Praise is a shortcut to healing.
Luke 10:18 He (Jesus) replied, " I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." Scripture also tells us that Satan was the most beautiful angel placed in charge of all the heavenly worship. Many pastors tell us that praise is the key into the door of God's heart and the key into the atmosphere of heaven. It is a place that Satan knows personally. Satan personally sabotages every attempt we make to praise God. Praise is worth the effort, if we do not give up, not quit and not rely on our feelings. Merlin Carothers www.merlincarothers.com on his audio tape reminds us that Satan was in Charge of Praise.
Merlin Carothers tells us that praise makes the insane well again. An amazing true story about praise causing deliverance and healing is published by the Foundation of Praise. Contact www.foundationof praise.org or call 760-741-2755 for this free brochure of Marilyn Foglio's biography A Most Amazing Story of a mentally ill patient locked up in a hospital - until her father began to praise God. Scripture tells us that God inhabits the praise of His people.
English psychiatrist Kenneth McAll in A Guide to Healing the Family Tree cites a healing from polio: A mother (whose heart was full of praise and gratitude) thanked God "during communion" for her 9 children. The next morning her shrivelled and paralysed left leg was healed.
Ruth W Heflin in Glory, Experiencing the Atmosphere of Heaven
www.revivalglory.org gives us
stepping stones into healing for our bodies and minds. For those who wish
to have a more intimate relationship with Father God and wish to find spiritual
meaning to their lives, then Ruth's stepping stones will take you there into the
atmosphere of heaven and into the arms of Christ. Her outline is to praise
until worship comes and then to worship until God's glory comes. God's
healing and help comes during the time God's glory appears. Ruth
encourages us to sing unto the Lord in simple phrases. She tells us that
if we are persistent that God will allow us to learn bit by bit what Jesus
knows. Ruth tells us that if we have asked the Holy Spirit into our heart,
that He is there and that He will reveal many things to us, even the face of
Jesus, for heaven is an equal opportunity place.
Freddy Hayler in Song of Angels, Experiencing the Atmosphere of Heaven,
gives us a foretaste of heaven via his book and accompanying CD where he shares
the his visit to heaven with its atmosphere of praise.
Many charismatic pastors teach their congregations that each of us has the same rights and opportunities as Jesus Christ, because Jesus is the first, the example for us. Jesus is our brother according to scripture. As we mature in the Lord, we can hear His voice more clearly. Scripture says that His sheep can hear His voice. As infants we need to recognize who our parents are, but soon we have no doubt. Joyce Meyers explains that a major difficulty is learning to recognize God's voice is lack of persistence due to listening to our flesh and to the devil. She has a wonderful series of 4 audio cassettes called Keep on Walking When the Devil is Stalking #241 www.joycemeyer.org which tutor us in recognizing our Lord's voice. She mentions that the Holy Sprit is always gentle and gives us a choice, but that Satan is condemning. secretive and bossy.
Second, Joyce says that the Devil encourages us to quit, to give up, while the Holy Spirit wishes us to never give up, no matter what the flesh is feeling or experiencing. For instance, if the voice in our head says to give up, that we will never get healed, then that voice is either our own or Satan's. It is not the voice of the Holy Spirit. If we never get healed and die, that is not God's best plan for us. God's best plan is for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. The point is this. Quitters never win the race. The turtle (not the rabbit) won the race, not because he was qualified, but because of persistence. Not quitting also involves believing that God will act in our behalf. God seldom intervenes without our trusting in His willingness and ability to help us. How does this apply to praise? Simple. Praise, in joy and depression. Praise when we feel like it and when we do not feel like praising. As real estate is location, location, location, so praise is persistence, persistence, persistence, because the enemy of our soul will try to discourage us 24 hours a day, but greater is the Holy Spirit who is in us than Satan who is in the world.
A most wonderful scripture is Daniel chapter 10. "You
who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to
you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you...Do not be afraid, Daniel.
Since the 1st day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to
humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I
(the angel of God) have come in response to them."
African pastor Robert Kayanja admonishes us to begin praising and thanking
God immediately after requesting, and claim God's victory in the heavens
even though it has not yet been manifested on earth. Kayanja has a huge
healing ministry, yet Satan assaulted his twin daughter with terminal cancer,
needing both prayer and doctors to remedy the situation.
Get yourself a prayer partner. Together you 2 can help each other.
God says, "Where 2 or 3 are gathered together, there I am." Satan wants us
to rely on and obey our feelings. Never, never, never rely on your feelings.
Rely on God. Praise has nothing to do with feelings. It has to do
with who God is and what God does and will do. Begin with "thank You".
Thank You for a bed to sleep in. Thank You for legs that walk, for eyes
that see, for a mouth that speaks, and for ears that hear. Thank You God
for my food. Do you know that saying grace before meals, protects you from
food poisoning? If you are paranoid, then this is especially a good
practice and a good protection. Never sneer at those who say grace.
Instead realize that they practice a secret for safety.
Tell your mom or wife, "Thank you for washing my socks".
Tell your boss, "Thank you for my pay check". Tell God, "Thank You for my
driver's license". The more we say thank you, the more our countenance
changes. Then we can begin to enter into praise. God, I praise You
for Your awesome sunrises and sunsets. I praise You for that delicious
fragrant flower. You are a wonder perfume maker. If you are alone in
your car or alone in your bathroom or alone in the park, raise your voice and
hands to the Lord. He looks at the heart, so every croak that tumbles out
of our mouth is wonderful to Him. Now start those feet tapping and
dancing. See, this can actually be fun. You can play the guitar unto
the Lord. It is good exercise and fun all at the same time. Will
people think you are crazy? It is not what people think, but what God
thinks. Besides, if you are crazy, no harm done, except to exorcize Satan
from molesting you. Satan will flee. He cannot stand praise. He
resents people from taking over his old job. We become stronger as Satan
becomes weaker. Praise injects healing like a shot of drugs. Praise
is just what the doctor ordered. Doctor Jesus. More is better.
Longer is better. Practice, practice. As you thank God, your
thankfulness will increase. As you praise, your praise will increase.
As you worship, your worship will increase. As you persistently
delight yourself in the Lord, He will begin to meet the desires of your heart,
if you faint not. Remember, Christ did not quit, even when He felt like
quitting. He persisted through the hard places, so that He conquered not
only infirmity, but also death, and is alive to now help us.
When is a good time to praise God? After we are healed? When we are in despair or trouble? Both is the answer. The apostle that Jesus visited after His ascension into heaven is Saul/Paul. This Paul while in a miserable prison, instead of bemoaning his fate, glorified God in song and adoration. The New Testament chapter of Acts 16:22-25 states, "The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas. The magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison. The jailer was commanded to guard them careful. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God."
Derek Prince (a man through whom God delivered many evil spirits) was bedridden and about to die in Israel. Larry Huch wanted to pray with him. Prince, then in his 70's, said he wanted to praise before he prayed. They sang and worshiped, before Prince gave his bedside blessing to Huch (who now has a deliverance ministry). Our praise is a hello kiss, a greeting of joy, to God. www.larryhuchministries.com/about/vision.cfm
Another scripture that comes to mind is that of Job. It is not so much that he praised God, but the fact that he did not blame God nor curse Him as his wife admonished him to do. The Old Testament chapter Job 2:9 says, "His wife said to him, 'Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die.' He replied, 'You are talking like a foolish woman..'" Remember, even Eve was a bad influence on Adam, her husband.. Beware of your advisors. Always try to honor your conscience and your God.
Daniel speaks of a Babylonian king's complete healing of mental illness. "At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified Him who lives forever (Daniel 4:34 NIV Bible)." The complete healing was not year l, nor year 2, not year 3, nor year 4, not year 5, nor year 6, but year 7. God is not only in the medical business of restoring sanity in the old testament, but also in the new testament, plus today and tomorrow, for God is not dead.
Scripture
Ezekiel 3:12,13 The Spirit took me up and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, "Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place." I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing.
Resources
Power in Praise book by Merlin Carothers
Let Us Praise book by Judson Conwell