Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a You Tube video of the group Hillsong singing live … Praise Him, powerfully declaring their praise in song and music to the Almighty One, … Our Lord, … with praises to the King of kings.
Highlight Passage: 2nd Chronicles 6:12, 14 [NKJV] …
12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all … 14 and he said, “Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven or on earth like You …
… Solomon opens his prayer, dedicating the Temple to God, by praising his Lord and God.
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Highlight Context: 2nd Chronicles 6:12-21 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Solomon showed the balance of praise and supplication in his prayer of dedication.
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Reference Passage #1 … Psalm 135:1 [NKJV] …
1 Praise the Lord! … Praise the name of the Lord; … praise Him, O you servants of the Lord!
… The Psalmist starts his prayer in song with praise to his God.
Reference Passage #2 … Matthew 6:5-13 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus in his model prayer for disciples acknowledges first the praise to the One in Whom we worship when we come to pray.
My Journal for Today: … Our Daily Bread author, Jennifer Schuldt, used the biblical reference to a prayer of King Solomon to illustrate our need to prioritize our praise before asking for His providence. She wrote: King Solomon’s temple dedication prayer shows this balance [i.e., between praise and petition]. Solomon began by highlighting God’s holiness and faithfulness. Then he gave God credit for the success of the project [i.e., building the Temple] and emphasized God’s greatness, declaring, “The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You. How much less this temple I have built!” (2 Chron. 6:18).
When we pray (and I assume we, do), dear one, where do we place our priorities? When I was a newbie Christ, a mentor, helping me to learn how to pray, taught me a much used acronym (“ACTS”) to help me learn how to order my prayers. And as you know the first letter, “A,” in that prayer helper is ”ADORATION;” and it’s what we need to put first in all our prayers, praising God [just as the group Hillsong sings in the linked song today].
When Solomon prayed his prayer of dedication of the Temple he had built for God, he began his prayer praising God (see highlight passage above from 2nd Chronicles 6:12-21). When Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray, His “disciples prayer” began by praising His Father and lifting the name of our God above all other names (see Matthew 6: 9).
Yes, we can (and should) come to God with our needy prayers (on your own - Phil. 4:6-7 and 1st Pet. 5:7); but the priority of our prayers always should be that of the Psalmist in Psalm 135:1 (above) … to praise the Name and person of our God.
So, join me today in doing just that!!
My Prayer Today: Lord, we come to praise You as our God … as our Messiah … as the King of kings and Lord of lord! We praise Your Holy Name!!! Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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