Unveiling the Power of Praise! Dr. DAVID OYEDEPO

Last week, I taught on other key manifestations of the supernatural power of praise. This week, I will show you some enemies of praise, as I conclude this series.

• Murmuring and complaining: No matter how legitimate your reasons may be, avoid murmuring. No reason is acceptable to God for complaining. When you stop seeing what God has not done, everything keeps getting done in your favour. It is time to recognize that it is dangerous to give room to murmuring and complaining.

Every time you murmur, you invite the destroyer! Everything you murmur about never grows, rather, it diminishes. When murmuring stops, accomplishment begins. When complaining stops, triumph begins.

When you complain to man, you secure sympathy; when you complain to God, you incur His anger. If God catches you complaining, He cancels all the favour He has lined up for you, and takes away the ones He has earlier given to you.

•Spirit of heaviness: Heaviness is a spirit. It is one of the key strategies of Satan, to strip God’s people naked. He knows that with heaviness, God is absent, and when God is absent, you become a cheap prey in his hands.

God said He has given us the oil of joy for the spirit of heaviness (Isaiah 61:3). If He has given it to us, then He will not take it away. The devil steals joy, so he can make victims of people. But you have the gift of joy from the Most High God; He has not withdrawn it. If it is not seen, Satan has stolen it. Every time you cannot find joy, the thief is at work (John 10:10).

•Discontentment: Everyone who is not satisfied is digging his or her own grave. Discontentment is a short-cut to death. It will destroy the chemistry of your body, causing all the organs to function wrongly, because you are subjecting them to undue stress.

I have lived a contended life till date. I have never borrowed, because I eat my size and drink my size! I don’t compare myself with any other mortal being on earth!  I do not need a car because someone else has one. I have told God, "Whatever You cannot give me, may I never have it."

You need to make an oath of satisfaction with God. You need contentment with Jesus. Until you are satisfied with Jesus, you will never smell contentment. Your satisfaction with Jesus is what provokes heaven to satisfy you. Stop competing with people of the world. God’s Word says: But godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6).

There is a lot of godliness in the Church today, because God’s Word is coming alive; but there is not enough contentment to match. People are rating the worth of life with physical possessions. This is unscriptural! Therefore, beware of covetousness. Contentment is the treatment for covetousness. Put an end to discontentment and complaining in your life.

•Holding on to your past: Endeavour to live in the reality of scriptures, not circumstances! No matter what you see around you, what God says is what matters. Believe what God says, and every passing day will be better than the previous, throughout the days of your life.

Comparing the past with the present is one enemies of praise. Holding on to your past is an enemy of thanksgiving. Allow your past to be past or else you pass away with it!

•Being offended in God: God’s Word says: And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me (Matthew 11:6). The times you have been offended in God are your stumbling blocks in life. Every time you mark God wrong, you make your path crooked. Who has ever contended with God and prospered? Every time you pitch your tent against God to justify yourself, you make your path crooked.   

It is only fools who engage God in a battle! When will your weight ever match God’s weight? Until you stop getting offended in God, you are not ready for a breakthrough. Until you mark God right at all times, you are not ready to change position. God is never slow! God is never late! God is never wrong! God is always right! Only those who are not offended in Him can praise Him.            

Friend, the power to combat the above enemies of praise is available, if you are connected to God. You get connected when you confess your sins and accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. If you are ready for this new birth experience, please say this prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. Today, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You Jesus for saving me! Now I know I am born again!
       

I invite you to come and fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, the covenant home of Winners. Our midweek services hold on Wednesdays between 6 and 8 p.m. We have three services on Sundays. The first one holds between 6.30 and 8.30 a.m., the second between 8.45 a.m. and 10.45 a.m. and the third between 11.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. May God bless you as you worship with us!

Every exploit in life is a product of knowledge. For further reading, please get my books — Understanding the Power of Praise and The Wonders of Praise.