Praise and Process

I immediately felt the Holy Spirit giving me a challenge - praise the Lord at all times!

What????!!!!

Not just the good times, not just the moments of breakthrough, not just when you are in church - all times.

Now, I know for many of you seasoned Christians this is a basic concept. But, try telling your emotions that at 3am when the obstacles and challenges of life are screening on the frontal lobe of your brain like the latest blockbuster.

Praise at all times - I felt liberated and challenged all at once.

My emotions were far from the praise zone. I was feeling the slump of the in-between. Back from holidays, suffering from jet lag and not certain of what the months ahead would hold as I prepared to travel to Brisbane for a Stem Cell Collection and possibly resuming treatment. My emotions were in the complaining zone. I wanted certainty, breakthrough and God’s promises to come to pass immediately before my eyes.

So often our emotions dictate our actions. They come parading as truth, and we forget they are simply passing feelings. And these emotions feel like us, and we forget they are not us - they are simply what we are feeling in that moment.

And these emotions they like to boss. But they are somewhat unruly, ungoverned and not brilliant leaders.

And these emotions, like children, need leadership. And the best leader is our renewed spirit in partnership with the Holy Spirit. An the Holy Spirit brings instruction to our renewed spirit through God’s Word.

So, I started praising God.

Did it mean I ignored my emotions. No. But, I sense the challenge to lead with praise and then bring our issues before God, in an atmosphere where we are giving Him due honor and recognizing His love, power and ability to deal with the cries of our heart.

In an atmosphere of praise we process.

Each day of last week I was drawn to this scripture.

And on Wednesday, my friend Gemma invited me to a 7.30am prayer meeting at The Bridge Church in Kirribilli. I walked into that church and started at the overhead screen which read: