escaped. King Jehoshaphat and his men went out to gather the plunder. They found vast amounts of equipment, clothing, and other valuables more than they could carry. There was so much plunder that it took them three days just to collect it all! On the fourth day they gathered in the valley of Blessing, which got its name that day because the people praised and thanked the LORD there. It is still called the valley of blessing today.”
2 Chronicles 20:21-26.
God moved ahead of them and dealt with their enemies immediately they began to sing His praises. When you praise God, He goes ahead of you to defeat your enemies. You will only come to the battlefield to pick the spoils of war and celebrate in the valley of blessings. Go into night battles with praise and worship. Make it a duty to praise God always, no matter what is happening around you. This is just my secret. Day and night, not just when I’m praying, I join the heavenly hosts to worship our King, LORD and Saviour.
Great Testimonies
Now, let’s hear from a one-time very powerful agent of the kingdom of darkness, now a servant of Jesus Christ – Emmanuel Eni. Incidentally, I gave my life to Jesus in one of his crusades in the eastern part of Nigeria in the 80s. We will have many of his testimonies and others in this work. Hear him on the effectiveness of praise:
“You must learn to sing praises to God always. There is power in praises. There was this Pastor – Pastor I.K (name withheld) he was the pastor of a church in Ebute Metta, Lagos. He became my target and his offences were that he disturbed our peace by carrying out early morning calls, i.e. preaching in the early hours. He went about with his megaphone and stationed himself at N0. 2 Bus Stop, along Akintola Road, Ebute Metta. There he would preach, he would not stop at that, but would keep binding demons, etc. In his church, he would preach, exposing the works of darkness, after which he would start binding demons. He prayed a lot. He was always singing and praising God.
“I sent my messengers to him but they could not kill him, so I decided to carry out the mission myself. On the said day, I saw him walking along the new G.R.A. A thing worth mentioning here about this pastor is: any time we went for him, we would see pillars of cloud by his right and left going along with him, so these hindered us. But this particular day, I saw nothing, so I was doubly sure my mission would be very successful. I commanded rain to fall to enable me to strike him with thunder. The rain started and the thundering began. All the trees in the area started losing their branches but this Pastor was singing joyfully. I still remember the chorus: ‘In Jesus Name, every knee shall bow…!’
“As he continued with this chorus, the rain stopped and the thundering ceased. There appeared immediately two angels, one on each side, with flaming swords. Their eyes and the swords were like flames of fire. Then a strong wind carried me away and I found myself in another town! In fact, I was baffled, but because we were so hardened, what I said was: ‘this man has escaped again!’ The Pastor did not know the spiritual war that was fought on his behalf. So, you can see, the child of God is well secured. When the bible says: ‘Nothing shall by any means hurt you,’ it means what it says!”
Truly, great is Jehovah our God! Did you read that? His presence protects us and if not for this kind of confessions, we may never know the numerous battles that our great God fights for us daily. Just imagine the above story. Please, live a life of praise. I mean sincere praises from your heart. It is always a powerful weapon in hands of a child of God.
Let’s move quickly and consider the other weapons we have and of course hear more chilling testimonies. Go over to the Name of Jesus.
THE NAME OF JESUS
Chapter Six
The Name of Jesus
“Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11
“I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else in this world or in the world to come… and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms – all because we are one with Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 1:19-21, 2:6
“And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents. And if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Mark 16:17-18 (King James Version).
The name of Jesus is a very great weapon in the hands of a Christian, especially the prayer warrior. It is always fatal to Satan and the dark kingdom when mentioned by a believer, and even sometimes, by the unbelievers. The name of Jesus opens the doors of heaven and also brings all the powers in heaven, on earth, under the earth and in the water to subjection. But, why is it so powerful?
First of all, Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came from heaven. This is a very simple introduction of Jesus. But if you study the scriptures very well, you will no doubt arrive at the undisputable fact that Jesus is God. He is God, but came in human form. From the Old Testament to the New, everything points to this fact. So, if this man was God in the flesh, why would He (His name) not command absolute authority and influence over His creation? Tell me.
Secondly, before you accuse me of not knowing my bible, Jesus also ‘earned’ the highest authority when He successfully paid the price for sin and also rose from death. Hope you read those verses at the beginning of the chapter? They are self-explanatory. And this is why I may not comment much on them.
Now, read the following scriptures and make the conclusions by yourself:
“For in and you are complete through your union with Christ. He is the Lord over every ruler and authority in the universe”
Colossians 2:9-10
“. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we cannot see – kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together.”
Colossians 1:15
Great! Now, what do you want me to say again? If Christ has these nature and attributes, how then can a created being (like Satan and dark agents) ever stand before Him? Now these are the things we must understand as Christians. That Our Savoir Jesus Christ is God. That He created and is controlling all things in the whole universe – be it power, principalities, rulers, authorities, thrones, dominions in the air, in the waters, on the earth, on the mountains, in the dark places, in the day and in the night.
So, when you mention His name, these created beings hear the name of their creator and they have no choice than to obey, bow and submit to His authority. A creation will always be subject to the creator. Simple!
Jesus knew this very well and that was why He ruled over demons, sicknesses, nature and situations while He was still on earth. And even at the point of death, He had to willingly submit Himself, because mortals could not physically arrest not to talk of killing Him. Let’s just see the drama that happened at His arrest:
“After saying these things, Jesus crossed the Kidron Valley with his disciples and entered a grove of olive trees. Judas, the betrayer, knew this place, because Jesus had gone there many times with His disciples. The leading priests and Pharisees had given Judas a battalion of Roman soldiers and Temple guards to accompany him. Now with blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons, they arrived at