A is for Adoration

If you would prefer to listen to this devotional then please click here

 Dear Friends,
A is for Adoration

Recently in our church and life groups, we have been going through 'The Prayer Course' designed by Pete Grieg and based on The Lord's Prayer. It's been a really good course and I would recommend it to any small groups who are interested in learning more about prayer and putting it into practice.

I had the privilege of giving one of the Sunday morning messages on the theme of adoration in prayer. I want to share with you today some of what I talked about on that Sunday morning.

The Concise Dictionary of Theology defines adoration as "the highest reverence to be offered only to God, our creator, redeemer, and sanctifier who alone should be worshipped and glorified." 

Jesus told his disciples: This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name," Matthew 6:9 (NIV) 

 1. Why should we pray with adoration? 
  • Because God is our Father - the expression, 'Our Father' goes back to the Aramaic Abba, which combines respect for the father's authority with a sense of intimacy. It's about recognising God is God, and as such, he deserves our respect and reverence but it's also combined with the knowledge that he is our Father and he loves us. Knowing he is our Father gives us the confidence that we can approach him in prayer, assured that he is interested in what we have to say.
  • Because God is in heaven - when we think about God in heaven, it's not just about him being in heaven, it's also about his sovereignty, his kingship, his majesty, his power, and his might. He is all-seeing, all-knowing, with the ability to be everywhere all at once. God alone is worthy of our worship and adoration. 
  • Because God is holy - we recognise that God is holy, he is set apart, unique in character and nature. Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. Leviticus 19:2 (NIV) When we come with true adoration we bring ourselves, we offer God a heart which is undivided, humble and surrendered to him. We lay down our will and live wholly for him. 

2. What happens as we give our prayers of adoration? 
  • We enter into the presence of God when we give him our praise, our worship, our adoration. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. Psalm 100:4 (NIV) It is in this place of intimacy with God where we can enjoy just being in his presence, totally taken up with him. 
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Heaven’s Armies. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God... A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! Psalm 84:1-2, 10a (NLT) 
  • We grow in our relationship with God - when we recognise who God is and what he has done it leads us into a closer walk with him. We get to know and love him more and our adoration of him becomes even more profound.
  • We are changed - a result of spending time in prayerful adoration of God is that we begin to reflect more and more the nature of the God we worship. When worries, anxieties and cares fill our minds, our problems become larger. But adoration of God helps us to refocus on him, to gain a right perspective, to see things clearly. It sets our mood direction for the day. 
  • God is blessed when we give him our adoration and worship. And in giving our adoration to God, we discover that we too are blessed. When we start our day with a mindset of adoration this attitude stays with us through the day. We become more aware of God's presence with us during our day and our worship of him continues.

 3. How do we pray with adoration? 

Perhaps some of you find it easy to pray with adoration, maybe you find praise and worship just flow from your heart. But there are others of us who may not find it so easy. So here are some practical suggestions:
  • Silence - sometimes we can be so quick to talk to God when we come to him, that we can forget who it is we are praying to. Silence can help us to quieten our thoughts and just enjoy being in his presence. We need to take time to be still and quiet before God.
  • Instrumental music can help to quiet and focus our heart and mind so that we can then give God our adoration.
  • Listen or sing along to praise worship songs (CDs), or if you're creative you may like to write some poetry or your own song of adoration. 
  • Use the prayers of adoration written in the Bible, for example, Mary's prayer in Luke 1:46-55; Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1-10; the Psalms. We can use these words and make them our own words of adoration to God.
  • Focus on a particular aspect of God's character eg, love, grace, kindness etc.
  • Adoring God using your ABCs: Almighty, Awesome, Bread of Life, Beautiful, Comforter, Creator, Defender, Deliverer etc
Sometimes I've given God a prayer of praise using the alphabet to list his attributes, other times I have used this suggestion of adoring God using your ABCs in the following way:

Almighty God, you are an awesome God and I praise your name. 
You are beautiful beyond description. 
You are my comforter, you comfort me in my distress and my pain. 
You are my defender, you deliver me from my enemies. 
Your love for me is everlasting, you will never stop loving me. 
You are a faithful God and I place my trust in you.

You are a good God who loves to give good gifts to me, your daughter.
You are holy and your desire is for me to be holy just as you are holy.
God, you are immortal, you have always been and will always be.
You are a just God.
You are King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
You are mighty in power, and with you by my side, I have nothing to fear. Your mercies are new every morning.

Nothing and no one can separate me from your love.
You are omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent, there is none like you.
You are my peace and it is your peace which guards my heart and my mind.
You are quick to show love and slow to anger. 
You are a righteous God and because of the work of Jesus on the cross, you see me as righteous too. You have cleansed me from my sin and made me a new creation.
You are my shelter, I hide beneath the shadow of your wings. You keep me safe in the storm and you bring me through it.
You are trustworthy, I place my life in your hands knowing I can have complete trust in you.

Your love for me is unending - how deep, how wide, how high and how long is your love for me. There are no limits to your love for me.
You have the victory. You have already defeated the devil and I can live in that victory. Death has lost its sting and holds no power over me.
You alone are worthy to be worshipped. To you alone do I give my praise and adoration.
You are an eXtravagant God, you gave your best, you gave your Son, that I might have eternal life. You bless me with all manner of spiritual blessings.
You uphold me by your righteous right hand. When I stumble you are there to pick me up and stop me from falling.

You are a zealous God - and I your precious possession. Thank you that I am someone you treasure. I give to you my total devotion to the exclusion of all else. Nothing and no one will take your place in my heart. 
Amen.

I have based my words on what I know to be true of God from personal experience and also what I have learned about him from his Word. I found this to be a powerful and moving exercise and was amazed at how the words started to flow as I expressed myself.

To Think About:

What reasons do you have for giving God your praise and adoration?

If you start the day with adoring God how has it made a difference to the rest of your day? Has it changed your outlook and your attitude?


Look at my practical suggestions for praying with adoration. Do you have any other ways of praying to God with adoration? Will you try some of these suggestions yourself? What works best for you? 

Would you consider writing your own prayer of adoration using your ABCs as I did? 


 Vicki
If you would like to listen to my sermon on which this blog post is based, then please click here

If what you read was of interest to you, then you may like to know that my book "Dear Friend...52 Weekly Devotions to Encourage, Challenge and Inspire" is available to buy from Amazon, on Kindle or in paperback. (Its content is material adapted from past blog posts.) To learn more, click on the link below:

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