Prayer Calls for Praise
[Jesus]said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, Hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come.” Luke 11:2 NIV
The Bible tells us that when we pray, it is important that we praise God. What is praise? First, what it’s not: praise is not flattery. Flattery is when we say something good about another person just because we want him to do something for us. It may or may not be true. But praise is very different. It simply acknowledges, with no self-serving desires, the good qualities in another.
Jesus teaches us to praise God. We want to acknowledge the fact that there is a difference between God’s character and our sinfulness. Praise simply affirms who He is and reminds us what we’re not.
But there’s also a wonderful by-product of praising God. Praise helps us focus on the greatness of God. This lifts us above our troubles. You see, when we begin to focus on how great God really is, we realize that no matter what trial, what difficulty, what hardship we are facing, God is bigger than all of that. When we remember that God is big, our troubles begin to seem small.
Brothers and sisters in this new year of 2017 let us “Rise Up” like never before with a greater commitment to prayer and praise as we lean on the everlasting arms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who is greater than all of our trials and tribulations.
Count it all joy! Our victory is in “Christ our Lord” praise Him because He is worthy!!!
Pastor Charles Mitchell
