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“Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and bless his name.”

And you know what will happen when you go into the courts of the LORD through the gates. Definitely, you will not come out the same. Your burdens, needs and requests will be met. Praise and worship will open the gates!

There are also other things that a spirit-filled praise will do for us. It will give you the wonderful privilege of joining the heavenly beings in worshiping God and bringing heaven down to the earth.

Just look at Rev. 4:2-11,

“I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it! The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones-Jasper and Carnelian. And the glow of an emerald circled his throne like a rainbow. Twenty-four thrones surrounded him, and twenty-four elders sat on them. They were all clothed in white and had gold crown on their heads. And from the throne came flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder. And in front of the throne were seven lamp stands with burning flames. They are the seven spirits of God. In front of the throne was a shinny sea of glass, sparkling like crystal.

“In the centre and around the throne were four living beings, each covered with eyes, front and back. The first of these living beings had the form of a lion; the second looked like an ox; the third had a human face; and the fourth had the form of an eagle with wings spread out as though in flight. Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night, they keep on saying’ ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty – the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.

“Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, the twenty four elders fall down and worship the one who lives forever and ever. And they lay their crowns before the throne and say, ‘you are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.”

Majestic! This is the duty of the fearful four living beings and the twenty-four elders in heaven. I ran the whole record so that you can understand exactly what you do when you praise and worship God. I am always conscious of this fact when I am in worship – that I am joining the hosts of heaven and the billions of believers all over the earth to say that our God and King is worthy to be worshiped forever. This is sweet!

We also sacrifice when we praise Him. And you know a sacrifice is offering something precious and of great value to somebody. God deserves our best. We must give Him the fruit of our lips – that is praise as sacrifice. Our praises must ascend to Him as a sweet smelling savour.

Hebrew 13:15 says,

“Let us continually offer our sacrifice of praise to God by proclaiming the glory of his name.”

Praise as a Mighty Weapon

Praise and worship are also mighty weapons in the hands of the believers. When you praise God, you throw Satan and his dark kingdom into confusion and panic. You disorganize and defeat their plans. Look at the case of Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah again; when those three enemy nations came to attack them. After praying and getting directions from God, the bible said that King Jehoshaphat assembled the singers and marched to the battleground. They did not only defeat their enemies, but went home with more than enough spoils of war.

“After consulting the leaders of the people, the king (Jehoshaphat) appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the LORD and praising him for his holy splendour. This is what they sang: ‘Give thanks to the LORD; his faithful, love, endures forever!’ At the moment they began to sing and give praise, the LORD caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves. The armies of Moab and Ammon turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them. After they had finished off the army of Seir, they turned on each other.

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“So when the army of Judah arrived at the look-out point in the wilderness, they were dead bodies lying on the ground for as far as they could see. Not a single one of the enemies 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!”

(Excerpts from the book: ‘Deliverance from the Powers of Darkness’).

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 Christ the fullness of God lives in a human body 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

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. 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

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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 the olive grove.

“Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him. Stepping forward to meet them, He asked, ‘who are you looking for?”

“Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied.

“I am he,’ Jesus said. Judas was standing there with them when Jesus identified himself. And as he said, ‘I am he’, they all fell backward to the ground! Once more he asked them, ‘whom are you searching for?’

“And again they replied, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’

“I told you that I am he’, Jesus said, ‘And since I am the one you want, let these others go.’ He did this to fulfil his own statement, ‘I have not lost a single one of those you gave me.’

“Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s servant. But Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup the father has given me?”

John 18:1-11

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Wow! That was indeed a drama at the point of Jesus’ arrest. Sure, so much to learn from here. We went through this story so that you will be able to appreciate the authority and nature of Jesus while on earth. A battalion of soldiers with all their weapons could not arrest Him. When He told them, ‘I am he’, they all fell to the ground. He later willingly submitted himself to them so that He would be able to fulfil His divine mission of sacrificing His life for mankind. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for men to kill Him.

Yes, He was always on top of every situation. This same Jesus is saying that He has given us that authority in His name to cast out devils, withstand Satan, heal the sick, and march upon principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness. The believer, especially the prayer warrior must understand this very well. At the mention of the name Jesus, every power and every situation must bow.

Confession of a Former Occult Master

Before we continue, let’s see a confession of a one time powerful and high-ranking agent of Satan from Nigeria – Evangelist E. O. Omoobajesu as recorded in his book ‘My Conversion’. This will help us to appreciate the power in the Name of Jesus. Read:

“I recall a meeting of the cults held at the Lagos Bar Beach. All the high-ranking occultists in Nigeria were present and among our members were some of the traditional rulers from all over the country. Thus, from every part of the country we came and assembled at the beach, dressed in demonic regalia while our evil powers made us invisible. We were just settling down on the beach to start the meeting when a man came to pray on the beach. Though we were invisible to him, we could all see him clearly. Unknowingly, he started to march on the members seated on the sand.

“We were all infuriated, and a person in our assembly was ordered to deal with him. Instantly, he gave the intruder a very heavy slap. The man started to feel dizzy. On realizing this, he cried out aloud. He shouted J-E-S-U-S! The echo of his voice rented the silence of the night.

“What happened? Immediately [after] the name of Jesus was called, a ray of light came out of his mouth and disappeared into the heavens. We all sat down looking at what would happen next. After a few moments, the light reappeared out of the sky coming back to the earth. The light again exploded in mid-sky and subdivided into various parts, still coming directly towards us. This light encircled our gathering on the beach and made the whole surrounding very brightly lit.

“Looking more closely, we saw accompanying these rays, all forms [kinds] of weapons of war, chariots of fire and winged-beings, all were running furiously, heading towards us. We all had to disperse; everyone ran away, the chariots chasing each of us home. All these [things] happened within the twinkling of an eye.”

Powerful! My God is great! This is a true confession of a one-time very powerful and dreaded agent of Satan. It is very possible that that prayer warrior (Christian) who called the name of Jesus did not and may never know what eventually happened that night; the war that heaven declared on his behalf. All he would say is that Jesus delivered him from the attack of the enemy at the Bar Beach. But, the Satanists saw everything clearly. This is exactly what happens each time we mention the name of Jesus in our warfare against the kingdom of darkness. They scamper for safety. They run in confusion and total disarray.

All powers, principalities, rulers of darkness bow and genuflect at the mention of the name of Jesus. They obey at the mention of His name because He conquered and disgraced them at the cross. Christians, including the midnight warriors, must begin to appreciate and appropriate the power that is in the Name of Jesus.

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Emmanuel Eni also tells the story of how the Name of Jesus threw Satan down at one of their meetings in the underwater world. Hear him:

“One day, a girl named NINA came to me. NINA whose parents were from Anambra State was a very beautiful young girl but lives mostly in the sea, the underwater spirit world. She was an ardent agent to the Queen of the Coast (goddess of the sea) and very wicked. She hated the Christians so much and would go any length to fight Christianity. I first met her during my visit to the sea. NINA came for an errand from the Queen of the coast.

“We left immediately and reaching there I learnt of our having a conference with Lucifer. Satan, in this meeting, gave us the following instructions: to fight the believers and not the unbeliever; because the unbelievers were already his. When he said this, one of us asked: ‘why?’ He said the vision was that God drove him out of ‘that place’ (he refused to call the word ‘heaven’ and throughout our meetings with him he never mentioned the word ‘heaven’). Rather he would always use the word ‘that place’, because of pride, and therefore he does not want any Christian to get there.

“He also told us that we should not fight the hypocrites. ‘They are like me’ he said. He continued his speech and said that his time was near; therefore we should fight as never before and make sure no one enters ‘that place!’ So, one of us said to him, ‘we heard that God has sent someone to rescue mankind back to God.’ Satan then asked: ‘who is that?’ One member answered ‘Jesus!’ And to our greatest surprise, Lucifer fell from his seat. He shouted at the man and warned him never to mention that name in any of our meetings if he loves his life. It is true that at the name of Jesus every knee must bow (Phil. 2:10), including Satan.”

Yes, the word of God is true! Every knee, including Satan, must bow to the name of Jesus. What else do you want to hear? His name also opens the doors of heaven and blessings for us. That was why Jesus said that anything you will ask in His name will be given to you. It is the key to open God’s heart, His mercies and treasures. It locks the gates of hell but opens heaven for us. Let’s see the next – The Blood of Jesus, with more testimonies.

THE BLOOD OF JESUS

Chapter Seven
The Blood of Jesus

“And they have defeated him because of the blood of the lamb and because of their testimony.” Rev. 12:11

“…Jesus is the great shepherd of the sheep by an everlasting covenant, signed with his blood.” Hebrews 13:21

Another very powerful weapon that God has given to us is the blood of Jesus Christ. When a believer pleads the blood of Jesus, he/she is automatically protected from the attacks of Satan and his agents. His blood reminds Satan and the demons of their defeat on the cross. The shedding of Christ’s blood on the cross, His death and subsequent resurrection brought us back to God and also sealed the eternal doom of Satan and his fallen angels. Sure, taking Jesus to the cross remains one of the things that the devil will eternally regret.

In fact, the bible said that if he (the devil) had known, he wouldn’t have killed the Lord of glory. The shedding of Jesus blood unknowingly to the devil was what was needed to seal the everlasting covenant between God and us. And once you invoke that covenant the devil is disorganised, disarmed and disgraced. That is exactly what the scriptures say.

Look at Colossians 2:15,

“In this way, God disarmed the evil rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross of Christ.”

Did you get that? The sacrifice through the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross disarmed and disgraced the devil. So, when you plead the blood of Jesus, this is exactly what you are doing. You are neutralizing the powers and the activities of Satan. You render him impotent, powerless and also bring shame upon him. If it is so, then tell me why he should not get jittery at the sight or hearing of His blood?

Let us again see the testimony of Evangelist E. O. Omoobajesu. This incident happened when he was still serving Satan. He said,