This quote became the basis for a post in September 2017 titled Expect Great Things. At the time Murray’s words were speaking new encouragement into my prayer life. I copied the quote on a 3 x 5 and have kept it in my prayer box ever since.
Now four years later, I must confess my worship of God in his glory has become a bit stale. I find myself using the same words to repeat such attributes as: his wisdom to solve problems, his goodness to provide blessing, and his power to generate miracles. My loving Father deserves so much more than rote repetition.
Then a new idea occurred to me, likely inspired by the Spirit himself. What if I devoted each day of the week to a different aspect of God’s glory? And what if I prepared a separate page in my quiet time notebook for each attribute and began collecting appropriate scriptures, quotes, personal thoughts—different praise-starters for each day so my worship might remain fresh?
To that end, I chose the following attributes to focus on first:
- Sunday—God’s power and greatness
- Monday—God’s splendorous names
- Tuesday—God’s wisdom and counsel
- Wednesday—God’s love
- Thursday—God’s faithfulness
- Friday—God’s goodness
- Saturday—God’s grace and compassion
To keep this post of reasonable length, I’ll just include what I’ve collected so far for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.
Sunday—God’s power and greatness
- Scripture: “Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness (Psalm 150:2). What acts of God’s power and greatness have I witnessed or heard about recently?
- Quote: “When we are facing the impossible, we can count upon the God of the impossible” (Amy Carmichael). Praise him for several impossibilities miraculously rendered—perhaps a need met, a problem rectified, a healing provided.
- Prayer starter: I praise you, O God, for the magnificence of your power—to create everything in the universe out of nothing, to keep it all functioning smoothly, to be present everywhere at the same time, to bring good out of every situation for those who love you, to change lives for the better, . . .
Monday—God’s splendorous names and titles
Scripture: “Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore” (Psalm 113:2). Choose one or two to focus on each Monday.
- Quote: “One name by itself can’t fully represent God’s majesty and power”—Tony Evans.* See https://bible.org/seriespage/8-names-god for a list of names.
- Prayer starter for one name: I praise you Jehovah-Nissi, The Lord My Banner. You are my focal point of hope and encouragement for every situation. How comforting to know that all of your attributes are always at work on behalf of your people. I praise you for your marvelous promises of strength, provision, wisdom, and peace. . .
Tuesday—God’s wisdom and counsel
- Scripture: “I will bless the Lord who has counseled me” (Psalm 16:7a NIV). How has he counseled me recently as well as others?
- Quote: Praise God that his “infinite wisdom directs every event, brings order out of confusion, and light out of darkness, and, to those who love God, causes all things, whatever be their present aspect and apparent tendency, to work together for good”—J. L. Dagg. Such glorious truths to hold close at heart! What else might I add?
- Prayer Starter: I also praise you, O God, for the gift of scripture to guide us through life with your truth and wisdom. I praise you for your Holy Spirit who increases our understanding and enlightens our souls. You never turn away anyone who seeks your wisdom! . . .
And what will be the result of such worship that enthusiastically affirms God’s transcendence? Transformation—transformation of our prayers, transformation of our lives.
.
Nothing we do is more powerful
or more life-changing than praising God.
— Stormie Omartian
*from The Power of God’s Names
Image credits: http://www.canva.com; Nancy Ruegg; http://www.pxfuel.com; http://www.flickr.com; http://www.heartlight.org; http://www.pxfuel.com.
From the Inside Out 
Praise and worship is the foundation for the remainder of our prayers. I truly believe that.
Amen, Gary. Praise and worship is like vitamins for our faith!
wonderful idea and thanks so much for sharing your journey into God’s glory!!
A journey into God’s glory . . .I like the sound of that! It describes perfectly the Christian experience as we seek to know him more intimately. Thank you, Jean!
This is absolutely beautiful Nancy, loved looking at this daily attributes of God. Beautiful
Thank you, Brenda, and praise God for his inspiration! So glad this ministered to you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this blog. Some sad news: 2 women who were special to you are now at home with the Lord. Laura Chesnes about 10 days ago and Lisa Arline this past Monday. Love to you, Nancy.
Thank you so much, Diane, for letting me know, in case I hadn’t heard. I learned this news on FB from mutual colleagues; sad indeed. They both shone brightly with the Light of Jesus. May their lives and testimonies still bear fruit even though they’ve graduated to heaven.
I love the Andrew Murray quote. We shouldn’t barge in to God’s presence with our laundry list. Preparations are necessary before having an audience with the King of Kings.
I enjoy your blog for at least two reasons: your posts are short and you make one good point.
Blessings!
Thank you, David. Glad you found the Andrew Murray quote meaningful. I appreciate your observation about barging into God’s presence with a laundry list. Your imagery drives home the point that our holy God deserves supreme honor and respect as we approach him in prayer. P.S. I’ll try to keep my posts short and single-pointed!
Nancy,
It’s always good and healthy to get deeper in our quiet time. You are right that it’s easy to get too comfortable with our time with the Lord.
In Christ,
Oh yes. You’ve reminded me of what C. S. Lewis wrote in The Last Battle about going further up and further in. Our quiet times each day can do exactly that–when our heart is in the right place of humility, reverence, and teachability.
Thanks Nancy, I did not wait until Sunday but when I got back to the cabin which is rural, I decided to close my eyes for 20 minutes to acclimate to the darkness. (Night vison is better if you do that for 20 min… something helpful from the Army) Any way the firmament just got so bright with the stars. It was a clear night and so beautiful to think that in Christ all things are held together.(Col.1:17) One look at the sky and you could see the power of God who created all things. You mentioned getting stale but there are times when this happens. When I was reading a book by Watchman Nee, he talked about those times when God does not seem to be there. Google him…quite a man for God. Again, thanks for this note as it pushed me to check out the stars that he made and holds up.
You’re welcome, Sam. The power of God is on display all around us, isn’t it. Right now I’m sitting on our deck, watching a bee bumble (with his hap-hazard, not-in-a-straight-line flight) from flower to flower in the rail planter. Somewhere I read that, according to the laws of aerodynamics, they shouldn’t be able to fly. But of course they do! Such seemingly impossible tasks are nothing for our all-powerful God!
Nancy, I am especially moved by the quote ‘Praise God that his “infinite wisdom directs every event, brings order out of confusion, and light out of darkness, and, to those who love God, causes all things, whatever be their present aspect and apparent tendency, to work together for good”—J. L. Dagg.’ It is extremely powerful to realize that He is constantly working behind the scenes as I go about my life. I am positive that He has intervened when I was not even aware that trouble loomed. As an aside, I am especially comforted to know and trust that the Lord will prevail, even as I am witnessing the evil that currently has the upper hand in our country. We must pray for each other so as not to be swallowed up in discouragement.
I found that quote of J. L. Dagg to be especially meaningful too–the way he expanded on the truth of Romans 8:28. I agree: we’ll probably be very surprised when we get to heaven and realize how often God intervened for us. With you I praise God for his Word that gives us comfort and encouragement during these troubling days. Please know that I do pray for you often, dear Cheri!
Thanks so very much, Nancy, for praying for me. Blessings to you and Steve!
What a beautiful idea to keep prayers and praise fresh and meaningful! ♥️
Thank you, Bridget. I’m honored you stopped by, took the time to comment, and became a follower. I’ll be stopping by at your blog too! Always a pleasure to find kindred sisters of the Spirit!
What a powerful quote from Andrew Murray. I love your idea of devoting each day to a different aspect of God’s glory! This is a very powerful spiritual practice, Nancy. I’m sure you are going to be blessed through this.
So glad you also find the Murray quote especially meaningful. Yes, I am experiencing blessing by focusing on a different aspect of God’s glory each day! This morning it was God’s benefits (Psalm 103:2). ‘Could have spent all morning glorying in those!