A Praise Like Lydia & Daniel: The Watch Letter

During service my niece Lydia (almost 2) and nephew Daniel (2) are our mini praise team. They get excited and begin praising, shouting and dancing as soon as service opens! They love to watch our pastor (their Pop-Pop) preach and glorify God.

Lydia and Daniel won’t stop praising unless you tell them to stop and sit down to listen to the message. And, even then, they try to get a little more praise in at their seats. They say “Yayyyyyyy, goweeeee (glory), hawawujah (hallelujah), and mayyymennn (Amen). They clap, sing, and dance before God with all their strength. They will even praise with their sippy cups in their mouth, while holding an instrument in the other hand. Now that is dedication!

Although they have only been on this earth for two years, Lydia and Daniel know in their hearts that they were made with a praise inside of them. Also, they watch their parents, grandparents and aunties praise at home or beyond church so they are being taught early the value of praise and that it is not an exception or option but a requirement of serving God.

The Lord is using these two babies as example to us all. We can learn a lot from watching them.

1. We’ve got to choose to say over our lives “Praise Is What I Do.” Remembering we were created to worship him.

2. We should be excited to come before the Lord and celebrate him no matter what is going on around us.

3. Don’t let your praise die out. Keep praising anyhow. I remember when one of the families at our church lost a loved one and it was very painful, but they said in the midst of their tears they kept telling God thank you. They said even if they felt they lost so much they still had a “thank you.”

4. Use everything in your hands and every part of your life to praise and serve the Lord.

5. Just because you have something your dealing with it, doesn’t mean you can’t praise through it.

6. Praise is contagious. We can pass it on to others. Just like the pandemic, a simple breath can infect someone, so how much more can a simple praise impact someone.

Last week, we had a fire service. The Lord was sending his fire through our praise to burn on the inside of us and shine on the outside. It’s hard not to catch on fire at our ministry because we have a leader, Chief Apostle H.C. Gunn, who is always on fire for God. So, if anyone in our body has let their flame go out it is because of not taking the teaching God sends through our leader and not choosing to walk with our pastor and, most of all, walk with our Lord. True praise is choosing to continue in your walk of faith despite the obstacles. It tells God that he means more to you than anything or anyone else.

During the message, Chief Apostle Gunn said that praise means everything to God. Praise is an expression of our love, adoration, gratitude, agreement, expectation, hope, and joy. He said: Imagine what God can do with a life of a praiser?

If we live a life of praise, then we leave the door open for God to come through. When we live a life of praise, we find that there is no room for us to give place to the devil because all the seats are taken with our rejoicing and celebration over our God, our salvation, and the help we have in the Holy Spirit.

Praise elevates us and helps us look up and see God and look down and see just how small the problem is in God’s eyes. Making time to praise God throughout our week, helps us to forget about ourselves and concentrate on him. Chief Apostle Gunn said praise causes us to forget, lay aside and leave behind everything that’s not like God because it centers all of our attention on Him. Praise helps us to become a holy fire that won’t be consumed. The wind, water, and distractions of the world will not have the power to extinguish us.

Praise also means to magnify. So, when we praise, we help to ensure that God is the biggest thing in our lives. We put him in his rightful place at the top and on the throne of our hearts. We allow him to increase in our lives so that our flesh and our ways decrease.

Chief Apostle Gunn said something so powerful during service. He said: David danced so much in praise before the Lord and gave God so much credit and glory that it caused him to lose his wife. Wow! What I believe he meant by that is that living a life of praise will cause the things and people who are not really for you or for God to fall away. Praise is a great way to filter your life. Our praise should be so high and so consistent that the devil and anyone he is using can't stand to be near us. If people walk away because of your faithfulness to God, then they weren’t there in the first place.

At midnight, when Paul and Silas were in prison, in Acts 16, they begin to praise God. “And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened.” No matter what we are facing, our praise has the power to change things. Chief Apostle Gunn said that praise can create and make things. Praise can make a life brand new. Praise can rebuild an atmosphere. Praise can release healing. Praise can release anointing. Praise can release miracles. Most of all praise can become a beacon of light that draws others to Christ.

Chief Apostle Gunn always has taught us that we should name our children what God calls them because their name speaks over their lives. Be careful what you name a child .... it can curse them instead of aligning them with their calling.

Look at my niece and nephew Lydia and Daniel for example! I thank God their parents chose to obey God in naming them. In Acts 16, we learn that Lydia was a person who was known for how she worshipped God. She had a heart that was open to God and she attended to the things and people of God. She used all of her resources and abilities to worship God. She stayed busy working for the kingdom. Daniel was known to be wholly dedicated to God. He put God first and praised him despite of what the laws said and what people did to him. David would not compromise his love for God or his worship, even when he was thrown into a den of lions.

What powerful testimonies! Yes, we need to have a praise like Lydia and Daniel!

But the key to why Lydia and Daniel were true praisers for God is first found in their hearts. They sincerely loved God. Chief Apostle Gunn said that you can shout and jump all day in church, but if you don’t love God and receive His word in your heart, the fire of God goes right past you. And the praise will fizzle out.

Our choir sings this song: “Don’t let your praise go wrong.” Let’s make sure we have the right praise for God by first checking to see what the love meter for him says in our hearts. Praise is a serious matter. It comes with such power yet such humility. We cannot take it lightly. And the Bible says that those who worship God must worship him in spirit and truth. So, let’s make sure we are praising him with a sincere heart that wants to serve him for who he is and not just for what he can do.

And if we find that our praise has gone wrong and that we lack love and fire for God in our heart, Chief Apostle said we can tell God this: "If I am not touching you just right God, touch me. If I am not burning for you just right, God burn me. If I am not moving for you just right, move me."

It's also important to remember that your praise is also tied to your prayer life. If we can't talk to God, how can we celebrate him? Spending time with God helps you to be more aware of who he is and have more admiration for him which causes your praise to be more on fire.

Apostle Angel always sends us notes and reminders about past and current messages and the scriptures to keep us encouraged throughout the week. I am grateful! The other day, she posted a note from 2019. It said: "Don't slow down your Daniel." We know that Daniel was synonymous with prayer, praise, fasting and obedience. Sometimes we can find ourselves off track, unbalanced and allowing our walk with God to get so slow it comes to a stopping point. But Apostle Angel reminded us we can pray and ask God for our even, meaning our balance and our alignment. We can ask for our Daniel back!

Listen to today’s radio broadcast with Chief Apostle Gunn: Now Faith (Shout & Burn) https://www.thebodyofchristinc.com/listen-in?wix-music-track-id=9928425537222676&wix-music-comp-id=comp-kjfzbgmx

You can support our radio ministry and the outreach of our leader on the field by sowing a seed here.

Thank you,

Apostle Kanya