What is adoration? What does it mean to adore something, or someone? Who (or what) do we give homage and revere above anything else? Why do we even need to adore God, to recognize who he is, and praise that knowledge?
Without adoration of God, we are in effect redefining who God is, by refusing to speak of his character, his abilities, and the essential part he plays in our life. Below are a few scriptures that begin to tease out what it means to adore God, his son and his spirit, and why they are the only ones worth giving homage and singing hallelujah about.
Below are two adoration prayers.
Sanctus Prayer
Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts.
The heavens and earth are filled with your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
The Gloria Prayer
Glory to God in the highest. And on earth peace to men of good will. We praise You. We bless You. We adore you. We glorify You. We give You thanks for Your great glory. O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father almighty. O Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son. O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father: you Who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. You Who take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. You Who sit at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us. For you alone are holy. You alone are the Lord. You alone, O Jesus Christ, are most high. Together with the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
