“Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.” (Psalm 34:3)
Notice two things about the Lord’s Prayer. It begins with the words “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name” (Matthew 6:9), and ends with “Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen” (v. 13). God wants you to begin and end your prayers thinking of Him. Why? Because it does you twice as much good to focus on God as it does to focus on anyone or anything else! When you magnify an object, you enlarge it so that you can see and understand it more. When we magnify God, we do the same thing. We enlarge our awareness of Him, so we can understand Him more. This is what happens when we worship Him — we take our minds off ourselves and set them on God. We put the emphasis on Him.
Could it be any plainer? God is in charge! Speaking of Jesus Christ, Eugene Peterson in the Message Bible paraphrases Paul’s words like this: “God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules” (Ephesians 1:20-23, MSG). So when you magnify the Lord, you’re saying: “You not only rule the universe, you rule my heart!”
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me focus on You as the source to actually do something about all the other things I bring before You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Stay encouraged!
Pastor Mike
