Give God High Praise

Monday 5 October
READ: Job 1: 13 - 21
MORE LESSON: 2 Sam 12: 13 – 23

Sometimes praise doesn't make sense. High praise is the praise you give and people wonder whether you have lost your mind. It is when everybody thinks the worst has happened to you, and you begin to give God praise. Job gave God high praise. He was the richest man in the East, then the devil attacked him and killed all his children, destroyed his property and took everything from him. All men, angels and demons were watching to see what he would do, but then he knelt down and worshipped God saying, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord: Job 1:21. All the devils were bewildered and confused, they wondered what kind of man this was. When Job wanted to finish satan and all his cohorts, after they had done their worst and multplied his sufferings, he said, Though He slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him: Job 13:15. Then the enemy knew he had lost as far as Job's case was concerned. High praise is not limited to music or dancing, and it confuses the enemy.

Heaven finds pleasure in the praise that is given when things get sour and it ordinarily looks as if there is no reason to praise God. Anyone can praise God when things go smooth but there is a kind of high praise which is the preserve of men that are stalwart in God. When David committed adultery with Bathsheba, she conceived and gave birth to a child. After David had prayed and asked for forgiveness from God, the Lord told him that He had forgiven him but the child born by that sinful act would die.

The child became seriously ill and David went to God with fasting, tears and sackcloth and kept begging God to allow the child live. He refused to eat, laid down on the ground, and everybody was begging him to eat. Then the baby died, the people were afraid to tell him that the baby had died because they felt if he was so distraught when the baby was sick, he would kill himself if he learnt that the baby had died. But when David learnt the child had died, he did something that shocked them all: he got up, took his bath, ate good food and went to the house of the Lord and worshipped Him. They were dumbfounded, the baby was sick, and David fasted, prayed, cried and sat in ashes, but when the baby died he started thanksgiving.

When you give God praise in unseemly circumstances, you become a testimony that lives forever and you become a wonder to men. It is true that this kind of praise is very costly but anybody who learns it will invoke the hand of God for a turn around. No matter what you are going through today, give God high praise!

Prayer/Action
* Ask God for grace to be able to say “Praise be to God” in times of trouble.
* Ask God for grace not to complain, murmur or speak harshly when you can’t explain what is happening to you.
* Ask God for the spirit of thanksgiving.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
I command every anti-harvest power to dry up concerning my destiny this new month, in the name of Jesus.