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| Worship is the function of human spirit in relation to God the Father. But the mind would do battle with us at this point. the caral mind is at enmity against God. That is why Paul in Romans 12:2 says, "Be not conformed to the world: But be ye transformed by the renewing of the mind." When a man is saved, his mind is not necessarily renewd instantaneously. He will have many of the same thought patterns that he had before salvation, he will find the same temptations that came to him before will still come. The mind has not yet been renewed by the Spirit of God, and the mind Must be renewed by praise and worship. Praise can lean us across the bridge from the mind into the spirit. Praise is putting down the mind. Praise is putting down the feelings. Praise is the act of will. Praise say, "I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Praise is an invitation to the human spirit to flow in the word of God. This is why when we came into a service and we're encouraged to worship the Lord, there is this intial resistance. It takes an extra push to get the "wagon rolling." Our minds have been deep in our business, in the affairs of family, concerned with circumstances of life. When we came to the house of the Lord to worship God, so the spirit must have preeminence. The Vow Of Praise Faith moves us and launches us into an area where we begin to actively apply the Word of God. You cannot move in praise without faith being present and motivating that act of praise. Praise is like the trigger that releases the explosion of faith will cause the word to come alive, it becomes the Ramah word in our life. Many times praise will be a celebration of triumph. We will thank Gd for the completed work of Calvary, even before we see in someone's life the demonstration of the finished work. We may need healing and we praise God for the fact that healing has been. Accomplished, even before we has seen the physical results or manifestations in our life. We must be careful at this point. We cannot make praise a source for the manipulation of God. It is not a coin in a cosmic vending machine. But according to scripture, it is abolutely correct to praise God for expected results and promises n the basis of the lawof faith. To passively sit back and accept whatever happens in our life reduces the Christian soldier to a spiritual baby being dominated by circumstances. We grow into maturity by exercising the authority and dominion Jesus delegated to us before He left the earth. I heard someone once say," Prayer asks, but praise takes." "Praise talks about the problem, but praise takes the answer from God." The time to praise God is when the pressure is the greatest, when the valley is the darkest. That is when praise releases faith. Focusing On God We are to come into the presence of the Lord singing, with praise and worship. It is uncertain where the song service as we know it came from. It is probable that it came out of this pattern in the Old Testiment of he tabrnacle. On their way into the presence of God they prepared their hearts with thanksgiving, praise and worship. It is important that we see the role singing has in providing the unity in the hearts to the people and preparing them for the act of worship befoe God. Singing in our song services prepares us for worship. If the people will give their hearts completely to the leadership of the Holy Spirit in the meeting, no matter what the concerns of their day have been, no matter how distressing the affairs of business, or household chores, they will be successful. Know this: "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." -- Pslam 22:3 God lives in the midst of the praises of His people! |
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| The Battle With The Spirit |
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