I saw a video on Youtube yesterday from The Potter's House, T.D. Jakes church in Dallas. He as talking about an elderly lady that was in his church many years ago when he pastored elsewhere. This lady could be in the middle of conversation and she would say "Excuse me." and then she would get up and praise and dance before the Lord. T.D,. Jakes said it didn't matter where she was, if she felt like praising God, she did it. He said that one night he got the call that she had had a stroke and had lost use of half of he body. He was on the way to the hospital to comfort her thinking she would be down about her condition. But, he said he stepped off the elavator and he could hear her praising the Lord. When he got to her room, she had taken her good arm and was lifting up her arm that was not working and was waving it and praising God. And, she was saying that she was still going to praise God no matter what. T.D. Jakes started saying that some people were only half praising or functioning. He begin to say that they needed to take their working half and get their non-working half to praising. He kept saying, "praise your way through it."
We are human. We have tendency to allow things to bog us down. We sometime let troubles distract us. It is during times like that that we may not feel like praising or maybe only do it half-heartedly. But, when we can learn to set aside thoughts things that easily distract us, we can praise Him with everything that is within us. It can make a world of a difference in our life. Our situation still may not go the way we expect them to, but when our hearts are filled with praise, things are more easily placed in HIS hands. He knows the way that we take. He knows our hurts. He knows our desires. And, He will always work things out according to HIS plan and what is best for us. We may not always understand the whys. But, He may work things out a certain way because He is saving us from more hurt and heartache down the road. We must continually trust Him. Our faith must be steadfast and unwavering.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, "In every thing give thanks : for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." The word "thanks" in this verse means to liberally give thanks. In some cultures, when they are thankful they have ceremonies where they give sacrifices and perform dances to their gods. If that is culturally acceptable for them, why can it not be even more acceptable for us to praise and worship God with our whole heart and dance before Him? I think we really need to get into a mindset of praise no matter what our circumstances. Now, I know that is not always easy to do. We have distractions...we worry about what others will say...we worry about how it will look. Maybe you have not thought those things, but I have. And, the Lord told me once. "Why are you so worried about what this one thinks or what that one will say? You didn't come here for them. You came to worship me. You have to learn to worship me even if the person standing next to you does not!" So, like the Lanny Wolfe song says, "I'm gonna praise the Lord anyway that I can. I'm gonna praise the Lord anyway that I can. I'm gonna pat my feet, lift my voice, clap my hands, I'm gonna sing and rejoice. I'm gonna praise the Lord anyway that I can." ♥
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