I am here today to tell you that it works! Praise is a very powerful weapon against the enemy. It worked for me and I know it can work for you as well.
“Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke apart the bonds that held them. For He has broken the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron apart.” Psalm 107:13-14, 16 AMP
Steven Curtis
Chapman has a
song called
“Remember Your
Chains”
“Remember your
chains, remember
the prison that
once held you,
before the love
of God broke
through.
Remember the
place you were
without grace,
when you see
where you are
now, remember
your chains, and
remember your
chains are
gone.”
“Imagine what
your life would
be, if Jesus had
not set you
free.”
This is a great
message. No
matter how far
I’ve come, I
always want to
remember where I
started.
“For whoever
lacks these
qualities is
blind,
(spiritually)
shortsighted,
seeing only what
is near to him,
and has become
oblivious (to
the fact) that
he was cleansed
from his old
sins.” II Peter
2:9 AMP
Praise God!
© 2001
In my last two
articles “He
Touched Me” and
“Freeze Tag” (www.restforyoursoul.org)
I wrote about
being frozen in
life and using
drugs, men and
drinking to numb
myself. This
article is about
what happened
after “day one”,
how I remained
free from drugs.
“Stand fast
therefore in the
liberty by which
Christ has made
us free, and do
not be entangled
again with a
yoke of
bondage.”
Galatians 5:1
NKJV
Satan really
doesn’t like it
when someone
gets free from
his or her
bondage. He
kicks up a
fight. I quit a
23-year habit of
smoking pot on a
Tuesday, on
Wednesday I went
to a Bible Study
and while I was
there, my car
window was
broken and my CD
player was
stolen. I went
back into the
building
called
the Police and
made a report. I
cleaned up as
much of the
glass as I could
and went home to
vacuum out the
car. When I got
home, the guy
from across the
alley came over
and he was
drunk, he was
hugging me and
trying to kiss
me (he’s married
with 5 kids!). I
had to fight to
get out of his
arms. I got into
the house and
realized I was
in a war!
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12 NKJV
The first thing
I did was to
speak out loud
to the enemy. I
don’t remember
my exact words,
but I told him I
knew he had
challenged me to
war and I was
ready to fight!
I told him I
have Jesus
Christ and His
blood on my
side, I have
heavenly weapons
and armor and he
was already
defeated!
I
got everything
in my house that
had anything to
do with drugs, I
still had pipes,
papers and other
parapher-nalia,
and some pot
left. I bagged
it all up and
put it by the
door and told
Satan I was
getting it out
of the house the
next day. I had
a DARE (Drug
Abuse Resistance
Education)
bumper sticker
in the house I
put it on my car
the next
morning.
“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Ephesians 6:13 NKJV
Joyce Meyer (Bible speaker and teacher) was doing a series “The Battle Belongs to the Lord” on TV. I would tape the show and watch it after work. Everyday I would do exactly what the Bible says to do in II Chronicles 20. King Jehoshaphat was in a battle with the Moabites, the Ammonites and the Meunites; I was in a battle with the “addiction-ites”. King Jehoshaphat sent the choir singing praises out to lead them into battle, and I did the same thing. I sang praises to the Lord constantly all day long. When I was alone I sang out loud and when I wasn’t alone I sang them in my head. I watched the “Battle Belongs to the Lord” segment of Joyce Meyer over and over; I watched it every day at least once. I read II Chronicles 20 in the Bible at least 3 times every day for the first month. I just saturated my soul with that story whenever I could and when I couldn’t I was singing praises!
“You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem! Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.” II Chronicles 20:17 NKJV