"I Will"

   The words "I WILL" are powerful words indeed!  Sometimes very important words.  Especially when we consider the idea of obedience, which incidentally, is a time when many believers quit wanting to say those two words.  Great example?  What we often call praise!   For many, what we call praise is a cloud we hide behind in order to look spiritual.  We are not really praising, we are just putting on a praise appearance. 

   Let me explain:  look at how David said things like, "I will bless the Lord", or, "I will rejoice" and how Paul said things like "I will pray in the Spirit, I will sing will the Spirit".  Those words "I will" point out that an act of the will is involved.  It is not just emotions or mannerism involved, a decision is involved, a decision you consciously make.  The Bible makes it clear that praying in tongues, singing in tongues, rejoicing, etc., are acts of the will, not emotion.  "I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with understanding".    This is what James taught us when he encouraged us not to just be "hearers" of the Word but "doers".  He pointed out that to just hear, and not do, invoked self-deception, the very worst kind of deception from which to break free.

   Maybe this sounds rational to you, but a lot of folks miss this rational and in fact, can become very irrational when confronted with the idea.  Years ago, Bev and I were invited to preach a series of meetings along these lines at a Pentecostal church with membership of about 400. That is when I found out this could really be inflammatory.  We started Sunday morning and I preached from Ps. 34, "I will bless the Lord".  I told them, "You can no longer say you will praise the Lord only if the Spirit moves you".  I told them "Decide to do it. Bring a sacrifice of praise".   That congregation got so mad, all 400 stayed home Sunday night.  The pastor just lay in the altar and cried.  He had just discovered he did not have a praising church, he had a church using praise to hide who they really were.

  You see, this church was perfectly willing to praise if the right stimulant, body movement, spiritual notion, type of song, etc. was projected.  However, they were not willing to will themselves to just praise God.  In typical fashion, they excused themselves with religious words like "I will praise God, lift my hands, etc., if and when the Spirit moves me".  We used that excuse in the church of my youth but the problem was, the Spirit seldom moved anybody.  The only movement we saw was if the right stimulus came.  and usually when there was movement, it had nothing to do with Him.   Now, don't get me wrong, I like emotions!!!!!  I like being free with my emotions.  But, my emotions are not why I minister to the Lord.  I will bring my sacrifice of praise, knowing it pleases God, whether my body wants to or not, whether my soul gets emotional or not.  Obedience adds the flavor God is looking for in our praise.   Think about it:  why should the Spirit move you to do what He has so often commanded you to do?  We are commanded to "praise" God about a thousand times and the same for giving thanks. We are commanded almost that much to worship and we are commanded to "rejoice" all the time.  Together, the commands to do these things outnumber by far any other command to do anything.  What are you waiting on?  Another letter from heaven?  Another book added to the one we call the Bible?  Nah!.....just do it!