstantial. It is not because of the circumstances that I praise the Lord, but I praise him and I adore him for who he is, for what he means for my life, for the salvation that I have received through Jesus Christ, so…. We can be sick all our lives but be grateful to the Lord, be true worshipers and that illness will be our reason for praising the Lord.

Psalm 146 says so in the name of Jesus Christ.

“…Praise, O my soul, Jehovah. I will praise Jehovah in my life, I will sing psalms to my God while I live. Do not trust in princes, nor in the son of man because salvation is not in him, for salt is his breath and he returns to earth on that same day his thoughts perish..."

I just want to leave it there. We will read later on another paragraph in this psalm. We close our eyes. Take the hand of your brother who is next to you and begin to declare praise and worship to the Lord in the midst of difficulty. Start declaring with your mouth, start praising the Lord there. Let the praise flow, just as David when he sang he flowed in the presence of the Lord and David went through very bad times. So, Lord Jesus, may my soul praise you with fervor, may my soul praise you with passion, may my soul praise you not for the circumstances but for who you are, may my life be a lifetime of praise and adoration in the name of Jesus. Amen.

I read these verses because they are important for the life of the Christian, for those who have decided to follow the Lord, to understand their way of walking in the ways of the Lord. The truth is that we always speak, this is not a religion, just like so many in the world, walking in Jesus Christ, walking in salvation, walking in the benefit of forgiveness, of the mercy of the Lord is a lifestyle. Therefore, the whole perspective that we can each have of what life is changes, while some have a pessimistic, negative vision of what is happening in the world, Christians even though we do know what is happening and what that will happen, our trust is in the Lord.

It is a good question that Pastor Omar asked a few minutes ago. Each one of us has times when we are sad, when probably some anxieties overwhelm us because they accumulate because of work, personal relationships, family situations, but none of this can overcome my relationship of praise and adoration. with the living God. None of this has the authority to displace the praise that I constantly have to give to the Lord on a daily basis.

I want to tell you that through praise we can have great victories. Through praise we can experience the powerful hand of the Lord, through praise we can experience that the power and authority of the Lord are manifested even in difficult circumstances, even in adverse circumstances, even in circumstances where we can say, no longer There is a solution, there is no way out, I have come this far and I will die here. The Lord in his word shows us many examples of how men and women have expressed that trust in the Lord through genuine praise, genuine adoration that is born in the heart, product of the conviction that one has in the power of God. .

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

“…All power is given to me in heaven and on earth…”

Do you know what that means? When we talk about adoration and praise, we are not worshiping a piece of stick, nor an image, we are worshiping the one who has all power, the one who has all authority, the one who has declared for him that nothing is impossible and not only that, he has declared that for the one who believes everything, everything is possible.

Look at this concept, that we must understand to whom we must express our adoration and our praise, to whom we must express our spontaneous singing. Says:

"...Praise, my soul...", who? To the television, to the soap opera, to the Red Socks game? Praise, oh my soul, the car that I bought myself, the house of my dreams, praise, oh my soul, Jehovah.

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 glory to God. Yesterday I threatened Pastor Omar with something like that.

Look, what does well-oriented praise before the Lord, a well-oriented adoration, the word recommends us here that we do not put trust in princes or sons of men or human beings. When the doctor tells you something, you tell him, let me ask the Lord to see if he agrees with you. When the banker tells you something, tell him, let me ask my celestial accountant to see if he agrees with you. When the devil tells you, your family has no solution, tell him, let me ask the one who formed my family. let me adore it Let me raise your name. Let me go to that moment, to that time of restoration in the sanctuary and humble myself before him, and cry before him, and acknowledge that he is wonderful and then let's see if they are right, but the Lord has power.

Verse 7, in the part it says, “… Jehovah delivers whom? To the captives Jehovah opens the eyes, to whom? How many were blind before? Not just natural blind but spiritual blind. Jehovah raises up the fallen. How many have felt that hand that the Lord puts there to lean on and get up? It is not good there at that moment to say, thank you Lord. It is not good to say, glory to God that I am not alone. Jehovah raises the fallen, perhaps in the same walk of faith, we try not to fall and the first thing we do is fall. And there is the hand of the Lord, because we recognize that although we may have fallen, although we may have failed, we can recognize that he is the Lord. And that praise and that adoration and that expression to the Lord move him. The Lord moves with it.

Jehovah loves the righteous. Jehovah guards foreigners, the orphan the widow sustains, and the path of the wicked, what does he say? upset. Still feel like praising the Lord? Say, Lord, upset every plan of the devil, upset it, I praise you and I bless you, I adore you, upset it, Lord.

Let's all read this together, verse 10:

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

How many give a shout of joy for that? The enemy or the devil does not like these expressions of praise and especially when we add them to our daily lives. In church, since we are all Christians, we all shout, we all sing, well, if the one next to us sang, how can I not sing? You say, if the sister sings, how can I not sing? If you clap, well, I'll clap too, because here at church all those things are done. Hands are raised, some go out to dance here in front, here I go, here I go.

That expression of joy, of gratitude before the Lord, not only necessarily because life has been a life of full happiness, but because despite the circumstances we can understand that we are not moved by that, 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.

The book of Joshua in chapter 6, in the taking of Jericho there is an expression of powerful praise and it is so comparative, I love that account because how it expresses, how it affirms, how it is written and designed so that we understand that there is nothing so tall, there is nothing so wide, there is nothing so deep that it can resist a people, a church, that praises and blesses the name of the Lord.

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

While the world does not give you the importance that you think you have, make sure that the Lord gives you the importance that he knows you have through what you say to him. This expression of praise had a whole order, there was a whole arrangement, the Lord had detailed how it should be at the end and only he gives this concept of obeying the word of the Lord.

I imagine it was crazy to go around that wall. It is crazy for you to start thinking that this big wall that was built so that you did not have access to what the Lord has behind it, it is crazy to think that it is going to come down simply because you are praising the Lord. But I want to tell you one thing here, there are people who have built walls so big that they are going to fall before their eyes because their hearts are recognizing that their God is an almighty God.

In the book of Judges there is another example, the example of Gideon from chapter 6, chapter 7, chapter 8. but there is a specific expression when the Lord gives a dream and Gideon listens to the interpretation of that dream, there is a very short expression there, it says that when Gideon heard the account of the dream he worshiped.

You know, and that word is so impressive because it is the starting point of a victory process that the Lord was going to bring through this man whom the Lord had chosen as a strong and courageous man. Out there, some say that he was quite scared, he was quite insecure. It says when Gideon heard the story of the dream, he worshiped and went to the town.

You know, an army as big as Midian sometimes there are spiritual armies that want to rise up against your life, Midian represents those spiritual armies that go and steal your blessing. Spiritual Midian is in these times is the one who steals the blessing in different ways, using different people, 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 a call to service to fight against Midian, he is left with only 300 men.

Do you know the most shocking thing about this? It is that the Lord took charge of confusing those minds and the only thing that was there were trumpets, shouts and broken pitchers. And not because they broke the pitchers on top of the heads of the others, but because it was an expression of jubilation, of noise, of security because the Lord had already delivered that entire army into the hands of this man.

So you already know the enemy's plan. The Bible tells us but also tells us how we can overcome it, so no matter what the circumstance, no matter what the reason, no matter how the devil is going to rise up, you declare victory and worship the Lord , praise him with all your heart because there will be your profit, there you will recover what the Lord has given you, there you will take what the Lord has designed for you.

A church that praises and adores the Lord is a church that walks in the streets praising and adoring. They look crazy, anyone would say that they are talking on the phone with these bluetooth. No, they don't have anything in their ear, not even a part, it's a special technology that the world hasn't been able to get, it's a technology where we don't need a cable, we don't need to charge anything, just say, Lord, I adore you, Lord, I I praise you.

If someone says that the church does not have modern resources, someone do something similar to this, this fluid relationship with the Lord. You are going to get on the bus, you are going to get on the train, you are going to be in the factory, in the office, you are going to be with your family, and your praise is going to be permanent. Because? Because you are a man, a grateful woman who recognizes that your victory is in the Lord.

We need a church in these times that begins to make a difference and not go around singing bachatas. I know some names but I'm not going to say them because it can cause melancholy in some, or salsa, or some bolero, some norteño song. Begin to sing psalms and spiritual songs before the Lord, it doesn't matter what rhythm you have, if you have the bachata rhythm, that's fine, but it doesn't matter. If you have a cumbia rhythm, don't worry, just give it to the Lord. But try to be original, don't change the lyrics for the same music. That is the church that has to move in this society, we remain silent, in silence.

These days I had the opportunity to be in a classroom and there were so many people saying what was their favorite day. And I put Sunday and I put because I liked to go to church, I liked to be in communion with my brothers, to share with the community of faith. And there were others who looked like Christians, but do you know what this has given me the most? It is that there are others who are also doing the same. There was a Brazilian sister in the group and she said, I like to worship the Lord, that day is my favorite day.

There was another one over there that belonged to some Haitians who said, I go to church on Sundays and I like to be there. That's the day I like. The teacher was a bit shocked because most preferred Friday and Saturday, I don't know why. I'm not going to say anything, but don't forget to come on Sunday, I'm also a friend of Pastor Roberto.

Well, you know what came to my mind? Because that is an expression of praise, to recognize that you like to be with the Lord, I like to be in your house sharing with your people. I remembered the story of Elijah, when Elijah thought he was alone in the world doing the work of the Lord. He says, no Elias, don't worry there are still many there. There are 7,000 who have not bowed their knees before Baal. There are 7,000 who still adore me. There are 7,000 who are still filling my throne with praise, with adoration because they believe that I have the power to set this people free.

So you are not alone. Now look at your brother if he has a praising face, and tell him, now I do see that face for you. Praise and adore the Lord everywhere, at all times. Don't be ashamed because the Lord deserves all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise.

Let's give a round of applause to the Lord. Thank you Jesus, thank you Lord. We adore you.