Worship Through Prayer
Open Your Bible
Matthew 6:5-15, Philippians 4:6-7, Psalm 44:1-26
BY Guest Writer
Last night when I got into bed, I was completely wrecked by my sin—my selfishness in not loving my husband and children well, my discontentment, my quickness to anger, my quickness to speak out of anger… I could go on. And as I cried, I finally cried out to the Lord. I had been in the middle of writing this devotion on prayer, and yet turning to Him was not my first reaction. But the Lord, who sees and knows the depth of my sin much better than I do, met me and reminded me that He sees me in all my mess and loves me still. Indeed, there is great reward in prayer (Matthew 6:6).
Prayer is coming to my Father as a needy child, acknowledging my inability to change situations or people or my own heart, and then acknowledging that God is mighty and that He reigns, ascribing worth to the Lord for who He is.
In Psalm 44, this kind of worship is modeled for us. Here, the psalmist is very real with his emotions. His plea is raw with vulnerability. He feels abandoned, yet he begins and ends the psalm in recognition of God’s faithful love for His people. Despite feeling rejected and forgotten, he comes back to what he knows to be true: God is faithful.
This is just one way prayer blesses, or “rewards,” us. When we turn to God in prayer, we are reminded of who He is and who we are not. There is relief in remembering that we are not the center of all things—not even our own lives. He is. And as He recenters us, He is able to do serious work in our hardened hearts as only He can, bringing peace when we feel fraught with anxiety.
Of course, the ultimate reward of prayer is being in relationship with the Lord Himself. Prayer can be a form of worship because engaging in prayer reminds us that He is in our midst, in the details of our lives. “God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble” (Psalm 46:1). Regardless of our circumstances, He is sovereign.
“The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love” (Psalm 103:8). God knows our desperate need of Him, even when we don’t acknowledge it ourselves. He says, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). His presence alone is the perfect balm to our weary souls.
Prayer is an open invitation to relationship with God. It’s not always going to look pretty because we’re sinful, a broken and messy people. But Jesus’s blood covers all our sin—past, present, and future. He sees us in secret, knows the depths of our hearts, and loves us still.
Kimberly Girard is a well-loved child of God, wife of an extraordinary man, mother of three amazing kids, and writer living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. You can find her at Loud Singing and on Twitter.
53 thoughts on "Worship Through Prayer"
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Thanks God for loving me even though I am a mess! So glad He wants to have a relationship with me through prayer!
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“We are not the center of all things—not even our own lives.” That’s GOOD!!!
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I have a difficult time praying out loud in a group. I feel like I’m only concentrating on my words, I feel like the focus is on me and not on God. Anyone else have this problem?
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Sandy I know exactly what you mean! I was always rehearsing my prayer in my head while others were praying so I’d know what to say when it was my turn. But I prayed, I didn’t keep quiet or let my nervousness in praying out loud stop me. As I’ve grown in my relationship with God and the closer I’ve gotten to him, something shifted. I recognized it one day, my prayers just felt different. I found myself praying one day without having it rehearsed, I just could speak. I still fumble on my words sometimes…and I still find myself starting to rehearse in my head…but as I’ve found confidence in who I am in Christ I have been able to remind myself to trust that He is in me and His words will flow out of my mouth. Don’t beat yourself up for where you are now, just keep pursuing Jesus with everything you have and watch Him continue to grow you! ❤️
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He sees the depths of my heart and He loves me the same, you are amazing God!
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One of the great fathers of the Orthodox Church once wrote:
“Satan may allow us to talk about God for many hours but he will never let us talk with him, even for a few minutes” – Fr. Pishoy Kamel
It really resonated with me in my struggles with true, relationship-building prayer.
God bless you Shes.
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This is a poignant topic for me today. My kids have kept me up the past two nights and I don’t feel like I can organize my thoughts into prayers very well right now. I usually try to pray at night when I wake up (or an woken up) but last night my mind was all over he place, anxious about the kids, angry that I wasn’t getting sleep, anxious again about how today will go. I felt like a prayer failure. But I know that God knows my heart and he knows what I struggle with; he is generous with his grace. He knows what I was trying to pray even if I didn’t put it the right way or got distracted.
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Hi, I’m Pillie from Kenya. These devotions have changed my life. Thank you so much for your consistency in sharing sound truth with us.
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So encouraged, sisters, by your words, wisdom, and faith! May God bless each of you in a remarkable way today!
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