Most people are familiar with the Lord’s prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. As we pray, we often are in a rush to tell God what we need and want. Some of the things we are asking of him are healing or specific guidance or a blessing like in the case of financial needs. Usually, we began our prayer with something like this-dear God thank you for all you have done for us. Then we immediately go to what is of concern to us. This is a mistake.
We overlook what is the first priority of prayer. We know that God can do anything. We know that God cares very much for our daily life. We know he wants everyone to come into the kingdom. However, as we say the prayers that we usually construct, we overbook the most important issue in our prayers as we begin.
Look back at the Lord’s prayer. Jesus taught us that we should honor God and glorify him. In fact, we should have a specific intention to glorify God. Yes, glorifying him is more important than the requests we want to ask. Glorifying him provides a connection to his divine character. Glorifying him in our prayers is what we will do in eternity. To glorify God, we recognize everything else that could be described about him.
Try an experiment. The next time you pray, don’t ask for anything. When you have a spiritual conversation with the Almighty, spend all your time glorifying him. Tell him you appreciate how wonderful he is, how magnificent he is. Without making a single request, find the words to glorify him. At first, your prayer may be very short. As you continue glorifying him in coming days, allow yourself to be caught up in the idea that you are talking to the person that created all the planets, all the stars, all the intricate workings of your body, with every extension of his love.
Notice in the Scriptures that angels glorified him. Other celestial beings fell down before him. All of creation bows to his working. When you glorify him in your prayers, you are joining with the heavenly host. You are setting aside your own thoughts, needs, and desires. We already know that God is fully aware of our own separate situation. The Bible says every knee shall bow before him. While still walking this earth, it would be a good idea to do the same by glorifying the Heavenly Father.
What we have in mind compared to eternity is so trivial. When you glorify God, you’re building a bridge, a connection to him. You honor of God by glorifying him is more important than anything else you could say to him. That is why Jesus began the Lord’s prayer with, “hallowed be thy name.” Let us set aside everything else and grow spiritually. Spend more time on him than on yourself beyond what you are experiencing in this world. Establish a platform like that of Jacob’s ladder in the Old Testament because at the top of the ladder is the glorious Lord!
Christian Writer 