See You at THE EXPERIENCE

If you had a 15- minute appointment with the world’s richest black woman, Folorunsho Alakija, or Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, or a powerful and generous politician and there was the likelihood that if you spent the first 10 minutes praising them with dance and song, you would be handsomely rewarded by them, would you conform? Let me add that this exercise will be performed in private; only yourself, the individual and God will ever know what transpired. My guess is that 95% of us will happily dance our hearts out and sing merrily, for obvious reasons.

If you have ever been at a party where Juju Music icon, King Sunny Ade, and his band were playing, you will witness the wonder working power of praise. The impact praise has on human beings is an incline of what happens when we praise God. Here are just 3 examples:

1. When we praise God we get delivered from prison. Most, if not all of us are prisoners in one way or the other; prisoners to fear, prisoners to people, prisoners of our own success, prisoners to secret sins or shameful habits and we need deliverance.

Paul and Silas were serving time in a physical prison after they were arrested for preaching the gospel. They decided to praise God at midnight and as a result there was a great earthquake that shook the foundations of the prison, caused all the prison doors to be open and every prisoner’s bonds to be loosed. ( Acts 15: 25- 34). We get delivered from prison when we praise God.

2. When we praise God we achieve victory in battle. As long as we are alive, we are in spiritual warfare. Our ignorance of or disinterest in the war does not exclude us, if any thing, it can result in us falling casualty in this fierce and merciless conflict. There are different battles in life; health battles, relational battle, career battles, family battles, etc.

King Jehosaphat of Judah was minding his business when the Moabites, the Ammonites and the inhabitants of Mount Sier attacked his kingdom. After consultation, Jehoshaphat led his people to praise God. As they did this, extra- ordinary things began to happen. First the Ammonites and the Moabites turned against the people of Mount Seir and destroyed them. Then they turned and destroyed one another. So Judah won the battle without lifting a finger to fight. ( 2 Chronicles 20). We emerge victorious from the battles of life without having to fight, when we praise God.

3. When we praise God we get increase from the earth. In Nigeria today many of us are toiling to eek a living. Things are tough. We are feeling the pangs of the recession and the hardship is not abating. The burden is heavy and there seems to be no way out. No wonder the rate of suicide is going up.

If you have worked hard, prayed, fasted, sown your seed, watered it and there is still no harvest in sight, how about switching to praise because the earth responds to us with increase when we praise God ( Psalm 67: 5- 7).

Much as benefits accrue to us when we praise God, our real reason for praising Him should be because He is our creator and He deserves our praise. Psalm 150 is a great guide to praising God as it tells us where, why, how and who to praise God Psalm 150 1 Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens. 2 Praise him for his acts of power;

praise him for his surpassing greatness.

3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

praise him with the harp and lyre,

4 praise him with timbrel and dancing,

praise him with the strings and pipe,

5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,

praise him with resounding cymbals.

6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.

When over 750,000 people gather to praise and worship God it is not just a jamboree. It is rather an opportunity of a lifetime, greater than 10 minutes before any rich and powerful man or woman.

Join us at THE EXPERIENCE on Friday, 1st December, 2017 at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Onikan, Lagos. According to the Paul Adefarasin- led House on the Rock, organisers of THE EXPERIENCE, ‘ it is a sacrifice in faith so that as praise ascends to God, He will look upon our nation favourably and bless the land’. The theme for this year is Christ the King. Various gospel artists: Don Meon, Donnie MacClurkin and Travis Greene, from the USA, Chevelle Franklyn from Jamaica and from Nigeria Nathaniel Bassy, Frank Edwards, Chioma Jesus and Midnight Crew, amongst others will lead us in a time of praise, worship and thanks to God from 7pm till dawn. THE EXPERIENCE in God’s presence will bless you.