Why Pray? Reasons (part 1)                       Persistence (part 2)                      Believing (part 3)                            Praying The Word (part 5)         
Sowing & Reaping (part 6)                   Listening (part 7)                    When God Says No (part 8)                     Hindered Prayers  (part 9)
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Praise & Worship
(Part 4) by Julie Anne Hood
When we pray we’re really just talking to God, our God who truly loves us and cares for us.  
But did you know that prayer is related to praise and worship?  

In Isaiah 43:7 it says “Even everyone who is called by My name,
whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, whom I have made”.  

Did you get that?  Why were we created?  God’s word says that He created us for His glory.  That’s right!

We were not created to make ourselves happy and to give ourselves pleasure.  We were created to give God pleasure.
We were created to give God the praise, honor and glory that is due Him!  
So when we pray we are acknowledging God’s goodness and His greatness as well as giving Him our adoration,
our love, our devotion and we are showing  Him our respect as our Sovereign Lord.  

I Cor. 6:19 reads: “Know ye not that  your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost”. We are
God’s temple.  

Let’s look back at Solomon’s temple, in 1 King 8 we read that when Solomon dedicated his temple,
he sacrificed sheep and oxen and he and the people worshiped the Lord.  In verse 10 God’s glory filled the temple.  
So if we are God’s temple, then we should also be filled with His glory (which is His power).

In Psalm 100:4 it says we are to “enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His
courts with praise”.

If we look back at the temple in the old testament, the temple was surrounded by a courtyard,
and around the courtyard was a wall.  Now let’s take that into the spiritual realm.  

When we get ready to pray, we should begin by entering His gates with thanksgiving and then go further and
enter His courts with praise.  Most people think that thanksgiving and praise are the same thing.  
They are similar but I don’t believe they are the same.  I believe thanksgiving is being thankful
for things that God has done for you.  I think praise is being grateful for all the things
God is doing for you and is going to do for you.  

So what is worship?  
Well, I see worship  as going one step further and praising God for who He is!  
In worship we acknowledge His ‘worth ship’.  

Look at it this way, it’s as if we go through a gate in the beginning of our prayer that thanks God for all He has done,
then we enter His court where we praise Him for all He is doing and is going to do,
but then eventually we go into the Holy of Holies where we worship Him for just being who He is.  

Many people do not believe that this is “spiritual warfare”, but it is, it’s just a different aspect of it.   
When David was down, he “encouraged himself in the Lord” and that gave him the strength to move on.  
The same is true for us.  If we would just stop complaining and start remembering all of the good things
that God has already done for us, then it is easier for us to trust Him to take care of us again.   

David was both a warrior and a worshipper and so should we be.  When the Israelites went out to battle,
those with instruments went out first.  Why?  The battle was the Lord’s, not theirs.
And the battles we are facing in our lives are not our battles either, they are the Lord’s.  We must let Him fight them.  
We do this by giving God thanks, praise and worship which shows Him that we truly trust He will take care of everything for us.

So you see, worship should be part of our spiritual warfare.  
And don’t be surprised if you spontaneously sing out with appropriate songs.  
Just keep your eyes on Jesus and stay thankful!  

For  when we worship the Lord, He fills us with His glory and power and it makes the
enemy flee.   

So start your prayer with thanksgiving, go on to praise and then on to worship and watch
as
God fills you with His glory (which is why He created you) and then steps in and
fights your battles for you!

For  the only way to true victory is on our knees!   

SO, Let us PRAISE and WORSHIP the LORD!
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