7.1.1 Prayer is Rooted in Worship
“Prayer is the key in the morning and the bar in the evening” (quote from Mahatma Gandhi). A fulfilled prayer life is not only a catalyst for one’s own life, but also for service in the kingdom of God. This virtue should be discovered and prioritized more and more.Â
One of the greatest revelations is that Jesus does not say at any point that God is seeking people to pray. But he expressly says in John 4:21 that the Father is looking for worshipers. Adoration is the attitude of the heart that leads us to pray. Worship is for God! If we first serve God by bringing Him our thanks and our love, it creates a longing in us to see His dreams and desires made possible through us. And that makes us pray – guaranteed!
This is God’s plan for people to serve others. We serve God, and He serves people through His Spirit. This enables us to serve in a way we never could out of our own effort. A congregation of royal priests – that was and is the dream of God (1 Pet 2:9)! Jesus is the high priest who made our priesthood possible. He knows that it is through worship that we enter into our true destiny as children of God. And Jesus is waiting for us to step into our destiny.
Why did God ask Moses and the priests to build the tabernacle? The simple answer is, he wanted to be close to his people.Â
God was very clear to Moses. He said, “I want to live with my people. But to do that, you have to build us a place to meet.” We see this in Genesis 25:8, where God says, “And they shall make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst”. In other words, God says: “If you consecrate a place to encounter me – a place only for me – I will come and be present and will be your God.
God has not changed his goal or his plan to this day. He wants to have fellowship with us, to be our God, and he is looking for places to meet us and for priests to help create such a place.Â
Jesus demonstrated his passionate love for us on the cross. For if the cross proves how much value we have to God, our worship proves how worthy God is to us. There is an invitation in Psalm 95:6 which says: “Come let us worship and bow, let us fall down before the Lord our Creator.”Â
If we want to build God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, we must do the things that are done in heaven, and in heaven we bow. In heaven there is also no discussion about whether to bow to our culture or not.Â
Jesus taught in Matthew 6:9 that we pray to “our Father in heaven.” We are standing before the throne of God, as the writer of the book of Hebrews emphasizes in Hebrews 4:16. Many people have an image of intercession that we pray on earth to a God enthroned in heaven. But in the letter to the Ephesians, Paul describes something almost incomprehensible: “We are lifted up with Christ into the throne room of God (Eph 1:20). Other passages in the Bible also bear witness to this fact (Heb 12:22). There are various descriptions of the throne room of God (Is 6:1; Dan 7:9), but the most detailed is in Revelation 4:Â
-God’s throne: God is the sovereign ruler of the universe (Acts 4:24). He is almighty, he does everything that pleases him (Ps 135:6) and no one can stop his hand (Dan 4:32). Prayer is so powerful because God is so powerful. Nothing is impossible for him. Whatever we ask him to do, he can do it (Mk 9:23).
-God is light (1John 1:5). He dresses in light (Ps 104:2). He dwells in inaccessible light (1 Tim 6:16). He shines like the sun because he burns like a consuming fire (Heb 12:19). God is love ( 1John 4:8). He burns with zeal and passion. His heart is burning with desire to demonstrate his grace and justice on earth. He wants to act (Mt 8,2.3) and does more than we ask (Eph 3,20).
-The rainbow speaks of its faithfulness to the covenant (Gen 9:8; Ps 89:9). In the new covenant we can stand in the holy presence of God because of Jesus. God awaits for us there to bring Him our petitions (Is 30:18).