Certainly, prayer can become a ritual like any other. Yet, how we pray and what we pray for in a worship service should model what we are taught to pray about in Scripture. It is rare, for instance, that I am in a worship service that has prayers of confession or lifts up the amazing attributes of God, or even uses Scripture to guide one's prayer. The exception to this would be high church services where prayer and Scripture are always central to the worship experience.
While I am not advocating either a high or low church experience, it is interesting to me how many evangelicals are gravitating toward a more liturgical style of worship and wonder if it is because of the emphasis on prayer and the Word throughout the service.
When prayer becomes an afterthought in our services, we do a disservice to our people and to the Lord we are worshiping. Not only should prayer be central in our services, but what we pray for should model something to those we are leading to the throne.
As you think about your services, I would simply say this: If people modeled their own prayer lives after what they experienced in their church on Sunday, would it be rich or poor? For better or worse, what we model in worship sends a message to our people. It is something to think about.
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