praising God...

We've started a series at church on Sunday night (yes, I spend the better part of my Sundays at church...from 8:00 a.m. to noon for rehearsal, service and LifeGroup, then back again from 4:00 p.m. to 6:15 p.m., for rehearsal and service, and the kids have K.R.E.W. (Kids R Experiencing Worship) choir during evening service, too...oops, sorry for the digression!)

Anyway, our series is on prayer...praying to God. What is prayer, how do I do it?

This week, we touched on PRAISING God. Something that has been set in my mind lately is J.O.Y. - Jesus, Others, Self. That's how you should live your life, putting Jesus first, then others, and yourself last. Well...that's how you should pray, too. So often, we start our prayers with, "God, help me"...ME, ME, ME...it's always about ME. But you really should be praising God first. Thanking Him for all He does and is.

"That's not always EASY," you say. Actually, it IS. Have you ever thought about the attributes of God? The words that describe God? When we think about praying and praising, we can start by praising an attribute of God.

Our pastor had us try this on Sunday. While I know so many attributes of God, I was drawing a blank! Then, omniscient came to mind. All-knowing. And so I praised and prayed:

"Father, God, You all all-knowing...You know everything about me, and I'm grateful for that. I am so thankful that You know all the good about me. You know all the BAD about me too...and yet, You still love me. You pursue me with a passion, to be Your own. You look deep inside me and see my ugly, dirty, scarred heart and mind...yet Your love for me doesn't wane. You gently take my heart into Your kind hands, and carefully brush the dirt, the hurt, the hatred, the pain, the ugliness...You brush it all away. You tenderly run your fingers over the scars that are there, healing them with Your powerful love. You wrap your arms carefully around my soul, even knowing the horrible things I've done. You hold Your powerful hand up to the evil of Satan, saying, "NO, you can't have her, THIS ONE IS MINE." I am SO grateful that You can do that for me...that Your All-Knowing ability doesn't cause You to turn from me, but rather, pull me closer because You already know it all, and despite everything, You love me anyway."

Try it - find an attribute - put it in your own words. Praise God for that attribute. He is Creator - look outside the window and praise Him for the sun, the clouds, the moon, the stars...the rain, the snow, the wind. The birds, butterflies, and animals...

He's Omnipotent - All Powerful - praise him for the power of the wind, the storms, the lightning and thunder

He's Jehovah-Jireh - Provider - thank him for providing a roof over your head, people in your life, children to love, family to care for, a church family that supports you.

It's not too hard, is it? The list I provided in the link was for 30 Days of Praying the names and of God. You can pray them - you can praise God with them!