It is good manners to start our praying with praise and thanksgiving. Praise to God for who He is and what He does in general and thanksgiving for what He does for us in particular. We praise Him for His greatness and thank Him for His goodness to us in particular. Both involve vocalising our feelings and are the direct gateway to God. Psalm 100:4 says “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise.” The gate leads into the courts, the courts lead into His Presence. You get through the gates with the passport of thanksgiving ,and through the courts with the visa of praise. Then You are there.
It is beneficial for us to constantly review who God is – His Nature and Attributes and what He has done for us in the past. It is humbling and makes us eternally grateful. It puts us and keeps us in our place. It has the psychological effect of making us love Him more as it builds our faith. As we remember what He has done, it is easy to believe that He will do what we ask next.
Prayer – O God, We praise You for who You are. Creator, sovereign Lord and Saviour. We thank You for establishing Your Church – for keeping it through the years and the changing scenes of life. We think particularly of our churches at Museum Street, Bramford Road and Landseer Road. We thank You for their particular ministries and we pray that You will show us the way forward. We praise You for how You have provided financially for our circuit and churches through years of war, scarcity, recession and illness and we thank You that You are the same God who will provide in the future. Show us Your way, Amen