Here are two essential truths to bring up front regarding praise. Psalm 22:3 says that God inhabits the praises of His people. Psalm 68:1-2 says, “Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let those who hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.”

God’s Presence thwarts every attack from the enemy. No darkness can come near God. Therefore, when we praise Him, His Presence fills the atmosphere around us. It creates a barrier that satan and his minions cannot penetrate.

Now let’s go to Hebrews 13:15. It says, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”

Paul and Silas are an excellent example of how a sacrifice of praise works. Acts 16:23 says that they laid many stripes on them. The jailor put them in the inner prison. The Amplified says that it was a dungeon.

Think about their pain. Their backs were ripped and bleeding. Their feet were in stocks. They certainly could have complained, wallowed in self-pity party, or moaned and groaned. Watch their sacrifice of praise in action. Verse 25 says, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”

The lies that we have believed imprison us. The prison walls are only a deception. They are only in our mind. The foundation of the lies are fortified with more lies. Lies upon lies surround us to hold us captive.

Praise will set us free! Through praise we face off the lie. Its support crumbles. Picture the lies like Belshazzar in Daniel 5. When he saw the handwriting on the wall, the joints in his hips were loosed and his knees knocked against each other. That is what our praise does to the enemy’s lies.

Praise breaks the chains that bind us to the lies. Praise is filled with the truth of Who God is! He is the One who comes to set us free. He is Ever Present. However, when we praise Him, He inhabits our atmosphere. The enemy’s lies crumble. The chains that have bound us are loosed!

It is His truth hidden in our heart that is the praise-weapon God’s uses to penetrate our mind-prison and set us free. The cover of my first book is a sword going down into the prison walls. Freedom! From Past Hurts. Look for used copies on Amazon and other places.