of admiration. Your head might be bowed, or your hands lifted
high—this is praise!
Praise sets the tone, or the ambiance, for your conversations
with God. Praise positions your heart. Praise is the place of
entry and invitation. (Note: Praising God is not thanking Him
for doing something specific—that will come later. This is
your chance to praise God for WHO He is. Praise is the time
and place to tell God how great you think He is, to profess
your faith and confidence in Him.)
Of course, if you’re more casual than formal, you’ll
appreciate knowing that a guide already exists for praising God.
The book of Psalms is a book of “God Talks.” It contains 150
recorded two-way conversations between human beings and
God. Eugene Peterson, in his preface to the book of Psalms in
The Message (a paraphrase version of the Bible) wrote, “Most
Christians for most of the Christian centuries have learned to
pray by praying the Psalms.” 3
Peterson describes prayer not as an advanced language but
an elementary one. He writes, “It is the means by which our
language becomes honest, true, and personal in response to
God. It is the means by which we get everything in our lives
out in the open before God.” 4
In 1984, when I first started my hour with God each day in
praise, I didn’t realize this historical pattern existed. But I
quickly discovered the book of Psalms as my personal “praise
prayers” when I ran out of ideas on how to praise God in the
wee hours of the morning, alone in my kitchen, without a choir
leading me in a chorus!
Praising God is the “opener” in your two-way conversation
with Him. It is your invitation, asking Him to be real with you,