Every day you see people worshiping someone else - a pop singing star, a great athlete, perhaps even a politician.
We Christians say we worship God. But do we really?
Stormie Omartian, author of The Prayer that Changes Everything, said in a YouTube clip: "You become like what you worship."
That can be an encouraging - and a convicting - statement. I say convicting because I confess I sometimes worship football and other things more fervently than I do the Lord.
But it is also encouraging. Omartian said that as we praise and worship God as a way of life, we become like him.
Her point is that praising God changes us inside and makes us more like Jesus. And there is nothing more important in this life and in eternity than God.
She noted that one translation of Psalm 22:3 is that God is enthroned on our praises. That is, he makes his presence felt as we praise him.
"Every time you praise God, something changes within you or your circumstances," she said. "It is impossible to touch the presence of God and not be changed."
Her statement reminded me of a story I read years ago in Created to Praise, by Derek Prime. He told the story of missionary Archibald Glover, his wife, their two small children, and another missionary woman fleeing Chinese rebels in 1900 as they targeted foreigners.
After several narrow escapes, Mrs. Glover was so worn out she collapsed and said she couldn't go on. Her husband felt she was dying.
The other missionary woman knelt beside Mrs. Glover and poured out praise to God and many passages of scripture about God's promises and his faithfulness.
"From an apparently dying condition, she suddenly revived and sat up with a restored vigour which amazed me," Glover wrote. God had made his presence felt as they praised him.
Omartian says that we are to praise God in hard times - perhaps particularly in hard times. It takes our eyes off ourselves and fixes them on Jesus.
"God is all about changing us because he wants us to become more like him," Omartian said. "We become more like him every time we worship him."
Many people do not praise God because they do not know what he is like. So Omartian urges us to praise him for his goodness and power and other qualities as outlined in scripture. The more we praise him for these things, the more we see his goodness and power "manifested" in our lives, she says.
She used the picture of a funnel to describe how God pours his love into us. The top part of the funnel is large, containing a lot of liquid - the lower part is narrow. When we praise him, God pours out his love into us until we are unable to contain any more.
That's why Omartian calls praise "the prayer that changes everything". We are transformed as we worship the Lord.
We Christians say we worship God. But do we really?
Stormie Omartian, author of The Prayer that Changes Everything, said in a YouTube clip: "You become like what you worship."
That can be an encouraging - and a convicting - statement. I say convicting because I confess I sometimes worship football and other things more fervently than I do the Lord.
But it is also encouraging. Omartian said that as we praise and worship God as a way of life, we become like him.
Her point is that praising God changes us inside and makes us more like Jesus. And there is nothing more important in this life and in eternity than God.
She noted that one translation of Psalm 22:3 is that God is enthroned on our praises. That is, he makes his presence felt as we praise him.
"Every time you praise God, something changes within you or your circumstances," she said. "It is impossible to touch the presence of God and not be changed."
Her statement reminded me of a story I read years ago in Created to Praise, by Derek Prime. He told the story of missionary Archibald Glover, his wife, their two small children, and another missionary woman fleeing Chinese rebels in 1900 as they targeted foreigners.
After several narrow escapes, Mrs. Glover was so worn out she collapsed and said she couldn't go on. Her husband felt she was dying.
The other missionary woman knelt beside Mrs. Glover and poured out praise to God and many passages of scripture about God's promises and his faithfulness.
"From an apparently dying condition, she suddenly revived and sat up with a restored vigour which amazed me," Glover wrote. God had made his presence felt as they praised him.
Omartian says that we are to praise God in hard times - perhaps particularly in hard times. It takes our eyes off ourselves and fixes them on Jesus.
"God is all about changing us because he wants us to become more like him," Omartian said. "We become more like him every time we worship him."
Many people do not praise God because they do not know what he is like. So Omartian urges us to praise him for his goodness and power and other qualities as outlined in scripture. The more we praise him for these things, the more we see his goodness and power "manifested" in our lives, she says.
She used the picture of a funnel to describe how God pours his love into us. The top part of the funnel is large, containing a lot of liquid - the lower part is narrow. When we praise him, God pours out his love into us until we are unable to contain any more.
That's why Omartian calls praise "the prayer that changes everything". We are transformed as we worship the Lord.
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