Prayer Week One Day Two "Honoring God"

Day 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 prayer and check it off our lists of 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. 

Maybe we only pray when we are desparate for something and have no where else to turn. It's ok to come to God in prayer anytime. However, its important to know who we are approaching. He is the Living God who created all things and holds things together with His will and presence. 

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. Our hearts are what counts. The condition of our attitudes. How are we asking God? What are we demanding? Do we really comprehend who we are talking to?

Read Colossians 2:20-23. Why do you think human commands and teachings do not lead us toward the Lord? Compare the wisdom of the world and its religions to God's Wisdom.

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.

"Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge!

 How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!" 

Romans 11:33

When we pray, let us kneel before God and honor Him in humility, understanding that He alone is pure in His wisdom. Sometimes we demand things of God and don't stop in humility to honor Him and accept His wisdom as better than anything we could ask for or imagine. It may not be what we would want, but we must believe His ways are right.

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 daily lives and prayers.

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 prayer.
3. God knows our heart and want us to be real with Him. Do you understand how important it is to know we can be ourselves with Him? Why? Why not?