Does praising the Lord actually cause things to happen? Do circumstances and events really change? I mean, do they really change? It depends! First, it depends upon what we actually do when we “praise the Lord.”

If we follow certain prescribed rules in a mechanical way, we can look back at our efforts and say, “I’ve done everything exactly as Merlin Carothers recorded in his books, but nothing good happens to me!”

Before praising the Lord will cause events in our lives to change, most of us must develop trust in the Lord. When we face God, we must reflect inner confidence in Him! That is faith that works. We can tell God 10,000 times that we trust Him, but He knows exactly what we believe.

Consider the potential that we have. We can make our problems work for us! Is such a thing possible? Yes!

The following is an illustration that may not seem very spiritual to those of you who have never served in the military, but please bear with me as my years in the Army still cause me to think in terms of how to defeat any force that wants to destroy us. In the Army we learned how to make an individual attacker’s weight and strength work for us rather than against us. As the attacker moved toward us, we would grip some opportune part of his body, or weapon, drop on our back, kick our feet into his body so he would be thrown over our head and crash to the ground. The force of his own weight and speed worked for us rather than against us. I’m not inferring that this was an easy maneuver – as may be depicted in the movies. It can be tricky, but it was far better than having the enemy destroy us!

Sometimes our problems seem to want to demolish us. They knock us down, discourage us, or make us live in fear. Until. . . we learn to make each problem work for us.

Jesus saw the evil forces that were increasing their efforts to destroy Him. Even the Twelve Disciples were aware of the coming troubles. They wanted Jesus to take action to save Himself. His reaction was, “These things must happen to fulfill God’s plan.”  He was committed to believe that whatever happened would work for our good and God’s glory.

The question you and I have to ask ourselves is, “Does God have a plan for my life too?” We are God’s children. He promises to make everything work for us if we trust Him. That means that the biggest problem charging down on us can be used for us. The decision is ours.

Jesus didn’t stand still and do nothing. He continued His mission, just as if He had no problems. He knew that He would be crucified. His disciples scattered, and Jesus was hung on the cross, but to the end His heart was at peace. He believed God was in control and that He Himself would be resurrected from the dead.

You and I have our missions. When problems attack us, they work for us as we submit them to God and abide in His peace. If we refuse to trust Him, then each problem has the potential of knocking us down and out – and the ground can be cold and hard. I know, I’ve been there. I have also experienced the joy of having a serious problem work for me as I believed God was keeping His promise.

I Chronicles 5:20 says, He heeded their prayer because they put their trust in Him. Does praising the Lord change things? Yes! But our praise must demonstrate our trust that God is taking the problem and causing it to work for our good. We don’t have to understand how He will do it. Or when He will do it. Our part is to believe Him.

Study what others have learned about the power there is in praising the Lord. Practice praising the Lord. Use praise against the enemy’s effort to defeat you, and you will be convinced that praise works! (Reprint from December 1989)