So, what do you do when you actually get to the point when it’s time to pray? What do you say? How do you stay focused without being so rigid that your prayer life feels little more than sitting on Santa’s knee telling him what you want for Christmas?
Worship.
By worship I don’t necessarily mean singing or listening to “worship music” (however that gets defined). I do mean spending a healthy amount of time seriously considering, rehearsing, and enjoying who God is. Thinking again about Christ and why He died and rose from the dead. Considering what are the very powerful implications of the Son of God dying in my place.
I need to linger longer in worship.
In fact, one of the greatest men of prayer I have ever known, caught my attention when he said in a lecture on prayer, that later in his life he found himself spending more time worshiping than asking. For him that did not mean sitting cross-legged and humming choruses from the 1970s. It was not some form of Christianized yoga. It meant reminding himself (primarily by means of reading the Scripture) of who God was and how His character was being expressed in his life.
This shouldn’t be rocket science. Jesus informed the disciples that the opening elements of how they should pray should be comprised fundamentally of worship – hallowing the name of “God our Father.” Perhaps this was Job’s greatest challenge as well as He begged God for an answer to the reason behind his life-wrenching trials. By the end of the book, Job’s hand is over his mouth and his heart is worshiping the greatness of God – and no apparent answer is given as to why he suffered so severely. But Job learned to linger long in contemplation and enjoyment of who God is.
I have found it helpful in the past to read through a psalm and record bullet points of who God is and use them as the beginning basis of my time of prayer. Worship helps me to frame my intercessions more humbly – even kick a few of them out.
Usually, when my prayer life is feeling more shallow, distant, cold, and particularly lifeless, I am often short on worship. I need to linger longer in worship.
Perhaps the use of a hymnal or recorded music would help you. I have a stack of hymnals beside the chair I normally sit in for my concentrated prayer times. I simply think slowly and carefully about the text of one or two of them and systematically work my way through the book. If I know the tune I sing it (though quietly, because waking the kids won’t help me linger much longer in worship). I’ve found some real gems (“What’er My God Ordains” is one of my favorites found during these times of reflection).
How is it that you could think through the attributes and character of God, responding more gratefully and confidently to Him – in Him? What would assist you most in lingering a little longer in worship? I find worship to be essential in revitalizing my prayer life.
