Prayer and Praise, Part II - God is waiting for you

Part II: Prayer and Praise - God is waiting for you

Diana Washington Valdez

Faith Today Christian Ministries

Jesus is the light of the world.

Praise and thanksgiving ought to be central in the life of a Christian. If we understand, or have at least a good sense, of who God is, then we would be inclined to naturally, as an outgrowth of our faith in the Lord, want to render thanks and praise at every opportunity. 

The Lord is “the” Creator of the universe.

Isaiah 6:1-3 (NLT)

 1 “ It was in the year King Uzziah died^[a] that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple.

 ² Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. ³ They were calling out to each other,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
    The whole earth is filled with his glory!”

It’s not hard to explain why I keep running into Christians that are leading defeated lives, barely hang onto for dear life, trying to stay steady until they die, or the Lord comes back (as in the Second Coming.) The problem is two-fold: the shepherds are not teaching their flocks what they need to know to lead victorious lives, and Christians are not taking responsibility for their spiritual education, a sort of spiritual laziness and a lack of information straight from the Bible, the Word or Rhema of God.

Hosea 4:5 [b] (NIV) “… my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.”

Worship and praise are not reserved just for church services, yet Christians tend to regard prayer (communication with God) as a time for us to present an endless list of wants and needs.

Or, how often do we rush a prayer up to heaven or actually ask someone else to pray for us, only whenever we find ourselves in a crisis mode? That’s all right. The Lord cares about us as a father cares about his children. But what is our relationship toward God like? Being a Christian is a lifestyle. It is not about setting aside an hour or so on Sundays or maybe another extra hour for a mid-week service, and then we forget about God until the next service. We have to admit it. This is typical modern Christianity in the United States.

I truly believe that if we start to think about everything we can thank Him for – (all good things come from above ), such as our life, health, families, jobs, school, homes (including apartment rentals), transportation (vehicles or public transportation or car pools), a church home, Christian fellowship/friends who also love the Lord, a pastor we respect, and the list goes on – we would adopt a more reverent attitude toward our heavenly Father and a heart filled with gratitude.

There are two things I’ve liked about services in predominantly African-American churches, and in some Pentecostal churches in rural areas: People in the congregation stand up to give thanks to the Lord for something specific in their lives, and to thank and praise Him publicly. This is scriptural. Testimony that gives glory and credit to God glorifies the Creator and puts life in perspective.

Revelation 12:11 (NKJV) “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

Thanksgiving and praise matter

Psalm 100:4 (CJB) “Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
enter his courtyards with praise;
give thanks to him, and bless his name.”

This passage from the Book of Psalms provides us with a good illustration of how we are to approach the Lord. If we lived in the Old Testament days of the Jewish Temple, then we would know that we would enter the building complex first through the designated gates. That’s where we offer thanksgiving. Then, to proceed to the Temple courtyard, we would offer the sacrifice of praise. This process – of entering the Temple of God, was intended to show us the path to the inner sanctum – where the Holy of Holies or Presence of God resided. [Exodus, Chapters 28-30]

Back then, only the high priest who belonged to the Tribe of Levi could enter into the Holy of Holies, the innermost part of the temple, which was covered with a thick curtain or veil. He had to be clean, which came after following the prescribed purification process. If he dared entered the Holy of Holies with sin, then he would die. If anyone else other than the high priest went in, he or she too would die on the spot. The point being that no one in a sinful state could enter into the presence of a holy God.

It’s a good thing that all those measures set out in the Mosaic law were done away with as a result of the crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That’s the significance of why the veil was torn from top to bottom during the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This supernatural event meant everyone would have access to the Lord. Through Jesus Christ, we can approach God the father.

Hebrews 10:19-22 (NIV) We have access

 "19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 

20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 

22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water."

The eternally sinless Jesus Himself is our new High Priest.

Jesus has everything you need.

Do we repent first or offer thanksgiving and praise and then repent of our sins before we seek an audience with the Creator of the universe? Personally, I would repent first, asking the Holy Spirit to show me areas of my life that have not been yielded to the Lord and to shed light on any sins I need to confess and repent of. I believe Christians will enter into praise more freely and easily once they have cast off the weights of sins.

I then thank God for His gift of forgiveness and continue with worship and praise. How long you worship, and praise depends on the time you set aside for it. Some people can’t pray for more than 10 minutes, because they’re out of practice. If we understood, really understood that we would stand before the one and only Lord God Almighty, then it seems that we would want to linger there as long as possible. 

If you’re not sure about what to pray for, then make a list before you start. Before you know it, you will be praying for 20 to 30 minutes. I would set aside at least an hour to spend with the Lord. And guess what? You don’t need the kind of special invite that only VIP’s receive from kings, queens and presidents … You have a reservation with the King of Kings whenever you choose to use it.

I highly recommend that you learn several praise and worship songs or choruses that you can sing at the drop of a hat, at home or during Bible studies or prayer meetings. In time, you will build up a good repertoire of praise and thanksgiving. Eventually, because of the Holy Spirit in you, praise and worship will come naturally, and during times like when you’re driving, walking for exercise, etc. Feeling blue? I can happen to anyone, but the joy of the Lord is the remedy.

Joy unspeakable

Nehemiah 8:10 (NIV) – “Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Proverbs 17:22 (NKJ) – “A cheerful heart is good medicine,
    but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.”

I Peter 1:8 (KJV) “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:”

I once was stationed with the military overseas. Without planning it, two Christian brothers and I coincided on the steps outside the post chapel. It was late at night, and we were taking a break from the barracks. It was just the three of us. We started talking about the Lord and just fell into worship and praise at the chapel entrance. It was all impromptu, spontaneous.

Suddenly, and unexpectedly, the three of us felt what can only be described as a light current of electricity run through our bodies – very light but unmistakable. It came from the top. We were filled with a heavy dose of joy. I don’t know how else to describe it. It made use want to worship and praise even more fervently. We continued praising and thanking God for a while. I don’t think Ken, Dick and I will ever forget that experience.

I’m not suggesting for Christian to seek such experiences – we should seek the Lord and our experiences (if any result) should be based on scripture. Our emotions should not act as our guideposts. We should seek God, not experiences. Also, God is not into weirdness. We also know that anything can happen when the Holy Spirit is around. Anything. Anything good, that is.

Feeling down? Don’t feel like praising or worshiping? Accept the “divine exchange.” This is an expression that the late Derek Prince used. Trade in your down feelings for the Word of God that provides the opposite.

A well-known passage in the Book of Isaiah, which prophesied the ministry of the Messiah Jesus Christ, mentions several aspects of His ministry.

Isaiah 61:1-3 (NKJV)

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

² To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,

³ To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

You should attend church services yes, but you can enter the presence of God from anywhere, at home, at a retreat center, wherever. God is everywhere. We’re the ones that are missing in action.

To sum this up, we ought to approach the Lord with thanksgiving and with heartfelt praise. Once we realize ALL the things, we can be thankful for, then it will be easy to fall into praise.

What’s next? 

You can present your petitions, for yourself and others. You can also – and should expect – an encounter with the Almighty. Such encounters are life-changing. You can ask Him for guidance and most anything else. You should also expect for Him to speak to you. How He does that is up to Him, through the Bible, in a still small voice, audible voice, in your thoughts, through others. Don’t expect a long list of things that He will communicate in one session. It’s not like you will get a scroll from heaven with various things – as in the days of the prophets in the Bible.

Again, nothing should contradict His revealed and written Word.

And don’t limit the Lord. Years ago, I was training to show movies at a military post theater. It was going to be a part-time job to kill time after duty hours. Out of the blue, a voice spoke to me asking, “What are you doing here?” I quit the theater and started a Bible study and time of fellowship at the overseas post chapel.

On another occasion, the Lord led me to start a Bible study in the downtown of the city I worked in. This time, the prompting was more subtle. I thought “OK “… “I didn’t know how or where this was supposed to happen. The downtown wasn’t exactly a hotbed of Christian spirituality. Very soon though, things came together. About a dozen of us held a Bible study, and even had a facility for it, and it continued for about a year. Among other things, we studied the Book of Revelation! I wasn’t exactly looking to do this, but I felt I had to obey God’s leading.

If you get caught up in the things of the world, in your job, in casual relationships or in other activities that take your attention away from the Lord, that still small voice will grow fainter or go quiet all together. That’s scary, not hearing from Him at all. It’s also the road to Christian mediocrity.

I shared these examples, so you don’t get freaked out when the Lord starts speaking to you, through the Bible or through such things as dreams and or visions, the still small voice or even an audible voice. He will find a way to get your attention. I’ve met Christians who’ve had visions that seemed to be from the Lord. Still, I can’t think of anything more exciting than serving the Lord in something He wants you to do - can you? Nothing compares.

Everything I’ve shared thus far merely scratches the surface of how we enter into the presence of God through thanksgiving and praise. The Lord will tell us more as we start to obey Him. It’s not all about ourselves. He is not ‘Santa Claus.’ It’s about how He may want to use us. The basics will help you get started.

 For more advanced studies on these topics, I can recommend books by seasoned ministers like Joy Dawson, the Missionaries of Prayer, among others. [2] [3]

If you “do it” then you will grow in it. If you have any doubts, check out the Book of Acts and how the early Christians acted out their faith. They acted on the Great Commission. They encouraged and prayed for each other. They praised and worshiped God.

Shalom!

Faith Today Christian Ministries

Diana Washington Valdez

Notes

[1] [Some of the music out there today is truly awesome, because it is reverent as well as beautiful – fit for the King of Kings. I’ve got some recommendations that I discovered thanks to the Missionaries of Prayer ministry. Made me ask myself, “where have I been?” Eric Gilmour is one of the music ministers/artists I recommend  Gilmour You can find him and other on Youtube. You can also see my Youtube playlist.]

[2] Joy Dawson has an anointed calling as an intercessor. She’s worked closely with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) Dawson

[3] The Missionaries of Prayer offers in-depth prayer ministry online, and teachings on many Christian topics.MOP