Get Your Praise On, Christopher

Way back when, as a young preacher, I had two great loves within the ministry: evangelism and leading praise and worship.  My favorite worship songs were usually from the Psalms.  I find comfort in focusing on the Divine and allowing my praise to rise up as an offering of devotion.  In this presence, the pure essence of God fills every fiber of my body, setting me free from the constraints of this world and holding my heart in the safekeeping of God.  I used to love teaching on praise: taking oneself out of the "mirrored box of our own existence" and placing our all, through our state of worship, on the alter of God and surrendering our own will to that of the Divine.  I love praise.  I love giving myself in praise.

Last Friday, in a moment when I had taken to the couch in anger, feeling defeated, I swear that God spoke to me through Spots, our cat!  I was laying there feeling quite sorry for myself, when Spots (who sometimes is quite affectionate, but not as a rule) rested himself directly in my face.  I swear, his eyes pierced my own and then he licked me on my nose.  In that moment, an entire sermon was preached in my spirit.  The long and short of it was that I needed to pick myself up and get back in the game.  I was clear that focusing on the anger would only produce more anger.  Yes, there are things to be done and I am committed to doing them.  But once those things are done, I am to bless them and release them from my own expectations.  I am to stand in faith knowing that those structures will work as they were designed and that the truth of the matter will be revealed.  I was excited to share this as a breakthrough.

Later, I was in the shower minding my own business.   And once again, an entire sermon showed up in my heart...and I began to sing.  I mean, I went waaaayyyy back.  I was into my childhood at Holy Missionary Baptist Church.

"I don't bother nobody. I treat everybody the same. But every time I turn my back, they scandalize my name.  Lord don't move that mountain, just give me the strength to climb....."

Then I moved into a few contemporary praise songs.  But where my heart got completely happy was when I entered into the peaceful womb of Davidic worship.  There, in the privacy of my shower, I reclaimed the joy of my spirit and stepped back into alignment with my own great purpose.  I later told Damon that I look forward to returning to faith communities and once again sharing the gift of praise that is embedded in my heart.  This, I was sure, was intended for my own healing and the power to move on.

Then, I got a word from an unexpected source.  My friend Scott works with a lovely lady he calls Sister Terry.  I've met her a few times and have great respect for her as a woman and as a minister.  Scott called to check in and let me know that Sister Terry had wanted to talk with me, but he wanted to be sure it was okay to give her my number.  Of course, I'll accept encouragement and support from anyone who wants to express it.  Long story short, I end up on the phone with Terry.  And what a word she had for me!

What I'm going through, she tells me, is not the end of the storm, but rather the beginning.  This storm will ultimately wash away all that which has stood in my way for the past year.  With great clarity, she says that something has happened over the past year that has challenged my faith.  She tells me that I'm not to take it for granted that I will make it through the storm, but that the key lies within my own praise.  Stand in your praise she says.  Now, if I was the shoutin' type, I'd be shouting by now.  She tells me not to focus on the storm.  Focus on my faith in God; as promised this will work out for my good.  As she talks with me and shares the word that is on her heart for me, I feel confirmed.  In short time, I am assured, my heart will be free of the struggles of the past year and my greater good will be manifest.  I know in my heart that this is true.

So I gonna get my praise on, y'all.  What I know to be true is that God inhabits the praises of His people.  And I am one.  I invite you, in your moments of doubt and pain, when fear is greater than possibility, to get your praise on.  Sister Terry, I thank you for your obedience to the word that was in your heart.  You were used in a mighty way today.

There's a sermon in here waiting to be preached.  Not bad for an old preacher like me.