Prayer Series - A C T S
Adoration
Many have said that a good prayer outline is A C T S, adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication. Tonight we will look at adoration. Adoration involves declaring the glories of the Lord, which should evoke praise in the individual as well as inspire intense devotion to God.
We know that the divisions in Scripture were made by man to ease the reading of the Word and I think these three Psalms go well together to show the idea of adoration.
Ps 148
1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens: praise him in the heights.
2 Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.
3 Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.
4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created.
6 He hath also stablished them forever and ever: he hath made a decree, which shall not pass.
7 Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:
8 Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:
9 Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:
10 Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:
This is recognition of God as creator. This is something we take for granted and many even deny. We get so wrapped up in "our world" that we forget whose world it really is and who sovereignly controls it.
We can understand the how the angels can praise the Lord, but creation itself? While definitely poetic do not forget that Christ said that if the people stopped praising Him then God would raise up children of Abraham from the stones themselves. (Luke 3:8) I recently saw a program where the scientists stretched out the chirpings of the cricket equal to a human’s life span thus slowing it down. It sounded like a symphony by Mozart. Indeed, the creation may be praising God in songs that we cannot hear, but He certainly can hear them.
11 Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:
12 Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:
13 Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.
Now, David enjoins the crown of God’s creation, mankind, to praise and adore Him. All people regardless of human ranking are still the creation of God and need to praise Him. His name is above all names. His power is above all earthly powers and He is the mighty King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It helps to shrink our egos when we consider where we stand in the midst of God’s universal glory.
14 He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the LORD. (KJV)
We go from angels and general creation to mankind to the people near unto Him, His saints. We of all people should adore and praise because we know more about Him and have experienced more of Him and His grace in our lives than anyone else on the planet. This God of this awesome creation saved us from sin’s penalty! This perfect and holy God that could take us all away and create a new race chose instead to send His Son to die and redeem us. He has exalted the horn or power of His people for we had no power. We were lost and undone and yet one day we shall judge angels. Does it seem necessary to exhort us to adore and praise Him?
Ps 149:1-9
1 Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.
Adoration and praise will make you break out into a new song. The word sing conveys the idea of a traveling minstrel who would go about singing hoping for his daily bread. We should be about the world singing because He has given us our daily bread and Living Bread. The new means freshness and as His mercies are new every morning so also should be our songs to Him not vain repetitions. We should especially sing in testimony in church and even at our fellowships to exhort and strengthen each other with His praise.
2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
Again, we see the exhortation to rejoice in our creation and that He is our king. Both should be blessings and worthy of praise. They are only a source of sadness when we are disobedient for we then know that we are responsible and accountable before Him. Yet, we should praise Him for that as well since His conviction is to heal us and restore us to fellowship and not to our condemnation.
3 Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.
OOPS and all the Baptist paled at this verse. Yes, we can praise and worship Him in dance. Not a sultry hootchie-coo, but much like the way children dance and twirl about when they are happy. It is an expression of joy and not sensuality. He likes instruments, though He will be pleased if we sing with them or without them as long as we sing in praise and love!
4 For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
Have you ever really taken it in that the Lord takes pleasure in you and your praise? I mean yours, not somebody else’s, not the church’s, but your praise! He delights in you! That is something to be happy and praise Him about!! Ladies, how about loving the Lord’s beauty treatment? He beautifies or causes to gleam the ones who are meek, selfless and ’umble! He beautifies them with salvation, even spiritual health and prosperity. At times, the beauty treatment is intensive and shows best in physical illness and poverty. How beautiful we will be in His presence now and then! Praise Him for He makes all things beautiful in His time and even creates beauty out of ashes! (Ecc 3:11, Isa 61:3)
5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
We adore Him and praise Him when we are joyful! The glory means we are overflowing in joy! Singing aloud is literally shouting! Our beds may be where we are about to sleep or beds of illness and death, but we can still shout our songs of praise in glory for He shall raise us up here or in Heaven!
6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;
7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;
8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;
9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD. (KJV)
Want to win a war, either spiritual or earthly? Let His praise be in your mouth as you take your weapon into battle. In an earthly war, it may be a sword, M16A2 or a smart bomb, but they will only be effective if God is on your side. In a spiritual war, you take the praises of your God and the Sword of the Spirit to win souls to Him.
God used the Children of Israel to be the hands of His vengeance on the wicked nations around them, but He also used the wicked to chastise His people when they strayed away from Him. The US has been used by God to keep the world free from tyrants like Hitler, but she has turned away from Him and has allowed great wickedness to run free within her. God was on our side, but we may have seen a sign of Him moving away from us to get our attention and I am afraid we have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear. It is the honor of His saints to defeat wickedness in this war whether they are national or spiritual principalities and powers. Let us not lose that privilege and become the ones to be chastised. Let us return to Him in revival and obedience. Only then can we praise Him and serve Him as we should and exercise our privileges.
Ps 150:1-6
1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
While I am in agreement that we should praise Him as a body in the church house, this passage speaks more to praising Him because He is in His sanctuary or Heaven. Praise Him that He is on the throne and is above all things and thus sees all things and is in control of all things. There is great peace and security in praising Him for this. As we consider the firmament, which He created in His power and is a testimony of His power, we can rejoice and praise Him because that power protects us.
2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Not only can we gaze upon the mighty acts of His creation. We read what God has done for His people from Genesis through Revelation, we can rejoice in the fact that these mighty acts were done that we might know Whom we serve and what He is capable of doing for His people. This again brings us great peace as we reflect upon them and Him. We think of excellence in quality, but the Hebrew carries the connotation of abundance. His greatness is not only in quality, but it is abundant in His word and in our life if we are in fellowship with Him and in His mercy, even when we are not.
3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
I am a preacher and of course, I believe that the primary purpose of coming to church is to hear the Word preached and music programs can go overboard and hinder the preaching of the Word rather than enhance it and prepare the people for worship. However, God loves music and instruments. In their right balance they are a sweet sound in His ears. Why some want to cut out the instruments, I really do not know. But, praise and worship in song and dance accompanied by instruments is clearly a part of the Bible. Let us rejoice in all that He has given us to praise Him!
6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD. (KJV)
And here is the grand finale! If you are breathing, praise Him and then praise Him again!! In your prayers do you adore Him? Are you praising Him? Are you remembering out loud to Him all the wonderful things He has done in His Word and for you? If not, you are missing out some of the sweetness of the hour of prayer and even sweetness in your life! Put some honey in your prayer and praise Him in adoration!!
