Every Sunday morning at my church we have pre-service prayer. This is a time where we turn the lights low, play worship music softly and everyone prays on their own for fifteen minutes. Then the pastor closes the time by praying aloud. It is a beautiful time where our church is united in worshiping Jesus and praying over the service, the people, the community and any needs.
Each Sunday as I sit there in pre-service prayer I am blessed by one sweet lady. I hear Miss Joyce praying and her prayers often draw me to tears. You see, Miss Joyce spends the entire fifteen minutes praising God. Not one single time does she ask for anything. Not one single time does she petition God for her needs or even the needs of others. She simply praises Him. She thanks Him for everything, she shouts hallelujahs and she sings praises. Her prayers are simply to bless and adore God.
When I think of my own prayer times I recall asking Jesus for this or that. Requesting He touch so and so, bless so and so, minister to so and so. I ask Him to work in someone's life, fulfill my needs and touch my family. Those are all great things to pray. We need to ask God those things. We need to bring our requests to God, the Bible tells us to.
But let's think of this: when we talk to God, how many sentences do we pray before we begin the 'asking'? I would guess if your prayers are like mine, not many. Sometimes we get five or six sentences in and then we begin to ask God about our needs. Sometimes we may not even get but one or two sentences in.
What if we simply praised Him? What if we spent ten or fifteen or dare I say twenty minutes without asking God for one single thing? If we only praised Him and thanked Him?
If you have a friendship and the friend only comes to you with needs, never wanting to just talk or hang out, but only asking you to do things, how would you feel? Is that what we are doing to God?
I am ready to simply praise Him. Just sing hallelujahs and bless His holy name. I challenge you to begin your prayer time spending as much time as you possibly can without asking and only praising. Then increase that time each day. Let's praise and adore His holy name.
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What a wonderful and beautiful article. I am so guilty of asking before praising God. It would be wonderful if I would use my prayer time to praise God and I think I will try it, I am sure I will feel so much better. Thank you for a great post.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!!! I remember, what seems like a billion years ago, I did a study titled, 'Could You Not Tarry One Hour?' That study helped break the clock into 5 minute increments. Each 5 minutes was for something different. The first 5 was simply to PRAISE God. The next 5 was spent THANKING Him. The sad part is I only remember those two. It made an impression on me because petitioning God for our needs or wants was way down the list. I do remember the final 10-15 minutes was a repeat of the first 10-15.
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