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Yesterday at supper time, Mercy prayed before we started eating, "God, please help me blow on my food for me, so it won't burn my mouth. Amen." Jeremy and I chuckled to each other, and then Daddy helped Mercy add to her prayer, "AND thank You for the food you gave us, too! We love you, God! Amen."
I started thinking: the last few times I've heard Mercy pray, it's gone like this "God, please help me [fill in the blank]." That hit my heart hard, because while it's great to depend on God for all aspects of my daily life, I suddenly realized that I've been doing a lot more requesting than exalting. After all, Mercy learned how to pray by listening to me converse with God as I go through my day.
With those thoughts already tumbling around in my brain, I opened an email this morning from my friend Alicia who wanted to share her morning devotions with me. She closed with this verse.
Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."
EXALT
The word boomed and reverberated in my heart.
EXALT
How can I be intentional about exalting, I wondered. How can I teach daily exalting of the King to my daughters?
I decided to have a Praise Party with the girls. The three of us stood in the middle of the living room, lifted our hands to the sky and shouted "I LOVE YOU, GOD! YOU ARE AMAZING! THANK YOU FOR BEING SO GOOD TO US!" Then we each took turns telling God about things He had done that we were so happy about. Mercy told God thank you for the snow; Liberty barked (because she was still Moona, the doggy) "Thank You for our wonderful house!" Then we jumped and danced and twirled to show God how great He was and how happy we were about Him.
We had a lot of fun, and I plan to do it again every day -- not only to teach my girls to praise, but to get me into the praising habit too.
I started thinking: the last few times I've heard Mercy pray, it's gone like this "God, please help me [fill in the blank]." That hit my heart hard, because while it's great to depend on God for all aspects of my daily life, I suddenly realized that I've been doing a lot more requesting than exalting. After all, Mercy learned how to pray by listening to me converse with God as I go through my day.
With those thoughts already tumbling around in my brain, I opened an email this morning from my friend Alicia who wanted to share her morning devotions with me. She closed with this verse.
Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."
EXALT
The word boomed and reverberated in my heart.
EXALT
How can I be intentional about exalting, I wondered. How can I teach daily exalting of the King to my daughters?
I decided to have a Praise Party with the girls. The three of us stood in the middle of the living room, lifted our hands to the sky and shouted "I LOVE YOU, GOD! YOU ARE AMAZING! THANK YOU FOR BEING SO GOOD TO US!" Then we each took turns telling God about things He had done that we were so happy about. Mercy told God thank you for the snow; Liberty barked (because she was still Moona, the doggy) "Thank You for our wonderful house!" Then we jumped and danced and twirled to show God how great He was and how happy we were about Him.
We had a lot of fun, and I plan to do it again every day -- not only to teach my girls to praise, but to get me into the praising habit too.
It sounds like a great way to show both your gratitude and joy!
Thank you for posting this, it made me realize that I have been doing the same thing. I have been asking for a lot, but not exalting him. Thank you again for the reminder.
~Rayla
What a wonderful idea.