“The beasts of the field will glorify Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people. The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise.” Isaiah 43: 20-23

It is God’s will that everything that has breath should praise the Lord. In our text we see that even the beasts of the field glorify God - and also that He formed people to declare His praise. We see here that one of the identifying characteristics of God’s chosen people is that they will declare His praise. We cannot fulfill our purpose without offering our praise to Him. The Bible says that God is enthroned upon the praises of His people, so the Lord is acknowledged as King where He is praised in true devotion.

 In the Crusade Church we call our sanctuary “The Court of King Jesus.” We have a stone tile wall between two gold pillars and on the wall it reads in chiseled gold letters, “The Court of King Jesus.”

Three hours of every Friday evening is devoted to singing praises and offering prayers of devotion to our great Father, Savior and King. Our morning service on the Sabbath lasts three hours and more than an hour is devoted to praise and song. We always have two services each Sabbath and sometimes three when we have open testimony services. We usually offer some praises during this service as well. As a result God has touched us many times and in many ways. We have seen a wealth of healings and miracles as we praised Him.

When Jesus made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem the people praised Him and praised God as they shouted, -“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” This angered the Religious leaders who demanded that Jesus turn and rebuke the people for this emotional outburst of praise, but Jesus replied, -“I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!”

Here we find some yielding to the Spirit of God and honoring Him with praise, and some resisting the Spirit and trying deny Him glory. The Religious leaders were in an uncomfortable place and felt the people were out of control. Of course they had not allowed themselves to be emotionally carried away but were just yielding to the Spirit of God. Of all living creatures, man alone can choose to deny God praise - but how sad that must be to the Lord.

  What we are willing to let go of always determines what God will let go of.

While preaching the Gospel in Philippi, Paul and Silas were unlawfully arrested, beaten severely and thrown in the innermost part of the jail. I can picture their bloody bodies hanging in chains on the dungeon wall. Suddenly at about midnight, they began to sing praises to the Lord.

After a while God showed up and the ground shook, the chains fell off and all the prison doors opened. Amazingly, instead of escaping, the other prisoners ran to Paul and Silas where they told them about Jesus. When the Jailer came and saw the empty cells he determined to commit suicide, but Paul cried out, -“Do not harm to yourself. All the prisoners are here.” The Jailer and his family received the Gospel and the Philippian Church was birthed that night in praise.