praise first

A couple days ago, Grant needed a bath as SOON as he woke up in the morning. Such a pleasant discovery!

He LOVES to play in the bath. So I got out my bible and thought, while he is splashing around I will sit in the hallway and keep an eye on him and do my quiet time with Jesus. So I opened up my bible and turned to the verses for the day (My bible has a weekly devotional plan in it, so I usually just follow along) I read the verses, read through the whole devotional and... nothing.

I didn't get anything out of it. nothing. I felt like I did something wrong. God has been speaking to me so much lately. His word has just been jumping off the page. So I started flipping through my bible looking for passages that had been highlighted, hoping to find the verse God wanted me to see so He could speak to me that day... nothing. 

I am sure we have all had days where this has happend to us. At least I hope I am not alone. 

I thought, 'Well, maybe it is because I am half focused on Grant and can't give God my 100% undivided attention.' But as the day went on God started to show me something... after Grant's bath we went downstairs and had breakfast. We always turn on praise & worship music in the kitchen in the morning to start our day our right. Then to get in the car to go run errands around town, we have praise and worship music playing. I started to soak in the Lord's presence.

And then God started to speak to me.

He brought to my mind the Lord's Prayer: (Matthew 6:9-13)

    ⁹ Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
   ¹⁰ May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
   ¹¹ Give us today our daily bread,
   ¹² and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
   ¹³ And don’t let us be lead into temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

PRAISE COMES FIRST! The first line of the Lord's Prayer is Praise! Before we ask anything of God, He deserves to be praised & glorified! Before I can get into His word and ask Him to reveal Himself to me, I must to praise Him, because he is so worthy! Praise sets the atmosphere for His spirit to come in. That is why in church we praise first. To set the atmosphere for God's presence. Once I am in His presence He can speak to me and reveal things in His word to me.

That night after having a day filled with worship, I got my bible back out and asked God to please speak to me. We had such a beautiful quite time together. He is so wonderful. I love Him.