(2 Chron 20:21-24 NLT) After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the LORD and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang: “Give thanks to the LORD; his faithful love endures forever!” At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the LORD caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves. The armies of Moab and Ammon turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them. After they had destroyed the army of Seir, they began attacking each other. So when the army of Judah arrived at the lookout point in the wilderness, all they saw were dead bodies lying on the ground as far as they could see. Not a single one of the enemy had escaped.
This morning we continue our series entitled, “Re-Energizing Your Prayer Life,” by continuing with our 10 Steps to Preparedness in Prayer. In our last message I gave you Step 8: Believe. Today we will discuss Step 9: Thank God for the answer in advance.
These last two steps are not really about preparing for prayer, but rather about what to do after you have prayed. After you have separated yourself from all distraction, removed the blessing-blockers from your heart, put on righteousness, cleansed yourself with the Word, established an environment conducive to the moving of the Holy Spirit with your worship, and prayed in faith (fully believing, without any doubt), then you would do well to thank God for the answer in advance. When you give God the praise for what You believe He is going to do, BEFORE he does it, you are praising Him by faith and it moves Him to action. Anyone can praise God after the fact. Anyone can get excited after they physically see, in the natural, what God has done. Even the heathen can give God post-performance praise. But it takes a true believer to give God pre-performance praise. When you praise God in advance great things happen.
There is a powerful example of this in 2 Chronicles 20. I recommend you read the entire chapter. King Jehoshaphat was facing an impossible situation. He did not know what to do, so he called for a nation-wide fast and prayed. The Lord answered the prayer through one of the prophets and told the king that the people would not need to fight against their enemies. The Lord would do the fighting for them. In the natural, there is no way the nation of Judah could have won anyway. This tiny nation needed supernatural invention. So after hearing from God and after believing what God said, king Jehoshaphat sent out the praise team instead of the infantry. Can you imagine that? Judah was exponentially outnumbered. The enemy was approaching and they were ready to fight. Without supernatural intervention the little nation would surely be destroyed. The enemy forces expected a quick victory, but to their surprise, instead of the infantry, what approached them was a praise team. Judah was prepared to praise God IN ADVANCE for what He was going to do. And guess what? The Bible says that “At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the LORD caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves.” Then, “The armies of Moab and Ammon turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them.” This went on until every last enemy soldier was dead.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things:
1. Even the most ungodly person can give God praise after the fact.
2. When you praise God in advance, for what you believe He is going to do, it proves to Him that you truly trust Him.
3. Pre-performance praise (done by faith) ignites God to move and to answer your prayers!
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for teaching me to pray and for hearing me when I do. I am a believer and I believe I receive when I pray. I actually build my faith to the point that I can praise You in advance, for what I believe You are going to do, well before You actually do it. I will praise You when I receive it in my heart, well before I ever see it in my hands. This way You know that I trust You and that I fully believe You will bring it to pass. I don’t have to wait to see it to give You the praise. Post-performance praise is good, but pre-performance praise is better. From now on I will give you pre-performance praise for those things I am believing You for! In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper!
