Psalm 92:1-4, speaks of the wonder of praising God. This past weekend our worship service was focused entirely on praying. The whole service was one long prayer. We did not pray how we as people normally end up praying... you know, “God bless the missionaries” “God bless the sick people” kind of praying. Instead our prayer was focused on God’s presence, we were praying from our hearts in response to who God is. We were seeking God’s face and not just His hand.
That is the kind of prayer that is exciting. I may be a little biased, but I had an awesome time. It is not often that you hear people talking about the incredible time they had in prayer. But that is exactly what prayer can be, completely and totally exciting. God is incredible and spending time in His presence can be incredible if we move past our needs.
When we base our prayers in our needs it doesn’t take long for prayer to become boring and monotonous. After all, how many times can I say the same thing the same way before I get bored with hearing myself? Discovering God focused worship based prayer allows for prayer to become an exciting and dynamic encounter with God. My heart for every person at Trinity Church is that they would experience a relationship with God that is exciting and dynamic. Joining together in corporate worship based prayer is powerful. I can’t wait to do it again…
Looking forward to your thoughts and comments on corporate worship based prayer.
7 comments:
Brother Dave, you have hit the nail on the head, once again. God-focused prayer is IT. I believe it is because, what is our salvation? --it is simply, yet profoundly, God's relationship with us. Relationship is all about focusing on the relation, interacting with the other party, enjoying their presence. I don't remember when, but at some point in time God helped me to focus on Him, instead of just the words, like you speak of. Once I got a taste of what it was like to just be "with" God (even though we are always with Him) in prayer, nothing compared, nothing. HE is awesome.
I wish more churches and pastors would understand this. It's transforming. It brings God to the very forefront of everything, where He should be.
Thanks brother Dave. I sure wish I could come up there and be blessed by that kind of "service".
It was cool. We talked about it in small group and I think everyone that was there was moved in some way - it came up in our discussions several times.
Thanks for not being afraid to 'do church' differently.
That was an hour????...Really, it was Amazing! To worship in a "freeform", "love-expressive" way...is truly a blessing!
Pasor Dave, I thank you for helping us as a church get out of our 'box' in prayer. Sunday was an awesome time of prayer focusing on God and becoming more intimate with Him! Sensational!!
I'm blessed to have Trinity for the place I count on for sound teaching from the Word. I thank you for your strong commitment to love and care for one another, and your continual challenges and support for using our gifts in His service, especially to reach more people for Christ.
I was just telling Butch last night that we are seeing the reason that God made us wait for His time in filling the senior pastor position. He wanted to bless Trinity and He knew that you, Dave would be the right one, at the right time to help us grow and be better disciples for His glory! Can you IMAGINE how things would be if all churches focused more on their members' PERSONAL relationship with God in the way that you have been challenging us?! That's where it all starts and with that, everything else falls into place as we grow in Him and want to love, please, obey and serve Him more. We will get better at "hearing" His call and He will use us in ways we never imagined! The prayer service was truly a gift!
Thank you, Dave & Kelly for waiting on the Lord too!!
Amen......and Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was drawn to God, himself in a way I had never experienced. And I think that's what He desires of us. Thank you for leading us in a new way to pray - and also for helping us understand his word for us. With all the other forces that are competing for our minds and hearts, it is very comforting to get the truth of His word that is preached at Trinity.
Robin and Papa,
God HAS truly blessed the body of Christ there in yall's church with brother Dave and sister Kelly!
Our family is from South Texas, and we were blessed at one time to have brother Dave pastoring and ministering to us here.
It is SO awesome to hear how God is working in your midst up there. It encourages my heart.
We love brother Dave and sister Kelly--they will always be true friends and gifts from the Lord. :-)
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