A God Centered Prayer

And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: "O Lord, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made Heaven and earth. Give ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God. It is true, O Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by mens hands. Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God."

2 Kings 19:15-19

This prayer that Hezekiah prayed didn't start out by telling God his needs, but started by lifting God up, worshiping Him and just giving Him all the glory. Yes, he ask God for a favor, but the focal point of the pray was on God. This my friends is a God centered prayer. Think about how we start our prayers today, most of the time it starts out like this "Lord I need this, this, and this and I pray for this person and if you can answer these prayers, then I promise I'll read my Bible tonight" This is not a God centered prayer, we have got to start our prayers by lifting up and praising God Almighty who is such a Holy God. I mean think about it, He is The Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and the End, The Creator of all things. I believe He deserves to be #1 in our prayers and not our needs. Now I have had trouble with this for a long time now and God just opened my eyes about a month ago that I was praying just for my needs and for my own life, as well as others lives. It is good to pray for others and ask for good things such as wisdom and knowledge, but when it gets in the way of giving God His praise and His glory then it becomes, in a way, wrong. God should be our focal point in our prayers, Bible reading, and life. A wise man once said that "we are most satisfied in Christ when Christ is most glorified in us." which means the higher God is lifted up and the more He's glorified the more we gain from Him. It's hard to understand, but it's the truth. We have got to put God first in not just our prayers, but in everything we do. He has to be the center of our lives and if we put Him first in everything then we gain everything there is worth to be gained and that is Christ Himself.

To God be the Glory!