The Message

Fear often grows when the imagination runs ahead of grace. Praise brings the mind back to God. David said, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee” (Psalm 56:3). Notice that faith is not presented as the absence of fear; it is what you choose when fear arrives. Worship gives fear a smaller voice because it gives God the central voice. This can affect the way you approach examinations, interviews, business negotiations, difficult conversations, parenting, marriage, leadership and health concerns.

A frightened mind often predicts disaster before facts exist. A worshipping mind can face facts without worshipping the possibility of disaster. Scripture says, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” (Psalm 27:1). Praise does not make you careless; it makes you courageous enough to be careful without being paralysed. It helps you seek wise counsel, prepare properly and still trust God with what preparation cannot control. Where fear has produced sleeplessness, avoidance or isolation, the peace of God can begin to restore order. Where fear has made you silent when you should speak truth, worship can restore holy courage. Where fear has made you chase money as security, praise can restore perspective.

The Lord can also bring deliverance from patterns that have controlled the mind for years. His grace is able to establish new habits of thought. As you praise Him, let faith speak louder than imagined catastrophe.

The same truth reaches into the ordinary details of your life. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (KJV, Proverbs 3:5) When worship is allowed to govern this area, you are not escaping responsibility; you are bringing responsibility into God's presence. The Lord can give wisdom where you have lacked it, healing where you have been wounded, courage where you have been afraid, and a supernatural opening where human effort has reached its limit. Yet His grace also teaches patience, discipline, learning and honest work. This is how worship becomes useful: it does not remove you from life; it teaches you how to live life before God.