Monday, February 13, 2012

Connections Class: Prayer Changes Things (1) - Adoration

Prayer is an essential ingredient of our Christian faith, but sometimes people find it hard to pray. This short series discusses different types of prayers, as well as focusing on how and what to pray for.

Adoration – (French word coined in 1540s….time of the Reformation. RC church used it to call people back to the Perpetual Adoration – the sacred respect for the Eucharist.)
1.            the act of paying honor, as to a divine being; worship.
2.            reverent homage.
3.            fervent and devoted love.

Example of prayer of adoration in today’s bulletin

Guide:                         Sovereign Lord, we gather here in Your sacred House of Prayer and come to honor Your authority over all Creation. We seek to please You with our praises and want to serve You with our worship.

What are we saying with these words of prayer?


What else could we adore God for?


Biblical examples of Prayer of Adoration
1 Chronicles 29:10-13

10 David praised the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, "Praise be to you, O LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. 
11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. 
12 Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. 
13 Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.


How does David adore God and what does the king praise Him for?
How could we pray this for our people today?

Ephesians 1:3-6

3              Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 
4-6          For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

How does Paul adore God? What things does he praise God for? How can we apply this today?


Matthew6: 9-10 

"This, then, is how you should pray: "
‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’

How does Christ adore God? Are we aware of this when we recite the Lord’s Prayer?


Group work: write a short prayer of adoration. The results will be shared with the class.


Psalm of adoration: Psalm 100

1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 
2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 
3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
 5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Thanks be to God. Amen.


NOTES

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