Psalm 22:3 says, “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.”

When we raise our banner of praise, that is when God shows up to fight for and defend us. It is our praise that welcomes the presence of God. This means that God dwells and lives in your praise! When you feel like that God is a million miles away, high upon His throne in heaven, His Spirit and presence can show up in a mighty and powerful way once you lift His name up with a melody of praise in your heart and the words you speak.

Hebrews 13:15 says, “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” God is hungry for our praises, and we choose to speak His praises, He will feast off of our words. When we do as they did in the time of Joshua and rehearse into the ears of our God all of the victories and blessings He has bestowed upon our lives and thanking Him for them, He will come into our realm and make Himself welcome! But so many, especially in the church, find so much more to complain and murmur about rather than praise God for, which is why they stay stuck in the spiritual wilderness for such a long period of time. A bad attitude of murmuring and complaining will keep you in the wilderness, but praise will get you to the promised land! What should have taken the children of Israel twelve days to travel through took 40 years because they were not offering the sacrifice of praise.

Even when you are having a bad day and you do not feel like it, still begin to praise God because that banner of praise shows that you have life, and that you are still standing! A heart of gratitude will make your day go by that much better! That wilderness signifies a place without vision and purpose, for without a vision, the people perish (Proverbs 29:18). Psalm 115:17 says, “The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.” Praising God expresses that you have life and purpose. If we are murmuring and complaining, we appear as though we are already defeated. If God inhabits our praises, who inhabits our complaining? We are to offer the sacrifice of praise unto God continually, meaning never stop. You cannot say two things or think two thoughts at the same time. Therefore, only speak and meditate on God’s praises. Praise God in advance for what He has done and what He is going to do in faith. This kind of praise welcomes his presence and equips you to have a renewed mindset concerning the obstacles and troubles you are facing!

One hindrance to answered prayers in the church are God’s people only giving Him a wish list of their wants and needs being fulfilled and refusing to give Him the praise and glory He so overwhelmingly deserves. People treat God like Santa Claus or some other mythical being without honoring Him simply for who He is! We need to thank Him, love Him and praise instead of always asking for things. He is a Father, and He will give you the best He has, for you are a King’s kid, and He owns the cattle of a thousand hills. However, still being a Father, He disciplines and refuses to continuously and consistently be taken advantage of. He is a God of grace and love, but He is also a God of wrath and judgment, and I would much rather Him visit me in the fullness of His glory than in the fierceness of His frustration and anger with me. In return, we give God a “junk food Christianity,” where we give Him only Sundae services, filled with sweet, soothing messages that produces no zeal or passion for God’s presence. He wants us to feed Him the sacrifices of our praise! He is hungry for it. It is the reason why in the infamous “LORD’s prayer” Jesus said, “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name” (Matthew 6:9). Jesus was not saying only pray this identical prayer, but pray after this format. First, call on God, who is, again, our Heavenly Father. When you call on the name of the LORD, praise Him. The word “hallowed” here means, “holy or consecrated.” Before we ever ask God to meet a need for us, we are to first thank Him and give Him praise because our praise is what draws Him near. Always begin with a praise unto God, telling Him how blessed, holy, beautiful, amazing, glorious and wonderful He is in your life!

When God inhabits a place, He brings His kingdom with Him. It is in the kingdom you find healing, restoration, deliverance, joy unspeakable and full of glory, peace that surpasses all understanding, and love that is without comparison. It is like your praise builds a throne for God to set upon. He sets up His throne, and He dwells! It takes you to heaven as heaven comes to earth. You put the principalities in the spirit realm under alert through a praise! It is a shame churches do not understand the elements of praise, although they grasp the rudiments of religion! We can indoctrinate people on how to run a church service and win the applause of a congregation, but we fell to show them the importance of praising God because it is our banner of praise that leads to a setup of our next breakthrough and miracle! We do not praise Him so that we can get another need met. He has already done enough as it is, but we praise Him to build Him a throne so we can spend time in His presence and glory, and so that we can give Him that honor that is due unto His name! It does not matter how you praise God, just as long as He gets what He deserves!

So many times we come to church to see how much we can get blessed or if we can get what we want, when we should come to this house of worship with a made up mind to give God the glory He most definitely deserves. Then, if we leave the same way we came, we blame the worship team, the preacher, the way someone looks at us, etc., when we need to take inventory of our lives and realize we should have come ready with excited anticipation as to what God is going to do. We can praise Him by lifting our hands, boasting on Him by telling Him how great He is, giving Him a shout of praise, praising Him in a song and/or music, bowing down before Him, or even a combination of these things. Psalm 150:6 (KJV) says, “Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.” Everything that lives is to give God praise, and if we do not praise God, then we are lacking in fulfilling our divine purpose. Revelation 4:11 (KJV) says, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” We were created in the image of God to bring Him praise, to walk in dominion and reflect His glory on earth.

If you miss the importance of praising God and doing it in accordance to scripture, then you miss so much out of the Bible in general. We should not have to be begged or primed to praise God, but we should come ready in worship and praise, building a throne for Him to sat upon! One man in the Bible, who had committed some critical mistakes, yet knew how to praise God, was a king named David. He was credited to writing much of the Book of Psalms. He was such a worshipper that when Saul was being attacked by depressing, tormenting spirits, he played music unto God on the harp, and the anointing upon his life drove those evil spirits away. In 2 Samuel 6:14, after the priests had retrieved the Ark of the Covenant, which represented the throne room of heaven, from the house of Obededom, they carried it into Jerusalem. After they had went about 18 feet, they sacrificed 7 oxen and rams (1 Chronicles 15:26), and David danced before the LORD with all of his might in a linen ephod. He did not care who was watching. He was going to humble himself and give God the praise! David’s wife, Michal, who was Saul’s daughter, despised him in her heart. David returned home to bless his household, but Michal wanted to put a damper on his worship and celebration. She even said to him, “How the king of Israel distinguished himself today! He uncovered himself today in the eyes of his servants’ maids as one of the foolish ones shamelessly uncovers himself!” So David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel; therefore I will celebrate before the LORD” (vv. 20-21). In other words, Saul, her dad, was not king any longer, but now David was, and his praise was not going to stop!

David could not build a temple for God like his son would be able to because he had shed much blood, but he constructed a tent for the Ark of the Covenant. The priests would bring the Ark up to the tent, which is located on what was called the White Jerusalem Stone. There David would dwell in the presence of the LORD. According to Jewish tradition and history, at a certain time of the day, David would peel back the covering of the tent so the sun could shine just right upon the Ark of the Covenant. The lid of the Ark, which was called the mercy seat, had the image of two angels, reflecting the angels that surround the throne of God in heaven who cry “Holy, Holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” When the sunlight would hit those angels just right, it would cast a shadow upon that beautiful stone, and David would kneel down in that shadow. It is the reason why Psalm 91:1 (KJV) says, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” David dwelt in the secret place of the Most High, abiding under the shadow of the Almighty!

Even in this generation, we can dwell in the secret place of the Most High by building Him a throne for Him to sat upon! We can abide under this shadow of the Almighty by carrying the Ark of the Covenant, or His presence, with us everyday, living in His covenant. We can bring heaven to earth by walking in the fear and reverence of the LORD and raising the banner of praise!