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TIPS FOR DANCING UNDER THE ANOINTING


Beautiful Are The Feet
In my years of teaching and operating a ministry, I have seen many dance ministries where God’s Anointing did not flow.  This is the primary reason I always encourage praise dancers to allow God to take them through a process of purging and cleansing in mind, flesh and spirit before taking their position on the battlefield as a dance minister.  (Please note that dancers should not be considered dance ministers until at least the age of 12 or when they thoroughly understand how to dance under the Anointing).  This can vary from dancer to dancer, however, age 12 is the age I have found to be when a dancer can explain to you what it means to have a relationship with God, without sounding rehearsed.

Dancing under the Anointing is about a relationship, not a taught set of movement, not strong facial expressions, nor is it repeating movement over and over to drive in the point of the message in the song. Dancing under God’s Anointing signifies that the dancer has a complete understanding of how to connect with the Holy Spirit in order to allow God to speak through them to the people.  Although they may have learned choreographed movements, they will not make a spiritual impact on the audience unless the dancers know how to connect with the Holy Sprit.  The people have to see and feel God’s presence when praise dancers are dancing.

Allow me to share some important tips of how to teach your dancers to connect with the Holy Spirit:

  • Once a dancer reaches the age of 12, have them pray and ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit to operate by evidence of speaking in tongues.
  • Have your dancers submit a one page writing as to why God has called them to dance.
  • Before teaching choreography, have your dancers sit down and listen to the song so that they understand the message/assignment.
  • Have your dancers tell you if it is a praise, worship, celebration, prophetic or warfare message.  This will tell them how to execute their movements.
  • Before practice pray over the practice and  have 15 minutes of praise and worship to help them become focus. Pray out of practice as well.  Praying teaches the dancers to place God first and invite the Holy Spirit in.  Praying out teaches them to protect themselves going home and the rest of their week.
  • Have regular bible study with your dancers and teach them how to properly pray, dance before God in their prayer time, and ultimately go into the Holy of Holies.  This is where they will learn worship and how to hear God’s voice clearly.
  • Before ministering, have your dancers fast for a certain amount of time. (Make sure you explain why fasting is important and never make it impossible for them to commit.)
  • On the day of the engagement, take communion, this is only necessary if God leads you in this direction.
  • Make sure that you have sought God for a foundational scripture for the ministry, even if it is under your church.  Make sure it lines up with the overall vision of your ministry.  This will tell you the purpose God created your ministry.
  • Those Beautiful Anointed Feet
  • Never allow your dancers to minister if they have not grasped the understanding of what it means to dance in relationship, unless you are led by God to do so and if this happens make sure you understand why He is approving this to be done.  There is something that He wants the dancer to recieve but only do this if led by Him. Never because you like the person or feel sorry for them or because they begged you.
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Dance Ministers Are Not Their Own


In previous articles/blogs, I spoke to you about the importance of having an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit.  Now I want you to understand that because you are intimate with the Holy Spirit, you are not your own to govern.  The Holy Spirit is your Governor now.

(Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own, you were bought with a price.  Therefore honor God with your body.)-1 Corinthians 6:19-20

“I’m grown and I can do whatever I want.”  “This is my body and what ever decisions are made regarding it, are mine to make!”  So what, I like to drink.  So what, I like to watch porn.  So what, I like to smoke weed.  So what, I like having as many women as I can.  So what, I like to have as many men as I can.  This is what we say to the Holy Spirit on a daily basis, when we make our own decisions regarding our body and life.  I wonder how many times in this week alone that we ignored the Holy Spirit or didn’t even think to include Him in our decision making.  Dancers!  You belong to God, you are not your own.  Let’s look at the scripture below.

(In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey it’s evil desires.  Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.  For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.)-Romans 6:11-14

In the scripture above God lets us know that because of what Jesus did on the cross, we can overcome sin but it begins with the way we think.  We have been given a power that allows us to resist sin, the Holy Spirit.  In our thought process a decision to sin has to take place, therefore, you should begin to practice making your thoughts consider the Holy Spirit first.  When you do this, you allow your mind, spirit and body to be used as instruments of righteousness instead of sin.  Know that the Holy Spirit will never force you to serve God; it has to be your decision. 

As dance leaders it is our responsibility to do the following:
The Solid Foundation

  • Discern from God (which will come from the Holy Spirit) what each of our dancer’s spiritual need is.
  •  Teach them how to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit, especially for our beginning dancers.   
  • Give Dance Ministers who are spiritually mature a regimen that is appropriate for their level of understanding.    
What are you doing to offer yourself as instruments of righteousness and not to sin?  Think about the ways in which you govern yourself, make a list.  Then think of ways in which you allow the Holy Spirit to govern you.  Hopefully your second list will be longer, if not, make a list that details how you will change your patterns to help you place the Holy Spirit first.   Dance leaders need to do this for themselves first, then for your dancers.  God Bless and I am praying for your success!



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Dance Leaders Must Allow God To Train Them


And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,-Ephesians 4:11-16 (ESV)


Having trained leaders in the Body of Christ is critical to the success of our mission in God’s kingdom.  God has given each of us a purpose and once he has reveled this to you.  He will begin a process of spiritual training and development.  I like to call, “purging and cleansing” of your Christian Character.  Every person, situation and test you encounter is designed to strengthen you in your purpose.  These things are key to your development as a leader.  Your church, your pastor, church leaders and even those who are just regular members will be a part of your development.  These individuals will question you, give instruction and direction to you.  This will sometimes be challenging because you may be given instruction that is wrong or just doesn’t make sense and ultimately can cause you to be reprimanded.  This happened to me on several occasions.  When this happens you may or may not understand the reason, however, your will need to pray and ask God for understanding and wisdom.  Understanding and Wisdom are two of the most important characteristics of being a great leader.  What do I mean by this?  Well, sometimes I wanted to defend myself, but instead I prayed and ask God for understanding.  God would always tell me why I was experiencing the challenge and how to move forward spiritually.  Being in God’s will was more important than being in mine.  In God’s will you have protection, guidance, wisdom and total clarity.  There were times when I wanted to walk away from my calling.  Remember, to continue to pray so that God’s ultimate plan for my life will be revealed.  God’s plan for me was to show me how to submit to authority.  I had to learn how to seek His approval in every area of my life.  He also explained that as I submitted to Him and the natural authority, I would learn how to be sensitive to the needs of the people in my ministry.  Before speaking ill against my fellow brothers and sisters who I felt mistreated by, I would learn to pray for them instead.   There are times when we want to point the finger at what others should have done instead of looking at our own actions.  Taking ownership and doing spiritual self examinations will be an important process that you will have to do continuously in your walk as a leader. 

Here are some tips to help you hear clearly from God while he is developing your character:
·        Make sure that you have a consistent daily prayer life.
·        Make sure you understand how to pray according to the challenge you are experiencing
·        Make sure you know your purpose. If not, begin to seek it in prayer.
·        Understand that God will place people in your life that will spiritually develop you in the various aspects of your character, such as boldness, spiritual knowledge, patience, faith, obedience, submission and more. 
·        Each time someone comes into your life, pray and ask God what their assignment is as it pertains to your purpose.   
·        Pray and as God to show you your weaknesses so that your able to understand His correction. 
·        Before reacting to the people or the challenges that upset you, pray and ask God what is the lesson He wants you to learn.  

Remember God loves you more that you could ever understand.  Therefore, he is careful to watch over and protect us.  It is important that you yield even when you don’t understand.  God is the master of the plan He has for you life, your job is not to tell Him what you are going to do but to trust, follow and obey.  This was the only way I was able to begin a ministry designed for the community.






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Your Ministry's Vision Part I
By Patricia K Burnett
Article Word Count:
510
According to Webster's Dictionary, the definition of a vision is a supernatural revelation, including a dream or trance consisting of symbolic images, one who sees." According to the Strong's Dictionary, "a vision is simply a divine revelation that is unseen to the natural eye but revealed to you spiritually through a dream, trance or individual" (Then the Lord replied, write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time, it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. Habakkuk 2: 1-3) The vision must come from God and it will come to pass no matter how long it appears to take. It will not prove to be false. Isn't this great to know?
God told me that through his word he would use dance to renew the minds and purge the hearts of all who come to the ministry. He will used dance as a creative means for them to build a strong relationship with Him. So that no matter where they live or the stage of life they are in, they are able to pray and receive answers to all their prayers. This began the vision and he later instructed me to do specific task that would ensure it's success. This led us to ultimately operating in the "Great Commission" assignment; going into all the world and preaching His gospel (Mark 16:15), which is all based on our Foundational Scripture found in Romans 12: 1-2, which I wrote about in a previous article titled, "Your Ministry's Foundational Scripture". In that article, I explained that this scripture is important because it sets the stage for the vision to be revealed.
The following are steps for you to consider while seeking God for the vision of your ministry:
• Make sure that your ministry's foundational scripture has been revealed.
• Pray about the foundational scripture and ask God to point out the key aspects for clarity and understanding.
• Take a pen and pad in your prayer time so that you can write what ever the Holy Spirit speaks to you. (By now you should be able to begin writing your vision.)
• Pray on the vision and ask God to send confirmations before implementing it.
• If your ministry is under the covering of a church, then the vision should line up with the overall vision of the church.
• If you are a stand-alone ministry/organization offering services to the community, you will need to seek your God given mentors for spiritual guidance.
• Last but not least, when you write the total vision, make sure that it also includes God's plan for growth.
Everything that he establishes is based on His plan and purpose and not ours. (Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law. Proverbs 29:18). These will be your initial steps towards ensuring that the vision is manifested. God Bless You!
Having a vision is vital and once you have received it from God, you will see the direction or path God has set for your ministry. God Bless!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Patricia_K_Burnett
 

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