By Kelita Deems
God talks to me in worship. He is always faithful to meet me in the Secret Place – whether that is in a corporate church service setting, or at home in my private time, God speaks to me.
A few months ago, while in the middle of Sunday morning worship service, I chose to lay down a desire that I knew God was saying no to. I also decided to trust Him with a couple other situations that are totally out of my control, yet affect almost every area of my life. This was not easy. At that moment, nothing in the natural had changed. NOTHING. However, when I chose to completely surrender my will and the care of these situations to Him, joy rose up on the inside of me and I danced, I sang, and I felt as light as air. It was then, at that moment, that I saw a vision of myself leading a parade down main street, and I thought what am I seeing? I heard in my spirit, “You are leading a parade of freedom right down the middle of your circumstances!” HA HA! That made me all the more joyful!
I imagined situations and problems on each side – looking at me in disbelief and wondering what I was doing? I even saw a crowd of people (representing obstacles and problems) move to each side as I continued to lead the parade. When I think about this now, I smile. It makes me happy. Has anything changed since this happened to me a while back? NO! Hallelujah! I sense another parade today!
See, when we roll the care of something over onto the Lord – if we truly trust Him to take care of us – then what do we have to worry about? NOTHING!
This reminds me of the scripture in Ephesians 4:8 when it says that Jesus “led captivity captive.” I can imagine how that “parade” looked! Can you imagine the joy and exuberance those people felt when Jesus set them free?! And can you imagine the confusion and anger it cause the enemy’s camp? HA HA!
You see, the enemy has three things on his agenda – steal, kill and destroy. If he can’t kill you, he will do his best to steal and destroy you. He is miserable and desires to make any and all miserable as well. Imagine the confusion in his ranks when we are in a battle, facing difficult situations, and we praise and worship our God! In the natural, it makes no sense. But in the spirit, it causes much movement on our behalf. First, praise throws our enemy into confusion. In 2 Chronicles 16 we see that Jehosephat was surrounded by the enemy on all sides. He cried out to the Lord and then he sent praisers ahead of the army and it threw them into confusion! The Bible says they killed themselves and each other! What person would ever put the choir in front of the artillery when marching, (parading) to meet the enemy? A person who believes the word of God!
Our praise confounds our enemy. I Corinthians 1:27 says “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” A parade before battle would sure seem foolish, don’t you think?
Our praise invites the presence of God. Psalm 22:3 says God inhabits the praises of His people! Praise Him in the midst of problems and He will show up.
Our praise will set others free! Paul and Silas led a parade right through the jail when they decided to sing to God at midnight and it set them AND the other prisoners free as well! Ha ha! I love it! When we praise, it is contagious! Why? It brings the presence of God – it destroys the enemy’s stronghold of deception, and others will join us. Conga line for Jesus anyone? ( I am being silly, but think about it – Paul and Silas’ praise set others free……that is like starting a conga line for Jesus and picking people up along the way!)
Worshiping God – praising God in the middle of trouble, is like a big gust of wind comes in and dispels the smokescreen of the enemy. It allows us to see more clearly because we are magnifying God and not the problem! It reminds our foe that we are God’s people and those of us who choose to enforce God’s word, cannot be stopped! CHOOSE! Let me ask you – if put up a NO TRESPASSING sign on your property, will that sign alone keep people from coming on it? NO – if they trespass, you must ENFORCE the LAW of that empowers the sign. In other words, when the devil comes to steal, kill and destroy, you must go to the Word of God and enforce your rights as a believer. You must declare scriptures for your circumstances and then give it over to God and praise and worship Him. You must allow Him to come onto the scene and as you do, you will be leading a parade of freedom right down the middle of your life’s street! I love it! Do you know what else happens? Psalm 23 says He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. I always thought that was odd – but I believe I have some revelation on that …
If you are a believer, the enemy is always after you in some way, we have already established that. If you are doing anything for God at all, the enemy wants to mess it up. So, if God wants to set a table for you, most likely He will have to do it in the presence of the enemy. Think about it, unless you are under a rock and doing nothing for the Kingdom of God, the blessings of the Lord on your life, will come in the presence of our enemy. But how awesome is that? Can you imagine the frustration it causes the evil one to have to see God’s children being blessed?
I am going to encourage you today. Whatever you are facing, go to the Word, the law of God, find scriptures that you can stand on in order to give it all over to Him. If you are having trouble finding one – use Psalm 138:8 – “God will perfect that which concerns me.” Then, give it to God and worship and praise Him like it is already done. Dance before the Lord. Be jubilant. Do this and release confusion into the enemy’s camp! It may seem a little awkward at first, but speak to your soul and tell it to praise God! Stay with it. Go, and LEAD A PARADE OF FREEDOM RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET CALLED LIFE! Whoohoo!
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