Eruption - Definition mine: Blow the top off and/or release a flow of lava = life disruption to the world around it.
I am wondering how your section of the world has been this week, mine has been intense.
I do not mean just for me personally, it definitely has been, but for others around me too and I knew that something in the spiritual realm was moving.
Let me give you a brief recap of the week as I encountered it:
Me: bronchitis, pneumonia – I reacted to 2 types of medications badly, sleepless nights, violent barfing, one night I seriously questioned God if He was going to take me as I woke up with a heart rate that I think was off the charts. I have slept, drank more liquid than probably most fish ever do in their lifetime. I have this week felt the “eruption” of sickness.
Other people very close to me – that my heart aches for, had their own storms:
Surgeries, blackouts and seizures, life and death incidents, sickness, heart and kidney issues, babies possibly 10 weeks early.
How was your week?
I asked God about all the above incidents and what they were about. I got a visual and it might take a bit of explaining………….
Okay – we are truly not “hash browns” to God but this is the visual He gave me and then He told me that He started to “shake” the pan.
You know what happens when the pan shakes? Our world as we know it starts shaking, moving and often turning upside down; the mountains seem way taller than we can climb. The pan itself stays firm but the insides rock and roll.
Yesterday, physically – I did not know what to do. The medication was not working, again, I had been violently sick (vomiting) all morning, I could not breathe, my head was so plugged I thought it might explode and I was physically spent. Nothing seemed to be working – I had a Dr. appointment at 1:30.
At 1:00, I was presented with a song by Sheri Easter – Praise His Name.
I sat on my bed and sobbed and snotted through the song and raised my hands in Praise –and tried to cough and sing my way through. It was in those moments I realized God was very smart – crying was beginning to release a lot of pressure in my head and I knew somewhere through the 3 times I played the song – God and God only started to heal me.
It was not the crying – it was the Praise.
When I got to the Dr. he said my lungs were sounding better – A God Miracle cause I was wheezing in the morning.
Praise is one of the Keys to Gods Kingdom.
Other countries get this way better than we do in North America. In countries so poor that we seem like millionaires they ‘out praise’ us a hundred fold. I remember listening to the Keepers of the Faith, a Samoan singing group who actually told the audience that he hates singing in North America because we do not get it. They had performed the week before in a country just ravished by a hurricane but the people PRAISED GOD for His faithfulness! They had nothing and they Praised, we have so much and have a hard time doing it.
I read a quote in a novel that sealed what I was thinking:
“You know, my people were praising in the slave cabins long before their circumstances changed. They praised by faith and so must you….” The List, Robert Whitlow
Slaves Praising God and we all know Black folks KNOW how to Praise! But they learned to Praise Before They Saw the Results.
In the Bible, Paul and Silas in prison Praising God.
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose” Acts 16:25,26
Our circumstances in life so huge and overwhelming, not in the least trivial, chain and hold us down under their weight and they threaten to overtake us. And God says to Praise Him.
I mean no disrespect but to my normal (human) way of thinking – that is just plain dumb. When I am hurting, brokenhearted, beaten and whipped, I do NOT want to think Praise. – Just being honest.
But I learned yesterday after trying Dr’s, medicines, garlic, ginger, netti pots, liquids, turkey soup, rest… that the ONLY thing that started to work was PRAISE. (I am not saying do not go to Drs – that in this instance God was shaking me to discover who I was relying on).
God told me to share this with you – because the world is starting to shake for many of us and I do not believe God is going to stop shaking the pan just yet.
Just as the above scripture said “the other prisoners were listening to them” – people around us will be watching us as their and our world starts shaking. People need to see light in the dark.
Luke 21:9-11 says:
“When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.” Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.”
Remember last week the Northern Lights – they pierce the darkness with their glorious light? Well PRAISE unleashes the light. As we go forward this year with God called “eruptions” to our world – personally and around us physically, He wants us to know how to PRAISE HIM and unleash the power and the light around us. He still has hold of the pan, He is not going to let us go, but it may get bumpy.
Are you still singing “This Little Light of Mine?” from last week releasing the light around you – I hope so.
In case you are in the middle of your eruption and you need some Praise Songs – I have given you links to a couple – sit back and raise your hands and sing.
Praise and Release the Power and the Light!
Casting Crowns – I Will Praise You In This Storm
Sherri Easter – Praise His Name