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When the praise goes up, the Glory comes down.

When The Praise Goes Up from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

This is a recording of the Refreshing Hope - Live meeting on 08.07.2016. Here are the notes:

When Jehoshaphat became king of Judah, he brought spiritual renewal to the land. He removed idols, set up honest, God fearing judges, and restored the Levites and priests. Their quality of life took an upturn, but soon an enemy came to end it.

Read: 2 Chr. 20:1-29

“It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar” (which is En Gedi). And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said: “O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, “If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’ And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them— here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord.
Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.””

“And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high.

So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever.”

Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.

When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much.

“And on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berachah, for there they blessed the Lord; therefore the name of that place was called The Valley of Berachah until this day. Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go back to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. So they came to Jerusalem, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, to the house of the Lord. And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel.”
(2 Chronicles 20:1–29 NKJV)

When the vast army came against them and Jehoshaphat knew that Judah did not stand a chance, he turned to fasting and prayer. Jehoshaphat prayed to God, and The Lord answered them through a prophet. They believed the word that came and set out to face the enemy army early the next morning. When they got to the battle field, they put the praise team out front and they began to sing “Praise the LORD, For His mercy endures forever.”

When the praise went up, the Glory came down and their enemies turned on each other and wiped themselves completely out. There was more loot than Judah could carry, and they spent three days gathering precious jewelry and valuables. God used their enemies strength to deliver all of that treasure to them, as if they were Federal Express.

Judah praised, and God moved.

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David was one of the heroes of the Old Testament, and he was a man of praise and worship. He had grown from a shepherd boy to a great king and his love for God ran deep.

Why was David so powerful? A lot of it was because he intimately praised the Lord, he had more than a religion, he had a relationship. David was not ashamed of what people thought when he praised God even when others made fun of him.

Read: 2 Samuel 6:12-23

“Now it was told King David, saying, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness. And so it was, when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep. Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.

Now as the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. So they brought the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And when David had finished offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. Then he distributed among all the people, among the whole multitude of Israel, both the women and the men, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed, everyone to his house.

Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, “How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!”

So David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord. And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor.” Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.” (2 Samuel 6:12–23 NKJV)

David wrote around 77 of the psalms that we have in our Bible, and they express a heart that was devoted to God.

Read: 2 Samuel 22:1-4

“Then David spoke to the Lord the words of this song, on the day when the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. And he said: “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; The God of my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, My stronghold and my refuge; My Savior, You save me from violence. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies.” (2 Samuel 22:1–4 NKJV)

When David praised, God moved and miracles happened.

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Praise brings the power of God into your environment. It charges, and changes the atmosphere around you. Psalms 71:8 reads: “Let my mouth be filled with Your praise And with Your glory all the day.”

In the early 90s, I worked as a supervisor over a crew of men for Fluor Daniel, which was an international construction company, and it paid very well. Though I worked every weekend and could not attend church, the Lord sparked something in me to seek Him with all of my heart. I began to fast and pray for the Lord to remove anything that was holding me back from Him. At the end of two weeks, they called me to the office and laid me off.

I was shocked and had just bought a new home with a short mortgage, and a big payment. That was not the answer that I had expected. It was just another time that I thought “My God, My God, Why have Thou forsaken me.”

I could find a job no where, until the week that my unemployment ran out. I got a call from a temp service where I had put in an application. They had an opening at a brass polishing plant called “Miracle Finishing.” I needed a job badly, so I agreed to go and talk to them the following day.

I had prayed and told the “Lord, wherever you put me, I just want to be able to listen to Your word.” I had started Bible College and being able to listen to the Bible all day really helped when doing my school work. I should have been more specific in my prayer.

The next day I drove to Miracle Finishing, pulled up in my Toyota Supra that the Lord had given me, wearing my black leather jacket and sunglasses, only to find that it was the darkest, dirtiest hole in the wall that I had ever seen. I had seen dark, bat filled caves that were cleaner than this place.

Belt sanders the size of cars ran with no safety guards in place. People smoked pot right at their machines and everyone there was just living until Friday. No one wanted to be there. It was like a transient sweatshop and paid one third of what I had been making.

I walked up to the manager and said “Hi, I am Dion.” And the first thing that he said was “Are you ready to start? Bring something to listen to because it gets really boring.” I felt the Holy Spirit say “This is what you asked Me for.” So I said “Yea.”

The turnover rate was terrible and most people did not last a week. It was horribly loud from the roar of the machines and no one could hear you, so I was able to listen to the Bible, pray, and sing all day long while buffing brass plumbing parts.

One morning I was cheerfully polishing my parts and listening to the Bible when the guy next to me brought in a ghetto blaster the size of a suit case. He soon began playing “Highway to hell” so loud that my I could feel my shirt moving, and my teeth hurt. When I tell you that it was loud, you can believe it. I am a musician and prefer my music loud, but there are limits.

Something rose up in me and I suddenly said out loud “I claim this place in the name of Jesus Christ and declare it Holy Ground. - satan if you have anyone in here that you want to keep then you better get them out of here now because this place is coming to the Lord Jesus Christ!”

A few minutes later, when the morning break came, the guy next to me unplugged his radio, gathered his stuff and left. I never saw him again. From that day forth, things began to change there. Soon I was the manager, the Bible played over the intercom all day, people joined hands in prayer before we started to work, scriptures were taped on the machines, and we all attended church together.

Eventually Miracle Finishing merged with Wolverine Brass and the Lord pushed me into my own computer business. It had been a time of humbling and seasoning for me to prepare for the future.

I said all of that to say this: “Praising God brings His presence into your surroundings. Praising doom, gloom, depression, and going on about how strong the enemy is, will only bring more of that into your life.”

When the Israelites refused to enter the promised land and wanted to appoint a new leader and return to Egypt, the Lord said this:

Read: Numbers 14:25–28

“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. Say to them, “As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you” (Numbers 14:25–28 NKJV).

How do we praise God? Well I often mix my praise and prayer and they run together like this:

Lord I thank You. I don’t know how this is going to work out, but I know that You have got this. You are the Almighty God that created the heavens and the earth and nothing compares with You. What you speak comes to pass and Your word has power, Your word brings healing. At the sound of Your voice, my enemies flee, and provision comes. Lord You take care of the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, and I know that You will take care of me. I adore You Father and I want more of You in my life today, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.

So you try and do things right, and then everything goes wrong. Sounds a lot like what happened to Jehoshaphat, and a lot like what happened to me, but do not fall into the cycle of doom and gloom speaking. If you will just keep a positive attitude, praise the Lord for what He has already done in the past, then He will turn this around and make it work out for your good.