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| WELCOME TO STUDY FIVE |
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| In the last four lessons we have covered prayer and the word as weapons of warfare. Now I would like for you to consider another weapon of warfare that is equally as powerful and that is praise and worship. First of all lets look a little into the seven words that refer to praise with intercession in the Bible. 1. Psalm 117:1, "O PRAISE the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people." Halal means to be boastful or excited, it represents a tremendous explosion of enthusiam in the act of praising God. Jewish tradition relates this to the overthrow of the wicked. (It is also associated with dancing in circles or spins.) I had just started doing praise and worship for our share and care group, I was new to the church and had never witnessed a lot of the things I had been seeing before. One night as I played I saw a woman go out in the Spirit. She fell backwards while our leader was praying for her. I had never seen this before, it scared me a bit. But I kept playing. Before I knew it, only the leader and I were left standing in the room. When she started coming towards me, I bolted. I told her I didn't want any part of this. She stepped back and prayed for a few minutes, then raised her hand toward me. She was about five feet away from me. Immediately I felt like I had been hit with a bolt of lightning and I lunged backwards, falling to the floor. I was out for about 45 minutes. I have not a clue what was going on except they said it appeared as if I was convulsing. I jerked most of the time. The ladies laid hands on me and prayed over me until I regained my senses. When I did, I couldn't even stand on my own. I crawled over to my leader who was at this time sitting on the couch and laughing at my state. It must have been pretty funny, I admit. I had one thing on my mind. It came to me in waves, I must dance. I had always considered dancing a sin, that is what I had been taught. I told my leader I was having strange thoughts. She said what are they? I said they are sinful. She said let me hear them. I told her and she laughed, she said Dorothy if you feel like dancing. DANCE! And I did, I lost the drunk feeling, rose to my feet and started spinning round and round in a circular motion. I would spin and twirl, it was heavenly. It was a praise to God for the experience I had just been through. The joy was beyond, beyond. Before I knew it others got up and were spinning as well. If anyone would have told me that you danced to praise God I would have said, no way. But it happened to me. And being slain, also happened. Since then til now I have never been called to dance that way again. I know God had a reason for it. The ladies felt that it was spiritual warfare. 2. II Chronicles 20:19-21 "And the levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high. And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalen; 'Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper,' and when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and to say 'Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth forever.'" Yadah, means to thank, to give public acknowledgement to, to extend the hand, to worship with raised hands. 3. Psalms 103:1-2 "Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits," Barak means to bless, to bow, to kneel in adoration. 4. Zamar, means to touch the string, to make music to God, this is a musical verb for praise. 5. Psams 117:1 as quoted above uses the word, Shaback which means to speak well of in a high and befitting way, to address in a loud tone, to shout, to command triumph! 6. Isaiah 56:7 "Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt ovverings and their sacrifices shall be occepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." Tephillah, means intercession for someone, supplication, a hymn. 7. Psalms 50:23 "Whosoever offereth praise glorifieth me; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God." Towdah involves extending the hand in thanksgiving. It means to give the sacrifice of praise. These seven words provide us with a variety of praise activities that honor the Lord, and bring us into His presence and release His power in intercession. But there's much more in lesson six... |
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