Honest, Awkward, Prayers

Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary! Praise Him in the sky, which testifies to His strength!  Psalms 150:1 NET

What happens in moments of worship and praise? You might say: “We seek His presence as we work our way through a familiar song..” or “we wait for a fresh experience of wisdom and encouragement from Holy Spirit.”.

Each of these answers unveils something of the true nature of what mysteriously takes place when we lift our hands, in awe, in worship: God communicates to us through Gospel word and prayer, calling forth responses from us; like returning prodigals, we confess our sins as we come home to our Heavenly Father’s house, rejoicing in His forgiving embrace of love as He runs to meet us through words of pardon; we hear Christ speak His living words of salvation powerfully into our lives. Hallelujah! 

John 1:16 TPT For we have all received from His fullness one gracious gift after another. 

When we come to Christ, joy in our hearts, prayers on our lips, praise pouring forth, we will be startled by the beauty of His welcoming heart. Let Jesus draw us in through the depth  of His love. His is a heart that removes the title of shame (a burden with all the harshness that is probably appropriate) while He embraces the repentant soul with more openness than we are able to measure or feel.  All praise and honor to You, our High King of Heaven! 

With praise in our hearts, worship in our voices, Jesus walks with us into the days ahead, with His perfect balance and proportion, never overreacting, never excusing, never lashing out. 

Hebrews 11:1 TPT Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen.

Why not build into our lives unhurried prayer, where we pause to consider the radiance of who Jesus Christ actually is. God. And praise Him unreservedly, raw, wide open to our innermost thoughts. Allow Holy Spirit to sing with us, ask Him to pour out our anguish, our happiness, our grief, our forgiveness. 

Because even though we cannot see it or touch it, heaven is as real and vital to us in our prayers and in our worship as oxygen is to our lungs. 

We breathe air into our lungs that we cannot see — and we live. In the same way, as we worship we breathe heaven into our souls — and we live, filling our hearts with the unseen, life-giving atmosphere of heaven. Faith convinces us that we are in the realm of heaven as we worship, and it encourages us to breathe deeply, pray honestly, that we might become more fully alive in Christ. Amazing grace!

Psalms 150:1-6 NET Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary! Praise Him in the sky, which testifies to His strength! Praise Him for His mighty acts! Praise Him for His surpassing greatness! Praise Him with the blast of the horn! Praise Him with the lyre and the harp! Praise Him with the tambourine and with dancing! Praise Him with stringed instruments and the flute! Praise Him with loud cymbals! Praise Him with clanging cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

Hearts filled with praise, a gratitude that brings us to our knees before our mighty, gracious Lord of all. Singing, praying, acknowledging with grateful hearts all that the Lord has done for us, is doing for us, challenges us to find our places in the story of Christ’s kingdom and to look for Him to write new chapters in the story through our lives. 

Praise does this for us far more effectually than anything; it not only makes us aware of our ties to the saints who have gone before us, it challenges us to build upon that past.   And taking our praises to heaven in worship give us  a glimpse of Holy Spirit that awakens us to the future at His side when we are called home. 

Philippians 1:9-11 NET  And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. 

And so we must worship now in light of God’s future, in ways that are helpful to all. Jesus Christ loves each of us who know Him as our Lord and Saviour.  He has always welcomed us, seeking salvation, just as much as ever He did while walking the earth. And He extends that invitation to each and every person who seeks Him whether we have never known Him or have taken our eyes off Him! 

When we use simplicity - as in genuine honest awkward prayer, and adoration with authentic - maybe off key voices in our worship, we are able to clearly hear and recognize the voice of Him. Amazing grace!

And then our regular prayer life and steady worship, filled with admiration and surrender, will have such beauty and weight that it captures the hearts of those around us. 

By His blood, Christ has brought us all the way behind the curtain and into a new and blessed way of life and worship before the face of God. Because new covenant worship takes place in heaven, it is spiritual and regenerative in its very nature.