The Prayer of Praise

     You've probably heard the saying (sighing) 'Oh well, praise God anyway' or something to that effect. It seems to be saying 'oh well, it's inevitable, what will happen will happen.' A rather fatalistic attitude.
     Well, the truth is that we are to praise God in everything.  Good, bad, ugly and beautiful...everything.
In Isaiah 37:14 we see Hezekiah come before the Lord with a letter that spoke death to him and his people. 
"He received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.  And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: "Lord Almighty, the 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, Lord and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.
"It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples 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 human hands.  Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are the only God."
     Here he is in a rather precarious position and he chooses to look at God. To see His as He really is and to trust God to be Who He really is and protect them and by doing so all the world will see first hand that He is the one true God.
As Hezekiah praises God he is reminding himself Who God is and where the real balance of power resides. 

     So when we are faced with a "challenging situation of circumstances", we are to praise God.  Standing bold faced and brag on who He is!  
     And when we do this we aren't praising God for sin or sickness or the devil; no, we praise God for Who He is in spite of all circumstances that surround us.
We ask in our praises...we're not asking or using God just to get an answer. Our prayer is honoring God for Who He is. We praise Him for what He has accomplished at the cross; dealing with sin, sickness and the devil.
We are saying I know that this situation doesn't reflect You so I'm asking You to change it!
We are "asking" out of praise.
Our prayers are giving praise to God for Who He is.  And stating this truth to all the world, "so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You, Lord, are the only God."!