June 25, 2011

Mighty Prayer: Praise


I came across the following quote from a website by Joe Vigliano entitled "Prayers of Praise" that gave an interesting definition that I really liked about praise as part of our prayers:

"Many people consider prayers of praise to be the “highest” form of prayer. Why? A prayer of praise is all about God. We ask for nothing, we seek nothing, we focus on nothing but God himself.

"Compare that to when we thank God for things we received. When we confess things we did. When we wait upon the Lord so that we may sense His presence or hear from Him. And when we ask for something, it’s either for us or we’re acting on behalf of someone else.

"But when we praise, it’s God and only God. At its best, it’s completely self-forgetting, the very idea of what it means to be a Christian."

Perhaps one of the best example's of the Savior giving praise in His own prayer is that of the Lord's prayer:

"Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen."

I find this aspect of prayer to be one of the hardest to apply, yet it seems that if we truly want to become more in-tune with God through prayer, we must learn this important aspect of mighty prayer.

1 comment:

  1. I think praise is a really interesting, and oft-neglected part of prayer. I see it as distinct from "thanking," which we do quite often (though probably still as much as we should) in prayer. Thanking is specific and self-involved, praise is general and God-directed. I might say "thank thee for thy love for me," or "thank thee for helping me on X" which is thanks, but to praise God I would have to talk about His attributes irrespective of what He has done for me specifically, "I praise you for your greatness, your holiness, your mercy and grace," etc. The Psalms do it so well--I guess we all have a lot to learn about praise.

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