(Basics) 27. Praise Drives Satan Out — Zac Poonen

God's Goodness in Every Circumstance

And we want to continue looking at this wonderful key that God has given us to open every door on earth, the key of praising God. God is a good God. Every single thing that He does and allows to come into our lives is designed for our very best.

Some of it may be painful and we may not understand it, but it's designed for our very best. You know, just like our children who don't understand sometimes what's good for them. When you force your child to go to school on a Monday morning, your four-year-old child or five-year-old child, that child doesn't understand.

The child would rather stay at home and play or sleep or something like that. But it doesn't understand that what you're forcing it to do is good for it. In the same way, many things that God allows in our life, we may not understand because we are immature, but they are all designed for our good.

Jesus Reveals the Father's Goodness and Satan's Evil

It's only the devil who is out to destroy us. Jesus came to earth and exposed two things. One, He exposed the tremendous goodness of our Heavenly Father, and He exposed the thoroughly evil nature of the devil who seeks to deceive us in so many ways.

Christ Brings Liberty, Gladness, and Praise

There's a verse in Isaiah 61 which tells us the ministry that Jesus came to accomplish. In fact, Jesus quoted this passage in Luke chapter 4, in the very first sermon that He preached in the synagogue in Nazareth.

Here it says, Because the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. Because the Lord has anointed me. And what has the Lord, the Father, anointed Jesus to do? To bring good news to the oppressed. To bind up the brokenhearted.

To proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners. You know, Jesus came to set people free. The devil has come into the earth to bring people into bondage. But Jesus came to set people free.

And He has also come, Jesus, to grant those who mourn in Zion to give them a garland instead of ashes, and the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and the mantle of praise instead of the spirit of fainting.

Jesus has come to give us the oil of gladness and the mantle of praise, a garment of praise, instead of the spirit of heaviness and depression. Do you know that the spirit of heaviness is not from God?

It's something the devil tries to put upon you like a garment. You must just shake it off. You must say, in Jesus' name, I resist you, Satan. You can't put any depression on me. I resist you. I have been crucified with Christ.

The blood of Jesus has cleansed my past life completely. My guilt is gone. You can't accuse me anymore, Satan. Say these words to the devil. And reject that spirit of heaviness and depression that Satan tries to put upon you.

Jesus has come to cast out that spirit from your life permanently, and not just cast it out and leave you naked. If he leaves you naked, that clothing of depression will come back on you again. No, he clothes you instead with a garment of praise.

That's what it says here. The garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness. Isn't that wonderful? Now, if you can believe this, it's really true. It is not the will of God that we should be depressed or discouraged or in a bad mood at any time.

It may come like a temptation, and we should shake it off. And God will help us to shake it off. See, the Bible says in 1 John chapter 2, in verse 6. It's a very important verse. I don't know how many of you know it.

1 John 2, verse 6 says that the one who says he abides in Christ must walk as Jesus walked. In other words, if you say you're a Christian, the Living Bible puts it like this. You must live as He lived.

That's our calling. To live as He lived. To walk as He walked. Was Jesus ever depressed? Was He ever discouraged? Or in a bad mood at any time? No. Never. But one thing about Jesus' life. He took up the cross.

Every day He took up the cross. And He followed in His Father's will every day. Now, if we choose that way, this verse will be fulfilled in our life, not just occasionally. But every single day, a garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness.

Oil of gladness instead of mourning. It's a wonderful life. Let me turn you to another psalm. In psalm 8, and the second verse, we read this statement which Jesus quoted. Once in the temple, when the little children were shouting and praising God, as we read in Matthew 21, 15, and 16.

Joyful Praise Is Biblically Appropriate

You know, when they held palm branches and laid their clothes down on the road for Jesus to ride on a donkey into Jerusalem. At that time, when Jesus came into the temple, the children there were yelling and shouting, Hallelujah, Hosanna to the Son of David.

And the chief priests, who did not like a lot of noise and all, they believed that the only way to worship God was quietly, seriously, as though a funeral were going on. Now, there are people who think like that even today, you know.

That the only proper way to praise God is quietly and solemnly, as though you were sitting in a funeral. Now, I believe with all my heart that there is a way of praising God in silence. But, there is also praise that is acceptable to God that comes forth in shouts of joy.

The Bible says that. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. We worship God with shouts of praise and also in solemn silence. It's not just always one or always the other. But here, it was absolutely proper for the children to be excited and to praise God.

Have you ever seen how people praise those who have just won a cricket match? For example, say India versus Pakistan and cricket match going on. India has won. Can you picture how that stadium erupts in excitement?

Now, why is it that Christians don't seem to be excited over the fact that Jesus has forgiven their sin? That Jesus has defeated the devil? That Jesus overcame everything on the cross? That Christ is returning in glory and He's going to set up His kingdom on the earth?

People sit with long faces in God's presence. Jesus was thrilled to hear the noise of praise. And so, when the chief priests criticized those little children praising God, Jesus quoted Psalm 8 and verse 2.

He said, haven't you read that it says in the Bible, From the mouth of infants and nursing babes thou hast established strength because of thine adversaries to make the enemy and the revengeful cease.

Praise Silences the Enemy

So, what do we read there? That praise is the means by which God shuts the mouth of the enemy. That's very important for us to understand. It's through praising God that the mouth of the devil is shut.

And very often you can't shut the mouth of the devil in your life or your home because you don't praise God. The devil hates praise, I'll tell you that. He hates praise in a home, he hates praise in a life, he hates praise in a church.

And that's why he makes people so grumpy and long-faced and grumbling and complaining most of the time because then he can rule in their lives and in their homes. Satan cannot stand the shouts of sincere praise to God.

That's why he can't stay in heaven. Because in heaven, every angel is yelling and shouting praises to God and how can the devil stand around there? And he can't stand around in any church where everybody is praising and shouting and thanking God.

I'll tell you that, he can't. He can't be in a home where people are praising God. He can't sit in a life or in a heart where people are praising God. Jesus was so excited when he saw those little children praising God because that reminded him of his home, heaven.

You know, Jesus was used to living in heaven for eternity where he heard the angels praising God with a voice like loud thunders. And then when Jesus came to earth and he lived in Nazareth and he saw so many people grumbling, complaining, long-faced, well, he felt sad.

But then, now and then, he would see a situation like this where the children are shouting and praising God. It reminded him of his heavenly home. But those religious people, they just couldn't understand that.

They couldn't stand that type of praise. What does that prove? They were actually in fellowship with the devil. The devil hated that praise and those religious people hated that praise. How is it in your life?

Sincere Praise Versus Empty Religious Ritual

Do you give room to the devil by the spirit of grumbling and complaining? What did we read in Psalm 8? Through that expression of praise that came from the mouth of infants, it established strength to make the enemy shut his mouth and to make the revengeful person cease.

And there, when we look around at Christians today, we can see how Satan has succeeded everywhere. In most places, he does it in two ways. Either he will stop the shouts of praise altogether. And that's what he's done in many homes, many churches, many lives.

There is no shout of praise. And if he doesn't succeed there, then he's got another technique. And that is, where people are praising God, he will make them insincere. That means they will say it with their mouths but it's not true in their hearts.

So, both ways he succeeds. So, you have some churches where they don't praise God at all. And some other churches where it's only a ritual and it's not something which is true in their life all the time.

Just Sunday morning, praise God. And then the devil succeeds in both these churches. But what is God looking for? He's looking for churches, homes, individuals like you who are determined to drive the devil right out of your life, your home and your church by sincere praise.

Why does Satan hate the sincere praise to God? Because, as we saw in Psalm 8, that is how he is going to lose his power over you. Now, empty shouts of praise that don't come from a holy life, that don't come from a sincere heart, they don't have any power.

No. But if it comes from a heart that's really committed to God, there's tremendous power in it. You know when the Israelites worshipped a golden calf and they called it Jehovah and they shouted to that Jehovah or what they called Jehovah, Moses and Joshua heard it at such a long distance away.

But that wasn't real praise. It was empty. It was hollow. There was immorality in the midst of that praise. And that can happen today. People can praise God with a loud voice and there can be immorality in the midst of all that praise to Jesus.

But where it comes from sincerity, there you can be absolutely certain it's powerful to drive the devil right out. Why don't you practice it from today?