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Pray to Praise

by Steve Countryman  
9/12/2013 / Christian Living

It was an interesting time of prayer spent with God recently that opened my eyes to putting my faith into action with declaration. I'm sure you have done the same thing, you pray over again and over again for something or someone as you remind God of the need. That is what I started to do but something unexpected happened. Three times as I started to pray I would start to say "I pray for .." but instead what came out was "I praise for". I had already prayed for them and for my needs before but this time what came out was "I praise for" The word pray was replaced by praise. It hit me that I wasn't declaring my prayer correctly. Just by changing that one word I was praising God for answered prayer though it had happened yet. The potential power in my prayers had just increased beyond my comprehension.

Now something else had happened that I didn't realize right away. By taking my prayer and changing that one word from pray to praise, my prayer jumped from praying to prophesying, declaring and "calling into being what is not as if it were"! How powerful my prayers would become! That makes my prayers a NOW WORD. That turns on my "expector switch" that causes me to look at that prayer as a finished work! The Biblical definition of faith...Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." 1 Corinthians 14 "and earnestly desire and cultivate the spiritual endowments (gifts), especially that you may prophesy." (AMP)

The definition of prophesy is 1: to speak as if divinely inspired 2: to give instruction in religious matters : preach 3: to make a prediction , according to Webster's dictionary. The way that the Bible explains prophecy is Romans 4:17 "calls those things which do not exist as though they did". The gifts of the Holy Spirit include the gift of faith and the gift of prophecy. These two gifts carry enormous power of the tongue. "But I have never prophesied before and I don't know how." It isn't hard to do if you keep these things in mind. First the prophecy cannot contradict God's Word. Second, it must be God's will as it applies to the problem, His Word declared out loud. Declaring the end result as a now word, a finished work. And third, praise God for answering your prayer and prophecy even if it isn't manifested yet. Asking the Holy Spirit to lead you as you start is always a good idea. Prophesying is putting your faith into action. Prophesying invokes and encourages the moving of the Holy Spirit on your behalf!

So the next time you pray, stop and turn your prayer into praise and thanksgiving as if it was already answered and done. When you pray to praise you know you have prayed right. Pray to praise then watch what God will do! Its a God thing!

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