Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Psalm 100:3-4.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Praise makes you a partaker of all My promises. Praise is the highest way to release your faith. Most people do not understand the power of praise or they would put it to work at all times. It is a tool, a weapon, a strong defense, a healer, and a lifter of your head. With praise you can win battles, get released from prisons, receive your healing, and turn back the enemy.
You may be wondering what you praise if you are (i) in a dark place, (ii) trapped in what seems to be a place you cannot escape out of, (iii) in pain and/or ill, or (iv) lacking finances. You praise Me for what I have already freely given you in Christ and in that way you take it. Now let Me show you how to apply this one by one:
(i) In a dark place you will not feel like praising but it is the only way you will be lifted out of it into the light. And once you start doing it and keep it up for just a few minutes, maybe less, suddenly within you things will start lifting and changing, and so you press in to an even greater degree and find things becoming joyful. But you may be asking what you should say. The truth of My Word. You praise Me that I have given you Jesus as the Light of the world and that NO follower of His will ever walk in darkness but has the light of life! You praise Me that you have the Light of life in you. And you praise that I am your deliverer! You praise Me that My Word is a light to your path and a lamp to your feet. You praise Me that darkness cannot overcome light. You praise Me that I have brought you out of darkness into My own marvelous light, that I have rescued you from the realm of darkness and translated you into the Kingdom of My beloved Son and made you worthy to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. And then you take hold of that inheritance now, for you are with Me always and all I have is yours, and you declare yourself to be in the light because I am light and you are with Me. And you go after and command out every dark hidden thing within you. And then you smile and shout for joy and sing with the saints in light. And then you turn and tell that darkness, LIGHT BE! You call it in like I did, and declare that you are not a child of darkness but a child of light and it has to flee from your presence, And watch things move as you come out into the light. Wake the dawn with your song. Like David did in dark caves till harm passed by.
My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises! Awake, my glory! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations. Psalm 57:7-9.
(ii) If you feel trapped in a situation that seems there is no way out for you. Start shouting and praising that I am your deliverer, that I am your refuge, that I am your fortress and that I have promised you that I will never permit you to be tried beyond your strength but will open to you a way out. Laugh and sing at so great a deliverance! And praise Me as you remind Me of how I sent an angel to release Peter out of prison, of how I shook the prison as Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises and released them of their chains and opened all the gates and saved the jailer and his whole household on top of it, praise Me that Jesus is the door and no one can shut that door to you who are in Him, praise Me that I turn the valley of trouble into a door of hope when you sing there. And sing songs of deliverance, for I am always singing them around you! Join in and watch the Red Sea part in your life and close again with the mountain in your way cast into the sea.
(iii) If you are in pain and/or ill, you praise Me that I am YOUR healer, you praise and sing for joy that I forgive all your sins and heal ALL your ills and pains, you praise Me that I sent Jesus and He bore your diseases and sicknesses, He bore all your pains and carried them away from you, and by His bloody stripes you were healed. And you tell that pain and illness to depart from you since it is not yours any longer because Jesus took it. Laugh, smile, shout at the healing that is already yours. Give the devil no place and put the unclean spirits on the run as you praise and worship My Son, who heals you.
(iv) If you are lacking finances, you praise Me under My Covenant Name: The LORD who looks ahead and provides for you. YHWH Yireh. And you bless all that you have so that it will increase and multiply like the loaves and the fish that Jesus’ blessed. Put everything in His hands and raise it up to Me in thanksgiving for the increase. And shout for joy that Jesus emptied Himself for you so that you could be rich with all the riches of the Kingdom. Praise that I have given you a good and gracious Shepherd and that there is nothing you shall lack or want. That He leads you to green pastures and healing waters, takes you through the dark valley to a table of plenty in the sight of your enemies where you eat rich fare and your cup overflows and you are anointed with the anointing of your High Priest Jesus, which is the oil of joy that lifts the burden and destroys the yoke of poverty and lack. Sing all of Psalm 23 as you make up your own tune of gratitude. Sing of the widow who only had a little oil and a bit of flour that fed her and her whole household for more than a year, sing of the five loaves and two fish that in the blessed hands of Jesus and the thanksgiving He raised to Me became enough to feed over 10,000 people with 12 baskets full of leftovers. Praise how I paid the taxes Peter and Jesus owed to the Temple by a coin in the mouth of a fish. Praise Me and remind Me of the manna that fell every day before dawn to feed over two million people for forty years in the desert. And tell that lack to go and sow a seed to reap a harvest. Sow into a ministry, your church, a missionary, and specify what the seed is sown to grow. As you give it will be given back to you. Sow sparingly you reap sparingly, sow bountifully, you reap bountifully. And when you give to the poor, I consider it that you did it for Me, that you have lent it to Me, and thus I pay you back bountifully for what you have freely given to Me. And make sure you are tithing or I cannot open the windows of Heaven for you because you are already robbing Me.
Do not cringe and cry if things in your life do not match My promises and keep begging Me to give the benefit to you or, even worse, decide and say My promises are not for you. They are for you; you just have to receive them and you do that by thanksgiving and praise. Just think about when you give a gift to someone or someone offers a gift to you, to receive it you say, “thank you,” and if you are really pleased to receive it you praise the one giving it to you, such as, “It was so wonderful of you to have given me this beautiful gift, it is just what I wanted.” And you send a “thank you” card. They sell these in the store, even packs of them so you can send out your gratitude to the giver. If you reject a gift, you do not thank the giver for it and certainly do not praise them because you have scorn for it and no appreciation.
Do you see? You praise Me for what I have already freely given you in Christ and in that way you receive it and take it. You praise Me for My magnificent promises which are all “yes and amen” to you in Jesus and praise is your way of saying “Amen” to Me, your way of confirming it is yours and you appreciate it. And it is that way you partake of them.
For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. 2 Peter 1:4.
You praise Me because I have blessed you with every blessing that Jesus won for you, and you must understand that He won it for you in the spirit because it is eternal and applies as much to you every moment of your life as it did on the day He suffered and died and on the day I raised Him up for your justification. He did it once in time but it was for all in the eternal. I put every spiritual blessing in your account in Heaven and you access that now from Heaven by receiving it with faith, which finds its highest expression in thanksgiving and praise, sincerely shouted from your heart for your audience of One, not for show but for true love.
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits. Psalm 103:1.
Praise lifts you up on eagle’s wings and brings you to higher realms where Christ is seated at My right hand and there is where you access your heavenly account.
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. Colossians 3:1-2.
I tell you to come with confidence to My throne of grace and receive mercy and find grace just when you need it. That is an abundant and secure life that overcomes any circumstance, trial, or test, but how do you access that secret place that is most high where I dwell?
There is only way you enter the gates to My Kingdom and only one way you get into the holy courts, the inner court and the Holy of holies. Yes, the gate is Jesus and until you receive Him as Lord you cannot enter or even see the Kingdom but there are many who have received Jesus that are living lives of defeat in sickness, poverty, and pain. Why? They do not know how to enter and receive. They are sitting outside the gate begging in sincere prayer but they never go in to partake. And this grieves Me.
There is a protocol set up that otherwise you cannot receive. Begging, crying, and beating on the wall will never get you through the gate. People sometimes say they are bombarding Heaven with their prayers to get the answer they want, but that shows they know nothing about who they are in Christ and how to enter so that you get sit down at the marriage feast properly dressed. In Christ, yes, but also wearing the mantle of praise that He gives you, but you must take it up and put it on.
The Spirit of the Lord LORD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me . . . to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified. Isaiah 61:1-3.
It is good to give thanks to the LORD and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High . . . Planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap and very green. Psalm 92:1, 13-14.
So how do you enter to come and receive all that you need and an abundance for every good work?
Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Psalm 100:3-4.
My Word is truth, established forever in Heaven and it does not change. That is very clear.
Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful singing. Psalm 100:1-2.
That also is clear.
Why would I tell you to do that? Praise gets your attention on Me and off your problem and yourself, that is, worrying about what you can do on your own to fix your problem, and opens you to the blessing so it can freely flow. It is the only way that you can enlarge your heart and get out all that is hindering you from receiving from Me. Shame, guilt, and regret are confidence thieves and will keep you from being open to receive, but praising Me for taking all your sins off you and putting them on Christ and then applying the blood to all you have done that is holding you back will make you joyful. Praise of these things will wipe off the tears and put a big smile in their place.
Praise will also drive out fear, anxiety, and doubt. And those three unclean spirits will choke off the harvest of the seed of My Word you have planted and I have planted in you, and, furthermore, they are not compatible with My presence. The mantle of depression, fear, anxiety, and doubt are not proper attire in the heavenly court. These are enemies and should be treated as such and not held on to as your own. And how do you hold on to them? By giving them your attention.
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim, and I am saved from my enemies. Psalm 18:3.
Prayer and praise combined take hold of all My promises and win battles. You need both and both must be raised upon the foundation of My Word. To pray and praise effectively you must know My Word.
Your Word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You. Psalm 119:11.
When My Son taught you a pattern for prayer in started and finished with praise. Prayer is sandwiched in joyful praise and thanksgiving. You could also say the two bookends that hold up your prayers so they do not fall back to earthly complaint are praise and thanksgiving. I think you understand this direction better now, it is the protocol for answered pray that goes up as incense before Me.
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.
And the very next line is “do not quench the Spirit.” 1 Thessalonians 5:19. This is Spirit led prayer. You rejoice in praise as you come into My courts, first the inner and then the Holy of holies, for it is praise that brings the anointing, and then you present your prayers, and you end in thanksgiving for what you have already received in the Spirit that will now manifest in the physical, as you come forth with thanksgiving.
And here you see the protocol again:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7.
And here are a few more witnesses from My Word:
But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me. Psalm 13:5-6.
Here you are recognizing the bountiful benefits you already have and coming before Me with trust and rejoicing in My Salvation, singing unto Me for all your benefits that you have in Yeshuah.
Because I rejoice in Your salvation. 2 Samuel 2:1.
Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him. Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones; and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart. Psalm 32:10-11.
Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. for our heart rejoices in Him,
Because we trust in His holy name. Let Your lovingkindness, O LORD, be upon us, according as we have hoped in You. Psalm 33:20-22.
And you pray without ceasing in this life changing way, always mindful of the melody in your heart, Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let those who love Your salvation say continually, “The LORD be magnified!” Psalm 40:16.
Praise magnifies My blessings and minimizes your problems. I am the Most High and nothing is too hard for Me. Nothing is too wonderful for Me and nothing is impossible for Me.
How blessed are the people who know the joyful shout! O LORD, they walk in the light of Your countenance. In Your Name they rejoice all the day, and by Your righteousness they are exalted. For You are the glory of their strength, and by Your favor our horn is exalted. Psalm 89:15-17.
I rejoice at Your word, as one who finds great spoil. Psalm 119:162.
This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24.
I love you and that is why I give you the wonderful plan of praise and thanksgiving, it is to lift you out of the ashes to give you all the beauty. It transforms you from a crawling caterpillar that can only view the earth to a butterfly flying above the earth landing only on beautiful flowers.