Papa's Prayers

I really appreciate my grandpa's prayers.  I don't mean the prayers he prays for me, though I'm sure he does that, but I mean that I love listening to him pray.  I don't remember if he's always prayed this way but the way he prays is so good and so uplifting to me.

"We thank you and praise you for who you are."

This is one of the phrases that my grandpa, my Papa, uses a lot in his prayers.  This phrase is so good.  He often uses this phrase and then recounts attributes of God.  I'm not sure it's his intent to teach as he prays but I think he does and I hope people listen.  One of Papa's main source of praises is who God is.

Who God is must always be a bedrock of our praise and of our faith and therefore of our prayers.

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of His glory."  Isaiah 6:3b

The prophet Isaiah tells us that in God's throne room are seraphim (angels) with six wings that praise God with the words above. 

And John says:

"Day and night they never stop saying:

Holy, holy holy
is the Lord God Almighty,
who was, and is, and is to come."  Revelation 4:8b

"You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being."  Revelation 4:11

In Heaven right now there is praise for God simply because of who He is.  Why should our prayers be any different?  Papa prays like this and it is a proclamation of the One trusts.

My grandpa also often recounts the salvation story in his prayers.  The last time we were with him and he prayed I listened closely as he spoke of Jesus' death and resurrection for us.  My grandpa praises God for what He has done on the cross.  In your prayer life rehearse the Gospel story because it will enrich your prayer time.

My grandpa's prayers have been a teaching tool to me and I know they have been a source of teaching to him as well.  Prayer is a way in which we preach to our own soul.  Recounting the Gospel story and declaring the good attributes of God (and all of them are good) grows our soul's muscles to trust in times of testing.

My grandma died at a younger age than I ever expected her to die.  Her funeral was a sad time for the family, to say the least.  I will never forget being at her visitation and standing next to her body with my wife and Papa.  There we were looking at her cold, lifeless body knowing it was empty of her soul for now.  The gravity of the knowledge of death that touching your loved one's body brings is heavy. 

As the three of us stood next to her body my grandpa turned our way and said with tears in his eyes, "He answered my prayers.  He healed her."

Yes, Jesus healed my grandma.  There is no more pain or suffering or shortness of breath in her today nor will there ever be.  Jesus healed my grandma even though it's not exactly the way I would have wanted or my grandpa wanted. 

In that sadness I was deeply encouraged by my grandpa's faith.  And I'm sure that time spent talking with his Savior and recounting His goodness and His attributes strengthened his faith to be able to rise to the occasion, even if that circumstance was the loss of his dear wife.

Do you recount the attributes of God in your prayers?  Do you rehearse the Gospel story in your prayers?  If not, I ask you to take the example of my grandpa to heart and put it into practice because it will bless you in the good times and in the times when we're led into the valley of the shadow of death.

Try praying like my grandpa today.