" Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger .” Psalm 8:2 (NIV)

PRAYER INTENTIONS

In thanksgiving for our finances. The silver and gold belong to God ooh, let no one deceive you, Haggai 2:8- so thank God for your finances.

And if you are having financial trouble, thank God for giving you breakthrough as regards your finances and thank him for giving you already financial wisdom to manage the breakthrough.

Remember just GIVE THANKS, no ASKING.

Our Father in Heaven, Creator of all and source of all goodness and love, please look kindly upon us and receive our heartfelt gratitude in this time of giving thanks. We thank you for all the graces and blessings, you have bestowed upon us. We thank you for the spiritual and temporal: for our faith and religious heritage. We thank you for provision of food and shelter, our health, the love we have for one another, for our family and friends. Dear Father, in Your infinite generosity, we thank you for the continued graces and blessing you have already granted us throughout the coming year. In the Name of Jesus, Your Son and our Brother we pray. Amen.

FIGHT YOUR BATTLES WITH PRAISE & THANKSGIVING

When life gets you down and you’re weary from the constant embattlement, you need a different approach. God doesn’t want you living like this: tired, weary, worried, stressed, overwhelmed, depressed and in despair. Instead, he wants you to face your battles from a place of strength, peace, and trust in HIM.

I am encouraging you to win your battles using praise, thanksgiving and dance. It is very true that praising God through the storms of life runs counter to how the world tells you to face your battles. It’s often the opposite of how you want to react. Yet, it is your best response.

Listen up - when life comes at you – and it will because this life is not easy ooh, no joke – how will you respond?

What are your go-to-do strategies to face the trials of this life? How do you cope with the stress of life and win against the struggles you’re facing?

Do you find yourself fighting back with your words or actions (maybe not-so-nice ones)? Or, do you turn to people to look for solutions and end up more stressed and worried than when you started? Do you turn to alcohol, vices or drugs to numb the pain and try to ignore the battles on your doorstep?

The world offers numerous solutions to fight back or run from our battles. We are lured into thinking these are our only options – and too often turn our back on God in our times of need, wondering how he could even help.

I am encouraging you to turn to prayers of praise, thanksgiving, dance and invite God to fight your battles. When life is hard, turn to praise, dance and thanksgiving to God.

One of my favourite passages to this effect is 2Chronicles 20, the story of King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah. Let's stay with Jehoshaphat a little.

So the people of Israel are outnumbered, have you ever been outnumbered? Three impossibly large armies had assembled to destroy them- (Moabites, Ammonites and Meunites) – WAHALA Don come ooh.

Jehoshaphat was terrified and begged God for guidance. Jahaziel then gave King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah a message from God- that they should not be afraid, "the battle is the Lords" - 2 Chronicles 20:15)

He then said, “you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the LORD’s victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out against them tomorrow, for the LORD is with you !” (2 Chronicles 20:17).

Aaa but how can you say the battle is the Lord's when our enemies are matching towards us to destroy us, this one- you will need all the faith you can master ooh. So- Doctors say you are finshed, then I tell you the battle is the Lord's. Your marriage, your finance, your children, all your problems then I tell you don't worry, the battle is the Lord's- does it make sense?

Well, Jehoshaphat sent out people ahead of the army to sing praises to God. As soon as the praise music started, the Lord caused the three attacking armies to start fighting against each other defeating themselves as a result.

PRAISE was the only weapon King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah had to use. “After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the LORD and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang: “Give thanks to the LORD; his faithful love endures forever !” 

At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the LORD caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves. The armies of Moab and Ammon turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them. After they had destroyed the army of Seir, they began attacking each other.

"So when the army of Judah arrived at the lookout point in the wilderness, all they saw were dead bodies lying on the ground as far as they could see. Not a single one of the enemy had escaped .” 2 Chronicles 20:21-24 (NLT)

Now let's recapitulate the whole story again, you ou see, in this story they were outnumbered and didn’t see how they could possible win this one- they were dead... Battle field set. You see that kind of thing back in school when a big boy tells corners you on the field at 3:45pm after school for a fight- and you know you are already beaten before the fight even got started... Similar situation ooh.

So, King Jehoshaphat turned to God in prayer, placing his trust fully in God. He knew he didn’t have the strength on his own to face this battle and no solution of his own would be sufficient.

So you see what the King did after consulting God- he appointed men to lead them into battle singing songs of praise and thanksgiving. He wanted THEIR HEARTS FULLY FOCUSED on GOD and GOD'S GREAT GOODNESS. He knew when they poured themselves into songs of praise and thanksgiving, they would push out the fear and worry.

So early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem ! Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.”

Like Jehoshaphat, may be as you listen to me, you are in trouble, you are outnumbered-you don’t see you way out- many enemies surround you - your vision is blurred and that is what happens when you get into a storm, you can see no further-

Listen when I tell you- You don’t need to fight your battles, set yourself for victory, fear not, don’t allow situations that create fear to paralyse you, fear not, nor be dismayed, go out against them.

Let me tell you eerrh, when you come to the end of the road, where humanly speaking there is no way out, SWITCH to PRAISE. If you can engage in thanksgiving , dance and praise, you can turn around captivity, and no matter how long it takes, keep praising and you will see the right hand of God come upon you.

So-worshipping the Lord, the Levites stood up to praise – TEHILLA as it is called, with a loud voice, early in the morning, believing in the Lord- look at the arrangement- strong men in front, then Singers appointed unto the Lord, to lead the strong men and the whole army march to war- seriously from the military point of view is that how you fight wars? Are this people even serious?

They are about to take over your nation, and instead of sharpening your weapons - Jehoshaphat says just believe me, singers, trumpeters, let us march to the enemy singing and praising the Lord for his mercy endures forever, so they began to sing, and like I said the Lord inhabits the praise of his people, the Lord began to do something. God set an ambush against their enemies. A team going together to Israel, all of a sudden- controversy started in their camp, 2 teams destroyed the other, everyone help to kill and destroy each other.

Jehoshaphat and his people were still singing, and what was their strategic battle cry?

Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever . - 2 Chronicles 20:21 NIV-

That is all they were singing, not knowing what was happening at the enemy camp, they were just praising, then they arrived at the battle ground and when they arrived, not a single enemy alive. Praise brought cheap victory, not only victory- and wait, wait for the icing on the cake -

There was a MASSIVE wealth TRANSFER-they were rewarded with gold and treasures. Who carries gold and valuable to war, this is what I call- massive kingdom wealth transfer-that's how stupid God can make your Enemies. 2 Chronicles 20:25 says, they found many valuable objects, supplies, clothing, cattle. Jehoshaphat and his troops moved in to take the goods. And they spent 3 solid days gathering the goods and there was so much that they could not even carry everything. Massive kingdom wealth transfer- the power of praise.

And they continued praising, back into Jerusalem, into the temple to the music of harps and trumpets. Every nation that heard about how the Lord defeated Isreal's enemies were now terrified. So Jehoshaphat ruled in peace and God gave him security on every side.

See, let me tell you- you don’t have to be a worship leader to worship or praise, and you do not have to be a singer to sing. You only have to be a child of God, which is a good thing, because there are many battles we win in song! There is such power in praise. When we sing God’s Word, we make the enemy shake and tremble with fear. As we wield words of adoration and gratitude—often spoken as songs—heaven is accessed, and an audience in the courts of our Father is granted.

The combination of musical instruments and songs have the power to alter the very environment that surrounds us. When we sing, God is magnified. His dominion is declared over our situation. So when we choose to praise Him in the midst of battles unseen, He fights for us.

Remember, as God’s holy people shouted and praised their invincible God, He threw the enemy armies into confusion and caused them to slaughter one another.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Remember NO ASKING only THANKING🙏🏿

Shalom and God bless you

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#thanksgivingmonth

#thanksgiving&Praise

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