Spiritual Disciplines and the Psalms: Prayer of Praise

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

      

 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lordyour God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

 

     After a more relaxed January, I'm ready to dig into February for our disciplines. Next, we will talk about prayer. Prayer is a discipline that can be so difficult for adults that we don't even attempt to teach it to our children. There are phases in life that can greatly impact what our prayer life looks like and how easy or difficult it is to "practice." Honestly, I feel like I spent a much greater amount of time praying in high school, college, and early marriage than I do now simply because of the demands of children (good distractions) and things like Facebook, Netflix, etc. .....   I find myself saying quick prayers as I go about the day and not really spending any thoughtful chunk of time praying. So, at least for me, prayer has got to become more purposeful in this phase of life.

    If you are like me, a great place to start would be to read Don Whitney's book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. He has a chapter on prayer that is excellent. One of the points in his book I appreciate is that prayer is learned. He gives a few practical ways that we can learn prayer:

• meditating on Scripture
• praying with others
• reading about prayer (sources like Martin Luther, George Muller, etc.)

   So...this subject is vast, isn't it? I get overwhelmed thinking where to even start. Instead of trying to touch on every great book on prayer, let me simply list some practical ways for a mom/adult (whatever situation you find yourself in) to practice praying so that I can better teach my children to pray. Remember, every discipline takes practice and time. 

     This week, we will focus on learning and practicing the prayer of Praise. This will not feel very different from singing songs of praise. In fact, some times, it may be you actually singing to the Lord. A prayer of praise focuses on WHO GOD IS. This means, we will be praising God for His attributes. This kind of prayer is one of the most uplifting and encouraging prayers for my own soul. I find that as I praise God for who He is that my mindset begins to shift from greed to gratitude and from misery to delight.

• PLAN PLAN PLAN - have a set time and place each day that you plan to pray. 
• Start with a short amount of time. I would even say that if you aren't used to praying at all (besides meal times, bed times, and church) that you start with one minute. We can certainly all spare one minute, can't we? You could even redeem this minute of time from something you do regularly:
• car
• shower/bath
• brushing teeth
• nursing a baby (for those of you that applies to)
• changing a diaper
• making food/setting table/unloading or loading dishwasher
• scrubbing dishes or bathroom
• folding laundry
• making a bed
• Open up the Psalms - last week, I prayed through Psalm 103 each day as my prayer of praise. I read a verse and scan it for any attributes of God. Here are a few to get you started - 
• God, I praise you, because you are generous 
• God, I praise you, because you are the Perfect Forgiver
• God, I praise you, because you are the Healer 
• God, I praise you, because you are THE Redeemer
• God, I praise you, because you are the great Satisfier 
• Pray OUTLOUD - not all of our prayers can or should be vocalized, but I think hearing God's attributes coming out of my own mouth can greatly impact my outlook on the day. When I remember and state WHO GOD IS then I can rightly see who I am. Also, you might also have little ears listening when you don't know - think of the impact hearing your praise God could have on little souls in your home! Remember, the Psalms are your friend! If you get stuck or don't know where to start, go there. I find that when I don't have the strength or mental focus, going to God's Word and praising Him in how He describes Himself best helps me. And I hope you find that a minute isn't nearly long enough to declare WHO GOD IS and praise Him for it. Start small though, and work up. I'll check in next week. 
• Ask a friend to commit to check up on you this week and rope them into praising God for His attributes too

  

   

  What about teaching your kids to pray? Besides singing, I think that prayer is probably the earliest spiritual discipline we teach to children. We pray with them at meals, bedtimes, Bible story, and church. I remember the first time each of our 3 oldest children prayed on their own. It was a beautiful and wonderful moment - but it took lots of time and practice to get there. They had to hear us pray. They had to have words put in their mouths of what to say. I am firm believer that no child is too young to be prayed for and with. We teach our littles from the first time they sit at the table to fold their hands and thank God for His provision and goodness. I want prayer to be such a part of the culture of my home that my children will never remember a day when they did not pray. 

Here are some ways you might incorporate a prayer of praise with your children. This may look a little differently for varying ages:

• Babies (0-1) - you are praying "for" them at this point, since they don't have words
• Feeding times. I know it sounds silly, but even saying out loud to your baby "thank you God for providing and giving me milk. You give me all I need." 
• Table time - when you start solids, it's a great time to start training in this discipline. Teach them to take a moment to thank God instead of take what they want
• Bed time/naps/those "rocking" moments
• any time throughout the day - they are never too young to hear you praise God for being Creator (for the leaves, sky), Provider (for shelter, clothes, food), Savior, etc. 
• (1-2) As words start forming
• My 15 month old can already say Jesus and Amen. She knows our posture of prayer is to fold our hands. They are capable of learning so much. 
• Start putting words of praise in their mouths - as you praise God out loud yourself, begin to encourage them to praise God for being Creator and then explain what that means. You could take any of God's attributes. You could even talk about one each week. They are never too young
• (2-3)
• This is when prayers can be so cute. They start to copy what they have heard, so make sure that you are praying praise into their little ears and heads and hearts. 
• Bed, story and meal times are all very easy times to incorporate this
• (4-up)
• One great way is to have a notebook with pictures of attributes of God (you could have your children draw what they think God's provision looks like, etc.) You can flip through pictures or words and have your children say the attributes with you
• Attributes A-Z. This is fun when your kids know the alphabet and can even be a fun challenge for older children. It can be a way to work on letters too. Win, win! 
• Make sure you are defining clearly what an attribute means, and you may want to take them to an example or verse
• Also for your older ones, have them do exactly what you are doing. Set the timer or give them a Psalm and have them find those beautiful and wonderful attributes of God! 

     At my house, we do our attribute/praise time in the morning. I use the alphabet a lot and my little two year old (who knows his letters, but doesn't understand them) almost always wants to thank God for being holy. Do you know how he knows to say that? Because of the discipline of singing praise to God through the song Holy, Holy, Holy. He may not fully understand what he is saying, but he is practicing and getting in the habit of a life-changing discipline. 

   So, think of each week as adding to the previous. We are building block upon block for us and for our children. Because of singing with my children, they are better able to understand attributes of God and know how to name them and praise Him for them. 

They are never too young. 

Thankfully, we are never too old. 

And God ... He is always worthy. 

     

Resource Corner

I recommended this book last week. If you have it, go ahead and read Chapter 4 on prayer. This will help you to realize why the discipline of praise is important.

• An article you might find helpful in exploring ideas 
• Here is an article with some helpful definitions on some spiritual disciplines from the C.S. Lewis Institute.

One of my favorite (easy to read) books on singing and the importance of singing with your children can be found here. I highly recommend this to help you cultivate helping your kids especially at church.