Praise for Help

Psalm 21

21 O Lord the king will delight in Your strength,
And in Your salvation how greatly will he rejoice!
² You have given him his heart’s desire,
And You have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah.
³ For You meet him with blessings of good things;
You set a crown of pure gold on his head.
⁴ He asked life of You,
And You gave it to him,
Long life forever and evermore.
⁵ His glory is great because of Your victory;
Splendor and majesty You bestow upon him.
⁶ For You make him most blessed [and a blessing] forever;
You make him joyful with the joy of Your presence. ⁷ For the king [confidently] trusts in the Lord,
And through the lovingkindness (faithfulness, goodness) of the Most High he will never be shaken.
⁸ Your hand will reach out and defeat all your enemies;
Your right hand will reach those who hate you.
⁹ You will make them as [if in] a blazing oven in the time of your anger;
The Lord will swallow them up in His wrath,
And the fire will devour them.
¹⁰ Their offspring You will destroy from the earth,
And their descendants from the sons of men.
¹¹ For they planned evil against You;
They devised a [malevolent] plot
And they will not succeed.
¹² For You will make them turn their backs [in defeat];
You will aim Your bowstring [of divine justice] at their faces.
¹³ Be exalted, Lord, in Your strength;
We will sing and praise Your power.

I know it’s kinda long, but I want you to read it. Really read it, and if possible- read it out loud. It’s great to have the Word spoken into your home, life, and surroundings.

I read this chapter the other day and something in my soul just jumped. I got amped up. It was one of those, “look at my God” moments. The kind where you reflect on all His power and the fact that He wields it for your good.

I needed to hear those words. They were water to my soul. I know they’ll be the same for you. To be reassured that God is for you. Not against you. That He is fighting your battles.

What really stood out to me was the heading on this chapter in the Amplified version. It read: Praise for help.

Not request for help, or prayer for help, or call for help. But praise. Praise is a powerful thing. When we praise God before we receive the provision we need, Heaven and Earth is stirred. Stirred with the obligation to bow to the will of the Lord.

Because praise compels us to focus on the faithfulness, power, and track record of God. When we remind our circumstances, ourselves, and our enemies who our God is, we rest in His ability to save. We receive the answers and provision we need. And we remove doubt and anxiety from our lives.

Praise is an underrated resource we have constantly at our disposal to change our circumstances.

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We are pretty good at praising at the end. We’re great at celebrating when the work is done. We’re skilled in thanking God after we get what we need. But there is so much more untapped potential in praising in midst of struggles, lack, or pain.

Praise not only shifts our circumstances, it also gifts us with proper perspective. We begin focusing on the solution and not the problem. The God and not the enemy.

You will never over-praise the Lord. You don’t have to wait until it’s over to give Him glory.

So as you take your next step of faith in whatever area of your life that is requiring faith from you, I encourage you to praise for help. You don’t have to beg, you don’t have grovel, you don’t have to wonder if God is going to be faithful to you. Praise Him. Praise before your breakthrough.

God honors praise.

So go read Psalms 21, again. Out loud. With full confidence and excitement that God always comes through on His Word.

Be blessed!