Get your hands up
A Prayer Meeting Devotional © MensHelp Ministries 2007

No it is not a robbery. Though, in a way, if you can't get your hands up you are the one robbing God of His due. I know the mere thought of the sight seen in many charismatic churches where the people have their hands raised and some are even weeping can frighten a lot of people. Honestly I used to be one of those, the frightened ones. You see I did not think it was nifty to be one of those “churchy” people. They were kind of weird from my perspective. I used to wonder what made them do that. Why would they want to do that in front of other people even? Then it dawned on me that they were actually plugged into a principle that I had been missing.

Have you ever driven a car that the front end was not in alignment? Sometimes when you are going slow it seems that it drives OK. Then as you go faster it wobbles or the unbalanced wheels hop or even pull to one side or another. Life is the same way when we are out of alignment, when our HEART is not balanced and our mind needs the “tow” adjusted. Life seems OK at slow speed but sure enough as life 's pace picks up here comes the tug or shake on your steering wheel.

Those people with their hands up are really just getting an alignment job! God gave us a way to get into the proper place in the order of things, into alignment. Another way to put it is simply “underneath God.” God would have us praise Him. In order to praise, you must believe that the object of your praise is greater than yourself, and through praise you honor Him (God) and you reinforce in yourself that HE is greater than us. Praise is a real submissive heart condition. We must lay down our egos, our pride, and our selfish wants and desires.


The Word:
1Timothy 2:8 I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.

Ouch, that is hard to do if you have not laid down that baggage you have been carrying. That is why God would have us lift our hands. You can't lift your hands to heaven in surrender if they are full of the stuff of this world. Just who is supposed to praise God? What does God say about it?

The Word:
Psalm 148:1 Praise the LORD.* Praise the LORD from the heavens, praise him in the heights above.
[2] Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
[3] Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars.
[4] Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.
[5] Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created.
[6] He set them in place for ever and ever; he gave a decree that will never pass away.
[7] Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
[8] lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding,
[9] you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars,
[10] wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds,
[11] kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth,
[12] young men and maidens, old men and children.
[13] Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
[14] He has raised up for his people a horn,* the praise of all his saints, of Israel, the people close to his heart. Praise the LORD.

Look at that will you! Everything in creation is supposed to praise the Lord! Do you know that if you are not praising God then you are being beat out by fish and rocks and the wind? I would hate to get to heaven only to find out that a rock offered more praise to God than I did during my life, and rocks can't talk!

OK, yeah, it is easier to praise when things are smooth and life is a breeze but what about through trials? What about when things aren't so awful good? What about those times when life is hard and there are tears and pain, when there is darkness and questions that don't have answers.

The Word:
Acts 16:19 When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice." 22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 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 everybody's chains came loose.

What is your prison? What has your arms and legs (and heart) in shackles? Fear? Anger? Rejection? Abuse? Emotion?

Well today we all know a little girl and her family held by a prison of cancer. We are getting ready to intercede for Brittany and her family to set her free from her bonds, whatever that may mean to God.

Let us pray:
Father we love you, we praise you even in this dark hour. This is our midnight and we are in prison Lord God. Hear our praises and our pleas. We are not worthy of our own accord, but because of your son we have been adopted and are now heirs in the Kingdom so we may boldly ask these things. Father we ask that you hold Brittany's family in such a way that they can feel your presence. We ask for Brittany's complete and utter healing. God we fully realize that this request may mean something more eternal than it does physical. Father between now and the moment she is freed we pray that YOU would hold her hand and keep her pain free and joy filled. Father that YOU would speak to the family through those who have drawn close and that YOU would use the Dr.s and Nurses and Hospice workers to bring a sense of Your peace to all that they encounter. Send your Spirit to the family Lord, in such a palpable way that they know you have been there and that you ache with them. You promise that if we ask in your Son's name it will be done. Father, in Jesus' Name, so be it!

Great word Steve, thank you

Raising my hands also seems to focus me more on praise and I believe since I'm up on stage during most of worship time it helps lead others into praise as well.