The Weapon of Praise

Pastor Jason Armold

• Praise in the Old Testament – to hold out the hand, to revere or worship (with
extended hands). A hymn. To celebrate, to make a show. To celebrate in song and
music.

• Worship in the Old Testament – bow down, depress, prostrate.

• Praise in the New Testament – to speak in praise of, to praise (always of praise to
God). To sing, to laud, to sing the praise of.

• Worship in the New Testament – to make obeisance to, do reverence to.

Proskuneo – pros – towards, kuneo – to kiss. To serve, do homage, an act of
reverence.

• The worship of God is nowhere defined in scripture. Not confined to praise alone,
broadly it may be regarded as the direct acknowledgement to God, of His nature,
attributes, ways and claims, whether by the outgoing of the heart in praise and
thanksgiving or by deed done in such acknowledgement.
• All praise and worship are to God – ALL about
God.
• All that He has done, and what He is going to
do. About His greatness, fame and fearfulness.
His strength and power. His love and mercy.
• Praise in the good times –
– Praise calls forth God’s supernatural intervention and is
also the appropriate response to that intervention.
• Exodus 15:10-11 
10 You blew with Your wind,

      The sea covered them;

      They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
11 “Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods?

      Who is like You, glorious in holiness,

      Fearful in praises, doing wonders?
• The song of Moses and Israel after their
deliverance from Egypt and the destruction of
Pharaoh’s army.
• Praise is the response of God’s people to His
awesomeness.
• To His fearful acts of vengeance on their
behalf. When God shows Himself strong for
us!
• Praise in the tough times-
– Regardless of negative circumstances or complete emotional
turmoil, we must bow our hearts and lives before the Lord
of Hosts, and acknowledge His Supreme Lordship.
– When everything in your life screams, “God is unjust! He
doesn’t love me! He has forsaken me!” The true worshipper
says, “The Lord is good and His mercy endures forever.
Blessed be the Name of the Lord!”
– “though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!” (Job 13.15)
– We must praise God in the valley’s and on the mountain
tops.
• The Father is seeking worshippers
• John 4:23 
23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true

worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and

truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
God delights in and inhabits our praise
• Psalm 22:3 
3 But You are holy,

         Enthroned in the praises of Israel.

• True worship – Luke 7.36-50
Luke 7:36-50 
36 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the

Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. 37 And behold, a woman in the city who
was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house,
brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38 and stood at His feet behind Him
weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with
the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the
fragrant oil. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to
himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what
manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”
40 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”

So he said, “Teacher, say it.”

41 “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred

denarii, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing with which to repay, he
freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”
• True worship – Luke 7.36-50
Luke 7:36-50 
43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”

And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” 44 Then He turned to the
woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your
house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet
with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 You gave Me
no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I
came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has
anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 Therefore I say to you, her sins,
which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is
forgiven, the same loves little.”
48 Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves,

“Who is this who even forgives sins?”

50 Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
• Worshippers are –
– Desperate for Jesus
– Have a stirred heart
– Repentant
– Overcome (He is here!)
– Unreserved (not worried about what others think)
This woman will have a praise on her lips for what
Jesus has done for her. We should as well!
 The Weapon of Praise
• Psalm 8:2
 2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
         You have ordained strength,
         Because of Your enemies,
         That You may silence the enemy and the
avenger.
God has provided strength for His people against
their enemies. He has provided strength to deal
with the kingdom of darkness.
• The power from our mouth:
• James 3:9-12 
9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men,

who have been made in the similitude of God. 10 Out of the

same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these
things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring send forth fresh
water and bitter from the same opening? 12 Can a fig tree, my
brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring
yields both salt water and fresh.
• What proceeds from our mouth is power – both good and evil.
• When praise comes forth, it can silence the enemy!
• The nature of the strength:
• Matthew 21:15-16 
15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did,

and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of
David!” they were indignant 16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are
saying?”
And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read,

      ‘ Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

      You have perfected praise’?”

The “religious” people asked Jesus to silence the children.

Jesus answered them by quoting Psalm 8.2, but changed it a little.
Jesus exchanges “established strength” with “perfected (prepared) praise”.
The strength of God’s people is praise. Praise is one of our great weapons.
• Psalm 8:2 
2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

         You have ordained strength,

         Because of Your enemies,
         That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.
- “out of the mouth…”
- The mouth is the primary channel for releasing our spiritual weapons against satan’s kingdom.
• Psalm 149:6-9
6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,

         And a two-edged sword in their hand,

7 To execute vengeance on the nations,

         And punishments on the peoples;

8 To bind their kings with chains,

         And their nobles with fetters of iron;

9 To execute on them the written judgment—

         This honor have all His saints.

         
         Praise the LORD!
• - “…of babes and nursing infants”
• Those who have no natural strength of their own, who must
rely on God’s strength.
• Matthew 11:25 
25 At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father,

Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things
from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.
Jesus was talking about His own disciples. “Babes” are not
necessarily those who are just newly born in the natural, but
those who have no natural strength of their own and must
depend totally on God’s strength.
• Praise is a weapon to silence satan.
• Satan has only one thing he uses against us with God –
ACCUSATION
• Revelation 12:10-11 
10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and

strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His
Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused
them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And
they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of
their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
Satan’s primary activity is making accusations.
We can silence the accusation of the enemy. It is praise that
ascends through the heavenlies and reaches the throne of God!