“Don’t Go to War until You’ve Learned to Dance” This is what I kept hearing this morning while in my quiet time. As I pondered this, I began to hear that so many want to war on behalf of our King, but they have not learned how to “dance” with Him.
What does this mean? It means we are going into the battles of life without relationship with Jesus. My husband and I love to dance in the privacy of our own home. We have our special songs (slow songsJ) that we love to dance to. It is rare that we would dance in public, but we have for 34 years enjoyed our “dance” in private. It’s these times of dancing that have equipped us to handle the problems of life that have come our way. It is these times that have taught us how to lock our hearts and eyes in the battles of life and come out victorious.
Too many Christians get caught up with the excitement of the battle when they have yet to establish the intimacy of relationship that is required to win the war. How can we know? We know because we have a form of godliness, but no power. We fight our battles with enticing words of man’s wisdom, and lack power. We run against the enemy of our souls with Christian clichés and Bible verses that do nothing to move the devil out of our way. We run from one conference to another hoping to get the silver bullet or the magic dust of another’s anointing that will erase all of our cares, still not understanding the dance we each must learn. It is in the stillness of relationship and intimacy that the battle plan is revealed.
Jesus gave us the example when He spent hours of time in the Presence of His Father. He learned the “dance” of relationship that He needed to endure the shame, the temptation, the humiliation and the cross that was to come. He overpowered Satan because of His relationship with His Father. We are a great army, but we are only going to be effective if we have first learned to dance with our King.
Interestingly, according to the TWOT, the Hebrew word of dance carries two verbal root meanings. One is “to twirl” as in a joyful dance expression and the second is “to writhe” as in labor pains. This is the two sides of the coin of our relationship experience with Him. We have the joy of His intimate Presence, but also the labor of giving birth to His cause. They are not mutually exclusive. So, let’s learn to dance before we go to war.
Psalm 149 (NLT) — 1 Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing his praises in the assembly of the faithful. 2 O Israel, rejoice in your Maker. O people of Jerusalem, exult in your King. 3 Praise his name with dancing, accompanied by tambourine and harp. 4 For the Lord delights in his people; he crowns the humble with victory. 5 Let the faithful rejoice that he honors them. Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds. 6 Let the praises of God be in their mouths, and a sharp sword in their hands— 7 to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, 8 to bind their kings with shackles and their leaders with iron chains, 9 to execute the judgment written against them. This is the glorious privilege of his faithful ones. Praise the Lord!
This is so true and well said.