Resource: Send up Judah

Send Judah first

Num 2:9 All that were numbered in the camp of Judah were an hundred thousand and fourscore thousand and six thousand and four hundred, throughout their armies. These shall first set forth.

Jdg 1:1 Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?
Jdg 1:2 And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.

Jdg 20:18 And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up first.

It’s funny how we can see in the scripture that when the people asked God what they needed or who should of gone first God always said, send Judah first. Today my message is to send Judah first. Let pray

When you read the bible it becomes very clear that God throughout the Old Testament and the new, that names meant everything. For example Abraham before he was called that was abram. God changed it because He knew that one day he would become the father of all and that’s what Abraham means. Or let’s take Simon Peter for example, Simon means ” he has heard” but that wouldn’t be to fit for a person that would be handed the keys to heaven. So God changed how name to Peter which means ” stone” meaning he would be solid in the teaching and preaching of Jesus. and how fitting for the man who preaches the the very first Pentecostal church service sermon called acts 2:38, which is what we need to do to get to heaven and that is to be baptized everyone for the remission of your sins and then ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Which also becomes the stone building block for the Pentecostal movement today.

So how fitting that when God wanted something to get done during the battles of the Old Testament that he would send Judah to fight first. Judah means praise. That’s why God sent them first. Because no mater what is going on in your life you should always praise him first. Maybe your going through a tough time, praise him. You lost a loved one, praise him. If you just got a new job, praise him. If everything is going great in your life, praise him! In fact it’s said that the deepest level of worship is praising God in spite of the pain, thanking God during the trials, trusting him when when we are tempted to loose, hope and loving him when he seems so far away. At our lowest God is our hope. At our darkest, God is our light, at our weakest, God is our strength. At our saddest, God is our comforter, praise God!

Let’s define praise. The dictionary defines praise as to command or to applaud based on personal worth or actions, to extol in words of song, or to magnify or glorify based on perfections or excellent. The scripture tells us to sing, speak, declare praises among the people, to praise him with instruments, lifting of hands, clapping, shouting and dancing. Hence why you see that when the 120 people who got filled with the Holy Ghost of the day of Pentecost they ran out and where shouting and dancing and praising God for he had sent the comforter.

He’s worthy to be praised

Psa 18:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said,

I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.

Psa 18:2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Psa 18:3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

He is worthy because of his majesty, beauty, holiness, love grace, goodness, and faithfulness
He’s worthy because he saved us, redeemed us, and blessed us abundantly.

Now what happens when you praise him first

Praise releases faith. Praise is the voice of faith, and faith is the key to victory and as praise becomes the confession of our mouth our faith is released.

And finally praise defeats God enemies. Praise is a powerful weapon in spiritual warfare. As the Church goes to war over cities and nations, there is a place for binding, rebuking, and standing in faith. But God is also anointing praise, proclamation, and declaration as weapons of spiritual war. Through praise, the walls of Jericho will once again come down.

That’s why David says Psa 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Here’s something I thought about concerning this message of praise. Have you ever wondered what would happen if before a battle or as a battle is starting to begin that we declare victory over it? Just like the children of Israel had asked God who they should send first in judges 1:1 God said send praise first for I have already delivered the victory into your hands. If we just send praise first and declare victory over our situation or battle God will already have it delivered into our hands! That’s all we need to do. Is give thanks to the almighty, the everlasting, the prince of peace Jesus who has delivered victory tonight into our hands!!!

So come on today and praise him like never before, praise him with singing, with clapping and shouting. Praise him in the morning and praise him in the evening. Stand with me and praise him!!!