PRAISE: The First Step in Effective Prayer
Praying consistently will change your life. In
fact, many of the blessings God wants you to enjoy will never be realized
unless you pray.
I think all Christians know they are supposed
to pray, and all Christians want to pray. But many of God’s people, if they are
completely frank and transparent about the issue, would have to admit their
prayer life is somewhere between mediocre and non-existent.
Over the next few devotionals, I want to share
with you four simple points which I have put into an acronym: P-R-A-Y. If you
can spell the word pray, hopefully you will be able to remember how to make
your prayer life more effective, and you will be inspired to pray more
consistently.
Psalm 100 helps us understand the first letter,
“P”, in the word P-R-A-Y, which stands for praise. Psalm 100:1-4 states it
well,
Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!
Serve the LORD with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Know that
the LORD, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His
people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
Verse 2 tells us, Come before His presence with
singing. And in verse 4 notice the words “enter into.” In other words, praise
is how you are to enter God’s presence. It is the best way to begin your
prayer.
When you want to come to God, you start with
thanksgiving. You start with singing. You start with praise. Or, as The Message
says, Enter with the password: “Thank you!”
Today, and every day, make praise the starting point of every conversation with God.
*Psalms 100:1-4
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