Habitation

Acts 16:²⁵ And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. ²⁶ And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.

God can delegate the answers to prayer, but He personally attends to praise. Paul and Silas alone praised God, right? But when the presence of God came down in response to their praise, everybody was set free. This is why I am a huge advocate for bringing people to church. Particularly those that are close to you but far from God. Just bring them into God’s presence and because God is present, their chains will be broken. You must not take praise and worship lightly. It is out of ignorance that people plan to arrive in church after praise and worship. I pray that because of what we are sharing today, you will make informed decisions going forward.

I laugh when people say churches put praise and worship on the schedule just to take up space or fill the time. Praise and worship is actually the most important part of the Worship Experience because God is there in person attending to praise. This is why in God’s Favourite House, we have seasons dedicated solely to praising God. It is very deliberate. God is light; when we are committed to praise, God’s light envelops us, and darkness cannot attach [fasten] itself to us. When you are committed to praising God, His light takes over your life. By God’s grace, my life is filled with praise and worship. I love to pray, but I am deliberate about filling my life with praise. When I am sleeping, I am worshipping. I wake up worshipping. While I am working, I am worshiping.

When you are committed to worship, God is present with you and His light radiates in and through you. At one of my golf games, I was paired with a Korean. While riding in the cart together, we got talking. His English was not very good, but we were communicating. Then he asked a question; for me this never gets old because God thrills me. He looked at me and said, “You priest?” He was asking if I was a priest. I had not told him I was a pastor or anything. I did not even tell him I am a Christian. I was going to say I am not a priest, but it must be the Holy Spirit that reminded me about the scripture, God has made us king and priests. I said, “Yes, me priest.”

I wanted to know why he was asking so I probed further.  He told me there was so much peace on my face and that since he had been riding with me, he too had become filled with so much joy. Note that I did not preach to this man but when you make God your habitation, even people that do not know God will look at you and ask, “You priest?” You make God your habitation by praising.

Prayer [song]: Alpha, my beginning. Omega, my very end. You are worthy to be praised, only You… Amen!