The counterpart to Prayer

I will praise you, Lord. Psalm 9:1 NLT Praise should always follow answered prayer, just like the mist of earth’s gratitude rises when the sun of heaven’s love warms the ground. Has the Lord been gracious to you, leaning down to hear the voice of your prayer? Then praise Him as long as you live. Let the ripe fruit drop to the fertile soil from which it drew its life. Don’t deny song to the One who has answered your prayer and given you the desire of your heart. To be silent after receiving God’s mercies is to be guilty of ingratitude; it is to act as shabbily as the nine lepers who, having been cured of their disease, did not return to give thanks to the Lord who healed them (Luke 17:11–19). To forget to praise God is to refuse benefit to ourselves, since praise, like prayer, is one great means of promoting growth in our spiritual lives. It helps to remove our burdens, to excite our hopes, to increase our faith. It is a healthful and invigorating exercise that quickens the believers’ pulse, strengthening us for fresh exertions in our Master’s service. To bless God for mercies received is also a way to benefit our fellow humanity: “let the humble hear and be glad” (Psalm 34:2 ESV). Others who have been in similar circumstances will take comfort if we can say, “Come, let us tell of the LORD’s greatness; let us exalt his name together. I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me” (Psalm 34:3–4 NLT). Weak hearts will be strengthened, and worn-out saints revived as they listen to our “songs of deliverance.” Doubts and fears will be rebuked as we “teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit” (Colossians 3:16). They too will “sing of the ways of the Lord” (Psalm 138:5) when they hear us magnify His holy name. Praise is the most heavenly of Christian duties. The angels do not pray, but they never stop praising God, both day and night—and the redeemed, clothed in white robes and holding palm branches in their hands, never weary of singing the new song, “Worthy is the Lamb.” C.H. Spurgeon Morning and Evening 

There is indeed a counterpart to prayer as Spurgeon points out, which is praise.  We now live in a culture that seems to have gone into overdrive to control how we think, how we act and where we can go.

It's invading all areas of our lives including our health. Doctors calling you at home.  Your insurance company playing Doctor by haranguing you about your options.  

Control is tied to many aspects of Spiritual battles and warfare.  Who controls your mind and heart controls your attitude towards yourself and God.  

Paul exhorted Timothy a lot on the aspects of Spiritual warfare. His words are for you and I as well.  

Scripture is not only replete with what not to do towards God, but what we should do towards God and others.  The world would have you look out for yourself and their agenda of self defined inclusion.  They redefined inclusion into what amounts to Satan's definition of inclusion.  Accept all forms of sin as normal and do what you can against anyone who opposes that 'truth'. 

For the defenses of the believer prayer and praise are beyond important to combat this.  Yes, we read the Word of God daily, I hope you do, we also sing and speak praises to God to remind Him and us of His promises. It also keeps our minds off of us and onto the one who is more than capable of handling our problems. 

I will not gloss over anything at any time.  What God leads me to write about, that I must write about.  Many so-called Churches are, as Jesus referred to them in Revelation, a synagogue of Satan.  They do not teach the infallibility of Scripture. They teach that sinful lives are ok with God. That in the end His love will be stronger than His justice or judgment.  

The wages of sin is death.  Intentionally living in sin gets one result.  Teaching people otherwise brings greater condemnation upon those teaching things like that. 

Prayer and Praise are to be the most used tools on your belt.  I have worked on quite a few things and projects in my life. Rare is the time when only one tool does the trick. You need to remember to praise God even in the storm.  Especially in the storm. 

Daniel was in a lion's den.  Kept from harm, he prayed and praised His God. Daniel's friends in a fiery furnace, the Lord is with them, they praised Him in that fire.  Paul taught Timothy and obviously others to praise God in all things and at all times.  They lived in a Roman Empire that realistically was harsh and brutal at times. Our world is seeing a resurgence of the old Roman Empire, as Scripture said would happen.  Our governments want people to turn in people out of manipulated fears. Stir up people to act out of fear and they will never see what's really happening.  In prayer and praise you don't have fear. As we have both we really do experience God's love in our lives and Scripture goes on to say that perfect love casts out fear.  To cast out means to lay ahold of and throw away. Grab onto fear and throw. God's peace remains.  

What's going on in this world is Scripture being fulfilled.  People don't want the United States to fall. Living in it, I really don't either.  But I can see Scripture being fulfilled. We have no significant place in the Scriptures in the Tribulation recorded in Revelation or other places in the Bible.  Our nation must decrease. What that looks like I don't know. Either we take ourselves out of the world picture or God's judgment on this nation does. Why would God judge against the United States? Millions of abortions. The embracing of sinful life on the part of same sex marriages, the facts that the very things that were celebrated in Sodom and Gehmorrah are now the law of the land. 

Prayer and Praise must be the focus of the believer. We must make it a priority if we are to not only survive, but to show the true love of God, not what people are saying it is. In Jeremiah the so called leaders of the Jewish people spoke as the liberal Pastors of today.  In denial of the truth of God's Word. They teach sin as truth to be lived by and embraced. 

How much prayer and praise do you do? Prayer, praise and just time with Jesus should be your every day life.  Jesus said we overwhelmingly conquer through Him and by Him. Believers have the most reason to hope as long as they stay the course as Paul said at the end of his life.