Oh That We Would Remember

How’s your prayer life? Do you pray everyday? Do you pray for your spouse, children, pastor? Do you pray for health issues? Do you praise God in your prayers?

I would venture to suppose that most of us pray for all of these things, after all, scripture calls us to pray. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Jesus taught a way to pray, you may know it as the Lord’s Prayer. It’s very simple, because our “Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” (Matthew 6:8) It goes like this, “Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:9-13)

The first part of that prayer came to my mind this morning as I was beginning my time with God. The first sentence says, “Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Miriam-Webster defines hallowed as holy, consecrated, sacred, revered. So essentially, when we pray this prayer we are telling God we believe is name is holy. That He is to be revered. We begin the prayer by praising God.

All throughout the Bible you will see praise the Lord expressed in some way. Through trials, through blessings, for every reason, for every thing, the Bible says to praise the Lord. Read through Job and you’ll see that no matter what happened, he never stopped praising the Lord. Read the Psalms, you’ll see that David never stopped praising the Lord. Read the book of John and you’ll see that Jesus praised God in the garden the evening before he was crucified. The apostles all wrote about the importance of praising God in our daily lives.

So many times I think we’re so caught up in life’s challenges that we forget that Jesus said our first words in prayer should be to praise God. We focus on our problems and not the Glory of the God we asking to help us.

My prayer today is simply to pray Psalm 150 to the Lord. “Praise the Lord. Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse. Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with trumpet sound, Praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!”

Oh that we would remember to praise the Lord in and for all things!