Perking-Up Our Prayers

Perking-Up Our Prayers

It is time for us to realize the great value in prayer and supplication. Sadly, many won't see the great blessings because they don't pray often enough.

Sometimes people look at prayer as a big "gimme" list and find themselves dissapointed when the answer is different than their desires. Some become disillusioned because the answers to prayer comes too slowly. Prayer is much more than asking for things.

Prayer is also an expression of praise and adoration. No communication to God is really complete without this aspect.  Just speaking words of adoration teaches and emphasizes to our hearts the goodness and greatness of the Lord.

"O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!"  --Carl Broeberg.

Our prayers should contain expressions of the lofty attributes of God. They remind us of how different we are from Him. It is a helpful exercise to create lists of words of adoration and meditate upon these qualities of God. The fruits of this will bring those thoughts to mind as we pray.

Communications with the Divine Provider should remind us of our dependence upon Him.  My prayers will then brim over with expressions of thankfulness. Gratitude for God's gifts should abound in the heart of the Christian. It is in God that we "... live move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). He provides "all things pertaining to life and godliness" (2 Pt. 1:3).  It is God who freely gives my daily bread and all the blessings that I enjoy every day.    Thanking God for specific blessings will soon encourage an aching soul. We will soon forget what we don't have when we realize the abundance we do have (John 10:10).

Our prayers are going to be richer and fuller as we practice just these two simple ideas: adoration and thankfulness. 

Lord willing we will build on this theme in my next post.