Pillars of Prayer and Praise

 

Although this article was written about our local church, the thought applies to all believers everywhere. Think about the balance you need in your own life and ministry as you read it.

Several years ago, it was prophesied to this house that it would be built upon the pillars of prayer and praise. At the time, with my limited thinking, I thought of that as our prayer group and our praise team – that WE were the pillars of strength and support that the church would be built upon.

Last Tuesday night at prayer, that prophecy came back to me as strongly as the day I first heard it. However, I heard it in a totally different way. Our house is built upon a balance of prayer (supplication) and praise (thanksgiving). Every person, every group, every ministry within our local house should be building up both of those pillars equally. If we focus too much on either one, we get out of balance.

If all we focus on is what needs to be improved, we’re out of balance. If all we do is rejoice over what God has already done and where we’ve already come, we’re out of balance. In Philippians 4:12, Paul said he learned both how to be abased and how to abound.

It’s so much more than “Wherever you are in life, there you are.” It’s a matter of accepting responsibility for the choices you’ve made and being content with the fact that you cannot change the past – AND – at the same time understanding that God is bigger than any of our mistakes and that He is in the process of changing us from glory to glory. We also must understand that it is all a process that will take time.

I believe that we should in be a continuous state of asking and receiving. Apostle David has said several times, “The hand that is always receiving is never full and the hand that is always giving is never empty.” Well, God gave us two hands! One hand should always be giving, and one hand should always be receiving. That way we are never full AND we are never empty!