Then the children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God to inquire of God. They said, “Which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin?”
The Lord said, “Judah first!” (Judges 20:18 NKJV)

In Genesis 29:35, it says: And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she stopped bearing.

So Leah bore her 4th son, and named him Judah, because with the birth of this son, she chose to praise the Lord!  Judah means Praise!  Now, Leah knew that Jacob didn't love her, she wasn't his favorite, but at some point between child 3 and 4, she decided, this time, I will praise the Lord! Judah = Praise!

So Israel was getting ready to go into battle, and when God responded to their question, he said let Judah (Praise) go first!  I want to challenge anyone who may be going through a battle right now, whether it be spiritual, physical, financial, mental, whatever you may be facing, but in the heart of the battle, let Judah (Praise) go up first!  "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” John 7:38.  So, before you spend hours talking to God about how bad things are, the best way to start any conversation with Him, is to let the praises go up FIRST!  God has given us a tremendous power with praise!  Even though it may be sacrificial praise, in other words, you may not feel like praising Him, life has got you down, but still, choose to praise Him!  Let the praises go up first!  Look at what happened to Paul and Silas!  As they praised the Lord, in the cold, damp, dark, dingy, jail cell, when the praises went up, the chains fell!  That's what will happen to us too, as we begin to praise the Lord, the chains will fall!  This praise reaches the very heart of God!  It keeps us focused on God and not on our problems!

Life will continue to throw curve-balls our way... we can't escape them, BUT, WE DON'T HAVE TO FALL PREY TO THEM!  Set your mind to praise God through those very circumstances!   Let Judah (Praise) go out of your mouth FIRST!

I want to finish this post with the words from an old Carman song... Jericho: The Shout of Victory!  I posted the whole thing, and I recommend reading it all, but I highlighted the part that relates to us and to this post for quicker reading:

"Now Jericho was tightly shut up
Because of the children of Isreal
None went out
And none came in
And the Lord said unto Joshua,
See, I have given unto thine hand Jericho
And the king thereof and the mighty men of valor
And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war
And go round about the city once
Thus shalt thou do six days
And seven priests shall bear before the ark
seven trumpets of rams horns
And the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times
and the priests shall blow the trumpets
and it shall come to pass
that when they make a long blast with the rams horn
and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet
all the people shall shout with a great shout
and the wall of the city shall fall down flat
and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him
For the Lord hath said unto Joshua
SHOUT for I have given you the city

The inhabitants of Jericho were perverted by sin and corrupt
Surrounded by walls so thick that chariots raced on top
With ladders, catapolts and spearheads readied and blazing in the sun
The armies of Isreal stood ready for commands of war to come
For 39 years Joshua was trained under Moses' righteous hand
And it was Joshua who led nearly three million Isrealites
Into the promised land
Now Moses was dead and the real test came
Could he simply follow God's word
And do something that to the natural mind
Would be utterly obsurd
Without Moses to ask advice of
Or an advisory committee
God said the walls will fall
Just tell them SHOUT for I have given you the city

Now God was putting in operation a principle of war
Setting at our disposal weaponry that drops deamons to the floor
Something with tremendous power that assassinates fear and doubt
Its the high praises of victory unleashed by a shout
When David played his songs of praise, demons fled from Saul
As Paul and Silas worshiped God, the chains began to fall
It lifts us above the circumstance and lets God's power flow
The shout of victory binds the devil with chains that won't let go
So with the confidence of warring angels
Isreal stood stone ready
To obey Joshua, speak to their mountain
And SHOUT for God was giving them the city

Six days they marched around Jericho and the last day they marched seven
While the Cananites jeered from their evil walls
Isreals faith reached Heaven
Before any manifestation, with every brick still in place
Eyeball to eyeball they looked fear dead in its face
They didn't wait to feel some earthquake or to see a lightening flash
They didn't need to hear a theatric rumble or a mind blowing crash
They prepared their souls for victory
Now its God's turn to come thru
They'd scream their lungs out
Simply because... they believed...
God's word was true.

So, with the high praises of God in their mouths,
Came a massive... there came a volcanic sound
And Isreal shouted in victory
And they shouted in faith
And the walls came tumbling down

Now this is where we come in
Now how many know the annointing breaks the yokes of the bondages of sin
Sin cant survive in the annointed moving spontaneous praise of man
The devils tormented sickness can't function
when we worship and when we pray
Cause the church of the Living God is still alive and well today
Now how many here within the sound of my voice
Are not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ

Are you ready to tear down walls that have held you captive tonight?
Are you sick and tired of being down and out
and you want to be up and coming?
You're ready to ransack the kingdom of darkness and set some devils running?
You ready to let some strongholds fall that have never fallen before?
How many know 'Its not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit' says the Lord

Then in the name of Jesus Christ I challenge you tonight
And I dare you
I said... I dare you
To forget the person next to you and trials you've been in
forget religious do's and don'ts and traditions made of men
And with a shout of victory on your lips with praise declaring war
To leap up on your feet right now and
Make a joyful noise and PRIASE THE LORD!

We worship You
We worship You
We worship You, Christ the Lord"

Lyrics by Carman

Remember, whatever trials you're facing, you're never alone, God is always there with you.  But remember to do what He has told you to do... let the praises go up first!

 I was thinking today about a question I was asked at church by a girl in our childrens church. She's 11 years old. Her question was: how do you get your faith to grow? Now initially this struck me as an odd question to come from a child. I mean after all the Bible tells us to have child-like faith. My initial thought was I should be asking you... You're still a child... You still have that child-like faith that I strive to muster up.

As we talked, the holy spirit gave me an illustration to use in trying to explain this and this was very helpful to me as well. Faith is grown very simillar to muscles. If you want your faith to grow you have to exercise it! Faith, like muscles, needs to be stretched! If we do something that takes no faith than that is not exercising our faith. The Bible says that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen. It also tells us that without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God! Pretty strong statement! So in other words, if we have no faith then we can't please God! Ouch!!! So I think I need to start growing my faith more right away!

I have faith, though I'm not quite sure the amount, but to have faith as small as a mustard seed we could say to the mountains to be moved and they would move! The more you exercise your faith the stronger it will grow. How do we exercise our faith? First by taking small steps of faith kinda like you would with working out. You wouldn't go to the gym and start off with the heavy-weights right away, you start small and work your way up... at least that's what you're supposed to do.  Then keep taking those steps of faith and exercise your faith and your faith will grow stronger. Then when your faith is called on to take that LEAP of faith you will be more prepared.

What would you do if your faith was called upon to pray for someone and in Jesus name he or she would raise from the dead. Would you go right up to that casket, and not even care who's around, and with a loud voice say, in the name of Jesus, arise!  Or would you doubt in your mind, wondering, well, I think I'm supposed to do this, but what if I look like a fool, if it doesn't work, everyone will laugh at me.  But if God tells us to do something, we had better do it!  That's much more important than worrying about how you would look to others. 

How about you?  Would your faith be strong enough for that? I know mine wouldn't at this point so I'd better start exercising it. If that was to hapen to me at this point in time, I hate to admit it, but being honest here, if I mustered up anything to be able to walk up to that casket, I can see myself looking around to see who's looking and then whispering in Jesus' name arise.  That's not the kind of faith we're called to have, we're to have faith that can move mountains, that can raise the dead, heal the sick, mend the broken hearted.  Jesus said that in His name we would do greater works than Him and I want to be ready to be used in any way I can!