The Lifting Up Of Our Hands | WLT Report

Pastor Robb Goodman:

Happy Sunday morning to everyone. My name is Pastor Rob Goodman, and I’m the pastor here at Zion Freedom Fellowship in Maryland in the beautiful United States of America.

Happy Sunday, July 27th. Man, the time is flying. I just can’t believe how quickly the summer’s going. I’m sure you all feel the same way.

I hope that you’re surviving in the heat wherever you may be listening to this message. I know that some places in the earth right now and other countries I hear are extremely hot, and folks that don’t have air conditioning—oh, I feel for them very much. I really, really do.

Well, I’ve got a wonderful message for you today. But before we start the message and I share the title with you, let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this message today. Lord, I ask that you reveal to your servants the power of your word. Lord, this subject matter today about lifting up our hands to the Lord is so very important.

There is power in the lifting up of our hands. And Lord, we’re going to discuss the different reasons why you tell us to do this. Lord, may the spirit of revelation and wisdom just flow unto your people.

Let authority and power be granted unto them to understand the word of God today. Lord, grant them your favor, Lord, that they may learn how to stand and walk uprightly as sons and daughters of the most high God.

Lord, minister life and healing to them. Lord, I come against all sickness and disease in the name of Jesus by the power of Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name. Be gone, Satan. Be gone. Be gone from God’s people.

You have no authority, right, or power in their lives. And I resist you steadfastly in our faith by the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of his word.

Let your name, Lord, be glorified in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord, release your authority, release your power, release your great abundance in Jesus’ name.

And as your word goes forth today, let revelation knowledge flow. Just let it flow from heaven to your people, Lord. Just let it flow like a mighty river—like a mighty river, the river of life.

Let it flow to your people in Jesus’ name and cure sickness and disease in Jesus’ name. I come against every sickness. I come against every disease. I come against every pathological—every lie in Jesus’ name.

And I thank you, Lord, for your great deliverance in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen and amen.

Well, you know, we’re praying about healing. Well, we got a praise report today from someone that we’ve been praying for who was diagnosed with a type of cancer. Well, they took out a part of this person’s body part, and of course they sent it off to the pathology to be tested, and praise be to God, it came back no cancer.

I believe that was a miracle. I truly believe that was a miracle for this person. And we are so excited because God is the God that answers prayers. He answers prayer. Hallelujah.

Thank you, Lord. Let your word go forth with power and authority today in the mighty name of Jesus. Let your name be lifted high, Lord, in Jesus’ name.

Let your name be lifted up high over all the earth that you may draw all men unto you. In Jesus’ mighty name we pray. Amen and amen.

Well again, the title of today’s message is The Lifting Up of Our Hands. Praise be to God. We are going to share a few notes with you and explain what the lifting up of our hands is and how powerful it is.

The lifting up of our hands is a component of, or an integral part of, the definition of praise. From the Hebrew word which means praise is yodah—y-o-d-a-h—or todah—t-o-d-a-h.

The components of this definition have not changed in the new covenant as well. It has not changed; it’s still the same. It is a strategy of warfare. It is usually paired or joined with prayer, as in what we’re going to share with you right now.

Let’s go to Exodus chapter 17. Exodus chapter 17, and we’re going to start reading at verse 8. Exodus 17, verse 8.

Thank you, Lord.

Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.”

So Joshua did as Moses said to him. Now, that’s the same rod that Moses got on the mountain when God appeared to him in the burning bush. Same rod that he threw down, it became a slithering snake. He picked it up again, and it became a rod. Amazing, isn’t it?

So, that rod had power in it. So, Joshua did as Moses said to him and fought with Amalek, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And so it was when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

But Moses’ hands became heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat upon it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

Man, what a powerful time here. Now think about it, okay? When Moses’ hands were raised, Israel prevailed. When his hands were down, Amalek prevailed.

Now think about this: Amalek was the enemy, right? So when you lift up your hands to God in praise and worship and adoration, and you’re blessing his name, and you’re singing praises to him, songs and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with melody and grace in your heart to the Lord as the new covenant tells us to do—the enemy will not prevail against you.

But if your hands are slack and you walk around like this all day, the enemy is going to prevail against you, and he’s going to come in and hit hard and heavy. But if you lift your hands in faith and you begin to worship him, no matter what the enemy is trying to do, you will overcome.

Yes, you will overcome and be a victory to the Lord. Hallelujah. Man, what a blessing. What a blessing. That is so very important.

It amplifies intercession, lifting up the hands, and it is felt greatly in the supernatural or spiritual realm. It is also lifting up your hands as legal tender or currency in the spirit realm.

This means it can be used in the spirit realm as a transaction for victory. You lift your hands up, you get victory. You let your hands hang low, you get defeated.

The lifting of our hands is very important for us to experience spiritual visitation and victory—spiritual visitation and victory. We don’t want to sabotage our own victory as the body of Christ that Christ has paid a great price for us.

Don’t let that go to nothing. Take use of it. Take everything that Jesus Christ paid the price for you to have and be more than conquerors or overcomers through him who loves you.

Let us strengthen the things that remain and are ready to die in our modern church age. Let’s look at Revelation chapter 3. Revelation 3:1-2. Revelation 3 and start with verse one.

And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, “These things says he who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.”

Now, I’m going to say something here. I don’t mean to be offensive, but there are many churches out in the world today—in my own area here as well—they’re dead. They have a name that they got it all together.

“Oh, so and so church, you know, the blessed, redeemed, and sanctified and set apart ones.” And yet you go inside the church and it’s dead. Completely and totally dead.

It has no life and there is no resurrection power in there to help anyone because death reigns there. He says, “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.”

Remember therefore how you have received and heard. Hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.

This is extremely important, brothers and sisters. We need to be alive and awake. You know, my wife and I were praying for someone the other day, and I saw a vision.

The Lord uses me as a seer a lot in the prophetic things. I see these visions. Sometimes they’re longer, sometimes they’re short. But this was a vision of this person, and they had these heavy weights hanging on their eyelids so they couldn’t open up their eyes.

So I began to speak to that. I began to speak, and we were praying in the Spirit, praying in tongues. And we commanded those things to become powder, be ground to powder, and the Spirit of God, the wind of the Spirit, blew them away.

Now, we must remember who we are in Christ Jesus. We don’t have any confidence in the flesh. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. We have no confidence in our flesh.

To be worldly and fleshly minded is carnal, and it’s enmity against God. It is complete enmity.

A few other components of praise: the word hal, and it means abandonment in worship. The Hebrew spelling is h-a-l-l. It translates to praise or praise God. It specifically refers to a prayer in a set of Psalms 113 through 118, recited on Jewish holidays as an expression of thanksgiving and praise to God.

The term hal also is the root of the word hallelujah, which combines hal, which means praise, with yah, that is an old Hebrew name for God.

Then there’s another word tahila—t-e-h-i-l-l-a-h—and it also means loud singing in Hebrew. Tahila translates to praise, song of praise, or hymn of praise.

It specifically refers to the spontaneous and often unrehearsed song of adoration and thanksgiving offered to God. The word is closely linked to the book of Psalms, which in Hebrew is called Sefer Tehillim—the book of praises or book of Psalms.

Another word is the word zamar. And this word zamar means the use of instruments, musical instruments. The use of instrumental music has been attacked by some churches, but it remains an important component of praise.

The definition of love also has many components. We cannot remove any of those components from 1 Corinthians 13 just because we don’t like them, right? We can’t.

We just can’t take out, “Well, you know, love is patient. Well, I like kind, but I don’t like the word patient. Take it out.” Can’t do it because love is all of those things, right?

If we do, its meaning will be compromised. In the same way, we must leave the components of praise as they are.

Let’s go to Psalm 141:2. Psalm 141 verse 2. Psalm 141. Let’s read one and two. Thank you, Lord.

“O Lord, I cry out to you. Make haste to me. Give ear to my voice when I cry out to you. Let my prayer be set before you as incense.” Now listen to this: “The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”

Think about that. So lifting up of our hands is a sacrifice—a sacrifice of our time, sometimes a sacrifice of our strength. We just don’t, you know, we’ve had a hard day at work.

We’ve been out all day, dealt with multiple problems and issues on the job, and we come home and we just want to relax. We don’t want to sit there and lift up our hands and start to verbalize praise to God.

We’ve just been talking all day, and we just want to relax and shut up. But if you want the supernatural, that’s the price that sometimes needs to be paid.

Thank you, Lord. Man, I’m telling you, what a powerful, powerful thing to think about. The lifting up of the hands in worship is too powerful to be undermined or downplayed by the modern church.

It is powerful enough to ensure prophetic fulfillment. Think about that. When we worship and praise God at our church—I talked about this probably last week—when we worship and praise God at our church, and we always have a time where we wait on the Lord, we just sit there.

The music ends. We sit there in silence. And sometimes the Lord might give someone a word, a prophecy, a prophetic utterance, might show them a vision. But we like to wait on the Lord and give the Lord the time that belongs to him.

Pretty amazing. It can decide the outcome in battle. Listen to this: the lifting up of your hands can decide the outcome in battle—both in the life of the church and in our individual lives. Isn’t that amazing? That is absolutely amazing.

All right, let’s go over some scriptures here. Psalm 28:1-2. “To you I will cry, O Lord, my rock: do not be silent to me, lest, if you are silent to me, I become like those who go down into the pit. Hear the voice of my supplication when I cry to you, when I lift up my hands toward your holy sanctuary.”

Wow. So, think about this. The lifting up of your hands is an outward expression of your praise and your love for God. You know, I don’t understand how people can come into a room and, you know, they say that they love the Lord and they want to worship him, but they’re just silent.

There’s no exuberant praise. I just often wonder how that can be. We need to praise God exuberantly. The lifting up of our hands is a sacrifice of praise. It’s a sacrifice, and the Lord will be blessed and honored by it.

Thank you, Lord. All right, let’s go to Psalm 63, and we’re going to read verses 1-5. “O God, you are my God.” See, that’s an outward expression. You’re telling God who he is.

You know, some people feel that being quiet and quiet meditation is good sometimes, but sometimes you just need to say out loud, “God, I love you. Jesus, I worship you. Jesus, I praise you.”

And watch what God will do. “Early will I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So have I looked for you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory. Because your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you. Thus will I bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips.”

Isn’t that wonderful? That is so absolutely wonderful.

All right, let’s go to First Timothy chapter 2. First Timothy chapter 2.

Now this is Paul speaking here to Timothy. “I desire therefore that men pray everywhere.” What? Say that again. What’s that word I hear? Everywhere.

That men pray everywhere—grocery store, courthouse, schools, flag poles, out in public. I really believe that’s what Paul meant—that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.

So you have to have a clean heart when you come and praise God. Man, I’m telling you, it’s powerful. That is powerful. Powerful, powerful.

All right, let’s go to Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations right after Jeremiah. Lamentations chapter 3, and we are going to look at verse 40 and 41.

“Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord. Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven. We have transgressed and rebelled; you have not pardoned.”

So we don’t want to be rebellious. Lifting up of your hands is an attitude of submission to him—submitting to him completely and totally, telling him that it is his power, his authority. Let him do what he wants to do with it. Amen.

Thank you, Lord. Praise be to God. The lifting up of our hands in repentance shows sincerity of our heart and our outward show of our love for the Lord that we have sinned against him. Thank you, Lord.

Let’s go to Nehemiah chapter 8. Nehemiah chapter 8. Thank you, Lord. Nehemiah chapter 8. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

So, you’ve got 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, then Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter 8. I love the book of Nehemiah. I love it. I love it. I love it.

Okay, we’re going to start reading with verse one. Let me get a drink here real quick. A sip of my drink. Hope y’all are hanging in there with me. The Lord is faithful. Checking my time.

Thank you, Lord. Now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe—he was also a priest—to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel.

So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday.

You think our church service is long, honey? I remember days where I would sit in church sometimes four and five hours, you know, because you were hungry for the Word of God. You wanted and desired to see God move, and it didn’t bother you.

You know, there were times here and there you were like, “Oh, I got to go to the bathroom or I’m getting hungry.” But you hung in there because you wanted to see the Lord move. You wanted to learn more about him.

Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday before the men and women and those who could understand, and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

So Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of wood which they had made for that purpose, and beside him at his right hand stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, and at his left hand Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people. And when he opened it, all the people stood up.

Now, isn’t that interesting? The people stood up when he read from the Book of the Law. That’s where that tradition comes from. Pastors will often have people stand when they read the opening scriptures.

And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” while lifting up their hands—while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

And the Levites helped the people to understand the law, and the people stood in their place. So they read distinctly from the book in the law of God, and they gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading.

And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn nor weep.” For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.

Now, I’m telling you, there are times when I read scripture that I just weep. It just touches you in such a way that it gets your inner man excited and just fired up. And sometimes you get such an emotional reaction to it that you’re just absolutely amazed.

Thank you, Lord. They heard the words of the law. Now, I’m just going to read through this for a little bit because I want to share something with you. Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

We all love that verse, don’t we? So the Levites quieted all the people, saying, “Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved.” And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly because they understood the words that were declared to them.

Now on the second day, the heads of the fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, gathered to Ezra the scribe in order to understand the words of the law. And they found written in the law which the Lord had commanded by Moses that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, and that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the mountain and bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.”

Then the people went out and brought them and made themselves booths, each one on the roof of his house, or in their courtyards, or in the courts of the house of God, and in the open square of the Water Gate and in the open square of the Gate of Ephraim.

So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths; for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness.

Also, day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day there was a sacred assembly, according to the prescribed manner.

Now, that to me is absolutely amazing. The Feast of Tabernacles was not held for a total of 841 years. Is there any wonder that Israel had gotten into trouble? They were not keeping the feast.

There was a time when they didn’t keep the Passover. There was a time when the Law of Moses was not read. Remember the young king Josiah, that when he was young, he ordered the temple to be cleansed and reopened, and they found the Book of the Law in there and they reinstituted the things that were let go of for many years.

Let’s pray. Father, show us what you mean by the lifting of hands. Lord, as we lift our hands up to you, Lord, you will have your way. Have your way, Jesus, in our lives. Let your name be honored and glorified and praised, Father, because you are the mighty God of Israel.

You’re the God of the universe. There is nothing too difficult for you, Lord. When we lift our hands, we prevail. We overcome, Lord. When we let go of our praise and the lifting up of our hands, well, we get back and allow the enemy to rob from us.

We don’t have to give anything back. Jesus paid the highest price. He laid down his life for you and for me. And he wants you to love him. He wants to loose you from every bondage of corruption.

And I’m telling you folks, everything that’s going on in our country right now with our government—I’m just amazed. I am absolutely amazed. And because the American church has not prayed—now the American church started to pray when Biden was the so-called president from 2020 until 2024—but we can overcome.

Let’s be bold and overcome by the power of God. Amen. Let’s be bold.

If you’re watching this message today and you don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ, let him speak to you. Let him minister to your heart.

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to invite you to ask him into your heart. It’s very simple. Just pray this prayer with me. Say, “Lord God, I believe that you are the God of heaven and earth.

Have your way with my life. I need you, Jesus. My life is a mess without you. Let your name be praised and honored in my life. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. I want to be born again.

Have your way with me. I receive you, Jesus. Come in. Forgive me for all of my sins. I confess to you that I’m a sinner and I need you. Let your will be done in my life.

In the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen and amen.”

If you prayed that prayer with me, I would like you to email me. Or if there’s anything else you want to discuss with me, you can email me at [email protected]. Again, [email protected].

And for the rest of you, I look forward to seeing you whenever we have the next opportunity to join together by YouTube. May the Lord bless you, bless your family, bless you on your job this week, bless you wherever you may be.

The Lord is there with you and he will have his way with you in the name of Jesus Christ. This is Pastor Rob saying goodbye and God bless you all. I love you all so very much in Jesus’ name. Amen. Thank you so much everybody. I love you all.