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Written by Bruce Applegate
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Thursday, 23 October 2008 |
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How’s your prayer life? Are you spending time with God everyday? Are your conversations with Him geared more toward speaking or listening? Do you spend more time praising Him or asking Him for things?
I recently came across an article that reminded me of how important praise is when it comes to prayer. In fact, the Bible gives more exhortations to praise than to pray. What reasons do we have to praise God? Praise is where God lives (Psalm 22:3); Praise provides access into His presence (Psalm 100); We are created to praise (Ephesians 1: 12, Isaiah 43: 21); We are saved to praise (Psalm 106: 47); God delights in it (Psalm 149: 1, 4); God is due it (Psalm 129); God commands it in the Scriptures (Psalm 34: 1, 3); Jesus modeled it by example (Matthew 6: 9); Praise stirs up faith (Romans 4: 20-21).
As we enter into the seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas, it is a wonderful time to make praise the emphasis of our prayer lives. Times are not easy for many, including some in our church family. And yet, we have so much to praise God for. Thanksgiving is a time to remember the blessings of God. Christmas is a time to remember God’s love for us as He left the throne of heaven to come as a little baby and ultimately give His life for our sins.
I want to encourage our church family to spend lots of time in prayer over the next two months. And in those times of prayer, let’s see if we can spend more time praising instead of asking. I truly believe it will enrich our times of prayer and will help us to focus on God more than ourselves. It will also change the focus of our asking…from us to Him!
I believe if we focus more on Him, then He will speak to us in new and fresh ways!
In Christ’s LovePastor Bruce |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 23 October 2008 )
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