Prayer and Worship

Prayer is the breath of discipleship; God’s Word is our food. Congregational worship that is weak these areas will be anemic in others as well. How can our times of prayer in worship become more effective? One way is to pray Scripture. An simple way to start is to start with the prayers of Paul in the New Testament. Take for example, Paul’s prayer for the church at Colossae [1:9-12]:
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.” [NIV]

Paraphrase into your own words as a prayer to the Father:

We have not stopped praying for ____ and asking You, God to:
fill ___ with the knowledge of Your will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
in order that ___ may live a life worthy of You, Lord
and may please You in every way:
bearing fruit in every good work
growing in the knowledge of You
being strengthened with all power according to Your glorious might
so that ___ may have great endurance and patience
and joyfully giving thanks to You, Father, who has qualified ___ to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

Another prayer of Paul’s is found in Philippians 1:9-11:
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Praying this passage would look something like this:

    And this is my prayer: that ________ love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that _______ may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Praying Scripture not only deepens our prayer life, but puts the Word of God in our hearts and minds.

Look at the prayer of Jesus in John 17: 15-26:
My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

 My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.

This is a great chapter to memorize, but let’s pull out what Jesus was praying:
    1. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
    2. Sanctify them by the truth
    3. that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
    4. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory

Pray this as well. We know that this is God’s will, since it came from the lips of our Lord, himself. Protection from Satan’s deceptions, oneness in Him, and unity among each other are powerful requests. Paul’s prayers center around the development of God’s nature and character in our lives to accomplish what God has called and commanded us to do. Strengthening our prayer life will also strengthen our worship.