PRAISE GOD
MEMORISE: If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us: Psalms 124:2
READ: Psalms 124:1-8
1 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;
2 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us:
3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
6 Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
MESSAGE
Today l want to help you praise God. I want to help you see why you really need to praise Him. You don't know all the battles God fights for you when you are lying helplessly asleep.
Not too long ago, a man brought his daughter to me at the Redemption Camp, all the way from Ilorin, because she told him she was a witch. He told me he doubted her at first but when she reached under her bed and brought out a pot of fresh human blood, he knew she was not joking.
After we prayed for her deliverance from the spirit of witchcraft, the father said, "Please, let her stay with you". I said "Now you want to abandon the girl with me. If God had not been on your side all the days you have been sleeping with that child in the same house, would you be here today?
Do you know the true identity of the fellow you have been sleeping with in the same house? Do you know how many wolves in sheep's clothing are living or working with you? Many of us have been guilty of ingratitude. God has been protecting us from numerous attacks from the forces of darkness that we know nothing of, yet some of us find it difficult to praise Him.
Imagine if God suddenly decides to remove His protective cover from you. You would be finished within 24 hours. You think there are no agent of darkness who have wished that you become so poor as to be eating garbage? They have sent many arrows but God protected you from all their attracts. If God had not been on your side, the enemy would have swallowed you up. If God had not been fighting your battles, where would you be now? Do you know how many times you have eaten poison, yet it did not kill you? Do you know how many times the enemy came in the night to make sure that you wouldn't see the following morning?
Today, l want you to push forward whatever you planned to do this morning and spend some time praising God. Praise Him from the bottom of your heart. Praise Him until you know, beyond all reasonable doubt, that He has heard you. Go ahead and just praise Him.
ACTION POINT
Spend at least 30 minutes praising the One who has been protecting you all these years.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Corinthians 4-7
HYMN 19: O WORSHIP THE KING ALL GLORIOUS ABOVE
1 O worship the King all-glorious above,
O gratefully sing his power and his love:
our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,
pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.
2 O tell of his might and sing of his grace,
whose robe is the light, whose canopy space.
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
and dark is his path on the wings of the storm.
3 Your bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.
4 Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
in you do we trust, nor find you to fail.
Your mercies, how tender, how firm to the end,
our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!
5 O measureless Might, unchangeable Love,
whom angels delight to worship above!
Your ransomed creation, with glory ablaze,
in true adoration shall sing to your praise!
