An offering of Praise

Weekly I lead my corporate brothers in an international conference call prayer meeting, usually about 30 minutes in duration.  We pray for God’s favor in our lives, informed by the prayer of David in Psalm 90 ~ May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands, yes, establish the work of our hands.¹ The humility that flows through the phone lines, from across the continent of the United States, over the ocean to Europe is beautiful.  Friends, God is well pleased when we humble ourselves and cry out to him in prayer. 

Similarly, our God is honored when we recognize his answers to our humble prayers.  

It is good and it is right to stop, turn around, remember,

and thank God for how he has intervened in our lives,

when he has poured out his mercy,

provided answers we could not even conceive of …  yes, it is fitting to say thank you!

Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!²

Recently, my brother from Portugal, queried, “Can I say something?”  The ready answer ‘of course!’ echoed across the lines.  You see, we have come to realize, when he gets a ‘something’ from God, we should all turn up the volume on our phones, as we are about to get a ‘blessin from da’ Lord.’  “Okay, I’m going to pray,” he said. “God, I just want to pray for you.  I thank you dearly for your presence in our lives, for the way you shine on all of us …” And in his own inimitable way, formed by the intonation of the romance language of Portugal, and the Holy Spirit speaking through him, he ministered the blessings of God to us once more. 

Today, I should like to say, ‘I thank you God for you.  Thank you for leading and guiding us when we ask, thank you for blessing us even when we forget to ask.  With the psalmist, I say, ‘Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!’^3  ‘I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done.  I will be filled with joy because of you.
I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.’⁴

And in the spirit of thanking God, I wish to thank him dearly for his leading, guiding, and blessing on the publishing of ou(mine and his) new book, Morning Briefings: Daily Wisdom and Inspiration from Scripture.