Praise Zone

By Dr Gideon Brice Koudjo

Praise Zone is a masterpiece on practically living daily a life full of praise. It focuses on the praise culture of heaven and teaches us to replicate it on earth and in our lives. God's desire to see the earth filled with His praises and to see lives break free from depression, discouragement, and despair by reviving this ancient weapon of praise is revealed in this book. 

From the pages of this anointed book, you will discover that praise can ultimately become a lifestyle, discover the power resident in praise, how that this power can be released to produce daily victories in our lives.

By exploring several biblical accounts, Praise Zone has been gracefully written to touch on topics such as;

The 4 Operations of Praise
The 7 Streams of Praise
Praise as God's end-time strategy for warfare
Praise as a medium of Prayer
How to offer God acceptable Praise.
Hosting the Presence of God
The reason why God alone deserves our Praise

 

Last but not the least, this classic also addresses some misconceptions about praise especially regarding the varying church worship cultures and denominational trends making it a good manual for every worship leader and team by teaching as it teaches them how to engage their congregation in a meaningful praise experience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dr Gideon Brice Koudjo
• Release date: Nov 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9789988303921

Book preview

Introduction

It is overly humbling to write concerning this subject matter of praise. I strongly believe it is a message that every member of the Body of Christ should take seriously. We ought to understand Heaven’s culture of praise and worship. As our eyes are enlightened to this truth, there is a fulfilment of a part of Jesus’ prayer in the sixth chapter of the book of Mathew.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. —Matthew 6:10

Jesus taught His disciples to pray that the culture and atmosphere of Heaven would be superimposed and replicated on Earth. A zone is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as an area that is different from other areas in a particular way. It is a region with distinct characteristics. Heaven is a praise zone. This means that, it is characterized by praise. Just as some places on Earth are classified as warm climate zones, mining zones, crime zones, terrorist zones etc, Heaven can also be classified as a praise zone. In other words, if you step into Heaven, you have stepped into praise. The default atmosphere of Heaven is praise and worship.

In the pages of this book, as has been granted onto me by God’s grace, we shall explore the relevance of praise in the life of the Christian and how to also transform our lives into praise zones, and into lives that constantly emanate praise. We will consider the multifaceted and true meaning of praise, and in doing so, equip ourselves with what it takes to make our lives decorated with praise. Heaven’s culture of praise must also become our culture on Earth. When praise abounds in our lives, our lives also become a praise zone. This is when God takes pleasure in our lives − when our lives become a praise zone. For this reason, creation exists for His will and His pleasure.

When the Body of Christ is adorned with the garment of praise, it pleases the Lord. When we are adorned with the garment of praise, every sorrow, despair, shame and discouragement is subdued. One of the strongest arrows of the enemy against Christians in these end-times are the arrows of discouragement and self-pity. The antidote for this onslaught by the enemy is the garment of praise. The garment of praise would be restored as the Body of Christ is awakened to the consciousness of their priestly ministry of praise and worship. Praise is not the reserve of a few people with angelic voices; it is the mandate of the Church. It is not just a matter of selected melodious chords but a call of duty. We are called to praise and worship God. That’s one of our ministries as believers. In fact, our praise, both yours and mine, is part of God’s reward to His Son, Jesus, for His obedience to the command of a painful, humiliating death on the cross.

And being found in the appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death of the cross. THEREFORE, God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of those on Earth, and of those under the Earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. —Philippians 2:8-11

Whenever we think of the work of Christ on the cross, we must think of the praise due Him. When our lives become a praise zone, Jesus is exalted in our lives. His praise is made known and all the Earth rejoices at His obedience to the Father.

The end-time church as an army will advance with praise as a sword in our mouths. We shall bear the torch of truth and accurate spiritual knowledge in our hands, as a light to navigate the corridors of darkness. Through prayer, the Holy Spirit will be our Source of fuel to run, as the Father stands behind us in His towering might to shake the territories of darkness according to His purpose. While this is happening, our eyes and heart would be fixed on only one true desire: Jesus the Christ.

May the praises of our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ, be revived and sweep across the nations of the Earth. May our ceaseless praise find expression one more time. May the Lord release a fresh mantle of praise over His Church in Jesus’ name, as this book is sent forth. Let the praises of the Body of Christ be incense and a weapon in our hands - sweet incense of fellowship as His bride and a mighty weapon as His army.

YOU’RE MIGHTILY

BLESSED AS YOU READ!

ONE

Heaven’s Culture

Every Christian’s citizenship is

of Heaven. We are born from above. To say we are born from above is not a new thing. Jesus recommended it to Nicodemus in the following verse of Scripture:

Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’ —John 3:7

To be born again is pretty much the same thing as being born from above. The Greek word used for the word again is anothen. Anothen means from above. That means that John 3:7 can be re-phrased as such:

Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above’.

To be born from above means to obtain Heavenly citizenship. We must know where we are from in order to trace our true culture and identity. Most people who lose touch and consciousness of their root of origin also lose their true identity and sense of culture. The same is true spiritually. A Christian who is living anyhow is most likely one who is not constantly reminded of his/her spiritual origin. How does one become a citizen of a country on Earth? It is primarily by birth. That is the importance of being born again. By believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, we receive a new-birth experience and this introduces us into a new citizenship. Our born-again status validates and authenticates our Heavenly ID and citizenship. Hallelujah!

You are right to claim dual citizenship, though you may find that very hilarious − born of Heaven and born of your Earthly country. The Lord Jesus Christ even gives a clearer picture of how our born-again status is connected to our Heavenly citizenship.

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born-again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. —John 3:3

Our access into God’s kingdom is based purely on our being born-again. Jesus uses very strong words in His statement (unless and cannot). This means that, there is no other way. In the natural, a person can gain citizenship through other means aside birth such as naturalization, marriage or relation with some other person who is already a citizen in the country. On the contrary, God’s kingdom is only attained by birth, thus the necessity of the re-birth. You cannot wish it into being nor pray it into existence. You must be born again!

I need to spend some time to establish and explain this truth before we proceed because we would not appreciate our true culture unless we know our origin. We may be on Earth but our lifestyle and principles for living must be dictated by the culture of Heaven. How Heaven lives is how we also ought to live. The culture of Heaven is the believer’s culture. Every country’s ambassador is sent to represent his/her nation in another country in all things including their culture and values.

An ambassador is a promoter of his national culture, values and interests in another country. Though the ambassador may be outside his own country, he still bears the identity of his country wherever he finds himself. This picture is a parallel of our calling as born-again believers. Our citizenship is above; our country is Zion.

For our citizenship is in Heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.—Philippians 3:20

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in Heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect.—Hebrews 12: 22- 23

We may be located physically on Earth but our place of birth by the Spirit is Zion. Oh, what a glorious truth! The verse above in Hebrews gives us a beautiful picture of some of the people who are also fellow citizens in this country. Fellow saints in Christ, angels, fathers who have gone before us in the race of faith, God, Jesus as well as the Spirit. It is so beautiful that these are co- citizens with us. Glory!

We are seated in Christ in heavenly places yet we live physically on Earth. We are emissaries of our heavenly country. Our calling is to extend the culture and values of our heavenly country unto the Earth. By us, the world must be able to see and have an exact picture of what goes on in Heaven. Heaven’s praise culture must be evident on Earth through our lives. We must not be ineffective ambassadors. Often Christians give a bad representation of our county by their actions and inactions. Our many murmurings, our ingratitude and our lives devoid of praise and worship are not true representations of Heaven’s culture. Jesus lived as a perfect example of this culture. He walked as an effective ambassador of Heaven. Jesus was always full of praise and thanksgiving to the Father. In fact, many of the notable recorded miracles Jesus did were preceded by an attitude of thanksgiving. The raising of Lazarus was preceded by thanksgiving and the feeding of the multitude was also precipitated by thanks.

Today, Jesus is not on Earth physically, but we are the ones He left behind to continue in His ways, to go into all the places of the Earth and convert every place into a praise zone.

Every kingdom, nation and society are characterized by a culture. Culture is a way of living, and a set of principles, that makes any group of people identifiable. Heaven also has a culture and Heaven’s culture is very clear from the Scriptures.

It is a culture of joy and righteousness.

For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.—Romans 14:17

It is also a culture of love and peace.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…

—Galatians 5:22

Among several other things, it is again a culture of praise and worship.

The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come! whenever the living creatures give honour and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne saying: You are worthy Lord, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things and by your will they exist and were created. —Revelation 4: 8-11

In this book, we will take a particular look into one of these paramount cultures mentioned above - the culture and atmosphere of Heaven, which is praise and worship.

In Revelation 4:8-11, the apostle John gives us a sneak peek into Heaven. He gives us an exact record of what is transpiring in Heaven even at this very moment. As a matter of fact, a praise and worship session is ongoing in Heaven right now as we speak. It is a constant release of praise that flows towards the Father.

Let us examine more closely the vision John was privileged to preview. He describes a place that I could confidently refer to as a praise zone. Heaven is a praise zone. The nature and timeline of praise in Heaven are constant.

…And they DO NOT REST DAY OR NIGHT, saying… —Revelation 4:8

The four living creatures do not rest, day or night. They are in a constant mode of praise and worship. Heaven is a place of ceaseless praise, a praise zone! This means that, at any given time, praise and worship are ongoing. If the entire Earth, and all creation, should keep silent and withhold its praise, God is still assured of praise coming from one place, Heaven! God does not lack praise and worship; He only extends a hand of invitation to us to join in. Whenever you are praising and worshipping, remember that you just tuned into the