Prayer Priority

One of the biblical elements of worship is prayer. That the people of God are commanded to pray to their God is assumed in all of Scripture, but there are some specific commands to pray. We have the Lord God speaking to his prophets like Abraham and Moses. Moses, whom God spoke to "mouth to mouth" (see Numbers 12:8), offered many prayers to the Lord (see Exodus 33:12-16 for example) as did Joshua. In the book of Psalms, many of the praises are also prayers such as Psalm 51 and Psalm 119. We have the great prayers of kings and prophets such as Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20) and Daniel (Daniel 9). If all we had was the Old Testament there would be no doubt that prayer is both a command for individual believers in the Most High God and when the congregation of the people of God gathers together for worship.

When we come to the New Testament, we see in bright characters the example of Jesus Christ, who devotes his earthly life to prayer. He has given his people a model prayer to use in both private and public worship (see Matthew 6). The Early Church prayed as we read in Acts 1 and 2 and in I Corinthians 14. Prayer is a priority in corporate worship for the elect of God.

What is prayer? This is how the Westminster Shorter Catechism defines prayer: "Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies." This is Christian prayer.

How should we prayer in the public worship of God? We should pray reverently in sensible words (tongues-speaking is unwarranted in prayer unless interpreted by the speaker himself), and it should be inclusive of all. We need the help of the Spirit to help us worship rightly; therefore, we should pray for the Spirit's help and filling. We should use the psalms, the Lord's Prayer, and other biblical prayers to guide us. We have the mind of God regarding prayer; therefore, there is no excuse for men to falter in public prayer.

How much should prayer be a part of the public worship? There should be an invocation, a longer, pastoral prayer, a prayer for enlightenment before the sermon, and a prayer of consecration or submission after the sermon that would also include a benediction. That's at least four times of prayer in the public worship.

For African American Baptist churches, I believe there is room for more prayer; since there is a covenantal dialogue in worship it is important that the people of God address their Covenant Lord through prayer much in the service of worship. There should be no room for trite expressions and emotionalism in prayer. This is why holy men should lead in prayer as commanded by Paul in 1 Timothy 2. This would mean children are not to lead in prayer, or women. It is so common to have Children and Youth Sundays when children and youth lead the worship service, but this is totally unbiblical. The same goes for women; it is against the Holy Word of God for women to address the public gathering of God's people in teaching, preaching, or prayer (see 1 Timothy 2, 1 Corinthians 14). Though many large African American Baptist churches hold to the legitimacy of women preachers this is an area that needs serious reform. There is still a strong enough contingent of African American Baptist ministers who are against this. Also there needs to be a revival of the pastoral prayer that addresses the needs of the local church, but also the universal church. In some churches, the pastoral prayer is called the "Altar prayer." Though I have serious problems with the term "altar prayer," I commend churches that still have a concentrated time of public prayer.

Let us key in on reforming prayer in the worship of God because it is a means of grace.