Study of Prayer ~ Week One Lesson Two

"Honoring God"

Have you ever had someone pay you a compliment and you know that they didn’t mean it? You knew they were not genuine because you suspected their motives were not to pay you a compliment, but to get something for themselves. Their tone may have been patronizing or drippy-sweet. Maybe they were looking over your head or around the room for a better, more important person to talk to. You were just a means to the next best thing.

We’re like that with God sometimes. In fact, often we just give Him lip service. We do our perceived “duty” to Him and then move on to the next thing. He’s just a means to whatever is next. God deserves more than that from us. He deserves our full and honoring attention.

Turn to Isaiah 29:13 and answer the following:


What does the Lord say about how people approach Him? 


How does He describe their worship? 


How does this fit with the way you may be approaching God? 


What needs to change in your life concerning your approach to God? 


Approaching God with lip service and with an insincere heart doesn’t get past Him. Just because we may follow all the rules and regulations of our religion doesn’t mean we are showing honor to the Almighty.

Read Colossians 2:20-23. Why do you think human commands and teachings do not lead us toward the Lord? 



In our arrogance, we think we are honoring God by doing all the “good things,” like going to Church, teaching Sunday school, having a fish symbol on our cars, or always listening to Christian radio. These outward behaviors do not hide what’s inside to the One who knows us best.

In other words, because we have followed our list of “good things,” we may have a tendency to think He owes us something. This is not honoring God. Think about it. If we are following a list to get brownie points with God, so that we can get a favor from Him, we will find that we are sorely mistaken. Our goal should be to honor God by obedience to Him because we love Him not what we can get out of Him.

Read Revelation 4:11. (NIV) Fill in the blanks:


“You are _________________, our Lord and God, to receive ______________ and ______________ and _________________, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being.”

God is worthy of glory and honor and power. We don’t supply Him with these things. He is glory, honor and power. When we acknowledge who He is we honor Him and place Him in the correct position of supremacy over all things. By recognizing God’s position, we acknowledge that He is greater than we are and assume our position with humility and truth. Honoring God is essential in our lives and in our prayer lives.

Prayer Time
Take this opportunity to honor God. Go to your prayer journal and write out a prayer honoring Him. He is to be honored for all He is and has done and will do. Tell Him so.


Discussion Questions
1. How do you feel when someone is being patronizing to you? Can you tell when someone is not really being themselves? Discuss.



2. Approaching God with lip service and with an insincere heart doesn’t get past Him. Just because we may follow all the rules and regulations of our religion, doesn’t mean we are showing honor to the Almighty. How do you honor God in your prayers?



3. God knows our hearts and wants us to “be real” with Him. Do you understand that we can be ourselves with God and He really prefers this? Why or why not?