Praying to Praise and Thank Him :: By Keith Watts

Find out why I was giggling out loud heading home from work.

The word praise is in the Bible 299 times. The word dance is in the Bible 27 times. This dance is unto the Lord; I am not talking about an ungodly dance. I want to give you some verses in the Bible about the dance unto the Lord. The first one is the nation of Israel dancing unto the Lord.

“Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation” (Psalm 149:3-4).

The Psalmist says to praise him. How did he say the children of Israel praised the Lord? In dance, singing praises and playing musical instruments. This is the key to the verse unto the Lord and no one else. It is as if the Lord is the only one in the audience. So many sing and play instruments for so many different reasons. When you sing or play an instrument for the Lord, do it from your heart to the Lord’s heart. In verse 4, what is the Lord’s response? “For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people.” Wow! Does the Lord take pleasure in you?

The next verse I want to look at is 2 Samuel 6:14. “And David danced before the Lord with all his might: and David was girded with a linen ephod. David danced for the Lord, and he put every bit of his being into the dance; he gave his all for the Lord in this dance. In verse 20 of the same chapter, Michal mocked David because of the dance and what he did before the Lord. What was the Lord’s response to Michal? Verse 23 “Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death.” I would not make fun of someone worshiping the Lord.

A few years ago, I would spend more time with the Lord in the afternoon (when I came home from work) than in the morning. I would get so excited about spending time with the Lord that I would start giggling out loud. It is so amazing to spend time with the Lord. So many Christians are missing out on the close relationship that we can have with the Lord while we are still here on the earth.

One night about five years ago, I was spending time with the Lord. I may have been with him a few hours; I can’t remember (when you’re with the Lord, you lose track of time). For so many years, I would sing to the Lord when I was alone with him. My favorite song to sing to the Lord is I Can Only Imagine by Mercy Me. This night something happened to me that has forever changed my life. I was singing to him, and what came to my mind was 2 Samuel 6:14. I went over to my desk and read this verse. I told the Lord I wanted to dance unto him in honor of him, so as I sang to him, I started dancing before him also.

WOW WOW WOW. I WILL NEVER FORGET THE TIME I HAD WITH THE LORD THAT NIGHT FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. I was giggling, singing, dancing, and crying out loud to the Lord. The presence of Jesus was so overwhelming. The next year it was so amazing what the Lord did for my family. All I can say about what happened to us was it was so big you could see God’s fingerprints all over what happened to us. What he did for us has a major effect on my family every day and will for the rest of our lives. I had asked the Lord why he did something SO BIG AND SO GOOD TO MY FAMILY AND me. The Holy Spirit gave the answer to me – I had danced before the Lord. Thank you so much, Jesus, for being so good to us.

I had so much to say about praising and thanking him that it took me two messages to preach on this subject. In this article, I am still in the introduction of the first message. In this first message, I preach out of Psalm 63:1-5. In the second message, I preach out of Acts 16:25,26. It is about Paul and Silas in jail. At the end of the message, I asked six questions. I will put the link to both messages below.

Prayer Part IV, Praying to Praise and Thank Him

https://youtu.be/awBmuqnrvpQ

Prayer Part V, Praying to Praise and Thank Him

https://youtu.be/LcCGipZTnQ4

There are two things that are on my heart so much that I cannot stop thinking about them; I cannot stop crying about them; I cannot stop praying and fasting about them; I cannot stop spreading them around the world.

  1. The worldwide prayer movement. This movement is about praying, fasting and repentance for a nation for a set date, and I’m asking all prayer warriors to join with us on this date. The Lord is moving in this in a mighty way.
  2. In the month of May, the goal is to lead 50 million souls to Christ across the 54 nations of Africa. It is an organized movement in all 54 nations. I am asking all prayer warriors from around the world to join with us in praying every day for this movement from now until May 31, 2022. So many from around the world are joining, and I believe we are moving the heart of God. I ask you to watch this 9-minute video about this movement. The link is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr7PO0fPnak

I ask all prayer warriors from around the world to join with us on March 14, 2022, for a day of prayer, fasting, and repentance for the nation of Nambia on behalf of over 2,610,897 precious souls; Botswana with over 2,424,161 precious souls; and Angola with over 34,464,439 precious souls. For the sake of the lost, please join with us and post these dates.

Facebook page is 4HIM Online Ministries

Keith Watts

Online Missionary to the world