"Dancing with the Master"
Are you dancing with the Master? A few years back the Lord extended His hand to me and issued an invitation, “Come dance with Me.” He told me that He was giving me a gift, and that gift was the ability to listen and to hear His voice.
You can’t be a good dancing partner unless you are able to follow the lead of your partner. Great dancers are totally synchronized with their partners as were Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. When I was a child, American Bandstand was all the rave. We would hurry home from school every afternoon to turn the TV on and watch the teenagers in poodle skirts, bobby socks and saddle oxfords dance to the latest hit music. In those days my dance partner was often a doorknob or a broom. Many times in life, I took the lead away from my partner and got ahead of God by making wrong decisions, like getting married at 18 to someone my parents didn’t approve of, and turned out not to have the making of a good dance partner. Eph 6:1-3 states, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.” A recent television series called “Dancing with the Stars,” puts emphasis on the fact that you can be a star in your own right but in order to dance you have to listen to the professional dance instructor that has been chosen to teach you to dance. You have to follow their advice and practice. Much preparation is required in order to persevere to the end of the competition. Being asked to dance with the Master, the Creator of the universe, the ultimate teacher and lover of our soul, has opened the door to a lifetime of my learning to trust His lead. I believe that he has a plan for each life and a specific dance that each of us are suited for and are being trained and equipped to dance. Eph 4:7-8 declares, “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives and He gave gifts to men.”
Some people are gifted in fast dancing like the jitterbug or the calypso while others are gifted in the slow, smooth waltz. I long to waltz, to be held in the arms of my partner and to glide around the ballroom but the truth is that I am clumsy and uncoordinated. I have two left feet and I am not a good follower. Ephesians 5:1-2 exhorts us to “be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
Jesus knew when He extended His hand to me that I didn’t know how to dance. He knew there would be times when I would step on his feet and not know the steps. There would be times when I would get ahead of Him and He would have to teach me to wait. (Psa 27:14) But He is a partner with unlimited patience and grace. He loves us very much and wants us to succeed, He has a plan and a purpose for each life.
Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5)
In our dance with the Master we learn how to abide in Him, and to dance in his strong embrace. It is a beautiful, progressive journey. Will you take his hand when he reaches out to you, or will you continue to cling to the safety of the wall? Patricia Harris
I have used this study guide personally and believe it would be a great
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