The Psalmists

Indigenous Praise

                                                                        by Pastor G. Kay McGill

There is an inborn power believers have dwelling within us.  It is born in us when we receive the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 1:23). We have an inborn praise, one that is authored by the Holy Spirit—and it is growing within us as we increasingly experience the fullness of God. 

The learning psalmist depends on the Psalmist teacher to see and develop the potential in him or her.  The gift in each beginning psalmist has potential to be developed into fine talent.  The Psalmist teacher is as a refiner of diamonds, trained to see and do away with flaws that cloud the appearance, as those who shape God’s diamonds so the glory of HIS light shines through them.  The Psalmist leader learns the onstage and offstage personalities and abilities of the dancers (often as different as night and day) the leader is better able to assist the dancers in their spiritual and ministerial growth.  The vision is God’s.  And each dancer belongs to The Lord.  The Godly leader does not stand between the dancer and God; rather the Godly leader pushes the dancers toward a more active relationship with God.  The powerful, indigenous praise must shine through.  This is the primary focus of the dance director.

Frequently I am asked, “How do we determine who leads the praise and worship, and who stars in the dance?”  Is it determined by physical ability, gracefulness, or technique?  All these are important.  Or is it determined by their call to ministry, the dancer’s inner man and the richness of the spirit of praise within the dancer?  Is it determined by age, or by experience?  How about seniority within the group?  What do you use to determine the officers and the starring roles in your dance ministry?  

Bishop Frances Curry instructed me that he wanted only the Holy Spirit filled dancers doing warfare dance at the beginning of service at his church.  He said only Spirit-filled dancers have the ability to war against demonic spirits.  Only they can begin to understand the denominations of wrangling of power within the spirit realm.  Absolutely, I agree.

Would we go to the universities to find the latest Public Speaking graduates to fill our Pastoral positions in our churches?  How about our accountants?  Where do we look to find the financiers to handle our income and our seed, our talents? Shall we look to those with worldly, or with spiritual wisdom?  Do we look to find those with book sense, street sense, or those who have an ear to hear God?

Where do we find our Dance Ministers?  How important is the anointing, after all?  And how valuable is the technical training?   This is a much debated topic among the psalmists today.

Many do not agree on these matters about what is completely necessary, but most agree it is valuable for the dancer to have accomplished some technical training.  Foundations for choreography and creativity can only be built and edified, even as the skill and confidence of the dancer grows.  However, there is no substitute for the praying choreographer, who is before the throne of God to see, and receive God’s vision for His Own projects.  He/she must and carry them out, obediently.  During these prayer and communion times HE will instruct--whom does HE want, to do which part?  That is simply easier, than to go through much dialogue concerning other methods of choice.  I will give some examples for a better understanding.

Often, a liturgical church dance group I led would hire a guest dancer to fulfill a certain roles in various dances.  None wanted to play the role of the enemy or the forces of evil.  Perhaps some of the dancers feared their reputation might suffer; they might be thought “worthy of the role” by the congregation after playing such a character.  The guest we were led to hire for a particular role in a dance came to work with us with no misgivings.  He felt comfortable playing such roles.  He was a professional.  As the leader, I began to wonder if this might be a hindrance to the guest.  He played the role so well, after all.  I thought he might feel the role—he might internalize it too well.  I told him I would not cast him in these types of roles any more.  As a professional actor and dancer he did not worry about being ill-perceived by the audience for putting on a good performance. (Most professionals do not, but glory in that they are able to play any part convincingly.)   Our guest dancer would not have liked to be considered boring or unprofessional, however.   Our guest friend’s tendency was to upstage the rest of the dancers while ministering.  We had to go with the flow in the spirit onstage.  It worked out well, I realized.  Isn’t this a characteristic of that role?  Unless the guest and anyone else was truly Holy Spirit filled they could not accurately represent any Holy Spirit anointing with indigenous power and give an accurate message thereby.  What to do?  Wait for the right role for the guest.  We love him too, and pray for his salvation.  It will come.

Another time, God instructed me to choose a certain little boy for the role of the angel, Gabriel, for a Christmas dance.  He was not the most experienced or skilled of the group.  The song was “Go Gabriel Tell Them,” by Fred Hammond; about an angel named Gabriel, assigned to tell “them” that Jesus, Our Savior, was born.  All the other dancers had more complicated parts.  We had to work with them more intensely to teach and perfect their parts. 

We found that Gabriel was, by God’s set-up, a shy angel who had to be coerced to go and proclaim the good news.   The other angels led Gabriel through the dance, telling the story, until he finally was convinced and developed the power to go and proclaim the message.  The child God chose for the role of Gabriel was a shy child.  In addition to this, he missed quite a few rehearsals.  God foresaw all these details.  I came to realize this sometime during the unfolding of the meaning of the dance—about mid-rehearsal.  At one point I had to reassure the pastor’s wife that it was good that he was not present during all the rehearsals, so he would not be too confident and knowing during the Christmas show.  She did not understand until the performance.  It was meant that he be shy and unconfident, in order to be genuinely convinced during the actual Christmas performance.  His onstage moment of decision was priceless.  He was actually gradually convinced to go tell it, onstage, due to his natural shyness and lack of practice. Everyone could see his moment of empowerment, and his change of attitude happening onstage.  I was honored to have heard God, and obeyed.

To some, a part or assignment within a dance is indigenous to the dancer.  God knows this best, and HE assigns them, if we listen.  However, to some are appointed assignments psalmists are not accustomed to. God has planned to take the dancer to a higher realm, outside of their known experience.  HE knows the assignment is within their reach if they will commit to seek Him and grow.  The leader is assigned to encourage the psalmist to move forward, to push the dancer up to another level, to allow the indigenous praise to shine through.  We like assignments we feel confident to excel in.  We learn that God often gives us assignments we must continuously stay before Him in prayer to complete, as we know our inability to fulfill them without His leading and instruction.  As leaders we lead and direct the psalmists to a higher level of knowing God and of spiritual habitation.  This is our responsibility and this is what pleases God. 

As the Bishop Curry of Miramar’s Evangel Worldwide Ministries stated, some roles are only for the seasoned saint and the minister—the ones who have been through the struggle, and are not still bitter about it.  When we see the soldier or military officer with stripes, badges, and medals; we know he did not receive them skating through, or by his relationship with an earthly man.  He received them by going through the battle, surviving, and gaining the victory.  We can trust he has a testimony to tell.  I don’t know about you, but I love war stories—nonfiction, that is.  I love to sit down and hear the stories of the courageous warriors, the ones who put their lives on the line for the cause.