Preached:

LR
Worship in Prayer
(Christianity 101: Lesson 8)

Introduction
1. Phillips Brooks once stated, “A prayer in its simplest definition is merely a
wish turned Godward.” Elton Trueblood said, “At the profoundest depths in
life, men talk not about God but with Him.”
2. Prayer is part of the communication line between man and God. God speaks
to us today through His Word (Hebrews 1:1-2), but He is still available to
listen to the thoughts of man as we pray to Him. He desires that we pray to
Him.
3. So, it comes as no surprise that, when we read of worship in the NT, we read
of the Christians praying to God.
4. Prayer in worship is a special time. It is time spent taking the thoughts—not
of the individual—but of the congregation before the throne of God.
a. Every congregation has a personality. Every congregation has needs,
struggles, triumphs, and sorrow.
b. Prayer in worship is a time to express those before the throne of God.
c. We have records of prayers even from the early church apart from the
Bible, which shows us the importance of these prayers. They were written
down for posterity. One example from the late first century comes from
Clement of Rome who prayed:
We beseech Thee, Master, to be our helper and protector,
Save the afflicted among us, have mercy on the lowly,
Raise up the fallen, appear to the needy, heal the ungodly,
Restore the wanderers of Thy people,
Feed the hungry, ransom the prisoners,
Raise up the sick, comfort the faint-hearted.
5. God’s people have always been praying people, but there is something very
special about the prayers that are offered before God in our worship of Him.
6. This morning, I want us study prayer in just two different ways.
a. First, we will look at worship in prayer,
b. Then we will look at prayer in worship.

Body
I. Worship in Prayer.
A. A couple of weeks ago, we took some time to study worship in a
general way. Without rehashing the entire sermon, let me just remind
you of the fact that all we do in worship is meant, first and foremost, to
glorify God. When we speak of “worship in prayer,” that’s what we are
talking about.
B. When a congregation prays, it is meant to glorify God.
 1. While it is true that we can take our petitions before God when we
worship, we should never fail to honor and thank God when we
pray.
2. We have so much for which to be thankful, and our God is so great
and awesome. We should pause to praise Him in our prayers.
C. I think it is worth our time to take a walk through the Bible to notice
how God’s followers have prayed to Him throughout history, and to
notice the time they spent showing Him adoration in their prayers.
1. In Genesis 24:12, Abraham’s servant began a prayer with these
words: “O Lord God of my master Abraham.”
2. Jacob expanded that beginning in Genesis 32:9 with, “O God of my
father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac.”
3. Moses, in Exodus 4:10, used the simple phrase, “O my Lord” as he
spoke with God.
4. In Exodus 15, we have the prayer song of the Israelites after the
crossing of the Red Sea. Just listen to a few of the phrases from
that prayer: “The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become
my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him anhabitation.”
“Who is like thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee,
glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?”
5. In Numbers 27:15-16, Moses addresses God in prayer as “the Lord,
the God of the spirits of all flesh.”
6. When the children of Israel prepare to enter the Promised Land, the
prayers begin to become lengthy dissertations rehearsing all the
great things God has done for them. For just one example, notice
Deuteronomy 26:5-15:
You shall answer and say before the LORD your God, 'My father
was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and
sojourned there, few in number; but there he became a great,
mighty and populous nation. And the Egyptians treated us
harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. 'Then we
cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard
our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our
oppression;and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty
hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with
signs and wonders; and He has brought us to this place and has
given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 'Now
behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground
which You, O LORD have given me.' And you shall set it down
before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your
God; and you and the Levite and the alien who is among you
shall rejoice in all the good which the LORD your God has given
you and your household. When you have finished paying all the
tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then
you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and
to the widow, that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.
 "You shall say before the LORD your God, 'I have removed the
sacred portion from my house, and also have given it to the
Levite and the alien, the orphan and the widow, according to all
Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have
not transgressed or forgotten any of Your commandments. 'I
have not eaten of it while mourning, nor have I removed any of
it while I was unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead. I have
listened to the voice of the LORD my God; I have done according
to all that You have commanded me. ’Look down from Your holy
habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the
ground which You have given us, a land flowing with milk and
honey, as You swore to our fathers.'
7. One more from the Old Testament, just for your information. In First
Kings 8, Solomon prayed at the dedication of the temple. The
prayer, which encompasses some 50 verses in our Bibles, is filled
from beginning to end with exaltations of God and praises to Him.
Solomon knew this was a momentous occasion, but he was wise
enough to know it was only momentous because of the power and
providence of God, thus he thanked the Lord and praised Him.
8. Now we live under the NT, though. Has prayer changed? The only
change from the OT to the NT is that we have a better mediator (or
go-between) between man and God, and that is Jesus. Our prayers,
in essence, though, should remain the same as those faithful
followers of the OT period.
a. While we do not have a ton of specific prayers recorded that
were prayed by the early church, we have some indication of the
amount of time they spent in prayer.
b. These were faithful people of prayer. We are told in Acts 2:42
tells us that one of the things the early church was devoted to
was prayer.
c. Without reading them, just note that we are told of the early
church praying in Acts chapters 3,4,6,7,8,9,10,12,13,16,20,27
and 28. Since Acts is a book which gives us the history of the
early church, I think we can get the idea that these people spent
time in prayer!
D. What sets prayer apart from many of the other avenues of worship is
that we also pray often in private or in smaller groups, such as a family.
However, the early church came together for worship and spent time in
prayer, so we, if we are to be the NT church, must spent time in prayer.
II. Prayer in Worship.
A. Knowing that the early church prayed together, then, let’s notice some
principles we can gather for when we pray together in worship.
B. Let me mention that many of these will be principles that also “spill
over” into our private prayer life, but they are the same as public
prayer.
C. PRINCIPLES
1. First, be God-focused.
a. I bring this point to our attention more for those who are asked
to lead a prayer. Using the word “lead” in our prayers could
cause one to think about showing out in his prayer.
b. Jesus told those around himnot to pray (or fast, for that matter)
for outward show. He actually said that we should not do these
things “to be seen of men” (Matthew 6:1-6).
c. We must remember when we pray, that we are speaking to our
Creator, God. As in our singing, and in all other areas of our
worship, He must be our focus.
2. Second, be word-conscious.
a. Following the same reasoning, Jesus said that some of the
leaders of His day liked to pray only so that others would know
them for their many words. He said that they used “vain
repetitions.” They basically said nothing, and they said it many
times.
b. Let me be careful how I say this: there is nothing wrong with a
prayer that lasts for some time, but is it only lasting awhile
because the one leading the prayer is being repetitious or even
vain—empty?
c. I chose the phrase “word-conscious” because I wanted to convey
to the ones leading the prayer the deeply serious responsibility
that comes with leading. When we stand before a group such as
this, we have the serious responsibility of doing our best to
convey the thoughts of the entire congregation before the
throne of God. That is a serious, and dare I say, difficult, task!
d. There are times when one is asked to lead a prayer with very
little warning. Someone isn’t feeling well, or even just forgets
that it is his responsibility, so another man steps in and leads.
e. Often, though, the leaders hasample time to prepare. In these
situations, there is really no excuse for leading a prayer without
preparing. Preparing doesn’t necessarily mean that a prayer has
to be long or have fancy language, but it will help the leader
avoid what Jesus commanded against, vain repetition. It will
also help the one leading to pray what needs to be prayed and
then be finished.
f. Augustine wrote, “It was your Lord who put an end to
longwindedness, so that you would not pray as if you wanted to
teach God by your many words. Piety, not verbosity, is in order
when you pray, since He knows your needs.”
g. While those points were more for those who lead the prayer, the
following two can be taken to your private prayer life, too.
3. Third, be action-motivated.
a. Last Sunday, my Bible class combined with another for F&FDay.
For a few minutes of our time, we thought about prayer and we
discussed that we sometimes pray just because we know we
should.
b. We might even pray for big things, or some great actions, but we
don’t really think those things will happen.
c. May we remember a couple of Bible verses that deal with
prayer?
(1) In 1:5-6, James is dealing with wisdom, but he gives a
principle that is repeated elsewhere about any prayer. He
wrote, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who
gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be
given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting.”
James is saying that we must come before God with no
doubt.
(2) The Hebrews writer had this same theme. After teaching us
that Christ is our High Priest and that He committed no sin,
he gave this conclusion: “Therefore let us draw near with
confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Confidence is
needed when we pray!
(3) Listen to some more words from James. In 5, beginning with
verse 13, we read the following:
Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is
anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among
you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church
and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in
the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will
restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up,
and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for
one another so that you may be healed. The effective
prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah
was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed
earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the
earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed
again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its
fruit. (through verse 18)
(4) By the way, if you like to mark in your Bible, you may want to
mark James 1:5-7 with the words, “Pray with faith,” and
James 5:13-18 with the words, “Pray with fervor.”
d. Do you get the idea that we should just pray a few words to fill a
couple of minutes when we pray? Let me ask this question: if
the prayers of one righteous person can accomplish much, what
 great things can be accomplished by the prayers of an entire
faithful congregation?
e. As we pray as a congregation, we need to bring even our largest
concerns and dreams before the throne of God.
4. Fourth, be seriously-minded.
a. Prayer is not a small matter. Prayer is speaking with God. He,
as our King, allows us to enter His throne room with anything
that is on our hearts. He is just that kind and beneficent.
b. Ted Waller once wrote, “While apparently there are routine
prayers in the New Testament, there repeatedly are references
to urgency in prayer. ‘Prayearnestly,’ ‘fervently,’ strive with me,’
‘pray without ceasing,’ wrestling in prayer,’ and ‘believing’ are
all expressions indicating the depth of concern for the subject of
prayer. Having prayer as a part of our routine must not lead to
just saying something because we have been called on when we
really have nothing to say. The focus of prayer in the Bible on
one subject may contribute to the sense of urgency. It is difficult
to be urgent about several things at the same time.” (Worship,
page 93)
c. It may seem like a bit of a stretch to put this verse under this
point, but I’ll explain in a moment. Paul wrote, “Be anxious for
nothing, but in everything by prayer an supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the
peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard
your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
It seems as though we should be saying, “clear your mind and
then be serious when you pray.” While that is certainly true, it is
also true that prayer clears your mind! It is a two-way street.
We pray for God’s help, then we are peaceful and clear in mind
so that we may pray for God’s help!
d. As a congregation, we need to take our time of prayer seriously.
It can be a time when we allow our mind to wander or to just
turn off our brains, or it can be one of the most unifying and
peaceful times of our entire worship assembly. It is all in how we
treat that time.

Conclusion
1. A writer named A.C. Dixon once wrote, “When we rely upon organization, we
get what organization can do; when we rely upon education, we get what
education can do; when we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can
do, and so on. Nor am I disposed to undervalue any of these things in their
proper place, but when we rely upon prayer, we get what God can do.”
2. What could this congregation do if we truly thought about our prayers, both
in preparation by the prayer leaders and in our minds collectively as we pray?
 a. Could we reach and convert more of the lost?
b. Could we help more hurting people?
c. Could we encourage each other more and better?
d. Could we have more missionaries?
e. Answer: YES, if we will pray to God without doubting, and if we will
understand that we must still work in His kingdom.
3. Since we have studied prayer this morning, I think it is only appropriate that
we close this lesson with a prayer to our Creator.