Excerpts from "Silencing the Enemy" - Robert Gay

Why has God ordained praise? Psalm 8:2 From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. Some people feel that they have done the Lord a great service if they spend 30 minutes worshiping Him. The fact is we do not do Him a favor; we do ourselves a favor and the devil great damage. God has not ordained praise because He needs it, but because we need to praise Him.

In Hebrew the word used for silence is shabath which means "to cause to fail, to repose, suffer to be lacking, to put down, take away." As we praise the Lord, we cause the enemy to fail. As we lift our voices to God, we defeat the power of satan that would bring us into bondage. As we enter into worship, we begin to take back what the enemy has stolen from us. When you understand this, spiritual warfare is no longer drudgery. We are not running from our enemy; instead we have him on the run. We are not in a defensive position waiting for him to attack. Rather we take the offensive and go after his kingdom aggressively. We are God's commandoes who go in behind the lines rescuing those that are held captive. If we praise and worship the Lord like children, He has ordained that type of praise to silence and still the enemy. Children are uninhibited. Their expressions of praise are as natural as breathing. They dance and celebrate before the Lord.

Psalm 149:3-8 Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp. 4For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. 5Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds. 6May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, 7to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, 8to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron.

We, the church, are the bailiffs in God's great courtroom, the earth, where He sits as judge. With our praise we bind the devil just as a police official would handcuff a criminal. With our praise we incarcerate him. The praises of God have divine power to execute the judgment He has declared on the enemy. God has given us the honor of executing judgment and vengeance on the wicked demonic kings that have set up rulership and dominion in geographical locations and in people's lives. The Bible says that our praise binds them with chains and fetters of iron. As we praise the Lord, we immobilize them. We cause them to desist and stop whatever maneuvers, plans strategies they are attempting to carry out. Warfare praise is not a toilsome thing. It is an honor that God has bestowed upon you and me. It is done with joy in our hearts as we celebrate the victory of our Lord.

1 John 3:8 The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work God didn't case the devil into hell immediately after his rebellion. His punishment was rather to be confined to the earth to be punished by the church. We now have the honor of binding him. We have the honor of executing God's judgment and destroying satan's kingdom. Knowing this can change the way we view what the devil tries to throw across our paths. When we are confronted by the enemy, we have the privilege one more time of showing the devil who we are in Christ and who he is not. We then lift up our hands, raise our voices in song and dance before the Lord as we acknowledge Him as the mighty man of war who is mighty in battle through us!

Hosea 10:11 Judah must plow The name Judah means praise. As we praise the Lord, we plow and prepare our hearts to receive the incorruptible seed, the Word of God. Praise and worship act as that plow. That's one of the reasons they come before the teaching and preaching of the Word rather than after it. Seed has a greater opportunity of bearing fruit if it's planted in plowed soil.

Joel 3:9-10 Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, "I am strong!" Here the word of God is saying make your praise into a weapon of war. We do this by knowing that God has ordained our praise for such a purpose.

In 2 Chronicles 20 when faced with insurmountable odds, Jehoshaphat appointed singers and musicians to go out at the head of the army to praise the Lord. As they praised the Lord, God brought confusion in the camp of the enemy, and they rose up and destroyed one another. This was written so that we can see with our physical eyes what our praise does in the spirit realm. The Spirit is calling the church in this hour to become a radical, militant people who are warriors in the Spirit. If you are born of God you are a warrior because His seed is in you and He is a warrior. Hallelujah!

Exodus 15:3-5 The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh's officers are drowned in the Red Sea. The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone.

Isaiah 42:13 The LORD will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies.

Revelation 19:11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. The Bible reveals that part of God's character is that of a warrior.

As members of the body of Christ and to engage successfully in spiritual war, we need to have this revelation of God's character. What we reach in God will be in direct proportion to our revelation of Him. Someone who does not have a revelation of Jesus as Savior cannot receive Him as Savior. Someone who does not have a revelation of Jesus as healer, Jehovah-Rapha, will not get healed. Likewise, without a revelation of Jesus as warrior, the Lord of hosts, we will not be able to wage successful, spiritual warfare. God moves on our behalf according to our faith and knowledge of Him. We also learn that Jesus arises as a mighty man of war in the midst of praise and worship. Something about praise stirs the heart of God. As we praise, He rises up with a zeal and vengeance against our enemies.

Isaiah 42:10-13 Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them. Let the desert and its towns raise their voices; let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice. Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them shout from the mountaintops. Let them give glory to the LORD and proclaim his praise in the islands. The LORD will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies. As we glorify God with heart, soul and strength (spirit, soul and body), the battle cry arises, and He triumphs over our enemies.

Isaiah 30:32 Every stroke the LORD lays on them with his punishing rod will be to the music of tambourines and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm. The emphasis is on the connection between our praise and God's battle with our enemy. As we rejoice and shout, God arises in our midst and scatters our enemies. When God arises His enemies are always scattered. The devil is no match for almighty God and His church. The key is having Him arise in our midst. So how does He arise?

Psalm 47:5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets. The psalmist had a revelation that God would fight on our behalf as we praised His name. He had a revelation of the Lord as the mighty man of war. He knew that the Lord would march out on our behalf if we would shout His name in faith.

Matthew 21:15-16 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant. "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, " `From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'?"

Demonstrative praise and worship always upset religious spirits. Demons of pride hate shouting and dancing because it is not "dignified." If in the midst of demonstrative praise Jesus arose as a man of war then He is still arising today. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Our God is a warrior!