O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth. He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet. He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah. God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet (Psalms 47:1–5, KJV).
Scripture admonishes God’s people to clap their hands and shout unto God. But, our shout isn’t just any shout—it’s one of triumph. Sports fans all across the globe act without regard to the concern of onlooker’s eyes. Their only purpose is to cry victoriously over the future actions of their favorite teams. While these fans may act strangely, they are actually following after a similar command given to us in Scripture. We don’t shout with triumph only over what God has already done in our lives, but over what He’s going to do! We need to shout with an anticipating cry of victory knowing nothing is impossible to God.
In the Bible, the Nation of Israel celebrated the year of Jubilee every 50 years. It was a celebration brought in with the sound of the trumpet, and the people were released from their debts. This was the precursor celebration to Pentecost (the 50th day after the Passover). It was on the Passover when the church was established in an upper room.
The sound the believers heard in the room was as a rushing, mighty wind. God’s Spirit poured into 120 believers, and a sound came out of each one. They all spoke with tongues as the Spirit gave the utterance (Acts 2:1–4). With the sound that went up that day, it was the triumph celebration of victory over death from sin.
Triumph has a sound—winning doesn’t have a sound of silence. We need to break the silence in our lives and let the enemy know we’re not losers. If we don’t praise out loud, the enemy won’t know he doesn’t have a hold over us. The devil doesn’t know our thoughts—so we have to proclaim victory out loud!
Jesus spoke to a man named Nicodemus and explained the way of salvation. Jesus told him that a man needed to be born by water and Spirit to enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:5). However, Jesus continued to explain how the Spirit of God could be understood. He described how the wind blows and we hear it, we feel it, and see what it effects. This is how we know how God is real and how His Spirit is alive and working—we feel it moving on us, we hear it, and see the effects of it. The same is true of those who have been born of the Spirit (John 3:8).
It’s time for all of us to let our voices out to today. It’s times to claim victory over some things in our lives. The devil needs to know that we don’t believe we’re going to fail, that we’re going to give up, or that we’re going to turn our backs on God. It’s time to cry out in victory; time to praise the Lord for our future miracle. It’s time to shout with a voice of triumph!