Man is essentially a worshipping creature. It is part of his nature. His choice is not whether he will worship, but only whom he will worship. In the Scriptures, God demands his worship. He will not share our worship with anyone or anything else.

Thanksgiving, praise, and worship should be compared to the three areas of the Tabernacle of Moses. The Outer Court represents thanksgiving; the Holy Place represents praise; and the Holy of Holies represents worship.

According to Psalm 100, we enter His gates with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving relates to what God has done. As come to the Outer Court of the temple preparing ourselves to enter the Holy of Holies, we begin with a recounting of what the Lord has done. This involves much action of the body. It involves the raising of the hands. Perhaps the clapping of the hands, a loud voice, excitement, and the exuberance that marks the beginning of our approach to the Lord.

We move then to the Holy Place where we offer up praise. Praise is a function of the will which is represented by the Table of Showbread in the Holy Place. It also flows out of an enlightened mind which is represented by the Golden Candlestick. A mind set on fire by the Holy Spirit, enlightened by the power of the prayer language. Praise like that is as a sweet-smelling fragrance, aroma from the golden altar of incense, representing our emotion.

First, we choose (will ourselves) to praise God, then we sanctify our minds through the power of the Spirit. Eventually our emotions take over and bring us through the veil into the presence of God in worship. When we come to that final act of worship it is the divine invitation of the Lord Himself that draws us within the veil.

No man can program himself for worship. It is an act of the will to thank God, it is an act of the will to praise God. It is an act of God’s will to invite us into His presence as we worship. It is only when our relationship with God is consummated in worship that we truly feel that we are where He is, and He is where we are.

In John 4:23, Jesus says that “true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeks such to worship him.” It is an amazing fact that God seeks people who will worship Him. The great God of the Universe takes note of the humble men and women who choose to worship Him. No matter what you are going through today, choose to give thanksgiving, praise, and worship to God. I promise you will not regret it.

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What happened to the blood of Jesus after he was crucified?  Why is His blood so powerful today?  Hebrews 9:12 gives us an answer.  “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

After Jesus died, this verse indicates there was a time when He ascended to God the Father and brought His blood into the Holy of Holies before God in Heaven.  He placed His own blood on the altar before God.  That blood is still there today, as freshly slain as it was 2,000 years ago when Jesus Christ died on the cross.  That is an objective theological fact.  The blood of Jesus Christ is on the altar before God.  It is that blood that cleanses me from sin.

Now, it is one thing for me to understand that fact, but I still have a subjective problem.  I need the blood applied every day to my address where I live.  Today I need to know the cleansing action of the blood by faith.  How do I make this happen?

In Revelation 12:11, the Bible says the believers overcame the Devil by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Our testimony is like the hyssop the Children of Israel used to apply the blood of an innocent lamb to their doorposts to save them from the death angel.  Our testimony must take what the Word says about the blood on a daily basis and apply it to the doorpost of our lives spiritually. We must declare before the Devil, before God, and before ourselves what the blood does for us.  In this way, the ongoing work of the blood becomes a faith reality to us, and we can live in the power of that blood.

It is at this point that praise and worship becomes necessary.  It is impossible to declare the power of the blood of Jesus in your life without sensing a spirit of praise rise up on the inside of you.  Praise to God is released by a sense of righteousness that comes through the cleansing of the blood.

A consistent daily declaration and testimony concerning the blood will invariably move you into the area of praise.  I have found it so helpful to sing choruses that declare my righteousness through the blood of Jesus.  As I sing these choruses daily, I reinforce and testify to myself and particularly to the accuser that I truly am righteous.

We need more songs concerning the blood.  We need more songs concerning our righteousness.  Our daily testimony concerning the blood can be done so easily in the form of a praise chorus.  May God reveal to you the power of the blood. Then may your praise through the blood, pull down the Devil’s strongholds in your life.

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In Acts 3, Peter and John had gone up to the temple at the hour of prayer, which was approximately three o’clock in the afternoon. There was a lame man lying at the gate of the temple. He begged for money from Peter and John as they came in.

Peter looked at the lame man, and said to him, “Look at us.” He looked at them expecting them to give him something. Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you:”. Peter knew that he had something to give the man. He said, “I have something, and what I have I am going to give you.”

Then he said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” Peter gave the man what he had, and what he had was the Name of Jesus. And as soon as Peter spoke, he took the man by the right hand and lifted him up and his legs were healed.

Peter makes it very clear how the lame man was healed. He was healed with the weapon of the Name of Jesus. Peter used the weapon of Jesus’ Name when he looked at the man bound with a stronghold of lameness. Then he had to reemphasize this truth to the crowd and tell them that it was the Name of Jesus; faith in the Name of Jesus that had made the man strong.

When you see the awe and the respect Peter had for the Name of Jesus, you begin to realize that the Name meant something very special to the early church. They did what they had to do for God in the authority of the Name.

Praise and worship should play a vital part in the life of the believer in relationship to the Name of Jesus. Praise will lead us into the mighty revelation of God concerning the Name of Jesus. Hebrews 13:15 says that we are to offer a sacrifice of praise to God continually.

A sacrifice involves something that is difficult to do. When things are going wrong, we are to offer a sacrifice of praise, we are to do it continually, every day of our lives. The praise that we offer should be offered verbally, it should be offered by our lips, it should be spoken out loud.

How do we give that praise? We give thanks to His Name. That is what praise is. Praise is giving honor to the Name. Praise and worship are inextricably tied up with the power of the Name of Jesus. The sacrifice of praise will lead us into a mighty revelation of Jesus’ Name.

There are many believers who are weeping bitterly in the midnight of disease, financial bondage, divorce, and temptation. The Name of Jesus is the answer for us today. I pray that God will give to you a powerful revelation of Jesus’ Name as your weapon.

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In 2 Corinthians 10, Paul says, “Our weapons are mighty to pull down strongholds.” What weapons is he referring to? Obviously from the context of the verse, he is talking about offensive weaponry. Every believer at one time or another in his life has to ask himself, “What weapons has God given me that will be effective in pulling down the strongholds of the Devil in my life?”

There are three primary weapons God has given to every believer. They have an intrinsic power in them that is generated by the Holy Spirit. The first of these three weapons is: The Word of God.

The Bible declares itself to be the Word of God. However, there are also many portions of Scripture that refer to Jesus Christ as the Word of God. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Christ is the living Word of God; the Scripture is the written Word of God. It is impossible to overemphasize the power of God’s Word in the life of the believer. John 14:23 says, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”

Our attitude toward God must be the same toward His Word. We can never say that we love God more than we love His Word. If you want to know how much God means in your life, then examine the place you’ve given His Word in your life. God means as much to you as His Word means to you; just that and no more.

But the Scripture claims power for itself. In John 6:63, Jesus said, “…the words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” There is a working of the Word of God. There is an innate spiritual energy. There is a power from God that makes the Word a weapon that you and I are to use. There is life in God’s Word. There is spirit. It is active. It is more powerful than a two-edged sword.

When you sing God’s Word, you bring supernatural life to your world. His Word will not return void, and his Word can conquer any stronghold in your life!

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When the Lord impressed upon me the words of 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, immediately, I saw that strongholds were the major stumbling blocks of God’s people. It was not difficult for me to believe that strongholds could include physical disease, spiritual oppression, temptation, financial bondage, and relational difficulties in marriage and family.

One day, it suddenly occurred to me that the strongholds that Paul talked about in verse 4 were further described in verse 5. Evil imaginations and every high or proud thing that exalts itself against God could be strongholds. Then Paul says we are to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Paul was describing thoughts as strongholds.

Suddenly it became clear. Satan had been operating in my life by establishing a stronghold based on a thought system. There is no doubt in my mind that the modus operandi of Satan’s kingdom is to create strongholds in our lives by the manipulation of our thought life.

David knew what he was talking about when he said, “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes” (Ps. 101:3); he knew the secret of guarding his mind. He also said, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, Oh Lord” (Ps. 19:14). The meditations of our heart, our thought life, should be acceptable to God.

The area of our thoughts is both the first and final battlefield. The warfare is in the mind before it goes to other areas. It’s amazing in a practical sense to see how the Devil works against us on a day-by-day basis.

Over the years I have seen Christians endure violent attacks in their mind and body. The Devil tells them that their loving, heavenly Father sent the sickness. He tells them they must suffer patiently and be faithful for this is God’s doing. This is nothing but a lie from hell!

We do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but we wrestle with principalities, powers, and strongholds in the heavenlies. When we praise and worship God, we attack the strongholds in our lives and in the lives of other believers. When we do this, we will see physical manifestations here on the earth. We will see people healed and delivered. We will see homes healed. We will see tremendous manifestations of healing in marriage, and in every other area where people are bound.

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Praise and worship are ministry to God. Healing and deliverance are ministry to people.

In June of 1972, a letter came from Poland inviting our musical group, Living Sound, to sing on the campus of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. The letter appeared to be written by university students who wanted us to sing for a special student event on campus in October, that fall. We gladly accepted their invitation to sing in Poland.

When we arrived in Krakow later that fall, we quickly realized something was terribly wrong. These were not just university students as we had thought. These were the leaders of the Youth Communist Party called the People’s Party, and they had understood that Living Sound was an American rock-and-roll group. They had scheduled us for two fundraising benefits in the headquarters of the Communist Youth Party!

Halfway through the second concert, I sensed the anointing of the Holy Spirit come into the room. Our singers began to raise their hands in praise and worship to the Lord. Several of them were crying as they stood in the presence of the Lord. The communist youth were electrified by what they were watching.

At the end of the concert, when the strains of the last song died away, there was a long moment of absolute quiet, and then the audience stood to their feet, and began to thunderously clap in unison. Then they demanded encore after encore. We were there until 3:30 a.m. leading many into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.I knew I had witnessed one of the most significant events of my life. The power of God had manifested through praise and worship in a way I had never seen before. I discovered that if we worshiped God before our audiences, praise and worship bound the powers and forces that oppressed the people. The anointing of the Holy Spirit came upon us and opened people’s hearts to the Gospel. Our praise and worship pulled down Communist strongholds, allowing healing and deliverance to change many lives in that meeting!

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