Worship and Prayer

Prayer is not something that my generation takes seriously very often. God gets addressed relentlessly as "daddy," "dude," or "home boy." Reverence is far from consideration, as is a posture of humility and submission. Our prayer is full of us requesting things from God and rarely contains just adoration and praise. We don't thank God for the things He has done: we only ask Him to act in the future. I know that I'm definitely guilty of this from time to time.

One of the means of grace that reorients my prayer life is worship. The hymns that I'm such a fan of (like those that get posted on Sundays) are, in a very real sense, prayers and confessions. They affirm truths from scripture, rejoice in the blessings of salvation, and seek to give glory to God. But more than just the words we sing, worship is a posture before God. It recognizes that He has done great things for us, and as a result, we come to Him in humility and gratitude.

One of my high school graduation gifts was a book called Valley of Vision. I highly recommend it. It is a collection of Puritan prayers on topics as general as sin and prayer or as specific as the love of Christ and God as the source of all good. They serve as a great example to me of how prayer serves as affirmation and thanksgiving, not just supplication or confession. One of my favorites is a prayer on worship. For me, it captures, better than I could ever say it, the posture and aim of worship. Enjoy.

Worship

Glorious God,
It is the flame of my life to worship thee, the crown and glory of my soul to adore thee, heavenly pleasure to approach thee.
Give me power by thy Spirit to help me worship now, that I may forget the world, be brought into fullness of life, be refreshed, comforted, blessed.
Give me knowledge of thy goodness that I might not be over-awed by thy greatness;
Give me Jesus, Son of Man, Son of God, that I might not be terrified, but be drawn near with filial love, with holy boldness;
He is my mediator, brother interpreter, branch, daysman, Lamb; him I glorify, in him I am set on high.
Crowns to give I have none, but what thou hast given I return, content to feel that everything is mine when it is thine, and the more fully mine when I have yielded it to thee.
Let me live wholly to my Saviour, free from distractions, from carking care, from hindrances to the pursuit of the narrow way.
I am pardoned through the blood of Jesus - give me a new sense of it, continue to pardon me by it, may I come every day to the fountain, and every day be washed anew, that I may worship thee always in spirit and truth.