Monday, April 29, 2013

how do you give praise to God?

I'm assuming you're the praying type, just by my title.  If you're not, you might want to skip over this post.

I've really been convicted of my prayer life since February/March-ish.  And since then, I've been on this roller coaster ride of trying to learn what God is teaching me about prayer.

And the thing I'm learning is not that I'm not praying enough, but that I've been giving God this laundry list of prayer needs.

I'm not saying we shouldn't ask for anything, but it's in the how we go about doing that asking.

I've had prayer broken down for me, and only a short part of praying is intercession and petition, or praying for others and ourselves.  The other parts of prayer include thanksgiving, praise, singing, confession of our sin, being still and quiet before Him...there may be more parts, but those are what I remember for now.

I understand most of the parts, but the praise one kind of stumps me.  We're supposed to praise Him for who He is~His attributes.  {This differs from thanksgiving.}  And some of those attributes are Creator, Healer, faithful One, Love, all-knowing, Provider...

But other than just saying, "Lord, I praise You because You are Creator"...how do you give Him praise?

I don't think there's a right or wrong answer.  I'm just curious, because personally, I'm stumped.  I don't want to sound robotic in giving Him praise.  I want my praise to be passionate, heart-felt, joyful. 

I guess I'm in a rut in this area of my prayer life.  {And I wish I could tell you how many times I've heard people speak on prayer in the past couple months.  It's almost funny, how God seems to be pounding this into my head.}

So this morning in my quiet time, in hopes of getting out of this rut, when it came time for me to give God praise, I opened up my Bible to the book of Psalm.  I thought I would share a little of what I told Him this morning...these verses are from Psalm 119.

{v.57 &58}  You are my portion, O LORD; I have promised to obey Your words.  I have sought Your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to Your promise.

{v.76}  May Your unfailing love be my comfort, according to Your promise to Your servant.

{v.105}  Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

{v.114}  You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in Your word.

I wish someone would talk just on this topic of praise...and how to give God the praise He so deserves.  What I say or do never seems to be enough {who knows, maybe it is enough!}, and I don't like feeling like I'm in a rut.  I'm asking for YOU to share with me what you do in this area.

I like the thought of us sharing with one another.  So, will you leave a comment?  This wondering mind would really like to know.  ;)

Any and all advice will be well received and appreciated, I assure you.  Thanks in advance!  Love to all. 



4 comments:

Phyllis said...

I will leave a comment but I figure you get tired of me telling you my thoughts and feelings about what you say. I know you would like to hear from your friends. I try to begin my prayer with praise and I don't really have a set pattern but it is similar every day. I just talk to God like I talk to a friend and I tell Him how wonderful and awesome He is and how grateful I am for all the blessings He gives to me everyday which include our health, a home, a car, a comfy bed and a house with air and heat, food to eat, friends and most of all my wonderful husband that I thank God for giving him to me and then blessing us with the 2 best sons in the world, the 2 best daughter-in-love's in the world and the 7 best grandsons in the world who are healthy and smart. I realize that so many people we know have so many issues they have to deal with regularly and I never take anything for granted and while I am telling God all of this I praise Him for being God and for dying on the cross and saving me and my family. Sometimes I spend a really long time just praising Him and thanking Him all together. Then when I do ask Him for healing for friends and family or to help them with problems they are dealing with and to save friends and family who don't know Him as Lord of their life, I continue to praise Him because of prayers like this that He has answered in the past. Normally I don't share things like this because I consider it very personal but you asked and since no one else commented I did. I love you so much and thank God for you!!!!

Jennifer Goodwin said...

Thank you for commenting...I was really curious, because I keep feeling like He's trying to hammer something into my head. I wish I even could tell you how many times I've heard someone speak about or read or talked to someone about prayer in the last month and a half. I like hearing how different people do things differently.

That's basically what I do~some mornings my prayer time gets cut short, but I go back to Him throughout the day.

I recently started reading Psalm to Him just to vary it up a little...when I do that, I get goose bumps on my arms. It's awesome...and it always leads me to singing to Him. And yes, I've been concerned about waking up my entire house before. ;)

Ha! Thanks for the comment. I never get tired of what you have to say. Love you!

3jays said...

I start all of my prayers with praise and admiration. It gets me in the "zone" for prayer. (I couldn't think of a better word)It sets the atmosphere to enter into my secret place with the Lord. Sometimes I sing the psalms,or other worship songs. I think about his attributes and called them out. I tell Him everything he is to me. Just because of who he is and not because of what he's done. God has me in the same place of prayer, praise and remembering scripture.

Jennifer Goodwin said...

I love that, Esther! Thanks for sharing that with me~I guess I didn't think about how personal of a question I asked people to answer. I think getting in that "zone" is important, too~the more focused we are on Him, and His attributes, the less room there is for distraction.

Thank you for all your sweet comments!

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