Prayer, Praise, And Worship

John 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Worship is different from prayer and praise. Prayer and praise may contain worship, but by themselves, they are something altogether different.

Prayer is the obsession of the soul with its needs. Prayer says, “Lord save me!” --- “Lord give me!”

Praise is the obsession of the soul with its blessings. Praise says, “Thank you, Lord for all  you’ve  given me and done in me.” God is worthy of all praise.

Worship is the obsession of the soul with God Himself.  Worship says, “Lord, thank You for Who You are. Thank you for being holy, loving, merciful, saving and powerful.”  Our knowledge of Him should cause us to bow before Him in humble worship!

Psalm 29:2 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

Assurance For Hard Places

The Bible is a Holy book full of one crises after another, solved by the sovereign  power of God and for His glory. He handled storms, needs, deaths, sicknesses, and impossible situations with ease, leaving the hopeless in awe and worship.

He still fixes the impossible. God’s plan for our lives sometimes  involves walking through hard places. We don’t always understand it, but we can be assured that He’ll do whatever it takes  to transform us into the person He saved us to be, and it will work out for our good.

By faith we can claim the promises God left us for hard times. Read Hebrews Chapter Eleven for a faith booster and feed on the promises below. There are many more.

Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Hebrews 13:5 . . . .  I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

1 Pet. 5:7, Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Prayer, A Priority

Mark 1:34,35  And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him. And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

Why did Jesus need to pray? After all, He was God in the flesh. Jesus prayed because He lived His life in total submission to  the Father. He prayed because He wanted a totally unhindered fellowship with His Father.

Prayer must become a priority If you want the power of God in your life. Do you want close fellowship with the Lord? Do you want to be used to the fullest of your potential? If so,  make prayer a priority in your life.

How? Set aside a time to pray and stick to it.  Find  a place where there are no distractions. Get away from the phone, the TV, the computer and any other distraction and pour your heart out to the Lord.

If your prayer life is lacking, ask God to help you.

A Vessel Of Honor

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

When God selected an Apostle to the Gentiles, He picked the most unlikely person, a persecutor of Christians. After refining and shaping Saul, he became  Paul, the greatest missionary and church planter the Christian Faith has known.

When God selected a new king for Israel,  He went to a place called Bethlehem and found an unlikely shepherd boy. After refining and shaping him, He had a David, “a man after God’s own heart”.

When God sought a man to lead His people out of Egypt, He went to an unlikely, washed up, eighty-year-old fugitive who was keeping his father-in-law’s sheep. After refining and shaping him, He had a Moses.

 God can take us in spite of what the world and the past has tried to do to us and shape us into a vessel of honor to be used for His glory.