Adoration

It’s been said that “everyone worships something.” Whether you’re in the corner office or custodial closet, White House or no house, we all orient our lives towards worship.

Throughout the book of Nehemiah, he – along with others – turns to God in adoration. Admiring God for the content of his character and history of actions. Sometimes, these moments were right after wonderful breakthroughs had occurred! Sometimes, these moments were in the middle of a “valley.” But God is unchangingly deserving of our praise – no matter the circumstance.

Look at the way this prayer of adoration is constructed:

Nehemiah 9:5b-8
Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you. You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.

This prayer:  

- ascribes blessing to God 

- accurately describes God as eternal, glorious, exalted, above all praise, and the only Lord 

- adores God for his creation, preservation, choosing, covenant-making, and covenant-keeping  

Today, spend some time in prayer. But instead of asking God for things or talking about where your head or heart is right now, focus your prayer on the nature, attributes, character, and actions of God.  

Praise him for the ways he has been at work in the events of your life, as you understand them. And best of all, we can use God’s Word to worship its author. 

Here is a good place to start (scriptures below have been modified as prayers directed to God):  

O LORD my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment. Psalm 104:1-2 

God, you are light, and in you is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5

God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 1 John 4:16

You are the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change, and from whom proceeds every good and perfect gift. James 1:17

You are the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. 1 Timothy 6:15-16

The heavens declare your glory, O God, and the sky above proclaims your handiwork. Psalm 19:1

Your steadfast love is great toward us, Psalm 117:2 and your faithfulness endures to all generations. Psalm 100:5

You have proclaimed your name: The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. Exodus 34:6- 7

And this, your name, is our strong tower. Proverbs 18:10

You are good and do good, Psalm 119:68 good to all; and your mercy is over all that you have made. Psalm 145:9

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you or in comparison with you. When my flesh and my heart fail, Lord, be the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:25-26

Your name and remembrance are the desire of my soul; my soul yearns for you in the night, and my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. Isaiah 26:8-9

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God; my soul thirsts for God, for the living God, Psalm 42:1-2
who commands his steadfast love by day, and at night his song is with me; a prayer to the God of my life. Psalm 42:8
O that I may come hungering and thirsting after righteousness, Matthew 5:6
for you fill the hungry with good things, but the rich you send away empty. Luke 1:53

O that my soul may thirst for you, and my flesh faint for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water; that I may see your power and glory, as I have looked  upon you in the sanctuary. Your steadfast love is better than life; Psalm 63:1-3
my soul will be satisfied with that as with fat and rich food, and then my mouth will praise you with joyful lips. Psalm 63:5

Prayer Points

Consider also praying for Bethel Church using the “Bethel Ministries” and “Bethel Leadership” sections of the prayer points found here.