“Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints”
Ephesians 6:18 CSB
The Bible is clear: we need to pray. But how? There are over 650 different prayers in the Bible and a they vary in regards to the situation and content.
A lot of times, our idea of prayer is asking for things. Is this wrong? After all, Mark 11:24 says, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (ESV).
Yes and no. We are quite clearly told to ask God for things and that He “gives generously to all, without reproach” (James 1:5), but not all of those 650 prayers involve people asking God for things. What are the other people praying?
Prayer is typically categorized into four different elements:
- Adoration
- Confession
- Thanksgiving
- Supplication
This is often referred to with the acronym ACTS. Over the next four weeks, we’ll look at Scriptural examples and practical applications of each one of the four types of prayer starting with this week: adoration.
Adoration is “deep love and respect.” The first question that needs to be addressed is “why?” Why and where does the Bible tell me that I need to make adoration a part of my prayers?
1 Chronicles 16:41: “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering and come before him” (ESV). Emphasis on “the glory due His name.” There does not need to be any other reason than this: God deserves all praise, worship, and adoration just because He is God. Daniel praises God for His wisdom and power (Daniel 2:20); David says to praise him for His “excellent greatness,” (Psalm 150:1-2) and for the sake of His “steadfast love” (Psalm 115:1). As Isaiah 43 and Ephesians 1 say, God “called” and “predestined” His sons and daughters for the “praise of His glory.” God is deserving of all glory and praise, so we do as we were made to: we praise and show our adoration of Him.
But how and when do I show Him adoration?
On the question of how:
My go-to for finding examples of beautiful expressions of adoration of God is the book of Psalms. In it, we see so many instances of David just proclaiming the awesomeness of God. Psalm 8 is one of those:
Lord, our Lord,
how magnificent is your name throughout the earth!
You have covered the heavens with your majesty.[a]
2 From the mouths of infants and nursing babies,
you have established a stronghold[b]
on account of your adversaries
in order to silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I observe your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you set in place,
4 what is a human being that you remember him,
a son of man[c] that you look after him?
5 You made him little less than God[d][e]
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:
7 all the sheep and oxen,
as well as the animals in the wild,
8 the birds of the sky,
and the fish of the sea
that pass through the currents of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord,
how magnificent is your name throughout the earth!
(CSB)
David is telling God how magnificent He is not because God needs to be told it, but because it’s David’s purpose to proclaim His wonder. This may seem odd at first (both in name and practice), but this is exactly what we are supposed to do. It can feel uncomfortable to say things like “you are so glorious,” but only because we solely have experience saying it to people who: 1) don’t really deserve it and 2) are able to become conceited with pride. We have to come to understand it’s different with God. We can never give God more glory and praise than He deserves because He already deserves all praise. We show God our adoration for Him in prayer by proclaiming His glory and wonderful deeds.
On the question of when:
There are two dimensions to this question: when to show adoration in prayer throughout the day and when to give adoration during a typical prayer. There is not a hard and fast rule for either, though I will explain what I do and why.
When it comes to praying throughout the day, it really comes down to your schedule and life. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to, “pray without ceasing.” This means that we should always be looking for opportunities to be praying. Maybe it’s right before a class starts or at lunch time. With the act of adoration, though, a lot of times it involves merely looking up at the sky and praising God for making it. Praise His handiwork and His love like David did. This doesn’t have to take long at all– just a few seconds to acknowledge and praise. As we build up a habit of this, we begin to subconsciously look for ways to adore Him.
Now, referring to the latter, when I say during a “typical” prayer, I mean those moments when we have time to sit down for a couple minutes and just pray… when we have time to thoroughly go through all four types of prayer. What order do we do things in? I start with adoration, especially when I am praying during my morning devotional time. I do it first because it puts my everything in perspective. I proclaim the mighty work of His hands and the mighty power of His love, and I understand how small I really am. It’s my way of mentally “approaching the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16). When I remember the awesome things God has done and who He is, my worries and would-be distractions become afterthoughts. Right here and right now, as I prepare my mind and spirit for the day, I am focusing on God’s glory and God’s perfectness alone.