High praise Vs Low praise

⁵      Let the saints be joyful in glory; Let them sing aloud on their beds.

⁶      Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand,

⁷      To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishments on the peoples;

⁸      To bind their kings with chains, And their nobles with fetters of iron;

⁹      To execute on them the written judgment — This honor have all His saints. Praise the LORD! Ps149:5-9

Anyone can praise God when they have a good news, had a promotion, pay rise, gotten married after many years of waiting, got a new job or house. However this type of praise is a low praise; there is no sacrifice in it.

There is another type of praise that is a sacrifice- the type you do at the midnight of your life when all hell has broken loose on you; you are in the pit of life; you have been badly beaten with rods of life and you are bleeding but despite the pain, you begin to pray and praise God, singing with a loud voice, even in your prison, containment, confinement and incarceration. This is a high praise that gets God’s special attention and triggers an immediate divine  intervention. You provoke God when you offer such a sacrifice.  It also happens when you do it with an offering that costs you a lot. Solomon did it and God visited him at night.

So learn to give God high praises. The opportunity for this usually comes when you are going through severe tests. Give Him a high praise and see what He will do in your life. Promotion will come the miraculous will come and you will have a lasting, powerful testimony

King Jehoshaphat and Judah

²⁰   So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.”

²¹   And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: ” Praise the LORD, For His mercy endures forever.”

²²   Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.

²³   For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

²⁴   So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.

²⁵   When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much.

2Chro20:20-25

Paul and Silas

²²   Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods.

²³   And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely.

²⁴   Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

The Philippian Jailer Saved

²⁵   But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

²⁶   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.

²⁷   And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.

²⁸   But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”

²⁹   Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

³⁰   And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹   So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

³²   Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

³³   And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.

³⁴   Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.Acts16:22-34