I'm looking forward to writing this blog entry because it comes on the back of the most awesome week I've been having and I want to share some of it with you all...
First up, I was browsing the internet, seeing what my peeps have been putting on Facebook when all of a sudden I came across this video: -
This of course set me off thinking about a whole vibe that came from within my home church, !Audacious Church in Manchester, a few years back and I remember one of the Pastors, the impactful Stuart Keir, made a statement that when facing trouble, you are to "praise before your breakthrough because praise comes before the breakthrough".
This sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? I don't know about you, but I wondered at that time how such a statement could be made because it flies in the face of common sense and reasoning.
Why should one praise when one faces difficulties?
In short, I started to put that into practice because, after all, what was the worst that could happen? It couldn't get any worse, could it?
That's right!
I started to realise that, no matter what I faced, I was in fact setting my stalls up right to receive the promises of God, be they financial, physical, whatever and paid the price in terms of my ego.
The more I thought about this, the more sense it made that when the chips are down is when people often run to God for help yet when things go right, they are only too happy to deny him.
I've already made it clear that an option like that is not for me, not after what happened at Brotherhood 2014!
In setting out your stalls to praise like this, your focus begins to lift, not drift, upwards towards the Creator as you seek to receive and embrace the promises that He has seen fit to bestow upon you, even though you don't deserve them!
But that's precisely the point, isn't it? You and I do not deserve them, yet because of His unselfish act of dying upon that cross at Calvary, Jesus paid the price that should have fallen upon our heads. He was the substitutional sacrifice that we should have been left with, but because of His words, "it is finished", we can now say that, with confidence we approach the throne of grace!
Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Ours is not a lost cause whenever things look bad, or when things feel bad, for that is when we are often closest to our own personal breakthroughs in life.
Final Thought
The final thought then, seeing as this one has taken a differing turn to how I intended it originally, but so be it, is that the next time you find yourself so tempted to say "to hell with it and all the consequences" when things aren't going your way, try looking up to your Creator God for assistance.
Not only will He help you when you struggle and fail, He will also help lift you up so that you will not strike your foot against a stone: -
Psalm 91:11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways
Read the full chapter of Psalm 91 to get an idea of just how much you mean to Him, I did, some time ago now, and can say that I feel all the better for it knowing He is "limitless, there's nothing He cannot do"!
Until next time when I'll have a bit more time to unpack the Truth and why I believe the way I do; because causing a Sensation is what I'm all about!
Peace out!
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