Thursday Devotion and Prayer – July 13, 2023

                              Thursday Devotion and Prayer. July 13, 2023                                                                     “Make Praising God a Habit”

“Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.” – Psalm 119:164

When I read the Psalmist’s devotion to praise God seven times a day in Psalm 119:164, I have to wonder if habit stacking was involved. Commentators are divided on whether praising seven times is literal or if the number seven signifies multiple times a day when the author stopped to praise. Nonetheless, we all can agree that praising God many times a day can only positively impact a person.

Maybe our other habits weren’t sustainable, and I hope that habit stacking can be a useful tool to help us give healthier habits another shot. But perhaps we can give habit stacking a shot by trying to implement more praise into something we already do multiple times a day. Perhaps let each time you check your phone today prompt you to offer up short and sweet praises to God.

Heavenly Father,
You are worthy of our praise. All day, every day, our lives should be full of us offering our praise to you! You created everything. The sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, and the trees. You made a spread of creatures and a diverse group of image-bearers that reflect Your glory! You gave us the law by which to live a perfect life, and when we failed to live up to it because of our sins, you sent Your Son to live it in our places on our behalf. In an upside-down deal, you exchange Your righteousness for our transgressions, Lord. So that we could inherit eternal life with you forever in Paradise. Lord, what else could we ask for? Oh, but how we do ask for more? Sadly, we are easily discontented and distracted by the pleasures of this life.

Lord, forgive us when we fixate more on what we don’t have and forget to thank You and praise You for all that You have given to us in addition to eternal life. Lord, You didn’t have to; you didn’t have to make food taste sweet or clothe flowers with your brilliant color palette. You didn’t have to give us satisfying friendships and relationships on Earth. You didn’t have to paint beautiful sunrises and sunsets each day for us. But you did, and you continue to do things that prompt us to praise You!

Lord, You didn’t have to create us to enjoy it when we offer You praise, but in Your goodness, you made praise beneficial to us by increasing our joy! Thank You, Lord. I ask that You would help each of us to practice of habit stacking our praises to You with something we regularly do so that our praise would increase, Jesus. In Your son Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.