PRAYER FOR TODAY THURSDAY 13TH JULY 2023 – A PRAYER TO MAKE PRAISING GOD A HABIT

DAILY PRAYER AND SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY.

Engage these Daily Prayer and Scriptures for today. Take to God all that you desire in prayers, while you watch restfully as he steps into situations to bring out beauty and colour in your live. Today, as you commune with God, know that God has settled all that concerns you, Just believe and pray with faith in your heart. Remain blessed in Jesus name, Amen.

Today’s Prayer is Authored by: Ashley Moore 

Prayer Focus For Today 13th July 2023: A Prayer to Make Praising God a Habit

“Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules.” – Psalm 119:164, ESV 
Have you ever heard of habit stacking? This is a practice you can implement when trying to create a new habit, where you attach the new habit to something you already have a habit of doing. For example, if you want to begin a new habit of drinking 16 extra ounces of water a day, each night, you would place a fresh bottle of water beside your toothbrush. So that as soon as you are done brushing your teeth in the morning (existing habit), you can chug the water bottle (new habit). 

So often, our new habits fail to truly become second nature because we make them too difficult to incorporate or, rather, too easy to gloss over in our day-to-day routine. Have you ever experienced failing to create a new habit? 

Maybe you bought a membership to the gym but only went a couple of times because the trip across town was too much trouble. Perhaps you wanted to start eating healthier, but the added meal prep was so hard to incorporate that you found yourself opting for the drive-thru again. 

Finally, you set a new goal to read the Bible right before calling it a night but find yourself crawling into bed after a busy day, unable to read without drifting off. These habits didn’t stick because they were too hard to implement. They worked against your already well-ingrained routine, and in the end, the resistance overpowered your willpower to create a new routine.  
 
When I read the Psalmist’s devotion to praise God seven times a day in Psalm 119:164, I have to wonder if habit stacking was involved. Commentators are divided on whether praising seven times is literal or if the number seven signifies multiple times a day when the author stopped to praise. Nonetheless, we all can agree that praising God many times a day can only positively impact a person. 

Maybe our other habits weren’t sustainable, and I hope that habit stacking can be a useful tool to help us give healthier habits another shot. But perhaps we can give habit stacking a shot by trying to implement more praise into something we already do multiple times a day. Perhaps let each time you check your phone today prompt you to offer up short and sweet praises to God. 

PRAYER FOR TODAY.

Let’s pray:

Dear Lord, 
You are worthy of our praise. All day, every day, our lives should be full of us offering our praise to you! You created everything. The sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, and the trees. You made a spread of creatures and a diverse group of image-bearers that reflect Your glory! You gave us the law by which to live a perfect life, and when we failed to live up to it because of our sins, you sent Your Son to live it in our places on our behalf. In an upside-down deal, you exchange Your righteousness for our transgressions, Lord. So that we could inherit eternal life with you forever in Paradise. Lord, what else could we ask for? Oh, but how we do ask for more? Sadly, we are easily discontented and distracted by the pleasures of this life.  
 
Lord, forgive us when we fixate more on what we don’t have and forget to thank You and praise You for all that You have given to us in addition to eternal life. Lord, You didn’t have to; you didn’t have to make food taste sweet or clothe flowers with your brilliant color palette. You didn’t have to give us satisfying friendships and relationships on Earth. You didn’t have to paint beautiful sunrises and sunsets each day for us. But you did, and you continue to do things that prompt us to praise You! Lord, You didn’t have to create us to enjoy it when we offer You praise, but in Your goodness, you made praise beneficial to us by increasing our joy! Thank You, Lord. I ask that You would help each of us to practice habit stacking our praises to You with something we regularly do so that our praise would increase, Jesus.
In Your name, I pray, amen.

This Is the Assurance of Answers to Your Prayers – Matthew 7:7-11

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will YOUR FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN GIVE GOOD THINGS TO THOSE WHO ASK HIM!