Christian Corner

What is a prayer of acknowledgment & confession?

Prayers of acknowledgment, or of adoration, are prayers where the lover of God "acknowledges" God as, well, God . The Bible says, "What is man that you are mindful of him." These prayers involve contrasting the holiness and awesome of God to the puniness of humanity. It is the calling out of what God is to His children: Father, Friend, Love. In them we pause to recognize, appreciate and think on who God is generally, and to us. This prayer ever puts into perspective the fact that we are in relationship with the Creator. As for confession, it is the "say you’re sorry" in the relationship with God. All make mistakes, and "our Father" God will forgive us. But what parent doesn’t expect his child to stop and at least say, "I’m sorry". "Sin" is the going against the will of God. When we so step on His toes, even if we know He will "let it go",
we still need to acknowledge the offense. Confession is where we stop to say, "I’m sorry. Forgive me."

What is a prayer of thanksgiving & praise?
What is prayer? It’s a conversation with God. What is thanksgiving? It is the act of saying "thanks
you". Thus the prayer of thanksgiving is simply where you stop to tell God thank you for the things He has done. Parents do for their children all the time. Some things kids notice, and some they don’t. While perpetual service to a child may be a part of good parenting, what parent does not expect their child to stop at varying points and say, "Thank you". It is a spoiled child that doesn’t stop to say thank you while the grateful child expresses their love and gratitude by saying those two simple words. Along the same lines, praise is another way of saying thank you. To praise someone is to acknowledge and celebrate who that person is and what they have done. We praise a child when we post their good grades and hug them simply of who they are to us. The prayer of praise is when we tell God that we love him for not only what He has done, but simply for being who He is to us.

A preacher once said, "Everyday I have church all by myself. I have prayer, read scripture, listen to a sermon and praise God all by myself." And that was the inspiration for Church Service. "Church"involves a collective body of believers by definition. So Church Service it’s not actually a church service at all. So what was the preacher getting at and what did he mean? For many, the once-a-week church service is the only time they enter into the praise and worship experience. They "get full" off that one service like it’s Big Moma’s Sunday dinner hoping it will sustain them the rest of the week. That may work for some, but what that preacher was saying is that he had to have a spiritual feeding everyday. Thus, Church Service is simply a personal daily devotional mimicking the traditional Sunday Morning Service programs followed by churches every week all over the land. The Bible says "forsake not the gathering together of yourselves." Therefore, Church Service is not intended to be and should not be used to replace actually going to church. Instead, it is a tool to help Christians exchange the weekly "feast and famine" cycle for a sustained worship diet that keeps them full and healthy; ever growing, ever maturing, ever praising and worshiping God. Amen? Amen