Praise Kills?

There was a movie out recently called something to the effect, "Snakes and Planes," which starred Samuel L. Jackson. I didn't see it but I believe the premise was that there was a killer snake on a plane which he was on. The idea was to kill the snake before it took down the plane. I've never really heard of snakes living tens of thousands feet above the earth in a pressurized plane. There comes a point that life ends at certain heights in the atmosphere. If snakes were meant to live at those heights, wouldn't they have wings?

Last year I had to take a Theology class as part of my curriculum in graduate school. So, I took a Systematic Theology class. I had a wonderful professor named Omar Ortiz. In one of the classes we were discussing how the devil tries to discourage us and how he uses worship in his fight. He told a story of a pilot and co-pilot taking off in a loaded 747. As they were lifting off the ground the co-pilot saw what he thought was a snake crawling in a nook above his head. He was right, it was a snake. He told the pilot. The pilot, who as relaxed as could be, simply said, "wait." The co-pilot couldn't understand, surely this thing will bite one of us or both of us, he thought. The pilot kept ascending upward as calm as sitting and watching a beautiful sunset. They've been flying about five minutes now still climbing upward. The co-pilot saw the snake now thrashing around and told the pilot in a shout, "Aren't you going to do something?!!!" The pilot calmly responded, "just wait, it'll be all right." Well, they were just about at their peak before they leveled off and the snake up and died in the blink of an eye. The pilot looked at the co-pilot and said, "see, I knew we'd be all right. Snakes can't survive at this height. The pressure is too much for them."

The next time that snake the devil keeps lying in your ear and bringing you down, take him for a ride. Let your praise arise to the heavens out of a heart of thanksgiving. Keep going higher and higher in your praise and watch him turn away. Higher praise kills the attempts of the enemy to keep us from being who God created us to be and live as His rightful child. Pressurize your life with praise.

Psalm 22:25a, "From you comes the theme of my praise."
Psalm 33:1, "Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise Him."
Psalm 42:11, "Why so downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God."
Psalm 52:9, "I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name will I hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints."
Hebrews 13:15, "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise- the fruit of lips that confess His name."