“Whenever I go past a church
I stop and pay a visit,
So when I’m finally carried in
The Lord won’t say, “Who is it?”
The above poem is fun to recite but theologically it’s more than a bit “off”. We don’t need to worry if God knows us or not, he created us and “knit us together”. (Psalm 139:13). What is important however is that we know God. That’s why I’m excited about our 40 Days of prayer beginning this Sunday. It is a means for us to deepen our relationship with our loving heavenly Father.
We begin by focusing on prayers of adoration. Richard Foster writes,
“Adoration is the spontaneous yearning of the heart to worship, honor, magnify and bless God. In one sense adoration is not a special form of prayer, for all true prayer is saturated with it. It is the air in which prayer breathes, the sea in which prayer swims. In another sense, though, it is distinct from other kinds of prayer, for in adoration we enter the rarified air of selfless devotion. We ask for nothing but to cherish him. We seek nothing but his exaltation. We focus on nothing but his goodness. ‘In the prayer of adoration we love God for himself, for his very being, for his radiant joy.’”(1)
Doesn’t that sound wonderful? “To love God for himself… for his radiant joy.” This is the invitation the Psalmist so enthusiastically offers us when he writes, “Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.” (Psalm 95:1). It is an invitation to come and adore God for who he is and what he has done in our lives.
There’s no asking in adoration. There’s no seeking to get something from God in adoration. There is only giving God the glory, honour and praise that is due his name.
As you begin the prayer journal this coming Monday you will be invited to read a Psalm that expresses adoration for God. Take some time with it, don’t rush, allow the words of the Psalm to become your own and truly adore God for who he is. If you do, soon you will be saying from the heart, “I have a tremendous God!” and you will be motivated to continue to offer all sorts other prayers throughout your day.
May our God be adored above all in your heart and mine,
Pastor Tom
(1). Richard J. Foster, Prayer (San Francisco: Harper Collins Publishers, 1992) 81.