Have you ever wondered why it appears your prayers
aren’t being answered or if God really ever hears you when you pray? Is He
paying attention to you? I’m pretty sure
all of us have experienced that from time to time; however I’d like to share a
few “Black Pearls” of wisdom with you if you think this is happening. Sometimes, you need to do a private “check”
to make sure you aren’t doing anything to hinder your own prayers from being
heard.
When you “praise” are you doing it to be seen,
heard or noticed?...or are you doing it from your inner-most being out of the deep desire to
give Him praise. Is it because He’s more than worthy of your personal praise, for
how good He’s personally been irregardless of your current circumstance and
most importantly just because He’s WORTHY of your praise?
See, all too often I’m afraid people have two
extremely wrong perceptions about who
the Father really is: He’s either viewed
as the “Big Bad Man up there” with a hammer waiting to crack us against the
head every time we do something wrong, or He’s the God that’s the “Sugar Daddy”
just waiting to give us anything our hearts desire and whatever we want at our
every whim. Actually Father God is
neither. According to the Word, it is
His good pleasure to bless us (Luke 12:32 ), He enjoys blessing our
lives, even when we don’t deserve it, but He’s no fool! He continually blesses
us for others to see in plain view when He sees that our lives are dedicated to
Him, His purposes for our lives are being lived out and how we CHOOSE to live
our lives in order for Him to gain glory from us in the earth. If He can trust the fact that He can use you,
you can’t help but to continually be blessed! Obedience to Him and His Word also plays a big
part in this as well. But if you are
doing whatever you’re doing (supposedly
for Him) to be seen, heard, to have your name called or recognized, for titles
or position, etc. then your MOTIVE
for giving God praise needs to be examined.
Pure praise or LEGITIMATE
praise truly comes from the heart; down on the inside; not whether you do
everything right in life or not. King
David was heralded by God Himself as “a
man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22) and we all should know King David
made many, MANY mistakes in his life; everything from getting another man’s
wife pregnant, then having her husband killed in order for him to cover up his
sin, then lying to the Prophet about what he had done. But have you ever wondered WHAT was it that
God was so attracted to that kept Him going back time and time again to
David?...because it certainly wasn’t David’s obedience to do everything God
instructed Him to do.
The secret to God’s relationship with David was the
sweet smell of David’s worship; the honesty of David’s praise! When David
screwed up, God placed his sin right in his face and DAVID would “check himself”
and REPENT unto God for his wrongdoing! King
David wrote in one of my favorite Psalms “create
in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me!” (Psalm
51:10). Whew…now that’s pure…that’s
sincere! David understood the precious relationship that kept him CONNECTED to
God wasn’t worth losing by NOT repenting.
His praise was always received by God because He would take ownership
for his wrongs and then give God praise for allowing Him to see his error so
that he could move beyond it! That’s so awesome
to me, because all of us at some time in our lives should’ve experienced this
already. How many times have we done
something that wasn’t the best thing to do, realized our wrong, apologized
SINCERELY for it and felt freed enough to move on in spite of it?
See, God isn’t looking for PERFECT people without error; He knows He never created that
anyway! He’s looking for a people who is
hungry to carry His Spirit, His praise into the earth and spread His
personality to those that don’t have it.
Just as the enemy is “seeking whom he may devour?...” (1 Peter 5:8) …the
Lord is looking for somebody He can use that will give Him LEGITIMATE praise without their hand out, without wondering if they’ll
get the next title or position in church. LEGITIMATE
praise grabs God’s attention! Begin to
praise Him by yourself or to others without looking for anything. Share the goodness of God (your personal
testimony) with someone who doesn’t know Him the way you do or may have a
secret desire TO get to know Him. God
does hear AND answer prayer, but wouldn’t you want to be ASSURED He’s listening
to you? When you build your personal
relationship with Him through giving Him the praise and the worship that He is
due, BLESSINGS are automatic; Him
hearing you is guaranteed; Him answering is bonafide! If you want Him to pay attention to you,
purchase the “hottest” new fragrance of PRAISE
and see what happens…He loves that “scent”
and I HIGHLY recommend it!
Psalmist (Pastor) Doris Stokes Knight
is:
President & CEO of Black Pearl Enterprises & 1 Voice
Music Ministries
An Ordained Kingdom Pastor, Author, Psalmist,
Worship Leader, Worship Arts Workshop Facilitator, Recording Artist, Songwriter
& Gospel Stage Play Actress
Email: bpe1voicemusic@gmail.com
Websites: www.twitter.com/DaPsalmist (On Twitter)
www.facebook.com/DAStokesFamilyPage
(On Facebook)
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