Psalmody: The Power of Praise
Colette Toach
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his study is going to be on the power of praise. And really, it is not going to be so much of a teaching as it is going to be my personal experience and my personal testimony. So bear with me as I go through the various stages. And if you are a prophet, and most likely musical, I think you are going to identify and perhaps pick up a few pointers, and have a testimony of your own to share once we are done. So just walk with me along this road and let’s see how the Lord leads, and what He reveals. It is entirely possible that He may reveal something new to me even as I share. I am hoping so, because the subject of music, psalmody and dance has got to be my passion and my most favorite. So, just to prepare you, this could be long!

How it Began

I am going to start off the introduction now on how it all began. This whole story began when I was a little girl of eleven years old. I did not know what the Lord had in store for me, but obviously He had quite a plan, because already right back then He started preparing the path that I have walked on for these many years now.

When I was eleven years old my Dad was very much into his music. If anybody knows Les they will know that he plays practically every conceivable instrument you can, writes things and does everything. He is just one of those people who can just pick up an instrument and learn it.

Dream of White Drums

One night he had a dream, the strangest dream. He dreamed about this white set of drums. He woke up rather puzzled. He thought maybe it was prophetic, maybe symbolic. Anyway he put it to the back of his mind, even though it was so clear. And that week, when he went to the local music store, of which he was quite a frequently visitor (he used to live there), he walked in and there newly in stock were these white set of drums. He had never seen white drums before. But as he laid eyes on them he realized that this was the exact set he had seen in his dream. He knew, "The Lord wants me to get those drums. This must mean the Lord wants me to play."

So he went ahead and got the financing and brought the drums home. I looked at all this with a bit of interest, but I did not ever think of myself as being gifted or able to have a skill in music. So I just kind of watched in my quiet little way, and there he went, teaching himself how to play drums. He bought books, got the tapes, and he sat down and taught himself to play.

All the while I sat and watched, and an interest started growing, until one afternoon when nobody was looking, I just kind of slipped onto the seat, picked up the drumsticks, and just started tap-tapping away to myself, copying what I had seen him do.

He came to me and he said, "Hey, that’s not half bad. Let me show you a beat there."

Well, the rest is history from there. I learned my very first drum beat, and that is the only lesson I have ever had in my life, praise the Lord. And that is just how the Lord directed it, even right then in those baby steps. Here Les thought he was doing this all because the Lord wanted him to learn. Who would have known that quiet little shy, unassuming nerdy little me that sat at the back of the classroom all the time would be a loud-mouthed drummer? I would never have suspected it of myself, but the Lord had bigger plans and He directed my life.

The Spirit Taught Me

That is how it began. I just used to sit and play. Les would pick up the guitar and he would strum a few songs and I would play my pitiful little beat that I knew, my only one little beat. And as the Spirit of God started to flow there came an extra beat here, and an extra beat there and a fill-in there that I had not quite known before. I suppose because of my youth I flowed easier. Maybe because of naivete and ignorance I figured I could just pick up the sticks and play. But largely, the Holy Spirit that flowed through me, taught me.

Here is a perfect Scripture that described me as that little child. It is the second part of Matthew 21:16:

And Jesus said unto them, "Yea, have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise?’ "

An Early Start

That was me. I was a little babe and a little suckling. And out of me, He took the pathetic little wormy me that I was, and He perfected His praise in me. I was only eleven years old when I started playing drums, and by the time I was about twelve or thirteen Les started pastoring a church, to which I was the drummer.

So began my learning experience on how to allow the Holy Spirit to teach me how to praise Him. You see, it is not a simple matter of just picking up your instrument and playing. The world can do that. But the skill in prophetic psalmody is how to allow the Holy Spirit to teach you.

I praise the Lord that He started in my youth, because I did not know any better. You see, I did not know you had to be skillful to play. I did not know you had to be really talented to allow the Holy Spirit to move through you. As stupid as I was, the Lord used me, and I praise Him for that.

We played in a couple of churches. The band grew, and my sister used to sing. So we formed a community amongst us. And I learned to flow. I learned to flow with various people, mostly Les, and I learned how to allow the Spirit to move in me. I learned when to play quietly, when to play really loudly, and I learned when not to play at all.

Learning in the Meetings

All this learning was done in the meeting. It was all done in praise and worship. None of this learning took place in band practise. All that happened in band practise is I learned songs. When my real learning came; when the real teaching came, was in the meeting. This is something you need to realize.

If you are a musician, I want you to know right now that your skill is not going to come in the hours and hours of playing by yourself. Your skill is going to come from the hours and hours of playing under the power of the Holy Spirit. That is how I learned to play. I have never ever had anybody teach me how to play. Les taught me the only beat he knew, and it is still the only beat he knows, praise the Lord! And every now and again he comes and tries to get on and show me he can still play, and I humor him and say, "That’s nice Dad," but I’ve outshone him years ago.

No Dependence on Yourself

But that is the joy of the Lord, and that is how we use the river that is within us. And if there is one thing I really want to get across to you in this message, it is that it does not depend on your skill. It does not depend on who or what you are. In fact it does not even depend on the instrument that you are using to praise the Lord with. It depends entirely on allowing the Spirit of the Lord to move through you as you learn.

I have seen people, and in fact I came across a drummer like this, that had had magnificent lessons. This man played brilliantly, but he always played the same thing. He practised for hours and hours and hours, but when it came to the meeting he always played the same song the same way with no variation.

God is a God of Variety

Our God is a God of variation. The Spirit is one of variation. And I have come to know that you move with the Spirit. You go with the flow. That is the way it works. It is very, very seldom that I will play the same song the same way twice. Because what works for tonight’s meeting will not necessarily work for tomorrow night’s meeting, because the Spirit of God will have a different emphasis. So the whole emphasis and the whole foundation of psalmody and music is to be entirely led by the Holy Spirit.

I want to just touch on why music is so powerful. We know it is powerful. We see how powerful it is. Even in the world it is powerful. But it can be so much more powerful in the Spirit.

Vision of Rivers of Praise

The Lord gave me a lovely illustration. We were really just worshipping Him one evening. We do this a lot, we worship a lot. We are worshippers here. As we were worshipping Him I saw rivers coming out of us, each and every one of us. They were just pouring up to Heaven, pouring to the Throne Room, and it was like He was gathering them up. They got there, and they mingled in there. And then they doubled and tripled and tripled again. Then He poured it back down on us.

Why music is so powerful

Ministering to the Lord

The reason why music and praise and worship is so powerful is because we are ministering to the Lord. The first step ever in ministry, whether it be to minister healing, whether it be to minister the gospel, whatever it is, before you start and get up on that stage you should be ministering to the Lord. You should be pouring forth to Him. Because when you pour forth to Him and you give your sacrifice of praise to Him; when you give Him your spirit, He can take that and multiply it, and then give you what you need to pour out to the people.

Do you see how vital it is that praise and worship ministers to the Lord Jesus? And when you minister to the Lord Jesus He ministers right back to you. And that ministry that you get from Him, you get to pour out to people, and that is when you are going to see the change.

The biggest power (you will see it) in a praise group when they stand up at the front of a church, is when they close their eyes and say, "Praise you Lord, praise you Jesus." And the next thing you know people in the congregation start getting hit. They are not even ministering to the congregation. They are not even ministering to the people. They are ministering to the Lord Jesus. But as they minister to the Lord He pours His power down. And if you are standing by you are going to get wet. If you are standing next to somebody who is pouring out to the Lord and the Lord pours back on them, you are going to get wet. That is how it works. That is the key to the power of music.

Music Causes Unity

The second key to the power of music is that music causes unity. It brings hearts in unison. The Lord said that, ‘where two or three are gathered together, there I am in the midst of them.’ Have you ever seen a guy stand up, play the guitar, sing, play the piano and do everything by himself? Not unless he is really gifted!

You have to play with someone. You have to sing with someone, which means you have to force yourself to fit in with someone else. And when you have to force yourself to fit in with someone else, then immediately what happens is your hearts come into unison. They come as one. You start to think the same. You start to talk the same. You start to sing the same songs. You start to flow in the same spirit. And the minute you start to flow in the same spirit, that is when the power comes.

Praise Brings Revival Anointing

We covered this in the anointing. How does the anointing come? How does revival power come? Does it not come when spirits come in unison looking to the Lord, pouring unto Him? That is when revival power comes. If you want revival power; if you want revival anointing, get together with somebody and start praising the Lord. Get together.

If you want to speed it up, unite your hearts in praise and worship. Unite it over and over and over again, until that stream starts trickling and until the stream starts gushing. Then you are going to start to see revival. That is how it starts.

That is why music and praise and worship are so powerful in the Kingdom of God. It has been used so powerfully in the kingdom of darkness. It is used powerfully by Satan. Music controls lives out there, and if you cannot see it then you are blind! You have seen it. You have seen your children go off the path when suddenly they get involved in this weird, strange music.

Turn Music Against Satan

If Satan can use music to control people, then why can we not use the music and the power of the Lord to change people? Why can we not use that same power? We should be using it. We should be encouraging it. We should be uniting our hearts in praise and worship to the Lord, and using that unity and giving it out. We should be blessing others with it. We need to take back from the hands of the Devil the power that he has stolen in music. We need to take it back and turn it on him. Whip him with it. Whip him with the same weapon that he is whipping others out there with.

Praise and Worship is For Everyone

That really burns in me. That is my passion. And you know what? It is not used enough. People think, "Well, praise and worship is for the praise and worship team. They are the ones that praise and worship on Sunday. You know, they have their practises on Wednesdays, they praise and worship on Sundays."

No. Praise and worship and music should be something in the day of every single believer. This is not just for a musician. This is not just for people that can play an instrument or sing a song. This is for every single believer. This is for you. This is what the Lord wants of you. You do not have to have a gift or talent to be used of the Lord, neither do you have to have a gift or a talent to flow in the anointing. You just have to have a heart towards God.

Release Through Words and Actions

How does the Spirit of God flow? We have learned also in many other lectures that there are two ways in which the power of God is released into the earth. That is through words and through action. And what is so powerful about music is that it unites both. As a prophet you will know, when you stand and speak forth a decree, a powerful decree, how it comes out of your spirit and you think, "Yeah, yeah." But I tell you what, combine those words with the action of dance, of playing an instrument, of singing, and you get a double portion. You get it doubly, because not only are you just speaking the words, but you are acting them out as well. You are reinforcing what the Lord is trying to say.

We also know how the Spirit of God ministers to us through the five senses. I would like to go through each of these senses and show how the Lord will use it to direct you in praise. I want to emphasize again, the key is to allow the Holy Spirit to move through you. You need to be sensitive to the Spirit to know which step you are going to take next.

Vision of a Dance with the Lord

It is like a dance with the Lord Jesus. He showed me a lovely picture once. He had me in a waltz, a lovely waltz, and He had my gaze. He said, "Look at My eyes. Don’t take your gaze off My eyes." And He started dancing. As He moved here I moved here. And as He stepped to the right, I stepped to the right. And before I knew it we were in this glorious dance.

He said, "That is how you flow in the Spirit. When I take a step, you take a step, and when I turn, you turn. But always look in My eyes. Never take your eyes off Me, but move with Me. Feel My emotion. Feel My flow. Feel the change in pace. Feel the stop in pace, and feel the increase in pace."

Using the Senses in Ministry

These are all things we need to be sensitive to. Here are ways that you can determine and know how the Spirit is moving.

Taste

The first sense is the sense of taste. It is entirely possible to taste the anointing. I know people who actually get the taste of sweet presence, of a sweet, gentle presence. They taste it in their mouths. Then they know this is the sweet, gentle presence of the Lord. That is the way He is flowing now. He is flowing in a sweet, gentle presence.

Then there are times you will get bitterness and you will know there is a demonic presence. It is time to war. It is time to rise up.

Use of Emotions

You need to be sensitive to the sense of feeling. You need to use your emotions. There are times when joy just grabs you right in your stomach and you want to just go, "Yeah." And you jump up and down, and want to dance and you want to go crazy. But yet, there are times when the emotion will subside and you know now it is a time to worship. It is a time to calm down. It is a time to gently just swing in His presence.

You need to be very sensitive to the move of the Spirit in whichever way He will use it. Some people move very strongly in their taste. They taste a lot. I am personally not one that moves strongly in this area, but yet there are some people that do. There are others that feel things. They feel things on their bodies. They feel a warmth, they feel a glow, and they know the presence of the Lord is there. Or they will feel that sense of rising up and power to stand by the Throne Room and sing forth a decree. You have to be sensitive.

As a musician you should be naturally sensitive to music. You should naturally be sensitive to these things. So hone into them. Be aware of them. You may actually be experiencing these things as you worship without realizing it. So next time you come to praise and worship be aware of it. What does your emotion do? What is happening inside your spirit? Is it gushing? Is it still? Is it angry? Is it rising up? Is it settling down?

Be very conscious of what is going on in the Spirit and around you in the spiritual realm. Be able to shut off from those around and commune with the Lord. Look at His eyes. Keep your gaze on Him at all times.

Smell

There are those who experience smell. I have had this. I have had this at times in praise and worship where I have smelt incense, and the Lord has said to me, "Your praise and worship is as incense to Me. When you dance and you sing before Me it is like the times of old when they used to burn incense. And when I smell it, it is so, so sweet to Me." I know then that He is pouring out His heart of love. It is incense, it is gentle. It is so sweet.

There are times when I have smelt rain and I know, "Thunder is coming. The rain’s about to fall. The glory is about to come. It is the smell of rain. Prepare yourself! Come let’s get ready. The rain is coming down, the water is coming!"

You see, be sensitive. Be sensitive to the Spirit. Know what He is saying. Know if it is time to go forth and speak forth His power. Is it time to stop and reflect with your spirit and pray to the Lord, and worship Him gently?

Be very sensitive to the Spirit, because as you practice this, and as you move more in this, you are going to start to see that these things will happen often to you. You will start using more and more senses. And you will say, "Oh yes, that’s what the Lord is saying to me. He is saying, ‘Back off for a bit,’ or He is saying, ‘Run to the forefront and shout My name!’ " Be sensitive.

Vision

Vision is a very powerful one if you are a prophet. If you are like me I live in vision. I love vision. The Lord will be able to tell you things in vision. You know, there are often times that we have seen angels, and I know, "This is the time to praise and worship. There are angels around and they are singing and clapping and dancing." And I know, "Hey, this is the time to dance. This is the time to praise. This is the time to say, ‘Glory, Hallelujah,’ and make a big noise unto the Lord and go wild," and my drums go crazy. You can hear nobody else because I am making such a noise. But I do not really care because I am worshipping the Lord and it is glorious.

Then there are times you are in the Throne Room. You are playing for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. You know then, be majestic, powerful, strong. If you are sensitive to vision you will be able to see what is going on in the Spirit. And as you go through how you can use praise and worship in the following points, you will be able to see how you can apply these senses to how you use music.

Hearing

My most favorite sense which I have learned to function in, and we have all learned to function in, is the sense of hearing; to listen to the music in the music. This is vital. And if you want to step from the place of being a mediocre musician playing with a mediocre anointing, and moving into that full power anointing; a full-fledged musician and allowing the Holy Spirit to function through you at a higher capacity, these are the stages that you need to take.

The Psalms say, ‘Let the Heaven and the earth praise Him, the seas and everything that moves therein.’

Have you ever heard the seas praise Him? Have you not ever heard the seas praise Him? I know I have. There are times in praise and worship when I can hear the rumble of the ocean. And I take my drumstick and I make the rumbling of the ocean on my cymbal, and imitate what I am hearing in the Spirit.

Listen to the Music in the Music

There are times when I have heard bells. There are bells ringing in the heavenlies, and I imitate that as best as I can on my cymbals because I hear them. There are times where I hear cymbals, where I hear tambourines, or where I hear rain. Often I hear raindrops (tip, tip, tip), gentle little raindrops dropping down, and I will play it on my cymbals. I will play what I hear. I will play to the music in the music. This is vital.

If there are any of you who know what I am talking about, who have been there, you have heard the angels sing. You would have heard the angels sing the most melodious and beautiful sounds you will ever hear. They blend in with your voice in a high pitched harmony. And if you are singing in the Spirit with them you blend right in with them, and it is the most awesome experience you can ever have.

You are not going to hear that if you do not listen to the music in the music. You have to hear the music of the Holy Spirit. As Les shared, music is going all the time. Music is on all the time. The angels never stop singing. There is music in everything. If you will tune into the Spirit and if you will hear the music in the music you are playing, you will be amazed. This is the best way to follow.

There are times where I have heard the beat before I have played it. I hear it as I play it. It is almost like there is an angel in Heaven up there playing the beat and I am copying him. It is the best way I can describe it. He plays the beat for me, and I copy him, the exact beat. This is often how I have learned new things. I have heard them in the Spirit before I have played them on my drums.

Use Any Instrument

You can apply this to any instrument. You can apply this to any song, to any dance, to see first and then to imitate; to hear first and then to imitate. This is powerful stuff. Hear the ocean roar, hear the thunder, hear the thunder groaning. Hear the earth churning, and play it as best you can. Get as many instruments as you can. Get variety, get as much as possible. You know I say sometimes, "Oh, I am so restricted in my drums! I’m hearing sounds in my head that I can’t play. I need more. I need bells, I need timbrels, I need more, I need harps …"

I can hear it in my heart, and when the angels sing I can hear it in the Spirit and I just want to play it. And when I imitate what I am hearing, the anointing starts to flow and things start to happen. Because you know what is happening? The Lord is taking one step and I am following Him. He is taking another step and I am following Him. He is stepping back and I am following Him.

He is saying, "Okay, let’s ring the bells, let’s blow the trumpet. Okay, let’s do that." And as we copy Him and as we do it, things start happening in the Spirit and His power comes down. We see change and people start to dance and laugh, and they thank the Lord and praise Him. Then your situation and all the horrible things that go on in this world do not matter anymore because you are somewhere else. You are dancing with the Lord. You are dancing with the angels. You are praising Jesus.

When you can get into that realm, not only are you going to be taken to another place, but just the change that will come over you will influence those next to you. The water that comes on you is going to splash on them. It starts with you. Do not think that you will be directing your music to others. Don’t ever think that that is why you are standing up to play.

Play for Jesus Only

I need to stress this point. You are not playing for an audience. You are playing for one person, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you cannot play with Him, and if you cannot dance with Him, then you should not be playing at all. Because that is the only reason why the Lord Jesus has given you the ability to worship and praise and sing. Do not ever think that that gift was given to you to get the praise of man. That gift was given to you to praise the living God!

Remember that, and keep that in your heart because it is the most powerful, powerful weapon to use against the enemy and to use on behalf of others. And if you are too wrapped up in your own ambition and in your own striving and how good you look, you are going to miss it. You are going to miss a vital opportunity to minister. You are not going to minister to people with your skill. You are going to minister to people with the power of the living God. And you are not going to get the power of the living God unless you are praising Him, and not man.

This is vital. You need to ingrain this in your mind. You need to realize it. You are worshipping Jesus. You are not standing up there as a spectacle. When you close your eyes it should be you and Jesus alone. There are times when I have sat and played my drums and that is all I have seen. I do not really care what everybody else is doing, because I have a one-man audience, and I want to tell you He loves it. He chuckles, He claps, He dances. He jumps up and down and says, "I love you. I love this. Man, this is the best drumming I have ever heard!"

You know what? I do not care if I do not compare to the rest of the world. I do not care if I do not compare in skill, because I tell you what, when I pick up those sticks and I hit those drums, the anointing belts out of there, the Devil runs and people’s hearts get changed. And that is all that matters to me, the name of Jesus Christ. And that is all that should matter to you. You can have it. It is within your grasp. It is halfway there. The Lord Jesus has already given it to you.

Use What You Have

You may say to me, "Well, I don’t have an instrument. I don’t know how to play."

Do you have a voice? Do you know how to clap? Because that is about all you need. Just praise the Lord Jesus Christ. If it means jumping up and down and looking like a fool for Him, then do it. If it means praising and pouring forth your heart to Him in whichever way you can, you do it, because that is all that matters.

It is for Him and for Him alone. It is not for man. It is not to impress the pastor. It is not to impress the congregation. It is for Jesus Christ. And I can tell you right now when you do it from your heart you can make the biggest mess and He will think that you are the biggest hero, because it is from your heart. That is all the Lord expects from you, to worship and praise from your heart.

King David’s Foolishness

King David did it. He made a fool out of himself in front of the whole house of Israel. He danced so wild he danced all of his clothes off. Kings are not supposed to throw their clothes off in public. It is not the done thing! David did not really seem to care, did he? He did not seem to be one that cared. And you know what the Lord said about David? He said, "He is a man after My own heart."

Do you really think the Lord cared that David was naked? I do not even think the Lord saw that. I think He looked right down and He saw David’s heart, and that is all that mattered to Him. He saw that there was absolute total abandon in that heart. He saw that there was love and praise and worship in that heart. And that is all that mattered. In fact, even when David fell and sinned, the Lord continued to bless him. Why? Because he had the right heart and he praised the Lord continuously.

He says in his Psalms that we are to continually praise the Lord, never to stop, never to cease. That is what he did. And that is what took him over the hard times. That is what got him over having to run around and hide in caves, and run away from his son that was trying to kill him. He had it bad! But I tell you what, the praise got him through.

Praise Lifts You Up

It works. Praise does not just bring God’s power and anointing to people. It does not just put power in your bones, but it takes you out of your circumstance. It lifts you above it and lets you see reality from a spiritual point of view. Because, let’s face it, reality in this world is horrid. It is horrible. It is ugly. It is an unpleasant world out there, it really is. But when you come into praise and worship, and if you can get swept up into His presence, you see an entirely different world when you are sitting on the throne.

A Terrible Down Time

I remember we hit the biggest down we have ever had. We lost our entire source of income. Everything went wrong. We lost the telephone line, we could not pay the rent, and to top things off the water pipes broke and we could not get them fixed so we had no water. In fact, the water heater also broke, so even if we had water we couldn’t even have hot water.

You talk about being low? We are in a strange country, we have no income, we cannot work, we do not know the language, have no food and no water, and we actually do not have money for rent either! That sounds like a pretty sad story. In fact, the temptation was almost there to get depressed, but we got over it.

We went for a walk on the beach and Les said, "You know what I’m going to do? I am going to preach. If the Devil wants to attack, I’ll tell you what, we are taking out our big guns."

Praise Took Us Through

We did it. We had two to three meetings a day. We praised, we praised and we praised, and in the evening he spoke. We praised again and in the evening he spoke. And so the Way of Blessing was born. And I want to tell you, when you do not have food to eat and the kids are saying, "Mommy, is there some breakfast for me?" and I have to say, "Sorry, love, all you can have is toast this morning and for lunch and dinner,"; and the adults are fasting so that the children can have the little bit of bread that there is; and you have to boil the water because you cannot even drink the water in the tap and we could not afford to buy, that is a pretty lousy outcome. That is a pretty lousy circumstance to most.

But we got into praise and more praise and more praise. I can tell you right now it was the praise that fed us. It was the praise that gave us water. I want to tell you, when we came into the presence of God we saw through His eyes. We saw the victory. We saw the power and the miracle that He was going to perform and the miracle that He did perform, because He did perform it. He did bring us out of it!

I want to tell you, it was praise that did it. We praised Him with our lips. Every time we could not eat we said, "Thank you, Jesus that these cupboards are full. Thank you, Lord that we have clothes. Thank you, Jesus that our children are taken care of. Thank you, Father that these phone bills are paid. We love You. We thank You that You have provided."

We praised Him, and we picked up the guitars and we picked up the drumsticks, and because we had nothing else to do all day we praised Him. We praised Him, and I want to tell you, I had the greatest liberty. I went through such tremendous growth during that time. My spirit was soaring because I was praising Him continually.

Look From His Eyes

Every time we were tempted to look at our situation and get depressed we drew right into the presence of the Lord and He said, "Don’t worry about it." He gave us a picture. He gave us a vision. He gave us a Word that showed us what the real circumstance was. The real circumstance was, actually the cupboards were full, and actually the rent was paid, and actually we were on line again, and everything was going well.

When we started to see things through the eyes of the Lord standing in the Throne Room, our lives changed down here, ‘for what is loosed on earth is loosed in Heaven.’ So get up into the heavenlies. If you are going through a tough time; if you see people around you going through a tough time, get into praise.

"Thank you, Lord that we don’t have any money. Thank you, Lord that my husband has lost his job. Thank you, Jesus, because now it means we can praise You. Ha, Devil, you want to attack us? Praise you, Jesus, I’ve lost my job. Now that means I can spend twelve hours a day praising You and speaking forth Your Word. Ha! Try that."

Praise Overcomes Satan

If Satan wants to attack you, hit him back with the biggest weapon you have, and that is the weapon of your lips, and the weapon of your action in praise and worship and dance to the Lord Jesus. He will reward you, and He will pour His power down. And He will change your life, and you will never be the same again. Use praise as a weapon against the enemy. Use praise and worship to overcome your circumstance, because there is no circumstance too big that the Lord Jesus cannot deliver you from. If you would only use what is in you; if you would only use the power that is in you instead of wallowing and giving up, you can overcome through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But we do not like to do that. We like to sit and wallow and feel sorry and say, "Well, nobody ever had it as bad as me."

That does not get you anything except an empty plate and an empty house. That is all saying those words will get for you. You are on a losing streak anyway. What have you got to lose by standing up and praising the Lord? What have you got to lose, except your inhibitions? What have you got to lose, except your bitterness and your depression?

Choose the Sacrifice of Praise

It is a choice, once again a choice to stand up and praise the Lord. But will you give that ‘sacrifice of praise’ (sound familiar?) because sometimes I want to tell you, it is a sacrifice. But if you will be willing to give that sacrifice of praise, just as Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar, the Lord will give it back to you.

When the Lord gave Abraham back Isaac he gave him back a whole nation. He did not give him back one kid. He gave him back a whole nation in Isaac. That is what the Lord Jesus gave to him. Now if you would just take your little Isaac, your little problem, this little thing that you are holding onto, and would put it on the altar with the sacrifice of praise, the Lord will give you back much, much more than you would have put on that tiny little altar, I want to promise you that.

Using Music in Warfare

The next most powerful point is using music in warfare. I could go on for a long time on warfare, but I will not. I will try not to. I cannot think of any other way to kick the Devil’s butt than with my drumsticks. I want to tell you, if we go into war I run for my drums, because I say, "I’m sorry, I cannot war without my sticks. It just doesn’t work that way." It is the way I have learned to flow. It is the way I have learned to pour out in power. And I want to tell you, it has been the most effective way for sure.

Be Spiritually Sensitive

Apply, once again, the five sense. What are you hearing? What are you smelling? What are you sensing in the Spirit? Are you feeling a rising up? Are you feeling a demonic presence? Are you seeing a demon in front of you? Be very sensitive to the Spirit.

Call to War is Immediate

We have often found that we have come to praise the Lord, and slap bang in the middle of it, there is a demon. It is an immediate call to war. A call to war happens instantly, suddenly, because you do not know when the enemy is going to strike. And when he strikes, you need to be sensitive to hear it, see it, smell it, taste it, feel it. You need to be sensitive and rise up, and come against him immediately, not wait.

When the watchman sets off the trumpet on the walls the people do not go, "Hang on, hang on, I just have to finish dinner. Then I’m going to wash up the dishes. Listen, lovie, just put the kids down to bed and then we will go and war against the enemy; see?" It does not work that way. When you are called to war, put on your armor, pick up your guitar, pick up your singing voice, pick up whatever the Lord has given to you and go to war.

Timing is very relevant in the Spirit of the Lord, because it could mean life and death in the life of somebody. If the Lord is calling you to war on behalf of another, timing is very, very important. If there is an attack coming against somebody that the Lord would like you to intercede for, get up and go to war, because you do not know what is happening in their life. You do not know that they might need deliverance right now; that they are under attack right now in threat of life. Right now, when you hear the sound and the call for war; when you hear the trumpet blast going, pick up and run and go to war.

Discern the Demon

How do you war? Firstly, be very sensitive to the Spirit. If you can see the demon, good. If you can feel him, good. If you are a prophet you should by now have developed a knowledge of how to sense the presence of demons and angels. So as you sense that presence, as you see that presence and as you hear it, however the Lord brings to you that revelation, this is what you do. Concentrate on that.

The Inner Anointing

Les spoke of the inner anointing, the anointing that is in your belly. It is most powerful when used against the enemy. You need to use that churning that you get in your stomach. I get it when I go into warfare. I get this churning in the pit of my gut. Sometimes it is an emotion of anger and it just belts out at the enemy. Take that churning that is in your stomach and release it through your mouth.

If you can see it, it is like a well. It is like a spring right in your belly, and as you speak you are drawing it, drawing it right up, and you are belting it out! That is how you do it. If you will do that, you will use that anointing that is within you and belt out. Use the Word against him. Use your actions against him in music, in playing your instrument, using the words of prophecy that the Lord gives you against him.

When you come against the enemy you will be using the internal anointing. You will be using the power that is within. You will be using the rivers of living water that are within you to come against the power of the enemy. You need to learn how to develop it, because I tell you now that that same water that you are using to attack the enemy, is the same river that you pour up to Jesus to praise. You see, it is that inward anointing. It is the anointing power within your spirit. It is the power of Jesus Christ in you, and you must learn how to use that.

How to Release the Anointing

It is not just a simple matter of seeing a demon and saying, "Go away, demon, you’re being a bad boy!" No. It is a little bit more than that. You have to have faith, you have to know your authority, and you have to know how to release your authority against him. You have to know how to release it.

All of us know that words are nothing but words unless they have the power of the Spirit in them. If you are led, and I want to stress, led into warfare, release that power in your words. Do not just say words. Do not just mumble under your breath. Shouting does it for me. When I feel that well coming up and I see that demonic force, I want to tell you, I let rip! As I do that, I feel the power of God coming and joining those words, and they belt him a good shot in the gut, I want to tell you.

David’s Powerful Words

You have to learn to release that power. Do not just say words. Do not say pathetic little words. Wait. Wait for the words to come. Wait for the rising to come in your stomach. Do not just belt out any old words. You are wasting your time. You are like Goliath saying to David, "Hah, you are nothing but a little boy with a stick and a stone." What did his words do him? They did him nothing! He ended up without his head.

But what did David say to him? He said, "Hey you, you come against me with a sword and a spear, but I come against you in the Name of the living God. I come against you in the Name of the Lord, and you will bow to that. How dare you insult God’s people? You are going down, boy!"

I tell you what, those were not just words. Those were just not words that David belted out at the enemy. That was a decree. That was a declaration. And I tell you, it was those words that got that stone head on. I firmly believe that David could have thrown that stone in the air and it would have gone straight up above him, and it would have hit Goliath straight on the head. Those words released power. They released the Spirit of God.

Release in Words and Actions

That is what you need to be doing through your music, through your action and through your words. Sometimes I do both. I use my drumming and I use my words in singing at the same time. You have to find what you are most comfortable with; what you work best with. And you are going to start to find a victory that you have never ever experienced before in warfare. Because not only are you using the power of words against the enemy, but you are doubling it up and using the power of action against him too.

Fight in Unity

If you are going to war using your instruments and music, it is vital that you do it in a group. The power in unity is awesome. We have seen how the power in unity can bring the anointing and the revival power of God. But you know the same applies to warfare. Yes, I know that I have the authority to stand against every demon of darkness. And I have. I have in personal times of intercession and warfare stood against the highest level of demon power, and they have had to bow. Yes, I have done it, but it has been a fight sometimes. It has had to be a constant hitting and hitting. But when you bring the unity and you bring the team together like the Lord has formed here, you are going to find a greater power.

You see, when I come against the enemy I apply my laser beam to him, and eventually the laser is going to buckle him. But you add a couple more people, and they are adding their laser beams as well into one big fat laser beam, one shot and he is gone. I have seen this. I have seen at times when I have come against the kingdom of darkness by myself and it has been difficult. They have been very arrogant, refusing to bow.

Team Action

Then I have seen times where the team has got together in praise and worship. When I have gone to my drums that is how I release the anointing and how I release the power. I get my sticks and I give them a good shot. Les just belts it out on the guitar in song. Desiree dances. She dances a dream with the tambourine. Craig dances and sings. Daphne sings. Wesley claps louder than you have ever heard in your whole life. You have never heard somebody clap as loud as Wesley. He claps louder than I can hit my bass drum! He drowns me out, but I want to tell you, he claps for Jesus.

But you get us together and we unite our hearts. We are singing and clapping and hitting drums, and oh man the neighbors must hate us because we make a noise! But I want to tell you what. We buckle them! We buckle them, one after the other. There is no demon, not even Lucifer himself, that can stand against that. Why? ‘Because when two or three are gathered together, there I am in the midst of them.’

He is in the midst of us, because I want to tell you, when we come together to war He joins us. And He takes the head and says, "Come on guys, stick behind me. I’m on the white horse in front. I’m getting in the first swipe. You can get the rest." He is there.

Giant in Armor

The Lord gave me a beautiful illustration of this once as we were coming up to warfare. I saw Him in the Spirit giving each of us as a team, a different piece of armor. And as we took the pieces of armor we joined up in the Spirit as this big giant, full-armored. As we united as one and we stood as that giant in the Spirit and came against the demons of hell, I want to tell you they took one look and ran. They knew, "This isn’t just any old giant. This giant has the power of the living God in it. We’d better scat before we get stood upon!"

Power of a United Team

There is power in unity, and we have seen it time and time again. We get a lot of opposition in this ministry. We have a lot of words spoken against us. If any of you have ever been on our boards or been involved at all in ministry, you will know what we are talking about. We get a lot of opposition from people and a lot of opposition from Satan. He would do anything to crumble this ministry. He would do anything to stop the words coming from our mouths.

We have to stand on our toes continually because we are the oversight for so many others. We get the brunt of the attack, so we have to stand in unity. It is the way the Lord has made us. In fact we are at the place now where we cannot take another step forward until we stand as one. The Lord will not allow us to do it, because when we stand as one there is power. There is power in unity. There is power in praise and worship.

Now you have dynamite! You have words, you have actions and you have unity. There is nothing in this world that can stand against that, absolutely nothing. So get together. Get together with your husband, get together with your wife, with your children, whoever you can drag in there with you. Get together with them, and unite your hearts, particularly in warfare.

Get Your Backs Covered in Warfare

Particularly in warfare, you need your back covered. Do not think you can run off screaming into the enemy’s camp going, "Yoohoo, guys, here I am. Come and get me." It is stupid. Get somebody to stand with you in agreement, and you go, and you will get them every time. Stand in unity, using the power of music, even using the power of dance. Use it in action, releasing God’s power in any which way into the earth.

Music in Intercession

You can use music in intercession. We have done this often as a team. In fact it is the only way I find that we can intercede as a team. Usually intercession is more a private thing where you, as a prophet of God, are pulled into a secret place where you can intercede. I have found that the only way we can intercede successfully as a group in one heart and in one spirit without any interruptions is through music, and through praise and worship. It is the only way. Do you want to know why? It is because it takes you to the Throne Room of God.

When you come together and start pouring forth and pouring forth, you are lifted up from this earthly realm into the heavenly realm. Les has shared this already elsewhere. If you are a prophet and move in the power of the Lord, you know what I am talking about. You are probably reading this and saying, "Oh yeah that’s good stuff." You just feel like you can conquer and beat the whole world when you are in the Throne Room. You will do anything when you are there.

Praise Takes You to the Throne Room

Praise and worship takes you there. And praise and worship is the quickest way to get to the Throne Room of God. It is the quickest way to get into His presence. Why? Because you are communing from your spirit. You are singing, you are praising, you are pouring out to Him. And the minute you start pouring out to Him you make a connection, and immediately it takes you into the Throne Room. Then when you are taken into the Throne Room and you are standing up there instead of struggling down here, there comes a power and a confidence in you that you have never had before. Suddenly when the Lord starts bringing people to your mind you do not say, "Lord Jesus, please won’t you heal so-and-so."

No! When you are in the Throne Room of God in praise and worship you say, "Be healed! Be done! You door, open now! In Jesus’ Name open now. I use my key."

"The doors that those people are opening against us, in the Name of Jesus we shut. Satan, we lock you behind every door right now in the Name of Jesus and we bind you!"

Once you are in the Throne Room of God you can start issuing forth decrees. You can start interceding for the Body of Christ.

Sorrowful Singing

There have been plenty of times, when in the Spirit we have actually gone through a stage of lamentation, of sorrowful singing, of weeping in the Spirit. And Les has often led in the Spirit, songs of such wailing and weeping and the Lord says, "Oh My sheep, My babies, My sheep that are lost, that are getting ruined and crushed and destroyed and hurt…" and He pours out His heart and we weep for the lost.

As we weep and as we intercede for them and for those He brings to our minds through our music and through our singing, we woo them into the fold. Because as we, in intercession, weep for them, and as we travail for them and lament over them, using the instruments and voices He has given us, I have found that the intercession has been so much more powerful, because music has a way of affecting your emotions.

Singing Affects Your Emotions

You can say words as much as you like to try and make somebody feel sad, but play a mournful song and what will happen? Immediately your emotions will become mournful. Play a lively song and you start going crazy, tapping your feet and dancing. You see, music has a way of bringing an influence on you, and it is powerful in intercession, because as you allow the Holy Spirit to move through you, so you will start to feel the heart of the Father. You will start to feel His heart in lamentation for His sheep, for people that are hurt, for people that are bleeding, for those that are lost. You will feel His heart through the song. It will affect you. It will affect your emotions. It will affect your thinking.

Intercessory Warfare

You can use warfare in the same context. There are times when an anger will rise up and you will start to go into warfare on somebody’s behalf. And if you are singing it, the song brings emotion. Why? Because, when you are singing it is coming out of your spirit. It is not just words anymore, it is filled with the Holy Spirit and fire. That is power. And when we use that power in intercession on behalf of others I have been results every single time.

Every time this team has come as one to intercede in praise and worship on behalf of some students and the members that the Lord has brought to us, we have seen results instantly. Because we are combining the force of words, the force of action and the power that is in our spirits, and we are putting it all together in one big laser beam. And there is nothing in this world that can stand against that!

Music has power! It is powerful. Use it. Every Christian should be using it. This is not even just for prophets. If you want victory in your life; if you have come to a plateau right now in your life and you are saying, "Lord, where to from here? I’ve done everything right. I read Your Word, I pray, I worship You, I go to church, I pay my tithes. I do everything, but I’m at this flat point and I do not know how to get from this flat point to the high point."

Praise Brings Change in You

Open your mouth and praise. Release praise, release worship to the living God, and I tell you what, you are going to see a change in yourself. You are going to see a change in your heart, you are going to see a change in your action, and you are going to see a change in the pictures in your mind. Because as you worship, the Holy Spirit will start showing you what He sees. You will see the blessing, you will see the prosperity and you will see the plan He has for you. And immediately you will have hope and you will not be stuck on this flat plateau anymore.

Leave the Plateau Through Praise

Do you know why you will not be stuck on this flat plateau anymore? Because you will not see it anymore. You will be way up there in the Throne Room. You will be in the Throne Room. You will be taken up in His presence. But you are too preoccupied with the plateau. You are too preoccupied with the dry land. You are too preoccupied with the thorns and thistles you keep stepping on. Well stop moaning and groaning about the thorns and thistles and get into the Throne Room of God.

The only way you are going to have it is to get in praise and worship to Him; to glorify His Name; to pour every last little drop of everything that is in you onto Jesus. And I tell you what, even if you have one tiny little drop in there, give Him that tiny little drop, because He will multiply it and pour it back on you. And you will pour it back to Him, and He will double it and pour it back onto you. You carry on and on, and you are going to start seeing victory in your life.

If you have been saying, "Where to from now? What now? What more do I need to do to rise up? I’ve come to a place in my ministry where I’m not getting greater authority; where I am not moving in a greater anointing."

It could be that you are leaving out the most powerful weapon that the Lord has given us, and that is the weapon of praise and worship. Praise and worship is not for the Sunday night team leaders up on the stage. Praise and worship is for you as a child of God. It is His gift to you, and you need to use it, and you need to apply it.

David’s Dedicated Singers

You know, David is such an example to us all. In Chronicles you will see how he got a whole group of people together, dedicated entirely to music. 1 Chronicles 25:1 says:

…to the sons of Asaph, of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, and with psaltries, and cymbals.

He set aside an entire group to prophesy forth in praise and worship using their voices, using their instruments and using their bodies, to dance unto the Lord. I do not think that it is a coincidence that his son was the richest king who ever lived after that. Do you think it is a coincidence?

You say, "Yes, the Lord blessed Solomon."

A Kingdom Built on Praise

The Lord blessed Solomon because David had set it up all nice and pretty for him. David set up the foundation on which Solomon stood. And I want to tell you, he set up a pretty sturdy foundation. That whole foundation was based on praise and worship. David is known as the greatest king of Israel. In fact the Jews still speak of him, "The Son of David." Everything is David. You know what he built his whole kingdom upon? It was built on praise and worship to the Lord.

Do you think it is a coincidence that he was the greatest man of war and crushed every enemy that came across his path? Think about it. He was the greatest man of war who ever lived. There is not an enemy that survived at his hand, not one. Why? Because he built his foundation on praise and worship to the Lord all the time. Twenty four hours a day he had praise and worship going on, did you know that?

There were priests who were dedicated entirely to the making of instruments, to the playing of the instruments and to prophesying through psaltry and harps and singing. It was constant, all the time. And he had success wherever he went. He had total success. He overthrew kingdoms, which before nobody would even have thought to have overcome. They would not have even tried. But David, a pathetic little shepherd boy, a little nobody, a little nothing, rose up to be the mightiest warrior. It is no coincidence that he wiped out an entire land around him.

Make Music Your Foundation

Singing to the Lord should be the foundation of your life. It should not be something you do when you feel like it. It should not be something you only do when others are watching. Praise and worship should be going on continually, never stopping, all the time.

You may be asking me how it is that you can function in a greater degree in praise and worship. You may say to me, "You know I’m battling with being able to sense the Spirit. How do I know when to war? How do I know when to praise? How do I know when to worship?"

I want to give you a key Scripture here. Ephesians 5:18 says:

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.

Spiritual Songs

The one point I am going to pull out of this is spiritual songs. What are spiritual songs? They are songs that you sing from your spirit. How’s that for a revelation? They are songs you sing from your spirit, songs you sing in tongues, songs you sing with the words of angels. That is what worshipping with spiritual songs is.

If you want to start developing your capability to pick up and tune in on what the Lord wants you to do in praise and worship, sing in tongues. Sing in tongues, sing in tongues, and then when you are really tired of it, sing in tongues some more, because it is going to break through. We have seen this.

Singing in Tongues

The Lord has taken us through a lot of phases. There came a time when the Lord took us through a phase where we were singing a lot of worship songs. Then He took us through a phase where we were singing a lot of praise, a lot of warfare, a lot about the blood. Then came the largest phase of all, where every time we came to praise all we could sing was in the Spirit in tongues. In fact, when we tried to sing in English the anointing left.

We said, "Okay Lord, we get the point," so we sang in tongues.

We sang in tongues, and sang in tongues, and sang in tongues some more. But it caused unity, because as Les sang in tongues and he got in the Spirit, and as I was singing in tongues and playing with my drums, and Craig was singing in tongues and getting in the Spirit on his own, you know what happened? The most melodious harmony came out, because when you are all singing in tongues and singing in the Spirit, you will harmonize. You will automatically harmonize. If you are truly in the Spirit, you will harmonize with those that are truly in the Spirit, because that is God’s order. He is a God of order, not of disorder.

Perfect Harmony and Unity

We have found, over and over again, that as we tune in and get our spirits right, it has come to the stage now where we can sing full songs in the Spirit, in fact direct songs, actual songs, not just singing any old thing. All six of us will sing a different harmony in complete and perfect unison, and it will sound perfect. And none of us are professional! None of us actually have very good singing voices.

As I release from my spirit and commune with the Spirit of the Lord and sing what I hear Him wanting me to sing, I often do not even hear the others. I do not hear them. In fact, it is quite impossible behind those drums. I can get pretty carried away. I am sure you have heard about that by now. I go pretty wild, so I cannot even hear them. But we have made recordings, and I want to tell you, even though I cannot hear the others, when I play it back I cannot believe that we sang with such harmony. It was out of this world. I could not believe what the Spirit of God was doing. And as we did it more, each of us became more sensitive to the Spirit. Each of us knew when to stop, when to start, when to speed up, when to slow down. But you see, it comes with practice. It comes with singing in the Spirit continually, out of your spirit.

Tapping the Inner Stream

I am going to apply a practical application to this shortly. But as you sing in the Spirit something starts to happen, as Les has shown. You tap that inner stream and you start flowing out, and you start walking in the Spirit. You start hearing the wind blow, and you move and sway with it. You start hearing the raindrops and you start getting drenched in it. But it takes time in singing in the Spirit continually, to tune your spirit in with the Lord, to become more sensitive.

Then suddenly it stopped. Just as quickly as the Lord had taken us into that phase it stopped. And I thought, "But Lord, it was so good. I was enjoying that." We literally sang for hours at a time without having to stop, because you know what? The Lord never runs out of songs. We could sing in tongues for hours and hours at a time, because fresh stuff just kept coming out all the time.

Learning to Harmonize

Then when it stopped I thought, "Well Lord, that’s not fair. I was harmonizing so perfectly. You know how I’ve always wanted to harmonize."

So we got back to normal singing and I used to join in. And I said, "Oh Lord, I wish I could harmonize to this English song like I harmonize with You in the Spirit."

He said to me, "Sing in the Spirit."

So while Les was singing the English of a well-known song, I sang in tongues. As I did that the tune I was singing in tongues harmonized with the tune he was singing in English, because I was singing out of my spirit. You see, that is the great thing about the Lord. He knows how to harmonize. Even though you do not have the natural skill for music and singing and playing an instrument, He does, because it came from Him. He is the author of music. So if there is anything you need, you need to realize it is going to come from Him.

This really got me going. I thought, "I can harmonize at any time without it having to go through my head, not even having to learn the song, by singing in tongues. I wonder if I couldn’t apply the same principle, but singing in English."

It worked! Les would sing a well-known song that I always wished I could harmonize to, but every time I did it before I sounded like a flat duck, and everybody kind of looked at me skew so I just shut up and rather did not try again. This time something new happened in my spirit. You see, what had happened is I had tapped down into my spirit. I was so used to singing in the Spirit and from my spirit instead of my head all the time. It had become such a habit as the Lord had taken us through that phase of singing in the Spirit, that when I opened my mouth to sing, even though it was a song I knew, instead of singing from my head I immediately started singing from my spirit.

Step Out in Faith

It is like speaking in tongues. Do you think what you are going to say in tongues? I cannot think beforehand what I will say. Why? Because it comes from my spirit. Now singing is the same thing. If you are wanting to harmonize; if you are wanting to sing; if you are wanting to learn principles, you are going to learn them by releasing them from your spirit, because the Lord has the answers. The Holy Spirit is in you and He is the author of music. This works, and it is powerful. Just open your mouth in faith.

I said, "Lord, what if I start singing this song and I sound like that flat duck again, and everybody says, ‘Wow man, stop squawking.’ What if that happens?"

He said, "You are going to have to trust Me."

It was just like when I said, "Lord, what if I try and speak in tongues and it comes out like a bit of gibberish?"

He said to me, "You are going to have to open your mouth and trust Me," so I opened my mouth, spoke a bit, and next thing I knew He had control of my tongue.

He said, "This is the same principle. If you want to harmonize, open your mouth in faith and trust Me."

Let the Holy Spirit Teach You

So I did, and the first two notes, maybe were off, but every single note from then on hit perfectly every time. Now Les can pick a song I do not even know and have never heard in my life in English; you can give me the words and I will open my mouth and sing the harmony first time. Me, am I such a great singer? No, I am a pretty pathetic singer, actually. But the Holy Spirit is the author of music and it is a gift from Him. It is an ability that each one of us can have. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is our teacher. He teaches us. He is the author of music.

You Can Have it All

If there is anything that you have been looking to the Lord for and you have been saying, "Well you know what, the Lord didn’t really give me that skill so it would really be selfish for me to ask for it from Him. But oh Lord Jesus I am dying to worship You. But hey, I didn’t get that skill so I guess I just won’t have it and I will just envy others for the rest of my life."

No! You actually do not have to settle for second best. You can have everything that the Spirit of God has to offer. You can have it all, if you want it; if you want it badly enough; if you desire it badly enough. You need to move in faith and allow the Holy Spirit to move in you. Commune with Him and step with Him and dance with Him, keeping your eyes constantly on Jesus. Never take your eyes off the Lord, and you will start finding yourself doing things that you thought were clearly impossible.

Give Him Everything

Everything is possible with the Lord. In fact, if you want the Lord to do a miracle, just say, "Oh, it’s impossible," because I tell you what, you will be proved wrong. There is nothing in this world; there is no impossibility too big that the Lord cannot meet you at and fulfill.

Once again, how big can you think? How big? Because the Lord Jesus will meet you where you are at. He will grant you your desire. Give Him what you have and He will work with it. But you do not give Him what you have, and you are going to stay where you are. Give Him what you have and He will make something big out of you. Give Him a little shepherd boy, and He might just make you into a king, a big king, a great king, a man of war. But give Him what you have so that He can use it.

In conclusion, I want to encourage you to use the weapons that the Lord has given you. I want to encourage you to use what is in your spirit and to release it in music; to release it in psalmody; to use the power that is hidden within you. It is there and you have it. There is nobody on this earth that cannot praise the Lord. There is nobody in this world who cannot praise the Lord. And if you are not tapping into this vital weapon that the Lord has put in you, you are missing out on an aspect of your ministry and of pouring out to people. You are missing such a large degree of it.

Use what the Lord has given you. Use everything at your disposal. Do not just say, "Well, I guess I’ll use this and this, but leave that out." It is like a gardener coming and saying, "Well you know what, I don’t think I need the rake or the fork. I’ll just use a spade to do everything. That’s right. I’m going to rake up leaves with the spade."

That is what you are doing if you are not using all that the Lord has given you. If all you know to do is prophesy and see visions, you may as well take a spade and go and rake up some leaves, because that is all you are doing. You are not using the full capacity. Sure, it might get the job done. You will rake up those leaves, but I tell you what, I think you are going to be pretty exhausted by the time you are done. You are going to be pretty finished.

Use what the Lord has given you. Use what is at your disposal. Use every weapon of your warfare. Do not get one little sword and say, "Well I’m happy with a sword," but the Lord has given you an arrow and a spear, a shield and helmet. Do not say, "Well that’s okay, I’ll just face the enemy with my one little sword."

Use everything that the Lord has given you, to your full capacity with the Holy Spirit, and rise up. More than anything, rise up in praise to the living God, because I want to tell you something right now. He is worthy of it. He is worthy of our praise and the glory that belongs to Him and Him alone. He is worthy of it, and He deserves every bit of praise and worship you can give Him, because He is precious, and He loves you, and He has given you His life. The least you can give Him is your song.