Pure Praise

All of us know that prayer has at least four basic elements:  1) praise, 2) confession 3) intercession 4)thanksgiving.  With enthusiasm we offer our praise through the church's hymns on Sunday morning, but in our personal moments of quiet prayer, it often seems to be the one element which gets the short end of the stick.  When we pray, we may begin with "Our Father," but what quickly follows are words like, "I need You to..."  Or, we may pray more pointed prayers and jump quickly to praying, "Lord, Let me tell You what You need to do."   What we must honestly admit is that most of our praying somehow seems to fall into the intercession category.

 

What makes the 29th Psalm such an interesting prayer is that there is only one of the four elements of prayer in it and that is praise.  From the first verse until the last it is pure praise.  There are no pleas for help, or deliverance, healing, or the destruction of enemies.  The whole prayer is one expression extolling the majesty and power of God.  Surely, God was blessed greatly when He first heard this prayer from his servant David.  And, surely David was blessed by devoting himself to such a moment of praising God.

 

If we wonder about such being true, all we need to do is to give it a try.  The next time we bend the knee, bow the head, and enter into a time of prayer, make praising God the business of the hour.  Do nothing but offer praise to Him from the depth of your heart.  Praise Him for His steadfast love, for His mercy, for His majestic acts, for His powerful life giving Spirit.  Praise Him.  Let every breath carry praise from within you into the spheres of heaven that it might fill His holy heart.  Forget about confession and asking and thanking.  Just offer praise and adoration to God.  Bless Him and be blessed through a moment of pure praise!