
Time passes, and we begin to wonder "Did I pray correctly?" "Did I pray specifically enough?" "Should I pray again?" "Should I ask someone else to pray with me?" "Was my faith lacking when I prayed?" "Did He really hear?"
So what do you do when the evidence isn't, well,...evident?
It's hard to Praise. It's hard to put aside human doubt and uncertainty and REALLY be able to say "Praise You Lord for healing me" when you're still hurting. Or "Praise You Lord for restoring my marriage!" when your spouse is still out till all hours of the night doing goodness only knows what. Or "Praise You Lord for saving my child!" when your child still comes home smelling of alcohol and with a glassy-eyed look. It's hard to Praise when the circumstance is staring you in the face.What does it take to Praise? Well, in the book of Hebrews, this was said about Abraham:
"And he (Abraham) being fully persuaded, that what He (GOD) had promised, He was able also to perform."Fully persuaded. Abraham was fully persuaded that God was going to reopen Sara's womb and they were going to conceive a child. Fully persuaded. Think about it for a minute. God said that a ninety year old woman was going to conceive. Not only did Abraham believe, he was FULLY PERSUADED that God could and would do just that. He didn't just say "OK God. We'll see." and then sit back wondering if it was going to happen. He said "OK GOD! This is cool! I'm going to be a father! I'm going to have a son to do father and son stuff with! Thank You Lord! Thank You for my son. I think I'll call him Isaac! Yeah! That's a good name for a son, don't you think Lord? He'll be a good boy and I'll tell him all about You! I'll raise him to love and serve You!"
Ok, that's a whole lot simplistic but you get my point. Because Abraham believed what God said, he began to say Thank You before he EVER got near the actual evidence. Before Sara ever told him she had conceived - before she ever gave birth and Abraham held the tiny little boy in his arms - Abraham said Thank You and began making plans.


Saul was a king of Israel. In fact, he was the first. At one point during his reign, the prophet Samuel came to him and told him of an upcoming battle Israel was to fight. Samuel told Saul to meet him in 7 days at an appointed spot; that he would offer sacrafice to the Lord for their safety and victory. Saul was anxious and arrived several days early. The enemy was emassing on every side and Israel's troups became frightened. One by one Saul's scouts returned, clearly very aggitated and reported all manner of forboding information about the enemy. Saul got really nervous. He decided that there wasn't time to wait for Samuel. He would offer the sacrafice himself and proceed with the battle. That day he led his troups into one of the worst slaughters Israel had ever seen. He himself barely escaped with his life. When Samuel arrived, he couldn't believe what Saul had done. "Why didn't you wait? I told you I was coming!!"
Jehosphat was also a king of Israel. He was a God fearing man and found favor with the Lord. One day, the guards came running into the great hall and they were terrified! "The Amorites are on the left us. The Hittites are on the right and the Amalechites are behind us. The whole city is surrounded! We're all going to be slaughtered!!"
Jehosephat calmly excused himself from the great hall and went to his praying place. He told God the problem. God told Jehosephat to prepare to send out the army the next morning but to set the choir ahead of the army and send them out of the city FIRST to sing praises to the Lord God of Israel.
Now how many kings would send his choir out into the midst of his enemies? But that's exactly what Jehosephat did. The next morning the gates to the city were swung wide and out marched the choir. The bible says "And when they began to sing and praise" the enemies turned on each other and began to kill one another. Not a drop of Israel's blood was shed that day. In fact it took them three days to gather up all of the spoils from the battle they didn't have to fight.
So will you be a Saul? Will you question what the Lord has said and done? Will you run ahead and face the battle yourself, only to be stomped into the ground by the enemy? Or will you be a Jehosephat and believe what the Lord has said to you? Will you believe that He has answered when you pray and set yourself ahead of the troups singing praises to the Lord, knowing that the battle is already won according to His Word?

The first is obedience to the word of God. When heaven talks, make sure you listen!
The second is that after you commit, begin to sing and praise and just watch what God does for you! Anytime you pray in faith, believing that God will answer, you commit. You commit yourself to God's Word. You commit yourself to God's promises. And if you become FULLY persuaded - then the only other thing you need to do regarding that need is to begin immediately to Thank Him for the answer.


