“I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.” (Psalm 18.1-3)
David opens this beauty with one proclamation after the other of God’s awesomeness. In 3 verses David proclaims his love for the LORD and proceeds to repeatedly exalt Him. Consider your conversations with the LORD- how often do you tell your God of His value to you? How often does the God of Salvation hear your gratitude? I shamefully admit that He does not hear this enough from me.
I was fortunate enough to spend several days with my Mommy and my Granola this past week. One phrase that needed to be said, out loud and often, was “I love you”. Why? They know I love them. I know they love me. Had we not expressed this reminder of our affection toward each other we would still know it to be true. So why say it? Because, as humans, we crave it! Our Heavenly Father also desires to hear us proclaim our love for Him. Say it out loud. Tell God you love Him and show Him!
When my boys were younger, I would challenge them to pray prayers of “thanks only”. I was recently reminded of this and challenged to do this more. Can you pray a prayer of thanks only? No requests, no petitions, no needs- Just count your blessings, naming them one by one, telling the LORD thank you, for all that He has done. Try it!
I am not saying we should never request things from our God; far from it. What I am saying is that we can allow our prayers to fall into a rut, forgetting to open our hearts when we lift our hands. We should not only petition God for our needs, as well as interceding on behalf of the souls of others, but also praise Him!
Read the Psalm at your next earliest convenience. One pervading theme matches the reasons for the opening praises: Salvation. Our salvation is through Jesus. Verse 46 says, “The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation”. We are blessed in so many ways, the first, and most important of which is that our God has saved our souls.