I came to the altar during the praise and worship segment of the service and simply began to dance before the Lord.
Pastor didn’t invite people to come, I just came because the Holy Spirit tugged on my spirit to “COME”.
I started out “in the flesh” which is required because honestly, I don’t always “feel” like praising.
But eventually everyone and everything faded away until it was only ME & JESUS.
And isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be?
As a woman of great faith and strong prayer (heck, I’ve led and taught others HOW to pray for the last 30 years), I knew that I hadn’t come to PRAY AGAIN.
In fact, I’d prayed so much there wasn’t anything left TO PRAY.
But the Bible says that “faith WITHOUT WORKS is DEAD.”
In other words, FAITH WITHOUT CORRESPONDING ACTION is INEFFECTIVE.
A couple weeks later someone stopped me in the lobby and said, “I saw you dancing up front and thought you must have been celebrating something great the Lord did for you!”
I told her, “Sort of. You know that FAITH must be RELEASED. And sometimes you need to PRAISE BEFORE YOU SEE IT IN THE NATURAL! God is such a GOOD Father He doesn’t make us wait to PRAISE. In fact anyone can praise AFTER they see what they are believing come to pass. I was just CHOOSING to PRAISE HIM for it NOW! Because I KNOW HE’S FAITHFUL!”
In fact, PRAISE IS THE CURE!
To what?
To releasing all the heaviness you’re feeling.
It’s like an old-fashioned scale with two baskets, one is weighed down with your PRAYERS and the other is still sky-high with your few praises.
When you take time to RELEASE your FAITH through PRAISE until the two baskets become level, that’s when you know you’re casting it on the Lord.
When you can dance and twirl like a carefree child in the midst of the storm, you know you’ve given it to your Father to sort out.
That, too, is an action of your faith!
I don’t know what you are believing God for today, but I sincerely believe that PRAISE is the BOOKEND to ALL PRAYER.
We ought start praising Him that we CAN COME to Him with ANY request, present our request to Him (actually bring HIS OWN WORDS to Him, so we’ve got to know the Word) and then DON’T LEAVE THAT PLACE UNTIL WE PRAISE HIM for His FAITHFULNESS to COMPLETE ALL HE’S BEGUN!
And the Word instructs us to PRAISE HIM IN all things, not FOR all things.
He is not the author of trials and pain in our lives but He WILL WORK ALL OF IT FOR OUR GOOD!
And if it’s NOT YET GOOD, HE’S NOT YET DONE!
And if you’re waiting for a door to open, PRAISE HIM IN THE HALLWAY! ~Be Blessed, Jenny xoxo
#praise #thepraisecure #prayingmamas #momcoach #momsofadultchildren
~JENNY RIEFLIN MINISTRIES~ 