SHOUT!

Have you ever been to a ball game and heard the shouts bursting forth from the crowds as their chosen team takes the field? Do you remember the pep rallies held before games? There is something that happens when we lift our voice and shout with joy and excitement. There is power in our shouts!

There are over 100 places in the Bible where we are told to shout to the Lord; to lift up our voice and to burst forth into praise and singing. When was the last time you were alone in the house or car and you cranked up that song you like and sang at the top of your lungs? Do you remember the feeling you had afterward? It invigorated you, lifted up your spirits and gave you a burst of energy you didn’t know you had.

When Joshua led the battle of Jericho, on that 7th day and on that last march around the city they were commanded to give a shout. To shout to the Lord with a mighty voice and it is what the power of their shout that the walls came down. Joshua 6:20 “So the people shouted when the priest blew with the trumpets and it came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went into the city, every man straight before him and they took the city.”

In 1 Samuel 4:5-6 it says that when the Ark of the Covenant would be brought into a city or into the camp, ALL Israel would shout with such a great noise that the Philistines that heard wondered and they understood that the Ark of the Lord had entered the camp of the Hebrews.

In 2 Chronicles 13 there is an account of a Battle between the leader of Judah who was Abijah and King Jeroboam King of Israel. Israel had once again turned their backs upon the faith of their fathers and did not follow the ways of Israel. But, Judah still followed the faith of their fathers and upheld the laws and commands. Now, the war between the two led to a mighty battle. King Jeroboam led the army of Judah into a trap so that he had mighty warriors both in front and behind Abijah’s army. When they discovered they had walked into an ambush and the enemy was round about them, “The men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Aijah and Judah.” Again, it was the shout of God’s people that scattered the enemy and led to great victory.

Paul and Silas were in chains and in jail. They had been beaten and tormented and in the night they lifted up their voices and sang praises unto the Lord. I simply cannot imagine these two mighty men singing softly and hesitantly. When I imagine these men singing, I imagine it is with all that is in them! I imagine they are loud and strong and probably not on key. But with great vigor and great passion they let ring praises of their God and savior and it is then, when their voices were lifted high that those prison bars opened and their bonds loosened.

All thought the book of Psalms you see verses exclaiming that we are to shout to the Lord, lift up our voices, burst forth with singing and praise. There is power in our voices being uplifted to our God. It brings victory and triumphs over our enemies. It brings walls tumbling down, it opens prison doors, it vanquishes our enemies and it sets us free. How many verses can you find in Psalms that tell us to shout, to lift up our voices?

When Jesus comes back to Earth, in 1 Thessalonians 16 says “For the Lord himself shall descend from the heaven with a shout, and the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and he dead in Christ shall rise…” It is with a shout, our Lord will return to take us, his children home with him.

Oh yes, there is mighty power within our shouts. The next time the enemy is closing in, the next time you find yourself in bonds, the next time you find yourself alone in your car or home be of good courage and lift that voice of yours and SHOUT!