The Power of Praise

At Planetshakers, we LOVE to praise God!

Rarely will we meet together without engaging in some sort of passionate praise and thanksgiving to the God that we love and adore.

We believe that authentic praise carries the supernatural power to change an atmosphere completely and open the door to miracles, signs and wonders. When we praise, we join in agreement with other like-minded Believers to declare who God is and lift Him up above any circumstance that tries to steal our faith, joy and hope!

Praise prepares our hearts for God’s Word by steering our attention away from our problems and back onto His greatness! It readies us to receive what He wants to do in our lives throughout a church service, small group or even as we seek Him on our own.

Praise is powerful! That’s why we intentionally start every Planetshakers meeting with praise so that we can establish an atmosphere of faith that is free from the restrictions that our doubt and unbelief bring!

Anything of the enemy that is affecting the atmosphere simply cannot remain when authentic praise fills the airways! By using our bodies to passionately and wholeheartedly declare and celebrate the character and promises of God, we are lifting up the Kingdom of God to establish a fresh new atmosphere; full of possibility and expectation! This defeats whatever the enemy tries to bring against us, in whatever situation we are facing.

God finds our authentic praise ‘irresistible’ and responds with His Presence!

Praise is an act of faith

Praise is about having faith in the character of God even when we are struggling with challenges in life. It is when we CHOOSE to focus on and believe in Him that our faith is exercised, and it is faith alone that pleases Him and moves Him to action in our lives—personally and corporately!

God wants us to know exactly who He is, how He feels and what He is capable of. We establish this revelation in our hearts by singing songs that declare and prophesy His unfailing Word and promises over our lives.

In Acts chapter 16, we see Paul and Silas demonstrate the supernatural power of authentic, passionate praise. Facing unimaginable conditions while being wrongly imprisoned for their faith, they chose to stop focussing on their circumstances and instead, turn their attention fully onto the faithfulness of their God. So powerful was their faith-filled praise in that dark, miserable prison, that their environment suddenly changed and they were instantly set free. The Kingdom of Heaven ‘burst’ through the atmosphere, magnetically drawn to the authentic faith of two suffering men, and the miraculous power of God was released— shaking everything around them and releasing them, and everyone around them, from their chains!

We see another great example of the power of praise in Joshua chapter 6. Carefully obeying God’s instructions, His people marched obediently around the impenetrable walls of Jericho and when the right moment arrived, let out a shout of praise and victory. Once again, moved by their faith, God burst into their circumstances, shaking the earth and causing the walls to collapse and a great and otherwise-impossible victory to be won!

Praise is not just singing upbeat, loud songs, but rather a faith-filled declaration of God’s power and nature in the face of impossible circumstances that attract the supernatural power of Heaven to bring breakthrough! Our praise is actually a ‘weapon’—one of the most powerful you will ever use! But this is a weapon that can only be activated by FAITH.

James 2:17 teaches us that faith that is not accompanied by action, is powerless to do anything at all.

It takes faith to respond to our challenging circumstances with praise. When we use our bodies to clap, dance, sing and shout— even when we feel like doing the very opposite— we are positioning ourselves for victory. The Bible tells us that our spirits and our flesh (our sinful nature) are constantly at war with each other:

Our flesh loves to respond to how our circumstances are making us feel, and this is when we must allow our spirit to lead the way. Our flesh will want us to respond to the fear and doubt we are feeling, while our spirit pushes us to respond with faith in the goodness of our God to bring the breakthrough we need.

At Planetshakers, we believe that when faced with challenges, bad news, disappointments or a negative diagnosis; the best and most productive thing you can do is PRAISE God. As you declare His goodness, power and promises, passionately and out loud, you remind yourself, the enemy and the circumstances that God will have the final say and that there is NOTHING that can stand in the way of His deliverance!

A girl in our church once gave an incredible testimony regarding the power of praise in her life. She had been diagnosed with a throat condition that prevented her from singing. She could no longer worship lead due to this condition preventing her from using her voice. As this girl attended our conference full of faith that God could and would bring the breakthrough she so desperately needed, she did her best to sing out the powerful words of ‘The Anthem’— a Planetshakers song that declares the victory won by Jesus on the cross. She described how her throat literally ‘popped open’ and she was instantly set free of her debilitating condition! Despite her diagnosis, she chose to step out in faith and praise God to the best of her ability—and God met her there with a miracle! The moral of this story is not to let bad news dictate your belief in the power and nature of God, but instead, take a step of faith, turn to Him in praise and then wait for His response!

Praise is an act of thankfulness

Of course, praise and thankfulness go hand in hand, and there is always so much to be grateful for! If we praised Him all day, every day, we would never finish thanking Him for all of the seen and unseen ways that He cares for us and blesses us. He is a good Father and we will never fully understand how He is constantly working behind the scenes in our lives to love, protect, nurture and favour us.

While it is not difficult to argue that God is worthy of our best praise, sometimes we excuse away our lack of passion because we don’t have a ‘confident’ or ‘outgoing’ personality. Maybe we feel that jumping and clapping are for younger people and undignified for older people. At Planetshakers, we try to free people from that kind of thinking by reminding them that praise is not about THEM. It is not about what feels comfortable or appropriate. It’s not about your personality or nature. It’s not about who’s watching you or judging you. It’s not about how you’re feeling or what’s going on in your life. It’s about GOD and how HE feels when we celebrate HIM with all of our body, mind and strength! In fact, you won’t find a Bible verse anywhere that exempts you from praising God passionately, loudly and by moving your body! There are no verses that instruct us to only praise Him if we’re young, outgoing, happy or ‘feel like it’ at the time. Quite the opposite in fact!

In using the phrases, ‘everything that has breath’ and ‘all the Earth’, we find no convenient loophole for us to avoid participating with passion and energy! Likewise, a quick scan of the list of musical instruments, in addition to the clapping and dancing mentioned here, suggests that God loves a LOUD sound of praise and the sight of a JOY-FILLED dance offering— no matter how uncoordinated it may be! That said, it is important to remember why we celebrate God in this way in Church. Although it is good to have fun and experience joy in God’s house, amongst God’s family, we must always remember that our praise is for HIM. He is the focus of our attention and devotion, and when our gifts, talents and praise become an opportunity for us to be noticed and admired by others, we have missed the point and it loses its supernatural power to bring breakthrough in our lives.

If you need any more convincing on the power and importance of praise, let’s look at the science. Medical research tells us that the lymphatic system of our bodies—designed to eliminate waste and toxins— relies on our muscles and movement to operate effectively. Movement provides the ‘pump’ action that forces unwanted waste from our body, and when we stop moving, toxins begin to build up and cause big problems.

When we praise God passionately, moving our bodies as we dance, clap and sing, we are not only staying spiritually healthy but also physically healthy. Not only are we driving out fear and unbelief, but also natural toxins that threaten our health. This is the genius and glory of God on full display! When we authentically praise God, not only do we touch His heart and attract His Presence, power and breakthrough in our lives, but we also set ourselves up for good health in the process!

Praise brings joy

At Planetshakers, we are driven by the desire to create a fresh new sound of praise that the world has never heard before. We want to engage every generation and every culture to praise God in a joyful, fun and liberating way. It is sometimes said that our services feel like a ‘party’ and this can be easily misinterpreted as ‘worldly’ or ‘shallow’ or only for young people. But we live with the revelation that Heaven will be a party atmosphere as people from every tribe and nation praise God in their own style and language— expressing the ultimate joy and gratitude to Him for what He has done in their lives. It will be loud, passionate, vigorous, unrestrained (having left behind the physical limitations of our Earthly bodies), and it will go on for all eternity! Most importantly, it will be directed at Jesus alone—the One that we love.

We hope and pray that our music builds bridges that connect people all over the world with this very special mandate of lifting Jesus high in our praise so that He can draw all men to Himself. Ultimately, that is what praise is all about.

Key Points

• We believe that authentic praise carries the supernatural power to change an atmosphere completely and open the door to miracles, signs and wonders. When we praise, we join in agreement with other like-minded Believers to declare who God is and lift Him up above any circumstance that tries to steal our faith, joy and hope!
• Praise is about having faith in the character of God even when we are struggling with challenges in life. It is when we CHOOSE to focus on and believe in Him that our faith is exercised, and it is faith alone that pleases Him and moves Him to action in our lives—personally and corporately!
• Praise is a weapon! When you praise, you remind yourself, the enemy and the circumstances that God will have the final say and that there is NOTHING that can stand in the way of His deliverance!
• "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord" Psalm 150:6 There is no convenient loophole for us to avoid participating with passion and energy! It is not about what feels comfortable or appropriate, your personality or nature. It’s not about how you’re feeling or what’s going on in your life. It’s about GOD and how HE feels when we celebrate HIM with all of our body, mind and strength!
• Heaven will be a party atmosphere as people from every tribe and nation praise God in their own style and language—expressing the ultimate joy and gratitude to Him for what He has done in their lives. Praise is all about JESUS!