Lift Your Hands in Praise
Recently, I went through a time of discouragement. A time where nothing seemed right. Everything seemed out of kilter. No matter how hard I tried, I could not seem to deflect it. One morning in particular, I felt that I really needed to tap into worship, more than usual. At work, I listened to worship music and quietly sang throughout the morning as time allowed, and it helped, but I felt the Lord wanting to do more.
It wasn’t until my lunchtime at work that the breakthrough finally came. It was then I felt impressed in my heart to do something some might find unusual. I shut my classroom door, put on worship music, lifted my hands and sang and danced before the Lord. After a bit, I felt a release; the weight was lifted. NOTE: If it makes the reader feel better to know this, I was alone, the door was locked and nobody but the Lord witnessed my outburst of praise. I smile inside as I write this because I know that some will question this–the time, the place, the action, but I do not.
This experience, however, reminded me of Moses and the Amalekites: “So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered…As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up–one on one side, one on the other–so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.” Exodus 17:10a, 11-13
As long as Moses lifted His hands toward Heaven, the enemy was defeated, but when his arms grew tired and lowered, the enemy gained ground. It seems to me that it is much the same in worship. When we lift our hearts and even our hands in worship, the enemy loses ground in our battles. Why? It is because God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). Where He is, the enemy cannot stand. When we praise our God and lift our hands toward Heaven, how can the enemy hold ground in our life?
Today, worship the Lord, lift your hands in praise and watch the enemy scatter.
–Katie Botello