PrayerWorship

PRAYER/WORSHIP

Written and/or Republished by Johanna Stang Hobrath, August 2011

I believe many Christians, while journeying from earth to heaven, desire to have close communication with the God of Heaven. How may such a communication be achieved? While typing onto this web page, I am reminded of that beautiful Scripture Verse that tells us: "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." II Corinthians 5:1

However, the question remains: "How may you and/or I achieve communication with a Holy God while journeying from earth to Heaven?"

Recently (August 2011) I was privileged to read a great article that speaks about worship that motivates prayer. Please take time to read the following article that is being republished via this web page:

The following article is being republished via permission from:

~ THE PRESIDENTIAL PRAYER TEAM ~

http://www.presidentialprayerteam.com/

Worship defined – and how it motivates prayer

First of a 2-part teaching series

by Travis Koop

A few weeks ago I was walking out of a church service with a friend of mine when he exclaimed, “Wasn’t the worship amazing!”

That simple phrase drudged up within me a thought that has had me in its grasp for years. American church culture has been using this term “worship” for years, but has it been used correctly? If not, such misuse can cause it to become cliché and ultimately meaningless. In an attempt to have him unpack his understanding, I baited him, “What is worship?”

The awkward silence that followed betrayed in him a troubling condition that plagues many Christians in America today.

What is worship?

In Hebrews, the term “worshipers” is used to describe those who sacrificed in the tabernacle. In the first few chapters of Leviticus, it becomes quickly evident that the process of the sacrificial system was time consuming, emotionally taxing and financially costly. Furthermore, the act of worship was tremendously gruesome as the head of the household had to carry out the task of slaughtering the sacrifice in the tabernacle. The worship of God was exceptionally demanding of the worshiper.

With the sacrificial system of atonement fulfilled through Christ, Paul, in Romans 12:1, introduces the new system of worship: “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

This idea of a “living sacrifice” is such an all-inclusive concept that touches every facet of your life – be it work, church, time with family and friends, or when alone with God in prayer. Everything that you are, from the clothes you wear, the movies you watch, the things you do and say, and even the speed you drive when late to work, must be done in submission to the Lord and to His glory.

John Piper, in his book Let the Nations be Glad, writes, “Worship is not a gathering. It is not essentially a song service or sitting under preaching. Worship is not essentially any form of outward act. Worship is essentially an inner stirring of the heart to treasure God above all the treasures of the world”

Prayer, motivated by worship

Because you are human and fallible, loving the Lord more than yourself is hard and counterintuitive. But praise God that you do not worship for worship’s sake, but worship a living and active God who is intimately concerned with every detail of your life. He has also given you direct access into His presence through His Son, so that you may appeal to Him concerning the things that you have difficultly laying at his feet.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus found His coming act of worship a burden greater than His humanity could bear. He pleaded with God, crying out, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me.” (Mark 14:36) His worship, to the point of the cross, meant more than His physical death. It meant that He would be the full and complete receiver of the wrath and judgment of God towards sin. The Father and Son had never been separated throughout all of eternity, yet under the weight of this act of worship, Christ would later proclaim, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34)

Yet with full knowledge of what His worship meant, Jesus concluded His prayer to His Father with words that shook Hell itself: “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36) Because the cost of submission and worship was so great, Jesus sought comfort in intimacy with God through continued prayer. Luke 22:44 says, “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly.”

When the worship becomes greater than you feel like you can bear, cry out like Christ. Pray more determinedly than you did before. In your agony, the Lord will be your comfort and your help, intimately caring for you. In this, the will of the worshiper is conformed to the will of He who is worthy of all worship…and the true definition and impact of worship becomes crystal clear.

* Pray that God will reveal areas in your life where you still need to be a living sacrifice to Him.
* Pray that in laying these difficult things at His feet, His comfort will be evident to you and that you will find it sufficient.
*Pray also that, though you have your wants and desires, that God’s will be accomplished over all.

Travis Koop is a technical engineer with the Presidential Prayer Team and contributing writer to the Prayer 101 series. Born to missionary parents and raised in a ministry-minded home, Travis has completed his B.A. in Communications from Moody Bible Institute.

The above article may be accessed via http://www.presidentialprayerteam.com/prayer101

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