Give God Your Undivided Attention

Below is an article found and shared by our Prayer Team.

For those who have come by faith, Christ—through His death and resurrection—has taken us by the hand and walked us into the Throne Room. God is on one side, we are on the other, and Jesus has introduced us to the Father. We once were at war with the One on the throne, but now we have “peace facing God!” What a glorious privilege! What an unspeakable honor!

Pause as you enter and look around. As you gaze throughout the Throne Room you will see Christ seated at the right hand of the Father and you will notice that He “always lives to make intercession” for His children. Angels hover around the throne. Praise is unending. Let the wonder of this environment overwhelm you. Your heart will begin to be filled with worship.

As you have entered, begin to pray. Filled with this vision, you will probably not rattle off meaningless rituals. You are going to “close the door and pray TO YOUR FATHER.” There is a singular direction. You are not praying to others. Your whole vision is filled with the Almighty. You are directing your prayers to the One who is seated upon the Throne!

Rosalind Rinker said, “I have discovered that prayer’s real purpose is to put God at the center of our attention and forget ourselves and the impression we are making.” This posture changes everything for us in prayer. We are looking at Him, and Him alone. Everything else pales in comparison to this vision.

If we will enter in like this, giving God our undivided attention, the greatest reward will be God Himself.
 
Father, my heart is filled with worship as I consider what Your throne room must be like in reality. I don’t have to wait until the end of my life to experience some of what Your word says is truly taking place right now in heaven. Help me to focus on the lovely description of the place where I will spend all of eternity! I can’t even comprehend the beauty of it! For the rest of my life, my deepest desire is to be in Your presence!

---Adapted from Simply Prayer by Bill Elliff. This book is available at prayershop.org.

Prayer Points

  • Praise God, who is perfect in beauty and holiness (Ps. 50:2).

  • Thank him for making everything beautiful in its time (Eccl. 3:11), including your own life.

  • Confess those times during this past week when your words or actions did not reflect to others the beauty of Christ.

  • Commit yourself to being transformed into his likeness (2 Cor. 3:18).

  • Ask God daily to change the ugliness of sin in your life to his loveliness.

  • Pray that the spirit of worship may fall upon all who enter your church’s sanctuary on Sunday, that they may desire “to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple” (Ps. 27:4).

Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend. This book is available at prayershop.org.