Over the past few years the Lord has been revealing to me the power there is in praise and worship. I have learned that by being a radical worshipper I can help to bring the presence of God into a meeting. And when the presence of God shows up all kinds of things happen.

One Sunday I preached on this topic. I spoke about how pressing into praise can break strongholds in the enemy’s armour. Just like David facing Goliath with a stone, praise is the stone that can bring down the power of the enemy over our lives and churches. As we run headlong into praise we are like David who ran at Goliath swinging his sling. I can picture this scene. David filled with the Holy Spirit running as fast as he can at the giant and the giant falling under the power of a guided stone.

In praise I cry out to the Lord and he brings victory. One of the meanings of the Hebrew word for praise is to mar or to split. When I shout the name of Jesus, when I sing the name of Jesus, when I dance a dance to Jesus I cause something to stir in the spirit. There is a splitting in the atmosphere. The oppression that was on my life is broken. Oppression over churches and areas of our nation can be broken by our acts of praise.

When David hit Goliath with a stone it sent a shiver of the Holy Spirit through the armies of Israel. In that one moment the entire oppression of the enemy was destroyed. A people without possibility became a people of possibility. They saw the enemy destroyed and were empowered by the Holy Spirit to complete the task.

As I have praised God with all my heart I have seen services where people have also come under the same spirit. My prophetic act of praise has the ability to send the enemy running. When the people I am worshipping with sense this victory, then they too begin to praise with all their heart and the victory increases.

After praise people often begin to worship God. They begin to hunger for more. They sense the realm of the possible and faith arises for the presence of God to come more fully in all our lives. When the presence comes, the glory comes. Where the presence of the Lord is, there is healing, deliverance, salvations, miracles, signs and wonders. When the King comes, His Kingdom comes. It is like heaven on earth.

That Sunday as I preached I ended my sermon singing “O the Blood of Jesus.” I don’t usually sing the old hymns but it just sort of came out of my heart. As I sang something shifted in the atmosphere and the presence of God was there in a more powerful and manifest way. It was like a breeze came into the room and blew out all oppression. I had never experienced anything like that before.

Have you had a similar experience? If yes, please share with the rest of us. If not yet, just praise him and see his glory like you never have before…then share!