I am participating in a 10-week discipleship program Sunday nights at church – and loving every minute of it! Week Three of the program was on prayer. Last Monday, we practiced what we learned.
The three groups participating in the program got together for a “prayer experience.” While it started off a bit quiet and hesitant – it didn’t stay that way. By the end of the evening, we were praising God with tears and laughter and then praying for each other. Driving home I kept thinking how wonderful it would be to do that every week.
Prayer is a wonderful experience, but it does require sacrifice. The writer to Hebrews calls it a sacrifice of praise. “Therefore, through Him let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of our lips that confess His name.” [Hebrews 13:5 HCSB]
In the Old Testament, believers brought literal sacrifices (animals, grain, wine, etc.) to the temple. It was part of the Levitical system. In the New, however, our sacrifice is one that flows out of a heart made new by the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross.
It is a sacrifice of praise offered continually. Still, prayer does require sacrifice – a sacrifice of time, a quieting of the soul before God, thanksgiving for all He has done, praise for all He is. Amen