Prayer and Worship
- the Relationship
There must be an inner devotion on our part toward both prayer and worship. Both are matters of the heart. Our worship to God should be an outflow of what is already seeded in our hearts. That is when worship becomes a lifestyle, as opposed to just a religious ritual performed only on Sunday morning. It is so much easier to talk to God in prayer when we have made prayer a habit in our Christian experience. After the Upper Room experience at Pentecost they devoted themselves to prayer, as well as fellowship and teaching.
Another parallel we can draw between prayer and worship is our total submission to Christ's Lordship. When we go to God in times of need, we must come with the attitude that God owns everything. There is nothing we could ever ask God for that He does not already have. The silver and gold is His (Haggai 2:8). He owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10). Psalm 24:1 tells us the earth is His, and all it contains. But the good news for those adopted into the family of God is that, because of the blood of Jesus, we are partakers of His very nature. What is His by right, is ours by adoption, and we have the privilege of receiving from Him when we ask in faith. The best move we can make when we need something from God is to begin to worship Him. To worship God in times of need says to Him, "I love You, You are still God, and I trust You. I have full faith and trust in Your sovereignty and Lordship in my situation." As we worship God in prayer it takes the focus off the need at hand, o that our focus shifts to God's power to meet the need.
One often-neglected aspect of prayer and worship is repentance. There are many instances in scripture where God invites us to tell Him what is on our hearts. But sometimes we are so concerned about telling God about our problem that we forget to repent. As Jesus teaches His disciples to pray, He admonishes them to seek forgiveness from God, and to practice forgiveness themselves. As David prays in Psalm 51 he acknowledges in verses 2-4 that he knows what he has done, and he doesn't blame anyone for it. He admits his sin before God. David was fully aware that he could not approach a holy God just any kind of way.
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Used by churches all over the world to help teach worship, the Experiencing Worship study can help your worship team too.
Your team will learn why we worship and gain a better understanding of how to worship.
One user said..."Your 5 week study course has made a tremendous impact on my life in the study of worship... I would like to express my thanks for a well written study course that leads into a higher realm of praise and worship."
This is the debut album by EXW friend Paul Langford. Paul is a Chicago based singer, arranger, keyboardist, producer and conductor. Paul has a career that spans 14 years. Paul's work includes arranging for groups like GLAD, Voices of Liberty, VoiceTrek, The Chicago based "Caroling Party" and Day of Discovery Singers. His arranging has appeared on recordings side by side with greats like Gene Puerling and David Maddux, and he has sung with Don Shelton, Bonnie Herman and Bob Bowker, among others.