During a good discussion last night with some friends, we got to the subject of the crossovers between worship, the Word, and Prayer. I’m intrigued, how often do you think about this?

To give you a couple of examples, look at the way Matt Redman (for one) brings the Word to songs such as “Better is One Day” (see Psalm 84), “Undignified” (see 2 Sam. 6), and “Facedown” (Numbers 20). Matt is a good example of a worship leader whose outlook is not merely focused on sung praise, but on increasing intimacy with the Lord - (See “Intimacy”, “Now To Live The Life”, and “You Must Increase” for Matt’s guidance on how to do this).

On Sunday, we sang one of my favourite songs of prayer to the Lord - Martin Smith’s “Thank You For Saving Me”. A song (and without the music, a very definite prayer) of Thanks and Praise to the Lord, this song gives us the opportunity to thank Him for His mercy, grace, forgiveness, greatness, and sacrifice on our behalf. A great prayer for all to see.

If you see yourself as not being able to connect easily with worship, this could be a good start - listen to a few songs, look up the lyrics and pray them. If you’re a scholar of the Word, and have verses that touch your heart, use a search engine to find songs that go with them. If you are looking for inspiration for your prayers, look for songs that match your heart’s cry.

What experiences have any of you had with this? Can you share any testimonies?

Bless you all, have a great week.