Reply To: Prayer Basics Discussion Board 1

[Soton Iselobhor]

The concept of Praise and Thanksgiving is part and parcel of life. It is inherent in each and every one of us. From the cheering crowd for the winning team, to the applause for an entertaining performance, and even to the default expression of gratitude for a gift received, we can all agree that “Praise” by default follows a deserving action.
In this discuss however, we are considering the reverse which is praise before action or performance. Particularly, praising God for your answers before you see them. This kind of praise is one of the greatest expressions of faith in God.
As believers, it is important for us to praise God for our answers before we see them for a number of reasons and some of them are discussed below:
Praise shifts our focus from the problem to the solution. When we praise God long enough, we become numb to the problem. Our focus shifts from us to the object of our praise which is God, from pain to promise, and from hurt to hope. The bible tells us in Proverbs 23:7 that we are what we think about. For you to effectively praise God for an answer that you have not physically received, you have to imagine that answer long enough to express thanksgiving. This implies that the more we fix our minds on the answer, the more likely it is to become a tangibility.
Flowing from the above, when we praise God before we see manifestations we magnify the power of God and the Word at work in our lives. This is faith and faith pleases God. The praise does not make Him able to solve it, but it makes us more confident in His ability to solve it. By this, our faith is built up and we are able to boldly declare “it is already done” because in fact God has done all that He needs to do. Like Romans 4:17 says, we begin to call forth those things as though they were as we express our gratitude to God like we already have our answers.
Praise makes the waiting period easier. Like a chain reaction, we find that as our praise shifts our focus to the answers and builds our faith in God’s Word and ability, it automatically eliminates fear, doubt and worry. We find ourselves living in peace, joy and a confident assurance. The “waiting period” is therefore not a burdensome and gloomy time. This explains how someone who is trusting God for a certain manifestation, experiences the kind of peace that the bible describes as passing all understanding because that person has already begun to praise God even before the manifestation.
Praising God for answers before they show up ushers the miraculous. I have heard some preachers say “when prayer does not work, try praise.” With the benefit of a better understanding of God’s Word, I know that they actually should be saying “pray differently” or change your type of prayer from requests to praise. This praise is able to trigger a miraculous manifestation of answered prayers. In Acts 16, Paul and Silas lifted up their voices in praise unto God while they were shackled in prison and suddenly there was an earthquake that led to their freedom and that of others imprisoned with them. In John 6:11 Jesus gave thanks and ended up feeding over 5000 people miraculously. One of the most thrilling miraculous manifestations emanating from praise is the crumbling of the walls of Jericho on the heels of bountiful praise to Jehovah God.
God in His Word has shown us patterns and examples to learn from, teaching us to praise him as an act of faith for our answers even when we haven’t seen them physically manifest.