Prayer as Worship

Prayer is a most interesting topic! I would start out by suggesting that there is no such
thing as a bad prayer. Most of mine are bad, to this day. Bad in the sense that I could
certainly pray with more clarity, more conviction, more completeness and more 
strength. The Holy Spirit is the one who takes our efforts at prayer and transforms them
into prayers that God can understand. We're quite different from God, you know, so
this is a wonderful function provided by God With Us!

God, through scripture, has invited us to pray. God is a God of communication and He
delights in the fact that His creatures have a desire to speak to Him through prayer.
We are invited to bring our cares and hopes to Him and the promise is that He will
respond in His good time and in His perfectly just way. Prayer is an excellent way of
building the sense that He does hear you. As far as prayer style, the Lord's Prayer 
provided by Jesus is a wonderful structural model for what is best to include in a prayer
and also the order in which we include parts of that structure.

I have come to see prayer as a wonderful part of Worshiping God. Of all the
aspects of worship, it seems to me to be the most personal. I can sing
praises to Him, I can read His word, I can seek to share with others my love for
Him through fellowship, but somehow, down there on my knees in a quiet place
where the energy is focused, it just feels like Our time. Despite my 68 years,
I always try to pray from a kneeling position showing my servant-hood to the
very God of the Universe.

While it is important and scriptural to bring prayers of need, health for those
who are suffering, personal needs in our own lives and the lives of those we
love; it is crucial not to make God a genie in a bottle. Emphasizing His glory
and thanking Him for blessings should, in my opinion, be integral parts of
all prayers. Sometimes, it is simply a thank you and an update on our lives.
He doesn't, of course, need the update, but we are talking and sharing with
Him, something beneficial to our souls.

So pray often, from the heart and know that He is listening. Praise our God!