Adoration in Prayer

Enter… into his courts with praise (Psalm 100:4)

There are four aspects to devotional prayer. Someone created an acrostic that is very helpful in remembering all four aspects: A.C.T.S. “A” stands for “adoration”; “C” stands for “confession”; “T” stands for “thanksgiving,” and “S” stands for “supplication.”

One always approaches a king with adoration. Adoration is praising God, raving about His character, qualities, His mighty works of creation and redemption. Effective devotional prayer starts with praise. In adoration the believer realizes the presence of God. Some would crassly say “it is to usher in the presence of God.” In some sense that is true, if we mean it ushers the presence of God in to our mind; that is, it brings us into a greater awareness of His presence. One verse that helps our understanding of the function of adoration in prayer says, “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” (Psalm 22:3) This means when God’s adoration is in one’s mouth and mind, God’s presence is in our mind and heart.

I was talking to a fellow who was boasting about the “King in You”, which are the words and sentiments of a popular song today. The idea is because we are “royalty” of a sort we should have high self-esteem. It’s good for selling records, but hardly conveys any biblical truth. I went on to tell the young man, I’m not concerned about the king in me (if in fact there is any such thing at all), but about living in the presence of THE KING. That is what adoration is all about; we come into his presence through an awareness of Him fostered by praise. It is impossible to be in the conscious, realized presence of God and think highly of one’s self. Peter, who at first was filled with self, after having fished unsuccessfully, expressed to Jesus his objection the command to cast his net again. Yet Peter heeding Jesus’ instruction and drawing in a tremendous catch, realized he was in the presence of God thus “He fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8). One can only think highly of self, because the king is not present.

We know that God is omnipresent as it were and we constantly dwell in His domain; however, in adoration God comes to dwell in your domain (i.e. your mind and heart). It is like living in a kingdom and having the king himself to come to your house. Adoring God is the first and most prime aspect of prayer, for it engages the mind and heart of the believer and brings about an awareness of who God is and who you are, His perfections and your short-comings, His power and your own weaknesses, his divine sufficiency and our human dependency. This is where prayer must start. Prayer is a place of great humility; after all, we are in the presence of our King and humility starts with adoration. One elder of my youth use to say in the opening of his prayer, “Father we come as an empty pitcher before a full fountain.” I often say to my congregation, the most important part of praying is to realize He is God and you are not! That happens in adoration.