We continue today sharing devotionals from the book Let’s Pray: Talking to God with the Words of the Bible, by Dr. James Banks, who serves as a pastor at Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina and is a regular writer for Our Daily Bread.

In this short book, we are reminded that the prayers of the Bible are an amazing gift from God and they have so much to teach us. They help us understand how our Bible heroes like Jesus, Job, Mary, Moses, David, Samuel, and many others talked with God. These prayers can also help us talk to God. Just as Jesus used several of David’s prayers in his final moments on the cross in Matthew 27, we can find the prayers of scripture.

This is what Alex and Stephen Kendrick talk about in their book The Battle Plan for Prayer in the chapter called ‘Praying the Word.’ In the prayers of scripture, we find words that can help carry our thoughts and emotions to God. When we use the prayers from God’s word, humbly and with expectation, to encourage us in our own prayers, we can open our hearts and lives to deeper faith, renewed strength, blessings and God’s power. God invites us closer to him through the prayers of the Bible.

Today we’re going to share a couple more prayers to praise and honor God.

This is what Dr. Banks writes: true praise is praise with an active faith that is greater than just emotion. It is a daring thing. It challenges us to reach for something beyond ourselves, giving ourselves up to God.

Our first prayer today from the word comes from Psalm 104, where we are reminded that he created EVERYTHING:

Praise the Lord, my soul.Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with splendor and majesty.
2 The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent
3     and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind.
4 He makes winds his messengers,[a]
flames of fire his servants.

5 He set the earth on its foundations;
it can never be moved.
6 You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 But at your rebuke the waters fled,
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
8 they flowed over the mountains,
they went down into the valleys,
to the place you assigned for them.
9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;
never again will they cover the earth.

10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.
13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
14 He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:
15 wine that gladdens human hearts,
oil to make their faces shine,

19 He made the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows when to go down.
20 You bring darkness, it becomes night,
and all the beasts of the forest prowl.

24 How many are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.

The next prayer is: NO ONE CAN MEASURE YOUR GREATNESS from Psalm 145:

 1 I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you,
and praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation shall laud your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
6 The might of your awesome deeds shall be proclaimed,
and I will declare your greatness.
7 They shall celebrate the fame of your abundant goodness,
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

Thanks for listening!
– Joe and Todd