“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
my God, my strength, in whom I will trust,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
SO shall I be saved from my enemies.”
Psalm 18:2-3

It would be worthwhile to do a Bible study on the linking of praise with deliverance from one’s enemies, for this principle is repeated throughout the Scriptures.

“But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying
and singing hymns to God,
and the prisoners were listening to them.
Suddenly there was a great earthquake,
so that the foundations of the prison were shaken,
and immediately all the doors were opened
AND EVERYONE’S CHAINS WERE LOOSED.”
Acts 16:25-26

One night, my sister, my daughter, my granddaughter and I were sitting around a table praying. This passage was mentioned, how when Paul and Silas were singing praises to God at midnight that suddenly there was an earthquake and everyone’s chains were loosed. Just after mentioning this verse, there was an earthquake HERE. Long silence …then we just looked at each other in shock, with our jaws dropped. It was as though God was underlining this principle and adding exclamation points after it, telling us that this is a very crucial principle in our walk with him, and that it will lead to deliverance.

When we’re in the middle of an attack from the enemy, when we don’t know what to do, when we feel our weakness above all, the remedy is to turn to the Lord, singing praises to his Name. In doing so we are not only acknowledging that he is greater than any enemy we could ever have, but that we acknowledge that our deliverance will not come from ourselves but from him. The fruit of our lips is proclaiming that we have put our trust in his greatness even when it is dark – especially when it is dark. Paul and Silas were in a prison dungeon, their backs bloodied, in a lot of pain. Singing praises to God!

Read the Psalms of David. This king, this man whom God said was “a man after my own heart,” experienced much suffering and much opposition. He was called and chosen, yet he suffered more than most. But in his trials, king David continuously brought praise and worship to God, and God delivered him out of all his troubles and established him to fulfill his role as king of Israel, against all odds.

We’re in a battle against an enemy we cannot see. It’s a supernatural enemy who wreaks havoc in our lives, constantly trying to bring us to discouragement, making every effort to interfere with God’s plan for our lives. We tend to look at the physical circumstances that we see and concentrate on that, looking within ourselves for the way to deal with it. But God would have us take our focus OFF the wiles of the devil and turn to the glorious God who is our rock, our fortress, our deliverer, our God, our strength, our shield, the God of our salvation, our stronghold – in whom we place our trust. When you lift your voice to God in praise and adoration, something happens in the spiritual world which we don’t see, and we are delivered from our enemy.

Sing to him, worship him, love him – and he will be ALL to you.