Do I pray as a last resort, begging God to get me out of a mess of my own creation? Or do I start off prayerfully, praising God for his answer before I even get around to thinking the request?
Herein is the hard part: praising God even if it won’t be the answer I want.
Lord, I praise you for your answer.
Yes, No or Wait.
Because you are gracious and good.
Think ahead to next week, next year, next decade. Praise God for the answers to requests not yet prayed.
This can be a tough one…usually the best I can do is to accept the answer, with the understanding that I do not have all the information to which the Almighty is privy.
It would be presumptuous of me to feel inclined to praise, under some situation that I have been in (and AM in); that’s my individual failing.
But I’m good at carrying out orders, and have had to carry out such that were likely to result in my death. But I didn’t die; someone else did.
You don’t have to like it. You just have to do it…that’s what we said.
You have it exactly right, Andrew. I think that faith (and thereby praise) says, “I trust that if I knew what you know, God, I would agree that this is the right answer.”