There are a lot of elements that going into our prayers. Remember that praying to God is like having a conversation with Him. Just like a regular conversation takes several twists and turns, so do our prayers. In a “normal” conversations, we maybe talk about one subject for a while and then move on to something else. Same conversation, different topic. Prayer can be that way. There will be times when our hearts may be so burdened for a particular thing that it will dominate our prayer time. Most of the time, however, our prayers will touch on several different things. Let’s look at one of them.
We have already talked about confession, now lets talk about praise and adoration. These are ofen some overlooked components of our prayers. It’s important for us to take some time in our prayer life to give God praise and glory for who He is. We often will stop and compliment our spouse for their appearance, or give praise to our children for a job well done. We will tell a co-worker “nice job” from time to time. We frequently give praise to others. We need to take the time to praise God as well. The Bible tells us, “He alone is your God, the only one who is worthy of your praise, the one who has done these mighty miracles that you have seen with your own eyes” (Deuteronomy 10:21, NLT).
How do we praise God? We acknowledge and celebrate who He is. In our prayers, we can focus on a few of the attributes of God and celebrate them. We can talk about His holiness, His mercy, His grace, or His faithfulness. The list is unending. Remember the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? To paraphrase a line from Ferris, “Life moves pretty fast. If we don’t stop to look around once in a while we might miss something.” Well, God is truly an awesome God. If we don’t stop to appreciate all He is, we might miss something.
You may be asking why do this? Well, there is a number of reasons, but I really think that praising God gives us a sense of perspective. If we are honest with ourselves, we tend to develop a sense of grandeur. We think we are bigger than we are, and we think God is smaller than He is. When we praise Him, we tend to see His bigness. In turn, we begin to realize who we are compared to Him. I just got into this blogging thing a few weeks ago. My youngest son was watching a program not to long ago where they were interviewing a very successful blogger. This individual had millions of “hits” on his site daily. My youngest looked at me and said, “Dad, compared to him, you’re a dust mite.” That’s perspective for you. Well, compared to God we are nothing. Praise elevates God while reminding us of who we are compared to Him.
It’s incredible to think that this incredibly awesome God wants to be a part of our lives. How appropriate is it then for us to take the time to celebrate His greatness. There is no one like Him. Take some time in your prayer life to acknowledge and celebrate who God is (and not just what He has done). It may just remind you how truly great He is.
Posted by Darrell Deer 
Husband, Father, Pastor, and Christ-follower. Thankful for the life, family, and ministry that God has given to me.
