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Have you noticed how we Christians seem to treat the Principles of God like a treadmill? We get very excited at first and cannot wait to get on our sweats and crank up the exercise machine. We tell everybody about our “State of the Art” treadmill that keeps time, counts calories, shows distance, monitors our heart rate, adjusts incline and has a fan to keep us cool. BUT after a few days or weeks, it takes on the appearance of a “clothes rack” and sees less and less use. Could it still help you get trim, loose weight, increase stamina, and improve cardiovascular function? Yes! But only if you use it for its intended purpose.

In this continuation of last month’s article entitled, “The Power of Song” I want to share my testimony with you, the readers. It is one to which most of you can easily relate. AFTER WAITING FIFTEEN MONTHS, I RECEIVED A MIRACLE FROM GOD IN JUST SIX DAYS. Here is the testimony.

In early 2005, God directed me to write a book. He inspired the title and the concept. I diligently thrust myself wholeheartedly into research and development of the manuscript. There were countless hours committed to researching, writing, editing, correcting and re-writing the work. Finally, in late October 2005, I considered the manuscript ready for publication.

Before submitting it to a publisher, I thought it might have more impact if I could utilize some of my circle of acquaintances to solicit an impressive Foreword by a well-know personality. I was not quite ready for the overwhelming indifference I encountered to my project. I thought surely, if God inspired my book, one of these giants in the ministry would be glad to help me make a good impression on a publisher. I was wrong! As one noted minister stated upon reflection of the early days of his meetings, “People STAYED AWAY by the thousands”. I could relate to his frustrations.

The most disappointing rejection came from a very popular minister who tells about the enormous difficulties he incurred when he attempted to get some “heavyweights” in the ministry to read his manuscript. From the several copies he sent out, he only received one response. According to him, it was a scathing attack on him, his message and his writing. He states how devastated he was when this happened to him.

I believed that, if anyone could relate to me, it would be this Christian Brother. I called his personal secretary and she graciously consented to show the manuscript to the minister when it arrived. You can probably imagine how I felt when I never heard from him. After this series of rejections, I hired someone to contact approximately 100 Agents or Publishers regarding my book proposal.

Every response I received was a rejection. None stated dissatisfaction with the substance or style. It was just a business decision based on timing, budget or the genre of material for which they were looking. I did not care so much about the reasons as I cared about the rejections.

The next course of action was fairly predictable…forget about it! That is what I did for approximately eight months. I filed it away and tried to concentrate on other things. I did continue to pray for God’s direction and blessing; I just did not pursue any more publishing companies. I put it in God’s hands and moved on to other areas of my ministry.

Then, something amazing happened. Early one Sunday morning before going to a Nancy Harmon service in our area, the Lord spoke to me about a message I had preached years before on, “The Power of Song”. I went into my study and began to write down things the Lord brought back to my memory from the message. Unbelievably, when we arrived at the service and Nancy began to minister, she said the Lord had been dealing with her early that morning in her hotel room about “The Power of Song”. As she began to minister on the subject, I turned to my wife and told her the Spirit of the Lord had spoken the same thing to me and I had the notes on my desk to prove it. Nancy’s message was a real confirmation that GOD WAS UP TO SOMETHING SPECIAL. This event prompted my January 2007 article on “The Power of Song”.

Several of the scriptures that were used in that article refer to God giving us “Songs in the night”. That is relevant because that seems to be the optimum time for the “Prince of Darkness” to attack God’s people. Pain always seems worse at night. Cares, fears and worries seem to intensify in the midnight hours. Isn’t it wonderful that God not only understands Satan’s wiles and fiery darts, He graciously provides a nocturnal solution for these occasions?

Three nights after the Lord reminded me of the “Power of Song”, He awakened me at 2:30 am with the words and music to a brand new chorus of praise. Knowing it could be difficult to remember this “Song in the Night” (Job 35:10) God gave me, I went into another room and used my handy mini-recorder to sing the words and music. It was a moment in the presence of God I will never forget.

Over the next several weeks I used this song every night to “Sing aloud upon my bed” ((Ps.77:6; 149:5). Since singing is not relegated to the night, I also sang to the Lord during the day. In last month’s article I mentioned SEVEN situations where the Bible shows that SINGING WAS THE SOLUTION when things had reached an impasse in someone’s life or ministry. My book project seemed stuck, so I started to sing as the Lord had directed me. The book was just one of several situations over which I began to use the “Power of Song”.

The example of the treadmill is in correlation to how many people treat the Principles of God’s Word. We start out as if we are going to train for a marathon. We utilize God’s promises and provisions to see many of our needs met. We practice God’s principles like Bible study, prayer, witnessing, confession of our faith and tithing. THEN, the novelty wears off. Like the treadmill, we start skipping our sessions and stop practicing the Principles God has set forth in His Word. We would rather “take a pill” than take a walk because we want to use the path of least resistance to reach our goals.

It is easy to stop singing when we get tired of looking at our “dry well” (Num.21:17). After awhile, we forget to “sing into our barrenness” (Is.54:1-3). We prefer to just TALK ABOUT barrenness rather than SING TO it as God has instructed. We must remember that, when we let the Principles of God slide, we may also see the Provisions of God diminish. God’s Principles are never to become just another “clothes rack” in the corner of our room. His instructions were given to us for a reason and they must be utilized to be productive.

Now, here is the rest of my story. Approximately one month after I resumed singing in the midst of my circumstances (Acts 16), I received a telephone call that was totally unsolicited and unexpected. It was a person I had met several weeks before who had received one of my Piano Albums called, “Heart Felt Hymns and Gospel Gems” recorded a few years ago. We had only met one time and had never talked on the phone. He was calling to express his appreciation for my music.

Knowing this man is one I considered a “heavyweight” in the Kingdom, I casually asked him just before ending our conversation if he knew of a Publisher who might be interested in looking at my manuscript. This had to be the prompting of the Lord since I had not actively sought publication in quite some time. Without hesitation, he gave me a man’s name and address and said, “Tell him I told you to contact him and let you know about his publishing company”.

I emailed the President of the company as I had been instructed. In FORTY-EIGHT HOURS, he called me and said they had put a contract in the mail for me to look at concerning publishing my book. He said this is unprecedented for first-time authors but, on the basis of the recommendation, my Query letter and his investigation of my character and reputation, he wanted to offer me the services of his company.

Now, here is the miracle in a “Nutshell”. In SIX DAYS from the time I contacted the Publisher, I had received, signed and returned the contract for the printing and publication of my book. On the SEVENTH DAY, I RESTED! Praise God for His faithfulness.

The Publisher will print, market and merchandise my book for me. They can place it in most of the major Bookstores in America. It will be available through Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, Borders, Waldenbooks, B.Dalton and Mardel, just to name a few. The book can also be purchased on the Internet ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD through amazon.com, walmart.com, target.com and barnesandnoble.com. They will also provide it as an Audio Book and an E-Book that will be downloadable from Apple’s iTunes and Audible.com.

I WAITED FIFTEEN MONTHS FOR A SIX-DAY MIRACLE. But, it was worth the wait.
Here is what God gave me to sing To Him and over my “dry wells” as my “Song in the night”…

“When I don’t know what to do, I will put my trust in You,
For You’re my Maker, You’re my Redeemer,
You are my Father, and You’re my Friend,
You’re my Savior, You are my Healer,
And I will trust You, until the End.”

GOD PROVED TO BE ALL HE TOLD ME HE WAS IN THE SONG HE GAVE ME TO SING!

Do not let the devil steal your song. There is power released when we sing. It is not the quality of our singing but our obedience to sing in the situation that God responds to. He didn’t open a prison for me like He did Paul and Silas but He opened a Publishing Company that will take the message in my book to the entire world. Glory to His Name!

****A Personal Word to Our Readers from Dr. Frazier****

There are great insights to be derived from the study of the Greek New Testament. Each month I will endeavor to share a nugget of truth from the Book of Truth, God’s Eternal Word.
These will be concise and should not intrude into your time or opportunity to explore the richness of the vein from which they were extracted. That is for you and the Holy Spirit to excavate together. These nuggets are just to let you know where to begin the digging, if you so desire. They are NOT designed to be an exhaustive commentary providing all the answers on the subject. The Spirit will guide you in how deep to dig. The Greek will be presented in a way that is easy to understand (transliterated) and easy to verify (“SC” refers to Strong’s Concordance). With a little help, you can check the assayers report for yourself. So, pull out this shiny, new nugget and see where it leads you. Please feel free to share your questions, observations or insights with our readers and me.

Website: http://www.donfrazier.com

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