God's Call to Praise - Tuesdays at Two

Last summer, during conversations after the 11:00 service, a few ladies discovered we had individually been hearing God's call to praise Him. We did a Bible study on praise, and as we studied we grew more and more excited and hopeful. We found that praise cures "dry times", brings unity, births victory, releases blessings and the gift of prophecy, produces power, and brings hope. The decision was made to gather with the sole purpose of praising Him assisted by a praise and worship CD, listening for anything He may want to convey to us, and then praying in line with whatever that might be. Part of our Bible study impressed upon us to praise God in the sanctuary, which is where we meet on Tuesday afternoons from 2-4. We call it simply "Praise and Prayer."

This is such a wonderful way to believe we are praying in line with God's will, and very frequently one person will share a phrase she "heard" and pray along those lines, while another will have her Bible already opened to a passage that went with that prayer perfectly. Just this past Tuesday, one of the songs on the CD reminded Tess to pray for the musicians in our congregation to respond to Jonathan's invitation to join the worship team. She "reminded" God that He calls us to praise Him with the flute and lyre and all kinds of stringed instruments. Barb Mamoulides immediately read Psalm 33:1-3, to which her Bible was already opened on her lap:

     Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous!

       for praise from the upright is beautiful.

     Praise the Lord with the harp;

     Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.

     Sing to Him a new song;

     Play skillfully with a shout of joy!

Now, that is just fun!

We always pray for our church, pastors, ministries, youth, etc. but the prayers are varied as we feel God leads us. One day someone saw an outline of Africa, so we prayed for our sister church in Rwanda and about the famines and wars in Africa. I feel overwhelmed sometimes trying to pray for the world given the state it's in, but this way, our burden is to pray just how God leads for the day, and we have found that indeed, His burden is light! Please join us if you're able!

Submitted by current Praise and Prayer participants (left to right in the photo above):

Tess Barnes

Barb Mamoulides

Anne Sanders
George Mamoulides