Why Worship And Prayer Is Important
What is Worship and Prayer?
I would like to begin by giving a brief definition of both prayer and worship from my personal observations of scripture:
Prayer seems to be an act by which man can communicate with God. Prayer is seen in scripture to be communal, conversational, and inquiring. Worship seems to be a responsive act to who God is, and what He has done. It is the simple response of awe, delight, and admiring the greatness of God. Worship and prayer are similar in that they help us facilitate our relationship with God; they are not religious duties but rather as Stephen Venable says “they are highly relational.”
Now, this relational concept to our faith seems to be one of the main reasons for our human existence and salvation. We were designed for the significant purpose of having relationship and fellowship with God. I believe this is what it means to be made in the image of God, according to Genesis 1:26-27 and Colossians 3:10; we were made and redeemed to reflect His likeness and so be able to relate to Him, just as He is and just as we are. Thus worship and prayer are gifts. They are not duties but rather are vehicles to help us draw closer to God.
Worship and Prayer Give Us a Different Perspective
The Spanish Theologian Luis de Molina (1553-1600), once described prayer as “an ascent or elevation of the mind to God.” (I believe this description is also true of worship.) When we come into worship or prayer, we are taking our focus off ourselves and putting it on God. I have found this to be incredibly helpful in my personal life! When I focus on my circumstances, they can often seem like giants in my eyes, but when I turn my focus to God and bring my burdens to Him, I am reminded of how small my difficulties are in light of His greatness. You see, when we allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by His majesty, our overwhelming circumstantial hardships lose their grip on our hearts, because we are reminded of His power to calm the storms in our life. If you are reading this article and are feeling weighed down or crushed because of the heaviness of this present season of your life, I implore you to turn your attention off your situation and set it on Jesus. Take sometime today to settle your heart and talk to God about the situations of your life, or turn on a worship song and sing of God’s goodness.
Prayer Renews Our Mind and Will
When we, in the words of Molina, “ascend or elevate” our thoughts to God in prayer, we are exposing our minds to the very mind of Christ. According to First Corinthians 2:16, we have been given “the mind of Christ.” I have noticed in my life, that when I bring my requests and burdens to God, my legitimate appeals are often mixed with my own selfish gain (which God so often overlooks in His mercies). Yet the more I “elevate” my thoughts to God in prayer, they are slowly conformed to the will of Christ. More often than not, I find that God delays the answers to my prayers because he is more concerned about renewing my mind to make me more like Jesus than just making my life more secure and easy.
A profound promise of Jesus is found in John 14:13-14 “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” Later on in his epistle John further clarifies what it means to ask in his name, by saying that our requests must align with His will (1John 5:14). Friends, the good news today is that God answers every prayer in His will and the key phrase is “in His will.” God simply will not do something that is outside of His will. In the past I have prayed prayers believing them to be in the centre of God’s will and yet they went unanswered. After reflecting on those prayers later on in life with more mature discernment and wisdom, I can clearly see how those prayers were outside of His will, and am I ever grateful He did not answer them. I’m sure many of you can relate. Yet I believe God is never mad or angry with us with bringing our requests to Him that our outside of His will. Rather He is pleased and sees an opportunity to work His will into our will. I bring this to our attention because quite possibly some of you reading this are frustrated with God’s delay to answering your prayers. Maybe it is because God is doing a work of purifying your heart and will to be more like His.
It is my prayer for you today, that you would be encouraged to draw closer to God in your personal life through prayer and worship. If this is something you wish to pursue more in your life, but aren't sure how to, I would like to invite you out to House of Prayer Edmonton. It is a great place to learn how to draw closer to God in prayer and worship.
Please visit our website to find our current hours for our daily prayer meetings. We would love to have you join us!
(Photo by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash)
