Text: Psalm 8; 1 Chronicles 16:7-36; Psalm 100
For just about anything worth doing, repetition is needed to form a habit. Your first training run ever for a 10K is going to feel clumsy and painful. You’ll find muscles you never knew you had and you may even hobble your way around for a few days afterward. But through time, through practice, and through preparation, lacing up your running shoes will eventually happen without conscious thought and you’ll sail through a few miles like you’ve been doing it all your life.
The same holds true for prayers of praise and thanksgiving. They aren’t second nature—we have to be prompted, like children, to say “thank you” until it’s something that comes naturally. So when we’re writing our thank you notes on God’s heart, it’s not all that different from those thank you notes we wrote as children.
First, we address the giver. God is the giver. Forget yourself and turn your focus on Him.
Second, we acknowledge the gift. To identify God’s many gifts is a skill. Start by asking yourself, “How do I see His hand in my life?” It isn’t necessarily thanking Him for the promotion or finding the perfect house in your search, though certainly we can give Him the glory in those times. But it’s also recognizing His presence in the difficult times. It’s seeing how even those things we saw as setbacks were all part of His perfect plan for our lives. And by acknowledging His investment in your life, the blessings and the trials, we are telling Him that we’re not taking Him for granted. We’re acknowledging that we see all things, every chapter of the story He’s written, as an opportunity for praise.
Next, we give sincere thanks. It can be poetic or conversational. It can be flowery or simple. You can whisper or you can shout. Just practice saying “thank you.”
Finally, we make our affection known. We close, just like we would in that thank you note. “I love you.” “Sincerely.” “I’m faithfully yours.”
Practice giving praise to Him today. Address Him, identify His gifts through your own story of redemption, give sincere thanks, and make your great love for Him know.
And then do it again tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. Until you are sailing through these prayers of praise like you’ve been doing it all your life.
Dear God,
Thank you for giving me my husban. He may not be perfect and may not be yours yet but you certaintly made him for me and I for him. Thank you for allowing us to go on this journey of life together. I love you.
Sincerely yours,
Stacey
Thank you Sue for the message version. I love it.!
The song ‘ i love you Lord and i lift my voice to worship you… Oh my soul rejoice….’ is playing in my mind as i write.
All Praise, Thanks, Glory. Thanks. Honour. Thanks. To you Lord God. May i forever praise you. X
I just re-read Psalms 100 from the Message. Has anyone else checked this out. This scripture is one I memorized as a young child, and so it is very familiar. But when read from the message, there is a whole new spin on it.
"On your feet now — applaud God! Bring a gift of Laughter, sing yourselves into his presence.
Know this: God is God, and God, God. He made us; we didn't make him. We're his people, his well-tended sheep.
Enter with the password: "Thank you!" Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank Him. Worship Him.
For God is sheer beauty, all generous in love,loyal always and ever " Psalm 100 MSG
I love that…Bring a gift of laughter. Pure, unadulterated Joy!! I wish I could have saw this yesterday.
Sue, thank- you for sharing this from The Message! I love it! Blessings sister!
My tendency when I pray is to praise and thank God for all that he has done for me. Which is okay. If I take me out of the picture, I now focus on the attributes of God that I am grateful for and my prayer is changed!
This morning when I opened SRT it showed a menu on the side with an Instagram link. Now it’s not showing. Does anyone know how to get back to that format??
In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. (Psalm 5:3 NIV)
Finally, we make our affection known. We close, just like we would in that thank you note. “I love you.” “Sincerely.” “I’m faithfully yours.”
Routine..but not carved in stone
Waiting for God..response to Lauren.
In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. (Psalm 5:3 NIV)
Routine is necessary in my life, keeps the dogs and people fed, exercised and cleaned up, but it also frames my day with time for prayer, scripture, reading SRT, and some of the other blogs I have discovered through SRT. Without a schedule I ‘d get lost in one thing at the expense of something or someone else, including time with God. JuneBug, you blessed my socks off with your post here this morning, because, I have been in your shoes and am so thankful for Jesus, who helps me re-focus.
Routine while needed should not be the Ruler of my daily life, only God should be. Since starting with SRT, I have had to readjust my “carved in stone” early morning (Central Time USA) to include some midday time, evening time and even late night time. Why? Because I don’t want to sleep until I have caught up with all of you, read your insights about the lesson and lifted you up in prayer. Routines are good but not inflexible or subject to complete overhauls at time.
OK, I hear you, How does this fit with practicing praise until it becomes natural? God doesn’t need a clock or a calendar, but He knows I do. He lets me have both, but often bursts into my day, yelling, “Surprise! Company coming!” Or whispering, “that person you just thought of needs prayer right now, so, Pray!” Or revealing himself in someone or something so that praise cannot be postponed till later. I wish I handled those unexpected divine interruptions well every time, but I don’t…when I don’t, He doesn’t slap me up the side of my head and say “get your head out of that refrigerator and pay attention.” Nor does He stop giving me chances to participate with Him in this world, joining Him in expressing His Love. And yet, I miss the blessing intended, because my schedule ruled.
Lauren asked about waiting for God and that really caught me because I have wondered about that too. One thing I have learned is to start my time with God with a few moments of silence, eyes closed and to allow the distractions to calm within me. And then to begin with praise, sometimes even croaking out a song. Then I lay out my petitions, pausing now and then. I will turn to a passage of scripture, sometimes one of Paul’s prayers for believers and pray those words putting in the names that come to mind. Then as I said I try to leave Pause Time, divine interruption time open to whatever God brings that day. I am sure many of you have better handles on “waiting for God” and I know I welcome hearing them.
Praise God, your words may be my divine interruption for today. Have a blessed one!