What Is Worship: Devotions From Time Of GraceSample

Worship Is Praying

God realizes that he has you at a bit of a disadvantage. He can see you, but you can’t see him. He can hear you plainly and directly, but you can hear him only indirectly. He’s aware of the stress that places on you, and he makes allowances for it.

You honor him when you pray. Christian prayers acknowledge God as omnipresent, caring, omniscient, and all-powerful. Prayer accepts the posture of humility. We don’t stand eyeball-to-eyeball, jawing and positioning ourselves in a contest of strength. Prayer isn’t a debate. Prayer means we accept our relative smallness; we accept his design of human life, accept his ways, accept his wisdom and plans, and respect the enormous reservoirs of resources at his command.

And it means that we confess our need. “Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always” (1 Chronicles 16:11). It’s not as though he’s clueless to our needs, but he wants us to articulate them to him, so that when he helps us we will make the connection and give him the glory. He wants to hear our words of sorrow over sin so that he can assure us of his love and steady forgiveness in Christ. He wants us to bring the needs of others to him—not because he couldn’t figure it out without our help, but because it is such a beautiful exercise of love and compassion. He loves to respond because we prayed.

He waits to be asked. Got a minute for him right now?