In this episode of Chai Beauty, I reflect on Session Four of the When You Pray Bible study, focusing on the prayer of admiration. I share how this practice shifted my perspective from constantly petitioning God to simply honoring Him for who He is—provisional, personal, a giver, and good. Through scripture like Psalm 139 and Philippians 4, I unpack what it means to confess not just what God has done, but who He is at His core. From worshipping in sorrow to recognizing the Holy Spirit’s quiet guidance, I talk about the ways admiration builds endurance, deepens intimacy, and helps us use the tools God has already given us. 💬 Question for You: When was the last time your prayer wasn’t about asking God for something, but just admiring Him for who He is?
In this episode of Chai Beauty, I reflect on how the When You Pray Bible study reshaped the way I approach prayer. Instead of only petitioning God for what I need, I’ve learned the importance of admiration—confessing who God is: provisional, personal, a giver, and good. Through scriptures like Psalm 139 and Philippians 4, I share how worship, gratitude, and reverence have deepened my prayer life and helped me see God’s goodness even in sorrow.
We’ll explore:
The difference between petition, thanksgiving, and admiration in prayer
The four truths about who God is
Why worship and reverence matter in building faith
How the Holy Spirit quietly guides us with truth
Learning to see problems as bumps, not endings
Using the spiritual tools God has already given us
💬 Question for You:
When was the last time you prayed without asking for anything—just to admire God for who He is?
Hi, I'm so happy you're here. Welcome to Chai Beauty, where I get to share my thoughts, my dreams, my aspirations, my visions for the future. And guess what? You get to be along for this journey because we are in this together.
When it came to Prayer of Admiration, that was the one that took me a minute to understand and really get a good concept of. I really like to say that I was a great prayer person before this book, but I wasn't. Um, I think. As I learned, prayer of admiration helped me really take a moment to say, why are you always petitioning God when you know the four truths of him?
Like the four truths are that he is a provisional person, he is a giver, he is personable, and he is good. And to know those things means that you don't always have to go on his behalf to, in a sense and say, Hey, this is what I've done. This is what I think I'm going to do. This is how I'm going to get there.
And come up with like 59 plans and be like, oh yeah, by the way, thanks. He is different. He is. He is a good God. So I like to say that in this season, um, one of the things that it took me to was Psalms 1 39 and like the worship part, the revering part, the honoring part. And so if he is my Lord and Savior, he is my Lord.
He is the person that I. I'm choosing to believe in and that I know that he died on the cross, then let me act like it because Thanksgiving is a confession for like what has God has done. Supplication is confessing our need to God and admiration is confessing who God is. And so if I know that he's a good God, then let me praise him.
Let me admit to him. Admit to him that I see the work that you have done. I see the pieces connecting, even if I'm so limited in my understanding. And so when I pray now after reading this section, I now change my prayers. So I always start with just giving gratitude to like number one, I'm able to wake up today, talk to you and understand that.
You said, I get another chance at life. You say that it is a privilege and an honor to get older because you allowed me to get older. You are a deep comforter and in this season of life, like I am sometimes very sad. I have very much have a lot of sorrow, but you're with me in my sorrow. And I take a moment to even say that you have that peace with sorrows.
So if I'm at peace with sorrows, means I'm gonna actually lean in more into you. And what does peace and sorrow means, and how does it help you lean more into him? It's simple. It's reading the Bible, but finding something that speaks to you. And so for me, it's actually been all over the place. When I find messages that speaks to me.
Number one, like in this season, I'm in Isaiah, but I feel like Ian. And I have the heartache and the pain of Joel, and I don't think I will ever be Joel, but I'm definitely Joel adjacent in the situations that I've been put in. Then I am learning about leadership, but not leadership in like the cultural way, but leadership in like the God way and understanding that leadership in the God way is uh, to be a shepherd and understanding what it is to be a shepherd and for me.
Reading the verse that talks about what is a good shepherd. I have a love of money. What do you have a love of?
As I continue to ask you guys, what do you have a love of and what does it mean to be a good leader and what does it mean to worship God? I take a second back and think about what they ask of us. If I'm am supposed to be admiral of a God and worship him and confessed to him, then I need to say like, who is he?
And so I'm grateful for the book because it gives me names. A co-op to Jesus. Like I think this season, the I'm with Hannah, with that sorrow of Lord of hosts, like, I need you to be the warrior for me. I need that when I am in my deepest moments and I like to do a sleep the day away, um, I put on the armor of praise.
If you are, if all things is in your good and you have these promises, but you also say, I have a wrath. I have anger, like you don't do what I'm supposed to. I, I love you so much that I'm gonna punch you. So Lord, like help me listen to the Holy Spirit. Like, 'cause you gave him to me. So thank you for just giving the Holy Spirit to me.
Thank you that the Holy Spirit is so kind that he doesn't even give his own opinions. Like he only talks when the Lord speaks. He only does things when the Lord commands him to. And so that gives me strength. If he is a good God, he has grace and mercy. He only gives us the truth. Thank you for being so truthful to me that even in my blindness, you still say, sweetie, I think you should turn around and I think you should look at the big picture and maybe this is the time to be still and know that I am with you.
Maybe it is a time to know that I am a teacher of all things. Maybe it is a time to know that when you are in trials and tribulations, did you not know that that's when I build your faith and give you endurance? Or maybe there's a time when you are prudent and you feel like Joe, and you feel like, why have you created me to destroy me?
But am I not the good? Am I not so good that I'm doing all these things just to ensure that you're ready for what I'm about to put you in next.
And then he is like, and then all this anxiousness, this depression, and the psychotic panic attacks and everything that's going on. Did I not tell you the Philippians? Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you have needed and thank him for all the things you've done.
Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we understand. His peace is is will. His peace will guard your heart. In minds as you live in Christ. So if we do that, and if we set a pattern of we have a problem, we know the pattern of it, we know the petition and we know the praise. Is he not the Lord of hosts?
Is he not the person that will give us joy in the midst of sorrows? Is he not so sovereign and powerful? And so with admiration, I have to remember that yes, my problems are big to me. But to him, he's like, this is just a, this is honestly like a car. It's just a bump. Now how long this bump is gonna take, I don't know how many bucks there are.
I don't know. But he does, he's, he's actually just looking and saying, okay, here she goes, like, this is how we're going to help her. Um, and then that's a big deal in itself if he's always there listening, always watching, always teaching. Every teacher wants you to be successful. Every teacher wants you to love what you learn.
Every teacher wants to share their passion with you, and so in that season of sharing the passion, sharing the learning. He's gonna give us the tools and resources to be successful. And his first tools and resources, it's just a book, the good book that say like, Hey, you will find everything you need, the tools, the revelations, and the book, but you just have to take the time to utilize it.
And I think about where my background in HR comes in. And entrepreneurship and project management and how we always create systems and tools to help others, but they're no good if we don't even try to use them. And I think as I not, I think I know as I get more in tune with how. How to use the tools because if I'm honest, the way you pray was a great opener to being like child.
You know of the tools, but you're never using them. It's like your first day of orientation and they give you the pamphlet, they give you the key card, they give you your lunch thing. Like of course you're gonna use the key card 'cause you need to get in your door. Of course you're gonna use the lunch bin 'cause you're hungry.
Put that brochure up. It's in the back of the drawer. Okay. It's where the first day was. It's, it's honestly might have even thrown it away. And throughout the year, somebody has given you a second and every time you get it, you throw it away. And I felt like with the Good book, as I, uh, guide to know him, like in my teens, it was like, cool, I went to church and I felt like that was enough.
Um. And then I'll occasionally throughout the year, like look at the, read the Bible like once maybe. Then in my twenties I kind of got more, more opportunities to read the Good book because I would just sit with the book and it would just occasionally just pop up. I got, I love the Bible verse app, so like I start downloading those.
So then I got exposed to it. I got like, um, frequency of looking at a verse a day because. Uh, it talks, um, I learned, uh, somewhere that when you're a child, you need more frequency than in depth knowledge of God. And so I felt like for a season I knew that I liked scripture, and so I added the Bible verse to my phone and I got a Bible verse today so that I can have more frequency.
So I know every time I wake up, I'm gonna see a Bible verse. Um, and then I, then I chose because sometimes you can stay in that infant and where you just want frequency of scripture, but you don't want depth of, of the Bible. So I would say 2024 maybe 2023, I started getting more in depth. 'cause life pauses for me.
And you have absolute, you can stay where you are or you can. Go and move forward. And so I chose to go and move forward. So I started to spending out, I had an opportunity to spend like hours with God, um, to prepare me for what's next. Still not there. So I don't know what's next for me. I also feel like life is always a transition.
It's like an onion, like you just pull one layer back and you're gonna do another layer. And so prayer of admiration helped me realize that as I pull back the onion, I need to be grateful for that first onion pill. I need to say thank you, God. I love you, God. I appreciate you, God. You are a God of all things, and thank you for just allowing me to be here today.
Thank you. Thank you for all the support. I see it and I am growing mighty, and I have some news. I have done a lot of projects. Since I've been gone, I would like you to visit my website, subscribe to my Spotify, and go to my Patreon account. It's Chai OnCore Beauty, just like this podcast so you can get all the latest updates.
I can't wait to see you there because we are in this together, my friend. I look forward to seeing.