Praise and Prayer - My Struggle

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” -Revelation 4:11

I had a lot of time to think about this topic in the last month. Praise is an important part of my life or at least I want it to be. At the time I first decided to write about praise I was struggling in several ways, mainly spiritually. At that point I felt drained and overwhelmed with responsibilities. I just wanted to give up everything. I thought about not being a CBF teacher anymore and leaving the praise team. I realized that especially these two things, which I used to love to participate in, had become obligations and somewhat of a burden. I often felt pressured to always be there and be available. In the midst of this I had a lot of time to think about praise and commitment to God's work. I asked myself, why do we praise God? Why is it so important? Revelations 4:11 gives a clear explanation for why we should worship God. God is the Creator of all things, including me. God deserves to be worshiped and praised as Psalm 48:1 says, 'Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain.' God simply deserves praise because He is God. He is my Lord, Creator, and Savior. Also, in praising God, I can remember his greatness, love, and grace. Praise needs to come from the heart first. However, my problem ran deeper than not praising God from my heart. I was spiritually on a downslope. I could not praise or do God's work because my heart was somewhere else. It was lost. Once you loose sight of something it is easy to get distracted by or focus on other things. In this case, I was focused on school and other trivial things. I was frustrated that I lost my connection with God. I tried to work on my relationship with God but only with little effort. This is where I got to the point of not wanting to do anything and give up all my responsibilities. However, I realized that this would be a decision I would regret and would have not helped me in turning my focus back to God. I rather was afraid that I would move even farther away from Him. I did not have a big realization or anything like that. God helped me see things in a different light and change my attitude. I am still working on bettering my relationship with God. And after watching the movie 'War Room' I also realized that my prayer life is more lukewarm than hot. Prayer is the essential connection to God. We should come before him with our thanksgiving and requests regularly because communication is the key to keeping a relationship strong and well functioning. I do not know how I went through the last months without really praying or communicating with God. I had no problem on relying on my own strength and only came to God when I needed something. Romans 12:12 says, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." I have to learn to be faithful in prayer, so I rely on God and not on myself or others. By restoring my prayer life, I can also be more faithful and joyful in praising God from my heart because through prayer I can focus my heart back on God and worshiping and praising Him. I like this passage from James 5:13-18, "13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops." Prayer is powerful. We can achieve the impossible through prayer. You may be wondering why I am talking so much about prayer. I think, though, that prayer and praise are very similar. We can pray to give thanks and bring our requests to God. In praise, we can show our joy and gratitude toward God. In both, we are communicating with God just in different ways. I also think that both are important, which may be evident in James 5:13.