ELEMENTS OF PRAYER – PART 1 - PRAISE

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. Now he had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had placed it in the center of the outer court. He stood on the platform and then knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. He said:

“Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven or on earth—You who keep Your covenant of love with Your servants who continue wholeheartedly in Your way. You have kept Your promise to Your servant David my father; with Your mouth You have promised and with Your hand You have fulfilled it—as it is today.”

2 Chronicles 6:12-15

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Communication is the lifeblood of relationship.

This is a quote I penned and have worked off of for many years in and out of ministry. It’s premise is simple as one cannot possibly have a relationship with someone that is sustainable if they don’t communicate.

I have seen this truth play out in my own life and I see it continuing to play out in the lives of countless others today. Either stop communicating with someone or choose to communicate inappropriately with someone and you will quickly see how quickly a relationship can be ruined or cease altogether. Indeed, look at the main reasons for why marriages end up in divorce and I guarantee you that communications issues will easily rank in the top five.

So why do we have such a hard time communicating with others?

Maybe the answer lies in that we don’t communicate enough with the Lord first, the One and only One who will ensure we do communicate and communicate properly with others.

This is why prayer is so critical in the lives of God’s people. Our Creator Father longs to talk to us like a father would want to talk to their own children, fully interested in their lives and wanting to lead and guide them to living right. But communication involves two, a sender and receiver. The Lord is always ready to send and receive but unfortunately we aren’t willing to participate too many times.

It’s little wonder so many people find themselves feeling alone and misguided.

So what is so hard about prayer? Why do we find it so difficult to talk to the Lord?

Perhaps it’s because we don’t know Him well enough.

This is why daily Bible study is essential to our lives as believers. Jesus, quoting Old Testament scripture (Deuteronomy 8:3), said that man does not live by bread alone but rather from every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). To live in the Lord, we have to feed ourselves from His holy word. This is fundamental to the spiritual survival of the Christian believer.

As we nourish ourselves from God’s word, we are filled with His wisdom and guided toward His righteousness by the Holy Spirit. We begin to relate more and more to God as we understand Him while He is conforming us to be the people he wants us to be. And as we are become more tuned into the Lord and His will for our lives, we find ourselves wanting to communicate with Him in prayer on several levels. One of the best models for this prayer life can be found in the acronym “A.C.T.S.” which simply breaks down to the following:

A – Adoration

C – Confession

T – Thanksgiving

S – Supplication

Over the next several days, I will cover each of these elements of prayer, using the scripture passage found in 2 Chronicles 6:12-41 as Israel’s new king Solomon prays to God before the worship assembly of the Israelites.

Let’s look at praise and the following verses:

He (Solomon) stood on the platform and then knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. He said:

“Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven or on earth—You who keep Your covenant of love with Your servants who continue wholeheartedly in Your way. You have kept Your promise to Your servant David my father; with Your mouth You have promised and with Your hand You have fulfilled it—as it is today.”

If praising someone means that we show adoration and admiration toward them for what they have done, then Solomon is definitely beginning his prayer with praise to the Lord. Look at the specific ways he does so:

1. He prays with praise over God’s distinctiveness.

 “Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven or on earth.”

We serve a God who is not only omnipotent but omniscient and omnipresent. No one we have in our lives is as all powerful, all knowing, and ever present as He is. Thus, as Paul asks in his letter to the Romans, “If God is for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31)?  For this, we should always be in a spirit of praise!

2. He prays with praise because God always keeps His promises.

“You who keep Your covenant of love with Your servants who continue wholeheartedly in Your way. You have kept Your promise to Your servant David my father; with Your mouth You have promised and with Your hand You have fulfilled it—as it is today.”

Just as God is distinctive in power, knowledge, and presence, so too is He unique in that He never goes back on His promises. No mere man or woman can say that.

God had promised David that his son would follow him and build the temple and that promise was fulfilled through Solomon. But David and Solomon were not the only ones who benefitted from God’s promises. There have been many since the dawn of creation. Here are just a few others from the Old Testament:

1. Abraham

Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” Genesis 17:3-8

2. Noah

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between Me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” Genesis 9:12-16

3. Moses

On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.

Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now if you obey Me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” Exodus 19:1-6

4. Joshua

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide:

“Moses My servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.” Joshua 1:1-6

I could go on but you get the point. Our God has made and kept every covenant promise He has made and He has done so perfectly. Because of this alone, we should praise Him but we need to also keep in mind the promises He has made with us which include:

1. He will give us strength when we need it.

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28-31

2. He will never leave us or forsake us.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” Hebrews 13:5-6

3. He promised to send us an Advocate and did so in giving us the Holy Spirit.

“If you love Me, keep My commands. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you.”

John 14:15-17

4. He answers our prayers and gives us what we need according to His will.

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.” 1 John 5:14-15

5. He daily bears our burdens.

“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” Psalm 68:19

6. He gives us peace when we trust in Him.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

7. He saves us and offers us the chance to move from death to life eternal.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

There are more promises than what this devotion can hold but I think we all can grasp how deep and wide the Father’s love is for us. We are His children and He has promised to help us in this life so we can make it to life everlasting with Him when this worldly life is over.

Truly, death has lost its sting and victory through the salvation promise God provides in His Son Jesus, the promise of all promises he made to us. Let us ever rejoice and be glad in His assurance, buoyed up in hope and praise as we turn our prayers to Him daily.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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