Portable Praise

Psalm 98:4–9

Making a joyful noise to the Lord sounds good and right, doesn’t it? It’s a no-brainer—so much so that it’s easy not to engage our brains all that actively over a praise passage. We’re inspired and uplifted when we read such words. Our gait may even be livelier and our gaze focused higher for a while afterward.

The trouble is, our days are often characterized by an operative word other than praise. Despite our best intentions, that word too easily morphs into busyness. Author Cynthia Heald reflects on this issue:

One day when I was reading Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest, I was struck by his insight about a rather obscure and easily overlooked verse in Genesis: “[From there he (Abram) went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD.]” Chambers writes, “Bethel is the symbol of communion with God; Ai is the symbol of the world. 

TEACHING KIDS TO PRAY: THE FIVE FINGER METHOD

By Sheila

When Katie was two, we were teaching her how to say grace. She had just finished up when Keith leaned over and whispered to her, “tell Mommy she’s pretty.” Katie promptly put both hands together again, closed her eyes, and said, “Dear God, please make Mommy pretty. Amen.”

But most of my girls’ prayers tend towards this: “Thank you that we had a good day today. Please help us to have fun tomorrow! Amen.”

Granted, it’s not that bad, but you know what I mean.

And I have decided this isn’t good enough. So here is our plan to really teach them to pray: