The Value of Praise

If you want breakthrough

I recently left this comment on a Pastor’s blog. “It’s always a privilege to read another’s blog and to be impressed as well. I love worship – it is the foundation stone of any good meeting/service (call it what you will). To be allowed to usher in the presence of the Holy Spirit is an honour but also a heavy responsibility. I suppose we have been spoiled here at Sleaford and, seeing a little of Lincoln and now yourselves in Hull, I believe the New Life churches in this area have a tremendous opportunity to reach thousands upon thousands in the East Midlands area. There is an anointing, in all three places, that I have rarely seen before and a further breakthrough is already well on its way. I have seen it coming to Sleaford for months now and I am certain you will receive it too. The Glory is on its way – oh Hallelujah \o/ Thank you for a great blog post. God Bless you.”

Upon re-reading, there is a prophecy there, isn’t there. Breakthrough and Glory – seems to be quite appropriate too. We need breakthrough before we see or experience the Glory. I really do believe that we shall see the Glory of the Lord in our churches – not just here in the UK, but also in many churches throughout the world. It is almost certainly starting somewhere right now. I said to one of our leaders recently, the cloud is larger than a man’s hand and getting bigger and closer.

So what is the breakthrough that we need in order to experience the outpouring and the Glory?

Worship – The first thing for which we need breakthrough is in our worship. We need to totally focus upon Jesus and worship Him and Him alone. Worship is the bottom line of our relationship with God. It is the building block on which that relationship is laid. Without worship, there is no relationship because worship expresses our love, our adoration, and our gratitude for all that God has done for us in order that we might have our inheritance in Him – eternal life.

Abandon ourselves – I believe the next thing is to totally abandon ourselves and our ego’s in order for Jesus to be seen. When a stranger looks at me, I want him or her to see Jesus, not me. That is my ‘target’. It hasn’t happened yet but one day, with God’s help. . . . . . . .

Die to self – as part of this abandonment, I believe the injunction to die to self and to live only to God is another key to breakthrough. Pride must go. “I” must go. Anything or any situation where I allow ‘me’ to get in the way of God working – must go. John 12:24 says “I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” So it is that we must die in order to live and to produce the fruit, Thereby, by their fruit shall you know them/me.

Your will be done – Because God’s ways are above our ways – as far as East is from West – so we need to yield our will to His. God’s plans for us are perfect, Jer 29:11, and beyond our comprehension because we can never view things totally from God’s perspective. So in our worship, and in our seeking for the breakthrough that will allow His Glory to manifest among us, we need to completely abandon our will, our thoughts, our plans, for His will and His will alone. Only when we do this will we, I believe, make a habitation fit for His coming and purposes.

This is no definitive plan for us. It is simply my own limited, and therefore poor understanding of what the Lord requires from us in order to achieve breakthrough and from there, perhaps, revival. Yes the cloud as big as a man’s hand is certainly bigger now as it approaches us. Now it is up to us to make a habitation for the Lord through our praise and worship that will somehow allow God to move sovereignly in revival.