Text: Psalm 8
Do you wake up praying? Giving thanks and praising Him for who He is and what He’s done?
I admit, it’s not my first conscious action. Generally, I wake with a grumble at the sounding alarm, not a prayer (except maybe for it to stop). I drag myself from the warm covers, make a promise to myself that tonight I’ll take my makeup off before bed and stumble to the kitchen to start the coffee and pull open the blinds.
And at that moment, most mornings, I gasp.
The sky is perfectly painted in layers of icy blue, pale yellow and fiery pink leading to a burst of orange. The sunrise.
He’s gifted this intentional reminder of “glory in the heavens.” This evident, majestic work of His hands.
And despite my weariness, my to-do list, my need for coffee and obvious need for grooming, I forget myself completely. It all becomes about Him. In an instant, my gasp becomes a prayer—a prayer praising His greatness.
Psalm 8 is David’s gasp at God’s majesty, though it’s far more eloquent than my smeary mascara-eyed admiring.
Yet, this is what I long for my first prayer of every day to be – a prayer of praise:
For His perfect creation (Psalm 8:3, NIV), seen in a sunrise that a million painters could never come close to replicating.
For His unfathomable love for each and every one of us (v.4, NIV), despite our grumbles and sinful ways.
For the dominion over all His creation, given to us in the garden and restored in Christ (v. 5-8, NIV), the undeserved redemption we find in His son.
Nothing could be more praiseworthy.
These prayers are not expectant, not tinged with our own self-interest, or a laundry list of problems we want rectified. These are prayers of pure praise, thanksgiving and adoration that our Father receives so gratefully, like the crayon-scrawled thank you note we get from a child. He’ll take our gift and cherish it anytime, anywhere.
Let your first prayer today be one of praise. Forget yourself completely. Share with Him your gasp at His greatness, singing a prayerful song of praise:
“Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the Earth!” (v. 9)
God is so amazing! And while we can see and experience His greatness every moment of every day, we often just pass over it so casually. Today’s devotion was an excellent reminder for me to take time to thank Him for His creation and the thank Him that I get to wake up and experience His glory eeacj day! His wonders are not to be taken lightly or taken for granted, but are to be admired adored. I pray that as I wake up each day, I remember to sincerely praise Him for who He is and all she does.
When I wake up in the mornings, my days definitely don’t start with how grateful I am for the new day! Nope! Instead I’m worried about the day ahead of me and barely pause to thank God for all he has done until I do my morning bible reading with my husband.
Instead of worrying about what the day may bring, I definitely need to stop and thank God for the glorious day I have ahead of me. For each day is a gift and I try to treasure every moment of every day. Starting my day with Christ in my mind and then to my morning reading are just two ways for my days to be more enriched with the Holy Spirit. I know that if I wake up with a prayer of thanks, I will have an overall sense of peace about me.
Every day I will strive to incorporate a prayer of thanks to God for the day He has made. It may sound childish, but it brings me back to that old song, “This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it!” Perhaps humming that each morning will lift my tired soul.
I so relate to this. I have to honestly admit I don’t wake up and begin praising God or feeling thankful for the new day as I should. I’m ashamed of that and want to be more mindful of God’s goodness and faithfulness each day. Thank you for this reminder, I needed to hear this today!
I love this
I love this, “Let your first prayer today be one of praise”…Forget Yourself completely.
I often watch the formation of the clouds, the bright sun shining through, and I start to imagine what heaven might be like. I know it will be beautiful. Because we have a slice of heaven right here on earth. Each and everyday there is something that catches my eye, and makes me know how marvelous our God is.
I love you words to describe what you write…it stops me & I have to take a breath & re read it and picture it in my mind. ..thank you..do you have other Bible plans & books?
I love to sit up in bed in the morning expressing my love and praise to my Jesus! More often than not I am inviting my Heavenly Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit to come and sit with me and as I read The Word, for them to give me a nudge whenever a Rhema Word appears!