Genuine Worship, Genuine Prayer

by  Dr. M. O. Owens                                                                                                                               Vol. XXII, No. 6, June/July 2009

Your praying as a part of the church is not restricted in any way by the physical operation of the church to which you belong. You can pray any time, anywhere, in any position, or situation. But prayer in some form is an absolute essential in worship. The danger in corporate prayer – a part of the formal worship experience – is that the usual procedure is for one person to voice a prayer, while all the rest of the congregation whether large or small is silent and participate only as auditors. Genuine prayer is work. It is not a lazy person's activity. It requires a focused, intense attention to the matter at hand. A casual, lackadaisical attitude does not lend itself to prayer. It is so easy to be a mere auditor. Yet genuine worship demands that every person in the congregation shall be as intense in prayer as the one who vocalizes his or her words. There can be no worship without prayer of some sort. Praise can take several forms, but any communication with God Himself is prayer. There can be effort, even fervent effort and activity, but Jesus is clear in His statement that nothing in the Kingdom can he accomplished without His participation. That applies fully to prayer. Even fellowship is greatly enriched and blessed when it is enveloped and infused with a pervading spirit of prayer.

[Excerpted from Dr. M. O. Owens, God! Do You Hear Me?, Wheatmark, Tucson, AZ. p. 104.]